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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