3-24-14 Friends With TE-Teacher, Hyunho's Happy, Hyunmyeong's Funny

10:15 AM: First class went well. It was just an "in my opinion" writing activity, but I was determined to get the 2nd grade boys just a wee bit more practice on "in my opinion," because they still don't quite have it.

I was with SG2 and she's delightful. We chatted about our weekends and commiserated over the boys going nuts and stealing each other's stuff in class. I met new kids Youngjin and Jeongyo and hung out with Cutie-Beomjoon, BestFriend-Mingyu, Soonhyuk, Daejeong and others.

Yongmoon has never really wanted to work on his stuff before, but he was a darling little charmer when I talked to him today because we had played UNO together on Friday, and now we're on close terms. After class, SG2 and I walked toward the 1st-grade wing surrounded by a cloud of her tiny homeroom students who were oohing and ahhing over our apparent friendship. I called two of them cute, and they immediately bragged about it to their friends. "I'm cute! Teacher, I am CUTE you said?!!??"

In the first grade wing, I confirmed with S-Teacher that we're still in chapter 1 for the little kids, and I got chocolate from one of the new guy teachers. I feel like I've gotten a fair amount of small teacher-to-teacher presents lately--this morning, I showed TE-Teacher that I was still wearing the bracelet she gave me. I need to visit her more often, since she's stuck in the 1st-floor office away from all her friends, me included.

Also, I think today is student elections for school president? Seohyung vs. Joonwoo, I believe? Let's see how that one goes.
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11:45 AM: Just got passed by Haneul, who had gotten paddled for something. He was clutching his backside and groaning dramatically, but when he passed my desk he completely stopped wincing, adopted a normal face expression and dropped his voice an octave to say, "Hello."

It is a certain kind of talent to be able to flirt immediately after corporal punishment, and it reminds me of Danhee last year, asking me out while riding piggyback on Seongsu's back. The incongruity between their words and their circumstances does not register at all, or if it registers it does not matter one whit.

2nd class was pretty good. Me and NG-Teacher had pretty good communication, and even if the kids were bored, they all said "in my opinion" at least once. I can work with that. NG-Teacher kept the kids entertained by googling words for them so they could fill out their worksheets, and while he did that I helped the individuals with their stuff.

Helping individuals is really my favorite thing. The whole class goes off track a bit when I do that, but I'm connecting with the babies personally and letting them speak. Dongha wants to go to America someday because of "civil rights" he says...he must mean something else, but I applaud him for his vocabulary. Kibeom is vibrant but can hardly speak a lick and has to rely on Dongha and Sangpil for help.

Me and NG-Teacher had a discussion about Ethics class in Korean, how the kids have a class that's not really Ethics per se, but it's a lot like social studies mixed with courtesy, about how to treat others. Intriguing. I'm not surprised that Korea, with its emphasis on group stuff and respect for elders should have such a subject. Anyhoo, I feel like NG-Teacher and I are talking like SG2 and I do, like friends which is so unfathomably great. I would not have thought it possible two weeks ago.

Donghyuk came by the office to tell me he was tired because of something my dictionary translated as "national assembly sports meeting". Erm. I think he's just tired from PE, not from a national assembly. You have one job, dictionary! Do it properly!

Giseok, a tall kid who was in the office because of misbehavior every single day of the first week of school, is now one of the kids I greet by name. He seems happy about that.

And not only are teachers getting new tablets--all the students are, too! Or at least all the 3rd-graders are; it's not clear to me whether it extends to all grades. These tablets will all be broke/stole/inappropriately re-purposed within a week, says logic, and yet we have them.
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2:45 PM: Lunch was good. I sat with TE-Teacher and she and I both got some language practice in, talking about our weekends in two languages. In the hallway when we ladies were walking to lunch, I saw TE-Teacher coming and I waited for her and took her arm, like we all often do together. She had looked exhausted, but after I greeted her she seemed happier.

After lunch, KBR and I walked around the soccer field arm-in-arm, which was also wonderful. Her school life this year has been harder, she says, and mine kind of has also. But we pray for each other.

Next, as I was walking into school after parting ways with KBR, Hyunho and Jeongmin both came and got me. There was much tugging and nudging me toward the school doors so they could get the UNO game going.

I don't mind Hyunho being touchy-feely because he's still tiny, but I try to keep Jeongmin from doing too much of the hand-holding type of stuff because he's already way too into his white knight role. He really doesn't need to shepherd his princess everywhere, so I have to shrug off his arm without hurting his feelings. He's still a child, so he has to be discouraged very gently.

Not that subtle discouragement makes much of a difference, so far. He still wanted to pick out which chocolates I was going to eat and in what order, and he wanted me to bring them to the UNO game so I could eat them while he was around. The biggest happiness for me is seeing him interact joyfully with other kids at the Lunchtime Games. He's having the time of his life and I'm not the focus--I'm just making the fun times with his buddies possible.

Hyunho taught me what he thought was a more natural way to say "I'm not very good at Korean". I had been saying a popular phrase, "I can do Korean a little bit," but Hyunho suggested I try the equivalent of, "Korean I don't know well".

I also told Hyunho I was glad to see him smile. I told him in a mix of English and Korean that he hadn't really been smiling lately, but today he looked happy. Hyunho got really tickled over my assessment of his emotions and as a result, he smiled even more. Little Yongmoon had a great time at the games and a new kid, Woojeong, joined in. Twin Eungyo kept doing his usual thing of touching me then diving behind a chair so I couldn't see him. It was funny.

One kid in the classroom kept threatening/stabbing another with a blunt half-broom thing, and I got up during a card game to go stop them. I stood up and held my hand out: "야! 내 놔." (yah! Nae nwa.) or "Hey! Give me that." It worked like a charm. The threatening boy handed over the broom-piece, my guys were impressed by my Korean, and when I sat down, Hyunho grinned from ear to ear and said "Good work, Teacher! You did a good job." Dawww.

In my 3rd-grade class, the boys did a decent job with their "my favorite memory" worksheet, and I sure had fun with them. I got to talk about church with Byeongjo and Seonghyun, who say they have no religion. I talked about sci-fi books with Euigi and playground games with Seonwoo. And Hyunmyeong made me laugh/cringe when I called on him to say his favorite memory and he said with perfect faux-sincerity: "My favorite memory is today, here with you."

Dead. Dying. I couldn't stop laughing. The other boys were simultaneously impressed by his creativity and freaked out by the cheesiness. I said, "Thank you. Now I want to die," which made them all convulse with laughter again and Hyungmin said in Korean, "You made Sem want to die with your weird words." It was a very special moment in our day. Who knew Hyunmyeong was so clever?

And I finally got to talk a lot with Diamond-Seonghyun, whose favorite memory was a trip to Jeju Island when he was younger. Seonghyun and I were overdue for friendship and we've finally got it. I also got to talk with Soccer-Minwoo, who at long last has favorite status. It was only a matter of getting to talk more. Soccer-Minwoo says he doesn't have many good memories because his father is very busy, so they can't go on vacations much. New kid Cheongyu was nice, too.

In 3rd-grade class, the boys also had a chance to encourage me in my singleness, unironically. Seonghyun wrote that he wanted to go back to Jeju Island one day with his girlfriend and I asked if he had a girlfriend now. He clarified that no he doesn't--he just knows where he'll take a girlfriend in the future. I told him to be happy, and Byeongjo said, "For you too, teacher." Then Byeongjo, Wonwoo, Euigi and Seonghyun all said "himneyo," or "be strong/take courage!" It was another really funny moment because they meant it.

Minhwe came by for his daily candy, reminding me that it's a standing appointment. "Every day, teacher. Every day."

Wooseok came by and kicked up a fuss when another kid got more candy than him. I gave over a few more skittles to Wooseok, then while I was seeing him out the door of the office, Mr. Park stopped to say, "He is a very naughty guy." I patted Wooseok's head and said that I knew. I know he's a hooligan and it makes not one ounce of difference.
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