2-7, 2-8-A saw me and the lovely KBR-Teacher spending 30 minutes trying to properly use the new computer. In the end, the boys could either watch their movie with subtitles and no sound, or sound and no subtitles. We went with sound.
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3:00 PM 1-5, 1-6 B Cheated a bit at Monopoly, especially Sanghyun, but they were a fun riotous bunch of preciousness. Hyunshik got glasses over the break, and I think Munsu-Octopus grew a couple of inches. I could swear our little octopus used to be considerably shorter.
When I got out of that class, Jeongmin and Deokryong accompanied my down the hall, Jeongmin carrying all my stuff. Downstairs, both boys saw my practice-test for Korean language, where I was picking multiple choice answers that were too hard for me. Deokryong pointed out the one I got wrong, and when I came back after lunch, Jeongmin had written on my test paper, translating every option into English so I could pick properly. When the kids help me learn Korean, it's just the best.
At lunch, I sat across from our music teacher and learned that she has a ton of English! I always knew she had some, but we were able to discuss a lot of things. I've been trying harder to connect to the other women teachers since I came back, and it's been nothing but rewarding. They are a lovely, thoughtful bunch and I haven't put forth enough effort in the past to try to talk to them--I simply assumed we couldn't talk and left it at that.
Seonwoo saw me at lunch and immediately yelled "Chocolate!" to annoy me. I missed him and his endless teasing.
After lunch, Jeongmin helped me set up the new board game I bought--"Forbidden Desert". I bought it because it looked different and fun, but it might just be too complicated for the boys. After setting up the game, Jeongmin went to lunch and I went outside for a walk.
Outside, I found Seongwon standing all alone behind the school with none of his friends in sight. I asked if he was waiting for anyone and whether he was going to play basketball or soccer, and he indicated he wasn't doing anything or waiting for anything.
I hung out with him a little longer, trying to assess his mood. His eyes were watery, but mine were too, because the wind was up. I asked him to come inside and try out a new game with me, so Seongwon and Jeongmin both played Forbidden Desert with me at my desk; or at least we tried.
The funny thing, to me, was that since Jeongmin didn't know Seongwon, he immediately asked him in Korean which grade he was. I nearly laughed. Because Jeongmin was trying to figure out the age hierarchy, which would determine what verb ending he used when he spoke to Seongwon.
But when I heard the question, I answered for Seongwon, "이학년"(2nd grade) because I knew that Seongwonnie was just as likely to not answer the question. Baby is not big on speaking.(Half of our interactions, he doesn't even speak Korean. I just speak Korean to him and read his resulting expressions. He has no speech impediments. He's not shy. He's simply not a fan of saying things).
And then Jeongmin said, "아. 형."= "Ah. He's an upperclassman/big brother." And he proceeded to call Seongwon "hyung" for the rest of the time. Which was majorly disconcerting because both boys are the same size (Seongwon might be a tad smaller) and have the same unchanged voices, so Seongwon doesn't physically seem like the big brother.
And behavior-wise, Jeongmin's a well-spoken miniature adult, while Seongwon occasionally uses yips and hooting sounds to communicate and he spent all morning with his hands pulled inside his jacket, flapping the empty sleeves to give people (me included) high fives. But both boys sat calmly as we attempted the game. My Seongwon was very patient, especially considering that me and Jeongmin were exchanging infinite amounts of English that he was just locked out of.
2-5, 2-6 B was nice. I talked to JY-Teacher the entire time. She's so cool. I love, love, love hanging out with her. The boys took over the chess board, and the kids operating Monopoly were such pros, they only needed to consult me to translate the Chance cards. Kangjae interrupted me to ask, "선생님, 여기 얼마요?" = "Teacher, here you get how much money?" meaning how much did players get when they passed GO. I said "오십" = "Fifty" and JY-Teacher burst out laughing. She said, "I was about to tell Kangjae to speak to you in English, but he asked in Korean and you understood and answered in Korean!" I thought it was funny, too.
Simyong correctly identified that the caramel candies I was handing out today were the kind I had given Joohyun for his birthday. Smart kiddo. Saw Artist-Joohyun in the halls several times.
Seongsu made me laugh by singing a question at me. He was coming down the hallway, and in perfect English he asked, "Do you want to build a snowman?" But he SANG it. When I was too shocked to respond, he sang again, more insistently, "Do you want to build a snowmaaaan?" I answered by singing the same melody line, "No because there isn't any snowww!" He laughed.
Also, I haven't seen the new movie "Frozen," yet, but my hair is in one big braid today, and JY-Teacher said I looked like the main character. I looked her up, and this is her:
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