Well, the Christmas lollipops my mom sent me have done been real popular, y'all. My mother sent 4 boxes of lollipops with 12 pops per box, and this morning, I started handing some out...
This is All That Remains.
Just when I think that the boys have tapped out their ability to go banana-sandwich over candy, some new candy gets introduced into the mix and their sugar craze rachets up yet again. Reeses Cups. Christmas lollipops. Heaven forbid I ever give them Lindor truffles--they will spontaneously combust.
The 2-7, 2-8 A boys filed out of class so quickly, none of them asked for candy. I though disappointedly that I wouldn't get a chance to give Jiwoong anything. I thought wrong. As I walked down the corridor, Hyunmyeong caught up with me, then another kid, then another kid, so finally I was swamped with young'uns.
I sought out Jiwoong's face in a crowd so he could get chocolate. He was tremendously gratified. Then of course, Jeongwook had to go into his pitiful "Teacher, you don't know me?" routine, which gets me every time even though I know it's coming. Baby Seongjik had to get one, of course, as did Snappy Seongsu. Within 60 seconds, all 24 lollipops were gone.
There wasn't a lollipop left for Changyo, one of my favorites, so I went downstairs to my office to get another box to offer him one. When I stepped out of my first-floor office, I was met with a crew of six beaming boys who were running down the hall, having followed me down the stairs in hopes of getting treats. Changyo was among them, as was Duyeol.
Then another C-class child I don't really know came down the stairs to beg for "big candy". Because word is circulating on the 2nd floor that there is now something special to be obtained, if you're brave enough to ask for it. I gave him one, and now I have to decide how to dispense of the remaining 10 candies. I think I'm going to walk up to Sam-ban and make sure that Wooseok and BY get one before they're all gone. I want to reconnect with Wooseok after yesterday, and BY always deserves nice things.
Sky is clear today.
Outside Our School.
And In This Coat, My Shadow is Shaped Like a Bell.
Blurry Me.
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10:50 AM Wooseok was sleeping, but some kids woke him up and I got him his candy. Everyone in Sam-ban was asking why Wooseok of all people was being sought out and woken up just to get the special candy. It was hard to explain to them that Wooseok is important. That I'm seeking him out because I don't think anyone else does.
BY got his candy, and while I was swarmed by boys I didn't know, Pepper-Dongmin came up and waved and said hi in a hopeful manner, like he was pretty sure I'd give him something since he knows me. I did. He's my boy, now. If I have stuff, he gets stuff.
Saw Shotputter-Jiseong nearly strangling Baby-Seongjik, but it seemed to be in jest. I pulled Jinseong off, though, and gave him a lollipop. Seongjik got a sucker earlier, but he kept following me around and insisting on another. So next break, I'm going up there with a Christmas note and a chocolate for that baby, because he's clearly in serious need of some attention.
Many kids on the second floor were walking around with their lollipops, flaunting their status and looking breezy, like billionaire philanthropists. There's a certain aura of ease and assurance surrounding the kids who got candy--I could not have predicted that it would catch on like that. I thought they'd just eat them and be done with it, but that's not how things shook out. Because lollipops are fundamentally different than chocolate. Lollipops last. And while you take 30 minutes to finish your huge lollipop, everyone gets to observe you having one.
B-class Seonwoo and Tan-Taehyun thanked me for theirs.
Got a little Christmas present of chocolate from Mr. B!
Front View.
Back View.
Naturally, I have eaten it all. I make short work of sweets. Am not unlike my students in that respect.
Yet another C-class boy that I don't even know asked me for chocolate, then was willing to follow me down the hall, down the stairs, and down another hall to get it. My heart goes out to the C-class boys--they feel so disconnected in so many ways.
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2:45 PM Lunch and thereafter was good. Daesung and some new boys came to get me early for Monopoly--Intensity Insung, a 3rd-grade Seongmin that I haven't met, and Kyeongro, a boy who decided yesterday that he loves me because I gave him chocolate for the first time.
Soon, Saturday Jeongmin came to sit with us, and we had no problems with Wooseok becasue Wooseok had been in the room at the beginning and he came in at the end, but he was far away from my Jeongminnie at all times. I feel like I'm trying to protect a bunny rabbit from a capricious cat.
I looked up an older post from November 28th where I compared Wooseok to a cat again: ( "Around the 3rd-graders, Wooseok is a lot like a cat running among a pack of Labrador retrievers. Nimble and perfectly capable of dodging danger if one of the Labradors decides their cat pal has batted their tails one too many times.") Animal metaphors may be trite, but for lunchtime Monopoly I do feel like I'm juggling a room of big dogs, one feisty cat, and a sweet fluffy bunny. The Labradors don't care about bothering the bunny but they occasionally get upset at the cat, and the cat has to be kept from noticing the bunny at all costs.
Anyhoo, I wrote Jeongminnie a special card and gave him a Christmas present--a game of Jack Straws my mom had sent. He seemed incredibly happy to have it and I was glad to give him something.
When Wooseok walked into the math room at the beginning, he came up to me and petted my head, like I do to him. Most of the boys touch my hair reverently, as if they're about to get slapped for it, but Wooseok's affectionate hair-stroking was more like a family thing, like saying, "We're not both doing different things right now, but we know each other is there."
In 1-5, -1-6 B, we had fun for our last class together and the boys had the genius idea of playing in teams, so eight of them got to play, each kid on a team rolling one of the dice and each kid holding half their money.
Changyeon and Hyungro are two of my favorite A-levels who came into class at the end and requested Reeses. Hyungro's smart enough to ask where they can be purchased. I told him they were from America and he was only thrown off for a split second. He immediately offered to buy the Reeses bag from me. That is the extent to which the kids like Reeses--the cleverer ones are trying to obtain a stash of their own, or to go directly to the source, the fountain of chocolate-peanut-buttery goodness, as it were.
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2-5, 2-6 B was full of favorites having a good time at Monopoly. I offered to be banker, but they wanted me participating the whole time. I played with Jongin, Twin-Jeongho and Taekyoon with Not-My-Wooseok as banker, then for the second game it was Not-My-Wooseok, Kangjae, and Taekyoon with Twin-Jeongho as banker. And let me tell you, he is the sassiest banker ever. At one point Taekyoon needed $500 changed into hundreds and Jeongho gave it to him in 50s.
We had the best time and the boys were treating me with such camaraderie, with their "Sem does this, and Sem did that" conversational patter. Darling. At the end, everyone crowded in for chocolate and Jonghoon proposed to me. He said we should get married (presumably so he'll have better access to the chocolate), but then Injae said he loved me more, and the boys quickly decided that I should marry Injae instead.
In the hallway after class, Wooseok saw me, gave a cheery "hi!" and offered me a high five with both hands, like we were members of a winning basketball team. And we are on the same team. You and me (and the other kids) against the world, honey.
Seongwonnie came up to me in the hall and hugged me. Just a real, genuine hug. Then he played with my hair some more and tried to use some English words. Seongwon. Tried. To use English. And these days in the hallway, he doesn't go by me without some kind of special recognition--he's my boy and we don't ignore each other for any reason.
Junho made kissing sounds at me in the lunch line, but other than that, he was well-behaved today.
Waved hi at Seongmo once but didn't even see Byeonghyun.
Governor-Yunho's friend Cute-Beomjoon from 1-9, 1-10 B has decided that I am now an object of interest (kid hasn't said a word to me all semester until the last two weeks). I saw him twice today and on both occasions he said, "You are cutie." He wasn't even trying to get candy--he just said this because he wanted to. The second time he confidently added, "You are my girlfriend." And now I have another one. Join the boyfriend club, sweetheart.
My Christmas package from Mom arrived late this afternoon! It's mostly candy for the kids, which is what I really wanted anyway. I ripped into it and started filing away different delightful treats in my school cabinet. Then I got to the chocolate oranges, the best thing ever, and started taking them around to the desks of my co-teachers. I got presents delivered to everyone pertinent, but I was left holding one last chocolate orange at cleaning time.
I opened the packaging of the chocolate orange and whacked it on the end to open it. I gave pieces to every kid I came across--Pepper-Dongmin, my Wooseok, sweet and crazy Seonwoo from my afterschool, who always squeals and tries to annoy me when he's around. As the 3rd-graders left, I got chocolate to Intensity-Insung, Model-Seokho, and 6-Meetings-Juseong, who gave me a grape candy in return.
As I was standing at the front door of the school, looking for kids to give the last bits of chocolate orange to, BY attacked me with his standard backhug. But things went awry. He's normally very careful to let his hands land only on my shoulders during backhugs, but this time his hand "accidentally" slipped. I moved him off me and said, "Watch that hand." He replied meekly, "I understand," which let me know that it was definitely premeditated.
I still gave him a piece of chocolate, patted his head,and wished him a Merry Christmas before he limped away for home, but sheesh. This boy. Give him an inch and he takes 5 kilometers. Fortunately, I was in layers and a massive coat so the situation wasn't as bad as it could have been, but seriously.
I'm not remotely angry, but I am trying to figure out how to deal with a kid who is delightful and who clearly craves love and attention, but who just stretches the boundaries at every turn. It's not mean-spirited--if almost any other student had done the same thing, I would have hauled them into the office and had their homeroom teacher kick them into another time zone. But not BY. He's just different.
And yet it's not good for his heart or his moral character if I let him get the things he wants just because he's tricky. He can have attention and praise and hugs, but he's got to learn to stop pressing for more. And that in a nutshell is the difficulty of dealing with adolescents; they're not innocent enough to be treated like children, and not worldly or dangerous enough to be kept at arms' length, like you would with most men.
You have to give and give and give, then be ready to pull back momentarily when they do something unexpected. To be a wellspring of affection, appreciation, and encouragement, but to not get resentful and stop caring when they mess up and try to take more than they should.
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