2-25-14 Language Study and Seeing One Former 3rd-Grader

9 PM: Have been studying language like mad and did pretty well in my tutoring session tonight. My Tutor is very impressed with my writing and my comprehension of what she says, but as always my speech ability lags behind. It was good, though. We talked about how I'll prep for the TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) test in July.

TOPIK has 6 levels, with 6 being fluent and almost like a native speaker and level 1 is described thusly:

"1st Grade Use of basic commands of Korean for survival, such as greeting, purchasing, ordering, etc. Expressing and understanding oneself in simple everyday conversation by making simple sentences from 800 basic words."

Sounds totally within my range, right? But when I saw a sample test for Level 1, it was harder than I could manage. But me and Tutor both think I can nail a solid Level-1 by July. And who knows? The test is also administered in October and November, so it's not unthinkable that by fall I could try to land a Level-2:

"2nd Grade Discussion of familiar topics employing a vocabulary of about 1,500∼2,000 words. Distinguishing correctly between formal and informal situations."

Best of all, the test is all reading and listening at my level--no speaking component and no essay writing just yet. I want to do well at this and I've got 5 months to prepare. :-)



Went downtown after tutoring, to buy some socks and some more glittery headbands. As I passed one dark alley, a boy yelled "Leigh!" and came dashing out. It was the 3rd-grade boy who steadfastly refuses to tell me his name, but who can be referred to as C-Ban-Good-At-Soccer. He ran and ran until he caught up to me, wearing a huge smile on his face. "오랜만!"(oraeman) he said brightly, meaning "It's been awhile!"

In reality, it hasn't even been two weeks since I complimented his haircut at graduation, but it's hard to correct such angelic-ness. I said "high-five!" and when we high-fived, he held my hand and repeated, "오  랜  만" because he didn't know if I had understood. I said, "Yeah, it's been a while. Long time no see," using the English phrase he'd be most likely to know. I gave his hand one last squeeze and said bye while he trotted back to the alley.

I missed C-Ban-Good-At-Soccer. It's hard not to appreciate someone who is that happy to see you, even if they are using banmal (informal speech). If he'd been trying to be respectful, he'd have said "오랜만이에요" (oraeman-iyeyo). Judging by the amount of smiles and banmal I get from my former 3rd-graders, I feel like I have very little of their respect but entire continents of their love. I suppose I'm cool with that.


A toddler came over to me during my tutoring session at the coffeeshop, and I held him for a while (his mom was watching). Tutor said I must be his first blonde acquaintance. I think maybe he had seen "Frozen" and the princess magic was still lingering in his mind. I can't make snowstorms, little baby. But I can hold you and tell you you're cute in two languages.
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Oh, and here's the paragraph I wrote in my Korean diary, with corrections from Tutor. It's on the self-chosen nonsensical topic, "If I bought a unicorn..."

2-22-14: 유니콘 갖고 싶어요. 이 세상에, 애완동물이 많아요. 강아지, 고양이, 거북이는  특별한 동물들이 아니에요. 유니콘들 아주 특별해요. 만약 내가 유니콘 갖으면, 내 생활 개선해요 . 내 생활은 나아질 거에요.   왜요? 지금 설명해요. 그 이유는 유니콘이 자동차보다 더 빨라서, 매일 학교에 일찍 도착할 거예요. 유니콘 때문에, 도착하자마자 다른 선생님들 나를 존중할거예요. 유니콘을 사게되면,  파란색을 고를거예요. 파란색 피부, 분홍색 뿔과, 큰 날개가 있어요/큰 날개가 좋을 거에요.  만약 내 친구 배키가 나를 카페에서 초대하면, 난 “지금 못 만나요. 요즘 바빠서, 유니콘 가꾸해요”/ 요즘  유니콘을 돌보느라 바빠요 라고 말할 거예요. 이 번 토요일, 한국에 유니콘들 있으면, 유니콘 찾을 거예요. 비싼것 같아요.  

She liked it lots, especially the fact that I'm writing longer sentences.

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2-24-14 Sanghwa and Kimbap!

4:30 PM   I don't deserve this much sweetness.

I went out for a long walk today, taking a book to read. As I was coming back from the invigorating, refreshing bit of exploration, I saw a lime green jacket out of the corner of my eye and heard, "Whup! Uh! Leighhhhh!"

It was Sanghwa, coming up the alley with his allies Afterschool Jeongmin and Redhair Joonyoung. Sanghwa was smiling to beat the band, and I said hi to them, them I hesitated and looked for some Korean words: "배 고파? 김밥 사 줄까?" (bae gopa? kimbab sajulkka?) or "Are you hungry? Shall I buy kimbap for you?" They responded very excitedly, and we all rushed into the convenience store.

After some debate, they picked their kimbap and I bought it. Sanghwa almost approached some girls who were sitting in the corner of the shop, but he decided not to talk to them after all. A case of shyness kicked in before he could make his move. Daww.

When we stepped outside and parted ways, they all said thank you in Korean and Sanghwa added in English, "Thank you, teacherrrr!" Gosh. When did this little terror get so lovable? Last two weeks of school, he didn't reply when I greeted him and now he's Captain Sunshine. He's my kid and I love doing things for him, when he lets me.

So here's pictures from today, of where I walked:

Damp Fields.

Bridge Over Troubled Highway.

Walking Track Wedged Between Troubled Highway and Damp Fields.

Paris Baguette Coffee Cup,

Or a Tiny Blue-Hardhatted Construction Worker.

Tilted For Maximum Headband-Visibility.

On the Bridge, Mid-Walk.

"Love You, Mom!"

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10 PM: Studied alone tonight at a coffee shop. I almost always have company with me, but tonight I was flying solo. Some man I'm certain I don't know banged on the window of the coffeeshop to get my attention, then waved at me. I waved back once, but I know he's not a teacher, not one of my in-town acquaintances, and not one of the shopkeepers I'm familiar with. He didn't come inside and it wasn't a scary moment, but it was surprising. Like someone tapping a goldfish bowl--it seems like something one of the kids would do. Could he be one of my kids' dads?

And one of the grocery store stockers stopped me on my walk home to tell me he loved me. He's young and seems mentally slow, perhaps not quite autistic but not fully grownup in his thinking either, so I just smiled and thanked him. The grocery store staff, including a couple of ahjummas (middle-aged women) have gotten more fond of me lately after they've heard me speaking a bit of Korean. I like making actual connections with the people who run my favorite stores and restaurants, and that seems to be happening more lately.

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2-21-14 Wicked the Musical, Language Learning,and Spring Break Continues

5 PM:

Spring break is still going well. For days, I just studied with my buddies in town, spending the day tidying the apartment and making it look like a home and the evening learning more Korean grammar forms.

I've got a Korean-language tutor now, a girl a couple of years younger than me who has great English, a fun personality, and more inherent coolness than any person has a right to. My Tutor has met with me 4 times now, and I can say that she really has helped me. I study harder, knowing I'll have to speak with her once a week.

I also do writign homework--I type up a journal in Korean, and each week she corrects it in red. This is a sample entry of me talking about my visit home to America and how my family's moving to another state:

우리 동생들 네명을 아이를 돌보았어요/돌봤어요. 부모님은 텍사스에 왔어요. 그들은 새로운 집을 찾을 거예요. 삼월에, 텍사스에서 아버지는  일할 거예요. 다른 거기 동생들에게 좋아, 것 같아요. 거기가 동생들에게 좋을 것 같아요.

여동생이 나를 참 보고 싶었어요. 나 지금 선생님/교사인데, 한국어 공부도 배우도 하고 있어요. 이번 여름 바빠도 텍사스에 갈 거예요.

It's goes like that. Sometimes I don't have enough vocabulary to say what I want to say, and sometimes I mess up by trying a to translate an English sentence directly into Korean, which doesn't work because Korean has a totally different sentence order. Anyhow, I started writing my thought on what I'm reading or watching, so I get to discuss in the diary the kind of things I'd talk about in a real chat with friends--my opinions on what's good and what's not.

Even though she considers me to be a low-intermediate learner (which is good), my Tutor still has an issue with me...she can scarcely get me to speak Korean unless I first figure out a perfect sentence in my head. She's trying to get me to just talk off the top of my head, even if I sound like a caveman ("last weekend, Seoul, in Seoul, and many people! So many people. People good. Lots of more people is good, I think"--Myself, trying to explain that I enjoy large crowds.) 

I don't like saying things when I know they're probably not correct. I want to say perfect things. So I stare off into the sky, looking up and slighty to my right, and I painstakingly come up with a flawless sentence, which I say after 60 full seconds of thought. She says, "Don't think of sentences! Just talk." But. But sentences are my friends.

After our lesson was over, Tutor came to sit with me and my friend in the coffeeshop, and we all spoke English. I want to ask Tutor something in Korean, so I looked up and to the right, and she said, "Are you thinking up a sentence?" I loudly protested that I wasn't, I totally wasn't! 

How Could She Disbelieve Me?

It's funny to me that I have a "thinking of grammar" face. But as frustrated as I am at being pushed to speak messily, I appreciated it because I spent yesterday (Thursday) and all this morning in Seoul, and Korean came more easily to me.

At a bakery in Seoul, the lady asked in Korean if my friend and I were buying food together and I replied, "Yes, together" in Korean without glancing away from the art on the walls, so the lady thought I was fluent and started saying far more complicated things because I knew what she meant instantly without having to process it.

On the ride home from Seoul, I was also benefited by having more language ability.A grandmother got on the train and seemed to have a ticket for my exact seat. I told her in Korean to take the seat and she sat down, but then the girl next to me read the grandmother's ticket and told her "다음 기차!" or "next train". I stepped out of the way as the grandmother went to exit our train to wait for the next one, which her ticket was actually for. Knowing how to politely give her the seat smoothed the interaction, and knowing the words for "next train" enabled me to know why she left so quickly.

I got into a big discussion with a middle-aged man in a Korean dinner place last night because he noticed that I was reading the hangul-only menu. He told us to ask him if we had any questions about the food, and I should have asked some because I know he wanted to practice his English. 

I need to get better at reading people's desire to talk--I'm so used to people in my hometown cringing at the thought of using English, I forget that folks in other places are longing for the chance to have a social chat in English. It's like how I learned French in high school and never had the chance to use it with a French person.

At the hotel I stayed at, the man at the desk asked if I was going back to America (if you're an American staying overnight in Seoul, they just assume you're a tourist, not a resident from a rural place). I told him that I lived here and used a little Korean to tell him where I was from, which pleased him. Everywhere I turn, knowing more words has helped me or made people around me happier.

The Only Picture I Took In Seoul, Yesterday--

White Art-Tree With Butterflies.

Me and my friend from Cheonan saw Wicked the musical last night. It's a retelling of the "Wizard of Oz," without Dorothy; the story of the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba), only she's not wicked, just a strong girl with green skin. It's a totally different interpretation than the evil character in the movie, to the extent that whatever you know about the Wizard of Oz barely applies to the plot of the musical--this story is its own world.

This musical has been around for 10 years and my college roomate was obsessed with the soundtrack during our freshman year. (HOLY MOLY, IT HAS BEEN 10 YEARS SINCE I ENTERED COLLEGE IN FALL OF 2004. I CANT EVEN.) We were both theater majors at the time, so we were really into acting and musicals, and even though I'd never seen "Wicked" performed, I knew about 6 of the songs by heart.

In fact, at the 2012 Christmas party I had for my American students, one of the boys changed the Christmas mix he'd been playing for us on his iPod to the "Wicked" soundtrack. None of the girls knew it, but me and two of the boys knew every word to "Popular" the song where  Glinda and Elphaba are becoming friends and Glinda offers to give her a makeover. This is the funnest song in English, and it was good in Korean, too. Here's the original cast recording:

I didn't know the full plot of the show and was surprised when it had a happy ending for all the important characters--how awesome! There were so many intense/sad musical numbers, I figured the show had a downer ending, but I left smiling because they didn't mess it up. Of course, I couldn't understand most of it, but I got really tickled at the few jokes I managed to understand.

It was a great two days, and I'm off to do more study!

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2/22/14 

5:30 PM: Went to the Lake in our province with a friend, and had the best time!

On the way back, I was happily greeted by Peter-Pan Taehoon! He was walking with Walk-to-School-Mingi of all people, and I called both of them by name, but then a third kid drew my attention--Laryngitis Seonghoon was with them and asked, "Teacher, my name, my name?" I replied with his name, satisfying his hope that I wouldn't forget somebody as important as him. :-)

Today, After the Lake Trip!

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2/23/14 9 PM:

I made a serious effort to go to church in Seoul today, but church would just not be gotten to. I had bought my tickets, checked out the location, printed papers with precise directions to Yeoido, but 'twas fruitless.

Because after a 90-minute train ride, I got on the subway for the church...only to have the subway SKIP THE STOP. I had never been on the metro when it had skipped a stop that was on the map. Then I realized that I was on some sort of express train leading to the airport--the gold line only went to the "important" stops on its own line.

So when it stopped way past where I wanted to be, I rode the subway around in a little circle, changing from gold to purple to green line, getting off and on until I got back to where I first was, hoping there was something other than the express line to take--maybe there were two versions of the gold line and one of them actually stopped at the church location.

Nope.

The metro breezed right past the church stop once again. By this time, I'd been standing on the subway and walking up and down staircases for an hour. I was starting to sway on my feet a bit, and I was already late for the service. I knew that if I got off at a stop too far away from the church, I would have to walk another half-hour to get there, if I could find it at all, depending on how far the neighborhood was.

So I got back on the subway and rode the short distance to Itaewon instead, to a district where I knew there was good food. Next week, I'm going to try for this church again; this time I'll get off the subway on the blue line and take a bus to the church, as the directions say can be done. I didn't go that route before because none of the website directions indicated that the bus was the quicker option, but it may be my only one.

In Itaewon, I ate breakfast food at the brunch place where I went with my former roommate last week. I was right proud of myself for finding it on my own, considering that I'd spent all morning not-finding important things. Afterward, I found the English-language bookstore on my own! Which is special, because like a lot of businesses in big towns, it doesn't have signs on the ground pointing you to it because it exists only on the second floor of a building. You have to look up to even catch sight of it, and I did! (See, if I can find things like this I can find Yeoido. I can do it!)

In the bookstore, I did a very Korean thing. I couldn't see books on the bottom shelf, so I dropped into a squat and just sat there for a couple minutes, reading the bottom shelf.

I've never seen an American do this, but in Korea when people are waiting around, instead of just standing they will squat.

Waiting in lines, reading a newspaper, smoking outdoors, having a conversation outside the convenience store--these are all prime times to squat for several minutes. It's most common among middle aged men, but I've seen kids, teens and grandmothers do it--there's no age limit. This looks like the most uncomfortable position ever, and last year I couldn't process why any human body was capable of doing this, let alone why anyone would want to do it.

But I got more flexible after all these months of walking/hiking, I guess, and it's socially acceptable to squat, so I picked up the ability. As long as I don't have squat-conversations with my friends in the street, I'll assume I've not taken it too far. Here are some Google-images of the position that so many people use:

Young Women Squat.

(An Exact Duplication of What I Was Doing In the Bookstore)

Ahjusshis Squat.

Babies Squat.

He's Taiwanese-American, Not Korean,

But Jeremy Lin Squats, Too.

And thus I get more Korean with every passing month.

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2-17-14 Spring Break So Far, and All the Selfies

2 PM: Break has been good so far. Went to Seoul for three days with my former roommate and shopped, saw a museum, walked all over creation, and watched "Frozen". Now I see what the fuss is about--it's terribly, terribly cute and feels more like a stage musical than an animated film.

I bought a printer today, which means I can book my own train tickets from home, and therefore go to other cities more easily. This Sunday, I want to go to an English service at the biggest church in Seoul, and that requires some very specific ticket-purchasing. Which I can now do because I can print out the ticket confirmation!

And I also mean to start attending cooking classes in Seoul as part of my "self-improvement/doing grownup things" initiative. I've been here 6 months--I finally got the Survival aspect down. I don't have to worry about daily life or travel or bills because I know how to handle those things, and I know who to ask for help if something unforeseen crops up. And I want to do more with my days than just Self-Entertainment. Shopping and movies and concerts and new restaurants are great, but I should be doing more. Those things don't rate very high on the eternal value scale.

So at present I plan to be at the orphanage one Saturday a month (all they'll allow us to do), teach at the special program at my school one Saturday, and use the other weekends to take cooking classes and do other things that relate to culture or language learning. I need to study and grow--just existing in a new, fun place isn't going to cut it for the rest of the year or the rest of my stay.

Important New Years' resolutions aside, here are pictures of me from today, just after I got my printer:

And some older pictures from January 14th, when I was stuck in a hotel in Houston overnight after being awake nearly 40 hours and having my last flight cancelled. I call this piece A Series of Disgruntled Hotel Selfies:

I Am Truly Stuck Here...

But Surely There's An Upside to Everything!

No, There Isn't.

Yes There Is, Because I'll Be Home Tomorrow Morning!

Never too tired to document my tiredness, no, not me. :-)

2-13-14 Chess With Yeongju, Sweet Yonghan, and Haircut

9 AM: Dawww, Euigi and Keundeok came downstairs to fetch me for class, but it was for no reason--I can't even supervise 2-1, 2-2 A because the English Center is full of new books and fallen support beams and construction workers. Something is being rebuilt in there, but I'm not sure what.

So this morning, I might maybe teach 1-9, 1-10 B with Deokryong and Deukhee and Laryngitis Seonghoon and Governor Yunho, but then again, I might not. School ends early today, then we're off until things reignite in March. These two weeks of winter school inbetween Winter Break and Spring Break have been quite odd, because they are mostly babysitting, and half the time the kids aren't even there to babysit because of construction or other scheduled activities.

Got a present and a note to Co-Teacher today, because she's leaving for another school permanently, and another small present and thank-you note to JY-Teacher. I'm trying to remember all the little gifts and thank-you notes that are due to everybody.

My Yeongchang lost his cellphone this morning, and he told me about it in Korean as if there was something I could do. I wish there was. The piano in the special needs' room is gone, so I wonder how Joonsung is getting by without it. He looked fine this morning, watching his videos of dominoes falling down--he's very fond of domino-stack videos, and preschool English songs.

Got to talk to C-class Joohyun, who's friends with my special-needs boys, but who I'd never really gotten to know before. This morning I asked him how he was doing, just to see if he'd respond and he very carefully told me in English that he was not doing well because he was cold. He did a good job of communicating!
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10:50 AM I did get to babysit 1-9 class, but only that specific class, including their A-ban and C-ban kids. So class was even more of a knot of confusion than usual because I don't know 2/3rds of the kids, but a few of them quickly snapped up the games and card decks I offered.

Also, the construction workers came into our classroom while we were there and started yanking the chalkboards out of the wall with crowbars. Um. I know my boys seem like they're made of steel, dirt, and rubber, but I'm not sure it's best to start using heavy-duty construction equipment around kids that are still running around willy-nilly and acting full-on careless. But there were no injuries today--that I saw.

And I played chess with Yeongju, a delightful A-ban boy I'd never met before. Oh, he was a doll. We played with an audience of six other kids--A-ban and C-ban mixed, who gave Yeongju advice and tried to get me to sing the "Frozen" soundtrack. Now, you don't have to beg very hard to get me to sing princess songs. It's just in me.

Yeongju knew a lot of English songs, so we also sang some Justin Bieber together, and some Beatles, specifically "Let It Be" because it reminde him of "Let it Go" from Frozen. The C-ban boys were trying to figure out what 'let it go' means in English, and Yeongju was translating it to them as "lose everything" but I tried to give it the nuance of "forget it all"...we did pretty well co-translating. We also bellowed the "na nana nananana, better better better hahhhh!" part of "Hey Jude".

On another translation note, one of the C-ban boys that watched us play was Yonghan, and we had to figure out a word together. Yonghan is one of the kids who says he loves me and means it from the bottom of his heart. After his first love confession, I asked his name, so I've always known him even when I don't know many C-ban 1st-graders.

When I came into class, Yonghan said, "Sem...you are..." then he said a Korean word that started with "시"(shee) and I got out my phone dictionary to let him write the word. He seems to be going for "시원하다" which means "cool/refreshing" and the other related words were "open/bright". So whatever he was calling me, it was very nice. I patted his head and gave him chocolate for that.

We had a marvelous time playing chess, and the boys would show me different cute videos on their phones, which I would laugh over. I made short jokes in Korean, they made short jokes in English and everyone was happy. When class was over, Yeongju said, "See you in March!" Ah, I look forward to that.

Oh, and hahaha, Yeongju made the funniest 2-language joke. He started singing, "Isn't she lovely?" and then he replaced intentionally replaced the words "isn't she" with "Ee Soon Shin". Ee Soon Shin is a famous historical figure, a sea admiral who saved Korea a few hundred years ago. He's revered like George Washington or someone like that. So I died laughing to hear Yeongju singing, "Ee Soon Shin lovelyyyy...Ee Soon Shin wonderful..."
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4 PM: Strangest thing happened with Inha before I left school. My special-needs-room boys caught up with me and C-class Jongmin said, "Teacher, Inha...he want kiss!" This was just the usual ribbing the boys do with each other, so I just laughed because they often say things simply to humiliate each other. Yeongchang chimed in, "Yes. Kiss! Inha want to kiss you!"

The kids are rarely this blatant (normally it's a simple "my friend, he like you.") and I was expecting Inha to murder the other boys for teasing him, since he's prone to sudden bouts of sweeping violence. But he didn't hit them--he actually bent his head and looked embarrassed. I didn't know Inha was capable of embarrassment. After all the gross and weird things I've seen him do, I was convinced that I was just family/furniture to him, but maybe not? Inha feels feelings? He's finally maturing emotionally? Still, I bet when I see him in March, I bet he'll be back to hitting his own self in the head with sticks.

Anyhow, I diffused the situation by giving the boys goodbye-chocolate before they trooped off for spring break. Yeongchang said goodbye to me in Chinese, or so he said--I don't know my Mandarin.

Gave Wooseok some chocolate in the middle of the day, though I haven't seen him as much as I would like at school. And it occurs to me that I haven't seen Danhee or Junho at all in the past two weeks. Where were they? Hopefully they'll be back in March, blithe and happy as always.


I went into town after our teacher's lunch was over, and I got a haircut.

Extends About One Inch Further Down Than The Frame Shows.

While I was getting the cut, two of my boys came into the hair salon! Furcoat-Dongho, a 3rd-grader I like, and his younger friend 2nd-grade Seongmin. Dongho sat around, sipping tea and watching both of us get our hair styled, then when I was done he gave me a thumbs-up of approval.

I went outside and heard, "Leigh!" Across the street it was America Hyunkyeong and 10 of his compatriots, all decked out in their nice suits from yesterday. Apparently, they are spending the day after their graduation roaming the downtown streets looking spiffy and official.

Ran into another small pack of them--Sungyeong and Donghyun and another--close to the bridge. The one of them who never smiles told me happily that they had graduated, and Donghyun made fun of me for crying at their graduation. I didn't think he saw me cry, so the kids who did see it must have spread the word. I think it's cute that they're using this as teasing ammunition. Hope to see more of them in the future!
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2-12-14 3rd-Graders Graduate and I Take Videos and Cry

9 AM: Graduation is today for the 3rd-graders...in one hour, I think. It's another lonely-ish morning at school because there are no classes and the 1st and 2nd-graders aren't here. The noise, the chatter, the randomness are absent today.

I did bring my video camera, so maybe I'll get footage of our graduation, though!

This morning while walking to school, Juseong brightly greeted someone behind me and I didn't think he was talking to me, but I was confused for a second. He then looked embarrassed and said, "Oh, Teacher. Hi to you, too." He told me in Korean that this was the final day of school, and wasn't I going to give him a present? I told him to find me later and he'd get chocolate.

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3:30 PM  It be time for the videos!

Just after 10, we all wandered over to the gymnasium, where our 300 3rd-graders were seated by class. I stood on the side and tried to get good shots, but I forgot how to zoom in! KBR-Teacher blessedly showed me how to do it, so by the end I was able to zoom in on the screen during the presentation.

Here's the opening band:




I don't know these kids, but I did know the song, "나는 아름다운 나비 "(Naneun Areumdaun Nabi=I'm a Beautiful Butterfly). Aren't they talented?

But that's nothing compared to my favorite 3rd-grade charmer America-Hyunkyeong, who sang next:

ETA: Heh, heh, heh. I just now noticed, at the very beginning of this video (1 second in), you hear a boy yelling "멋있는 척 하지마!" (Meoshineun Cheok Hajima!= Don't Act Like You're Cool!) Undoubtedly, he's yelling to Hyunkyeong because he's got a reputation as a cool kid, always staying totally smooth.




Does this kid have pipes or what? I will say that it sounded better live. And I'm KICKING myself for not figuring out the zoom feature sooner.

Next, we have one of my top-5 favorite 2nd-graders, Byeonghyun on the piano. He's pretty much perfect. His fingers are made of light beams and waterfalls:




Again, I'm dying the death for not having a better shot of Byeonghyun's face. He's just beautiful.

After those performances, one kid from each homeroom class got an award...not sure if it was the class captains or what, but I got footage of my boy Giant Shion getting his award from our principal:





The angles of the previous video are awkward because I was having to hold the camera over my head. Good thing I've been working out, or videotaping our graduation would have broken me. While taking the next video, my arms started shaking.

This is the montage video of all our 3rd-graders and what they did during the year. I occasionally say the names of the students that appear in the video. And there's a blink-and-you-missed-it picture of me in the school festival's performance.

Annnnd make note of the "Frozen" soundtrack. Frozen is so popular in Korea, it was the soundtrack for my teenage boys graduating from school. The kids sing "Let it Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" in the halls, the teachers have those songs as their cell ringtones, and now those two songs form the background for our meaningful memory montage. Well played, Disney, well played. You are everywhere.

And I don't know who the people early on in the video are--they're not teachers at our school, but the kids apparently know them.




The pictures made my heart all melty. Soon, we were all dismissed and the kids and parents poured outside, whereupon I recorded these closing remarks and talked to Dongho (who didn't want to be recorded):





One funny/encouraging side effect of attending the graduation was seeing that the kids not paying attention in my class is not some rare phenomenon--they didn't pay much attention to their own graduation! Half of them were on their phones, albeit quietly, and only one-third of them responded in any way to the speeches (applause was right sparse). But they're grand boys, despite their lack of participation.

I held it all together until I saw JY-Teacher talking to one of her students. She's a homeroom teacher for 3rd-graders and at the teachers' dinner last night, she and I had been talking about the struggle between wanting to be respected and wanting to be compassionate to the students.

She told me that she wants respect and that other teachers (in other schools) talk about how totally in-line their kids are, but she and I both agreed that if you focus on beating everybody into shape and keeping them in a perfect line, you forget to care for them as human beings.

Anyhow, this super-tall student gave her flowers and as he walked away, she started crying. She told me that he was one of her smartest students, but that he gave her the most trouble--it was endlessly frustrating, dealing with this boy. She struggled to control him all year, but now he's leaving and he's thanking her for being his teacher.

Once I saw her crying, I broke down a bit, too. I thought about how I won't see Love-You-Sungjae, Guide-Jaewan, Giant-Shion, 6-Meetings Juseong, Jjang-Donghwi, Boo-Jongha, Model-Seokho, Jinhwan, Heechan, Teacher's Pet Jeongmin, Hyunkyeong or any of the rest of them again. Ugh, it hurt.

I wondered why it was so very sad to see them go, and I realized that this is the first time that I've been left behind. In high school, college, and grad school, I'm sure my teachers and professors missed me and I missed them, but I got to jet off to the next big, fun thing. Maybe not for the professors, but I do wonder if it was hard on my teachers to see me and my compatriots leave.

Even when I was a teacher in America, I taught middle school and younger high school students, so in the 2 and half years I taught, none of my kids graduated from the school--I was the one to leave. Leaving my family for another country was tough, but I knew I could talk to them every day and I could come home by plane a few times a year. In other words, it wasn't anything like a permanent goodbye.

But this is my first time to be the one staying, not the one leaving. The 3rd-graders jet off to the next big thing, but I stay here and repeat the routine with another crop of kids. How very different. It's not bad at all, just new. A grown-up experience, I guess.This is what will continue happening if I keep being a teacher and eventually (I hope), a professor. And someday I'll have my own kids and they will go places. And that will be okay.

God really blessed me with these boys. They never let you stay too serious; as soon as a couple of the boys saw me and JY-Teacher wiping tears, they mocked us horribly, which made me laugh enough to stop crying.

And before that, Sungjoon tapped my arm to get my attention then did a finger-guns "hey there, girl" gesture while winking. Serious educational ceremonies do nothing to tamp down incurable flirts. And then America Hyunkyeong came by in his nice suit to ask me for chocolate. I gave him some and told him that he had a great voice.

Hyunkyeong was accompanied by a C-class kid that I love, but who has resolutely refused to tell me his name. This boy always teases me about dating the ethics teacher, and he's excellent at soccer. I didn't recognize him at first because his hair was different, but I gave him chocolate too and told him that his new look was cute.

We had an excellent teacher-lunch at a galbi-tang (beef soup) restaurant, and our vice-principal was thrilled when he heard how much my Korean language ability was coming along. I've seldom seen him that happy, so it was a tremendous mood boost for me, because I've been studying so hard for so long with seemingly little results, but my VP thinks I'm advancing nicely. Boo-yah!

Still, the silent walk home was kind of sad. I kept trying NOT to think about the students that I wouldn't see again. Because then I would cry, and I did not want to be a lone foreigner crying while walking down the street. I turned toward home, a little blue but staying solid, when I heard "LEIGH!"

Across the river bridge, faaaaar away was Giant Shion, waving his arm wildly. I waved back, "Hi Shion! Congratulations!" He was too far away to walk over to, but I was smiling the rest of the way home just from the greeting. Because I remembered that Shion lives in this neighborhood. And so do Youngjin and Seokho and Joah-Seonghoon and a bunch of others.

I'll still see them sometimes. And in March, I'll have fresh new baby 1st-graders to teach and love and be  annoyed and driven insane by. There's always people to love, and God makes you equal to the task of giving to others, however many others there happen to be. Just when I feel a bit too poured out, the Lord lets one of the kids do something that refreshes me and makes everything better.

Tomorrow's the last day of school for 1st and 2nd-graders and Leigh-Sem can't wait to see them all again, come the new semester in March. :-) We've done graduation; bring on the next school year!

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2-11-14 Orphanage Visit, Music From Yeongchang, and Daesung's Future

10:15 AM: Snow was melted today, saving me from further tripping.

Had the Angel Class for 2-7, 2-8 B. Their power was still not working, so we just did the board games. Cardsharp Minsu wasn't going to be the least bit interested in anything until I offered him a pack of cards. "Cards" is a language he speaks. He didn't acknowledge me otherwise, but I think he's got some kind of baby romance going on with one of the girls from the other middle school, because he kept talking to his friend about "date" and "chocolate" and alternating between grinning and looking pained. Sometimes you're adorable, Minsu, you're just adorable to people who aren't me.

Played UNO with Chansu, Joonwoo, Byeonwook and another one. Then I watched Jungbok and crew make Jenga stacks. Watching other people play Jenga is surprisingly fun. After class, The A-level kids poured in and Hyunmyeong wanted candy so he, Jiwoong, Jeongwook and the usual crowd of favorites got theirs.

Computer-Jongmin gave me a piece of gum. He's such a sweet baby--between occasionally carrying my stuff, giving me candy, and telling his hagwon-van driver that he knows me, Computer Jongmin's someone I really like, despite him trying to stay silent around me.

Ran into Jaehyung in the hallway, and he told me he'd already played Jenga today, but that he wanted to play Monopoly. So I took the board to the special needs' room and we set it up, but didn't really have time to play. Hong-Teacher was making cookies in the special needs' room oven, and she gave me one, fresh and hot. Soooo nice!

This morning, on the walk to school, Giant Shion bumped my shoulder in greeting as he walked by. He said, "Hi Leigh!" I keep saying I'm going to give up the battle to get the 3rd-graders to add the word "Teacher" to my name. Two of the A-levels saw me by the playground yesterday and said "Hi Leigh!" I added, "Teacher," for no purpose, really. I'm not their teacher, I'm their fun foreign cousin, and nothing's changing that.


And now the info on my orphanage trip...

On Saturday, me and my friend BC rode a bus to the orphanage in town, and she taught a basic fun little winter-based lesson to three 8-year-olds while I had a sort of conversation class with teenage Daesung on one side, in between bouts of playing with Jinsu, a beautiful, chubby energetic 4-year-old.

I had the best time. Jinsu wanted to play hide and seek, and he kept grabbing my hands and putting them on his cheeks, then putting them on my cheeks, so I was going back and forth between holding both our faces. I used every word I knew, but wished I knew more Korean for him. I caught myself turning to Daesung to ask him to translate the baby for me, but though Daesung's learning fast, he's still got not so very much English.

The orphanage workers said Jinsu was a "new face" so he came to the orphanage within the last month. I think there are 50 kids there, total, and BC said that they go up through university age, though I didn't see those people. The oldest kid I met was a boy who goes to the high school next to my middle school.

In our little English class, there was Seongbom (who did a cartwheel for me and juggled drumsticks), Minguk (who seemed quite smart), and Samgal, who was quiet and called me "seongsaengnim". I couldn't talked with the 8-year-old much because of Jinsu's demands for attention. At the end of the lesson, we all played UNO, which Seongbom could not understand even when it was explained to him in Korean by Daesun. But we had fun.

Then it was time for lunch, when BC and I split up. I sat by Daesung and BC sat with some elementary girls, and as the lunch went on, little boys kept coming by our table to talk to me. Byeongwook was a clever 6th-grader who translated me for middle school girl Yujin, even though Byeongwook didn't particularly have more English--he could just understand my Korean better than Yujin could. Eebom was another darling 6th-grader with a big smile and a willingness to talk to me.

I can't know for sure, but the kids looked well cared-for. The staff seemed kind and mindful of the kids, and lunch was delicious. Most of the kids looked happy, and the ones that didn't, I'm inclined to think it was a pre-existing condition. You never know what misfortunes led to them being stuck in this place. The facilities were all big and clean, from what I saw, so I felt pleased with their living conditions.

BC and I are only allowed to teach English once a month, though we want to go more often, so I won't see the kids again until March, but I'm really looking forward to it.
------------------------------

11:50 AM  I went to 1-5, 1-6 B, but their homeroom teacher was there and they were all cleaning the room and putting in new books. So no class. All this week, old books have been hauled out of school and new books have been rolling in. Kid after kid walks in with arms full of fresh new text books. Wonder if we're getting new English books? Because I need copies, if so. So I can get to thinking of different lessons.

Went to the special needs room to hang out with Jaehyung while he played MapleStory, an online game the boys are loving lately, though it's been around for 10 years. Jaehyung had on a headset with padded earphones and a microphone, and when I tried it, I could hear the game's music.

Yeognchang came in and requested that Jaehyung let him play just once. So Yeongchang sat next to me and hooked up his phone to the game's headset. I didn't know what it was for, but it turned out that he wanted me to listen to music on his phone while he played MapleStory.

When he heard that I liked the song "없구나" (Eopguna), he cued it up for me, then gave me the headset. When that song was done, he said, "Teacher, Teacher..." then scrolled through the songs on his phone and played "Joah"! It was the cutest thing. Just when I think that everybody but Seonghoon has let that particular performance go, Yeongchang reminds me that to him, this song is my song. Dawww.
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1:45 PM No afternoon classes, either.

Because the boys are moving more textbooks and more desks and bookcases and random tidbits o' furniture than I didn't even know we had. The 2nd-floor teacher offices are being purged as we speak--the doors of the office are gone, the entrance a cavernous maw out of which flow children lugging stuff.

After lunch, Saturday Jeongmin came to hang out, but since we've both been a little board of the Minecraft videos, I told him that we had to watch videos that would help me study Korean. He wasn't slightly interested in the Talk To Me In Korean video I had going, but he found a video of an Englishman who speaks fluent Korean and who challenged his friends in London to eat spicy noodles...the video's only two days old, as of my writing, and it's got English and Korean subtitles.



 I'm rather in danger of envying the main guy his Korean-speaking ability, because I watched two of his other videos, and I'm nowhere near his level of fluency. The jealousy, it burns. I want to be goooood! So Jeongmin and I laughed out heads off at the video, and I got some ideas for what to say when I'm eating spicy stuff. Daesung came in while I was watching the video, and he just stood around until Jeongminnie had to run off for lunch.

 Then Daesung played chess with me, and Adorable History Teacher stopped by to say, "Chess!" His enthusiasm... it's just precious. I told him, "대성아, 체스 잘해요. ...가끔." (Daesung's great at chess. ...sometimes.) AHT laughed because I made a joke, then he said in English, "Chess is fun." I said yes, but it often made me angry.

 Earlier, Jeongmin said he was really hungry, so I fed him some cheese crackers I'd bought to keep at my desk in case any of the kids needed more food than just chocolate. Nobody wanted them until now--Jeongmin had 5, then Daesung had 7, then the Teacher-Who-Talks-To-Jeongmin said he wanted one, so I gave him one and finally got his real name written down. I be meeting people!

 When chess was over, Daesung wanted to do our word game, and there was some confusion because he kept telling me that his family name was Kim, then saying his family name was "Sung" and I was like, "No, Dae-Sung" is your personal name and Kim is your family name....but then he looked up the word on my phone dictionary and it turns out that the Korean word for "family name" is "Sung" so "Sung" is a syllable in his first name and also the technical term for Kim, his family name. That's not confusing at all.

 I had a serious conversation with Daesung about how he was to contact me if he ever had a problem in the future. I've given him my phone number, but while he has a cell phone he doesn't have service, presumably because he can't afford it. He also said he doesn't have email, so I asked him how could he contact me if he had a problem? Once he's a high school student I won't see him every day, so how can we communicate? Not that there's nobody in Daesung's life who cares about him, but you never know when he'll need somebody.

 He might or might not having a living mother--that part is actually unclear. He definitely lives at the orphanage. I'm assuming that the adults in his life are all teachers or orphanage workers. I don't want him to find himself without resources; even if he and I can barely talk, I want to be there if he needs something. So he gave me the phone number of the individual house where he lives. So he can call me from there, and I can call that number if I'm worried.

 Daesung asked how long I'll be in Korea, and I tried to tell him that I'll just BE in Korea. Until when, I don't know, but other than visiting home, I don't have plans to move within the next several years. When I said that, he shrieked and held his face, but he was smiling. His response shocked me, so I asked him if he was happy or angry about the news--I honestly couldn't tell. He said he didn't know which!
 ---------------------------

2-10-14 Falling on Ice, Yeongchang's Birthday, Game With Hyo

9 AM Wore the wrong shoes this morning--it snowed and instead of putting on my snow boots, I just trucked right along in my regular shoes.

I didn't fall until I was at the school gates. I didn't get hurt and I picked myself right up, but of course I kinda hoped none of the kids saw it.

No such luck. A few seconds later, I heard Joah-Seonghoon singing. When he caught up with me, he imitated my walk (carefree arm-swinging, head tilting happily from side to side, nearly skipping--it looked more like Red Riding Hood hopping along to Grandma's house) and he said, "너무 좋은데요...너무 좋은데요...빵!" ('neomu joheundeyo, neomu joheundeyo...bang!'='everything is wonderful, everything is wonderful...BAM!) then pretended to fall. I laughed and rubbed his head. He's my boy and he lives to tease. I couldn't expect him to let it go when he saw me slip.

When I got to the special needs' room, Inha had two long sticks, freshly plucked from some little tree, and he was waving them about like a dual-wielding swordsman. He gestured with the sticks and said, "Teacher! Seongwon! Hit Seongwon!" Telling me that these sticks were meant for Seongwon-abuse. Considering that Seongwon was in the room, looking at Yeongchang's computer game without a care in the world, I knew this was a joke.

Inha continued to say that the sticks were meant for Seongwon-slaying, but I just patted Inha's back and told him I didn't believe. The boys do beat up on Seongwon too much, but the funny thing is that now they know I'm Seongwon's white knight and that I'll come rushing to his defense, so when they want attention, they've started pretending to be about to attack him.

Oy. The audacity. The chutzpah of it all. After Inha, Yeongchang did the same thing--"Teacher! Me! I hit Seongwon!" He didn't, but it was the fastest way to get my focus switched from the computer game to Yeongchang. The sparkling look of total joy in his eyes when he realized that he could control my attention by threatening Seongwon was simultaneously adorable and terrifying. They're too smart for their own good.

When I asked Yeongchang what he did this weekend, he said yesterday was his birthday. I confirmed this with the other kids and Yeongchang asked for a present. Even if he's lying about this one, I want to go ahead and get him something.
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10:50 AM Got Yeongchang his birthday present, which was a pack of pencils with English writing, a pack of UNO cards, and a note written in English and Korean with stickers and decorations on it. He seemed pleased with the gift and also mildly surprised that I'd actually done it. Of course I did, silly boy. You're one of the kids I love. I wouldn't skip over you.

Spent all of 1-7, 1-8 B just playing Monopoly with Hyo. I gave card decks, Jenga stacks, and chess boards to the other kids and they were all happily engrossed in their own little games.

I got to talk so much with Hyo. He was using a lot of English and I was using all the Korean I had learned this week--it felt like we were both stretching to say things beyond our normal language-comfort level. He told me that he's an only child, and during winter vacation he went to Singapore with his mom, where the weather was warm and windy. I commented about how he'll be a 2nd-grader next month, and he talked about where he went to elementary school. It was lovely.
------------------------------------------------

3:30 PM Spent all of 2-9, 2-10 A playing Monopoly with Geon, who is way more fun than I could have guessed. I've had him in Saturday class, but I never got to talk to him much because he was always hanging with HH, who is an indisputable genius, and Daehoon, who is adorable and known for his wordplay and linguistic jokes.

Geon is awesome. We talked a little about family, and we both agonized over small game decisions. I played it safe this game, not buying property so I wouldn't run out of money, but Geon won because he bought more towers first. He told me that in this game, it was best to be brave and take chances, and I agreed with him.

For 2-7, 2-8 A, the Demon Class, I learned just how precious Youngmin is. Youngmin had sort of been on the edge of my student-radar for a while--I knew him to be a smart, fun kid, but not much else. But last week, he stayed after class to clean up a bit, and today he stayed after class again to clean. KBR-Teacher specifically asked me if I knew his name, and when I did, she told me that he was a good student. I'll have my eye on him in the future.

Annnd this news just in: next semester, I might get to be in a smaller office with B-Teacher, JY-Teacher, and KBR-Teacher, basically a microcosm of the English department. It's undecided but oh, if only, if only! That would be grand, talking to my favorite co-teachers a bit more often.
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2-7-14 Meeting BY's Mom, Chess, and Hagwon Vans

9 AM: I met BY's mother!!!!!

This morning started off beautifully because just as I got to the school's gates, I saw a car pull up to the front and a familiar limping figure emerge. I thought, oh it must be BY's mom, dropping him off so he won't have to make the walk. I was going to just walk past the car because I didn't want to stare, but his mom rolled down her window to say hi to me.

I asked,  "___이 엄어니?" (Are you BY's mom?) And she said she was. I said in Korean that I was pleased to meet her, and she said I was pretty. She asked where I lived, and I said here in town. I told her in English that it was so nice to meet her because BY was a wonderful student. My English wasn't quite connecting, so I said, "좋아하는 학생"  or "he's a student that I like". We said goodbye and she drove off. We were clearly both delighted by the exchange, and she's the 3rd mom I've really gotten to speak to.

BY was just walking into the school when I caught up with him. I called out to him a few times, but he didn't hear me until I was right by him. He was walking so slowly, and when I saw his face, he looked horribly tired and depressed, like the weight of the world was bearing down on him. I said, "I met your mom! She pulled her car over and talked to me." He smiled at that. I said, "I thought you had a scary mom, but she's really nice!" He laughed and said, "Oh, she seems nice only on the outside!" I waved bye to him and was glad that I got to see him smile after witnessing him walking so forlornly.

BY's mom is quite pretty, too, especially so since I know that she has five children, the oldest of which is a few years older than me. I hope I run into her again. I like moms. :-)
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11:40 AM 

Oh, the classes they were lovely. I walked into 1-3, 1-4 B and was pretty sure something was wrong because the room was still full of A-ban boys. Because we're just playing games and watching movies in English classes these two weeks, the A-ban boys had no motivation to move too quickly from their classroom to B-Teacher's class, where they belonged. Chilling is chilling, no matter where you do it.

I set up Monopoly with Smart Eunchan (a precious child who I've always liked very much), Tiny Yong, and a kid I don't know named Minwoo. I tried to make Jaeson play, but he wanted me to play and for him to be the banker. It's rare that a kid wants to take a less active role in the game, but Jaeson likes the power it affords him to be in charge of the money. Jaeson's one of the older-seeming 1st-graders, and with his baseball cap on, you could mistake him for a short college student.

And it was really sweet how the boys insisted that I play. When I lost my last money and had to drop out of the game, they kept trying to give "대줄" (loans) and figure out some way to keep me playing. It was super cute. After looking at my eyes, Eunchannie asked me, "Teacher. Lens?" I told him no, this was my real eye color.

Thwacked the arm of Joah-Seonghoon's puffy coat as he walked by me, bellowing "Joah" at the top of his lungs. This kid.

2-1, 2-2 A was grand and was all I could have asked for. Byeonghyun has a new laptop he was using, and he and Seongmo quickly commandeered the chess board. The other kids snapped up UNO, Halli Galli, and Jenga (which resulted in so, so, so much shouting--it was adorable), and I ended up overseeing Euigi, Seongjoon, HH, and Artist Joohyun playing Monopoly.

They were hilarious. It was the first time playing Monopoly for all of them, and the rage and joy of gaining and losing property was inspiring them to be very loud indeed. I had no idea Sungjoon (who is normally very calm in class) could be so bombastically loud. I couldn't help laughing at his reactions, because they were so extreme. HH yelled over every little thing like he was attending a football game, cheering for his team and reacting in righteous anger when things went against him.

Joohyun and Euigi were calmer, but still seriously invested. Joohyun's probably in the top 5 most adorable 2nd-graders we've got (in competition with Bitty Baby Seongjik, Twins Jeongho and Seungho and...Byeongji? Maybe Chansu and Joonwoo, too.)--he's not even one of the smallest, but his heart is so tender and his manners are so kind, you want to pet his head like a fluffy little chick or duckling.

After one of the other kids in class picked up the bank money and pretended to take it, I took it back and said "이거 내것" (This is mine!). HH said my Korean was seriously improving, and yesterday Saturday Jeongmin kind of backhandedly told me I was getting good.

Me and Jeongmin were walking around outside and I was greeted by Walk-to-School Mingi. Mingi asked me about my vacation, and I replied with 3-ish sentences in Korean. Jeongmin giggled over my words and told me I had gotten the past tense for "I met my family" wrong (later, Co-Teacher told me I was, in fact, saying it right). But then he reassured me by adding,

"But it's still good, Teacher. You said so much. When I first knew you, you only spoke English."

Thank you, honeybunny. I'm a simple creature, but I do try.

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3:30 PM: Munching on a little snacky given to me by Governor Yunho and waiting for school to close.

Lunch was really tasty today and I got gently scolded my lunch coordinator for leaving my rice for last instead of eating a bite of it, then a bite of side dish, then a spoonful of soup like everyone else. It's so charming to me how she takes the time to school me on proper eating order. Could it possibly make a difference? Maybe it's just a little-kid eating habit that I have, finishing everything in segments.

After lunch, Saturday Jeongmin came in to watch videos. When Daesung came in, though, I kind of stopped listening to our videos in order to play chess with Daesung. Jeongmin seemed a little gloom-cloudy because I wasn't watching our video anymore, but I needed to try to talk to Daesung.

Because yesterday, Daesung left school early with a really worried look on his face. When I questioned him, he showed me a note with Korean writing, but I couldn't figure out why he was leaving. He seemed fine over chess, though, and seemed to feel that whatever happened yesterday wasn't a problem any more. I told him I was coming with BC tomorrow. He seemed very happy about that news, but wondered why. I tried to say that it was because I told BC long ago that I wanted to go.

When Jeongmin left, I asked him to smile and he did. Lately, I've been asking the boys "Will you smile?" and "Can you smile?" pretty often, just to make them conscious of what their faces are doing and to maybe make them feel a little brighter just for a moment. I've been working on smiling more--smiling directly at people as if they're the reason I'm smiling. For some kids, the results are pretty magical. They look like they feel valued in that moment.

2-3, 2-4 A was a bit less fun, because fewer of them wanted to play games of any kind and most opted to just sit in corners with their phones, but Hyun, Sunbin and company had a killer time with Jenga, and Inha told me that he wanted to play Monopoly with me. I'm glad Inha still cares about me, despite how often I feel like I have to correct him in regard to Seongwon. But I go out of my way to acknowledge him, too--he's also one of my kids.

I called BY over to play with us, and he was a million laughs. I love, love, love this kid. I asked if he was getting more rest lately and he says that he is, but he still wears himself out a bit by his own research. When asked what he was researching, he said psychology. Specifically, personality psychology because he wants to understand people. He says it's exhausting because all the articles he wants to read are in English, and contain really complex terminology.

I told him I was proud of him for having such a unique interest and for trying to expand his knowledge. But he's already a teensy bit manipulative, so I hope he doesn't use his new knowledge for ill. The unsuspecting masses won't know what hit them if this very very intelligent boy learns even more about smoothing people. At any rate, we had a great time and I was quite happy to get to chat with him for a whole class period. After the game, Inha told me that he wants to play Monopoly with me on Monday, and would I please bring the game to the special needs room at lunchtime? So sweet.

3-7, 3-8, 3-9 B was dull to start. The kids only wanted to play Jenga, but I did get to play chess with Boo-Jongha, who beat me even after I had gotten a solid lead. Soon, another boy named Yeongjin wanted to play, and we had an audience by that time, too. I lost that game as well, but I comfort myself with the fact that he had five advisers and I was playing solo.

In the hallway, Seonwonnie and I got into a pretend kung-fu fight, and one of the male teachers saw us and cracked up.

Joah-Seonghoon walked into school carrying a box full of cola bottles, and he didn't just bellow the song at me this time--he crashed into me then did a sort of barrel-roll around me, spinning off without injuring either of us, without dropping the cola, and without breaking stride. It was impressive.

Joonsung was in the special needs room just now, watching short English cartoon songs. He was watching "Oh Susanna" and I sang along with the line about coming from Alabama. It hit me just how unusual it is to hear about my home state in an all-Korean setting!

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5:10 PM  As I left school, I saw a giant hagwon van and wondered which kids it was waiting for.

Brief explanation about hagwon vans: A hagwon is an afterschool academy where kids go for classes after their classes are over. They offer a bajillion subjects, some specializing in Korean literature, some science, some English and math, etc.

Because the hagwons are too far for most kids to walk, and their parents are often at work, these academies offer shuttle services to pick up the kids from their schools and take them to their hagwons.

Just yesterday, the driver of one of these vans called me over because Computer Jongmin was inside and wanted to say hi to me. Jongmin is C-ban and we're very fond of each other, though the other boys give him grief because he can't talk to me. I greeted him by name then said "my student" in Korean to the driver, so that Jongmin would have every possible bit of street cred. Yes, I know this one's name. He's special.

A half minute later, as I continued my walk, the van pulled up by me and the driver said, "Cab?" and offered me a ride in the front seat. Computer Jongmin leaned forward hopefully, but I had to politely decline the ride.

Anyway, today there was a hagwon van near the high school. And when I got closer, I saw Laryngitis Seonghoon and Walk-to-School Mingi about to get aboard. They yelled and smiled and gave me huge waves, and I waved back. I walked to closer to the van (which was more like a bus), and as I passed the back of it, Mingi wriggled into view and waved once more through the window. I blew a kiss and he returned the gesture. It was super-mega-more-heartwarming.

Further along the walk home, I passed a group of ahjussis (middle-aged men) and they immediately started saying the name of my school--not to me, but to each other. We've never met, but these men know where I work. As does probably half the town, by now.
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