Still don't have a schedule. And my computer won't print off the new machine. And I'm using my phone as an internet hotspot because the internet cable doesn't work. So the technical side of work isn't...working, but the personal side is good. I greeted JY-Teacher and YSR-Teacher and it was cool to see them after just having finished hanging out last night.
Finally saw some of the new first-graders. I was walking to the end of the 2nd-floor hallway, where their wing intersects with the main building. I heard them gossiping excitedly, something like, "I told you it was her! No, right there, seriously! Not lying, I did see her!" As if they were trying to convince their friends they'd seen the tooth fairy.
And I ran into two of them in the hallway. They were wearing the sharp new tan uniforms--our old ones are navy (utilitarian at best...some might call them plain/bland). They smiled and bowed and I waved.They were so so so tiny. So cute it physically hurt to look at them. I ran back to report to JY-Teacher that I wanted to adopt them.
Gyuchan and Joonseok said hi in the hall. I said, "Hi guys," but Joonseok kept prodding, "Hi, hi, hi, hi..." until I said his actual name. Names still matter! I've been using the broad term "guys" so much lately, I forgot.
When I came back to the office, Junho swooped in for a hug. When I said "no," he settled for a high five. His friends Seongsu and Haneul thought my "no" was hilarious.
And here's the cartoon rabbit I drew as my nametag for my desk:
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11 AM: Still no schedule, but I have gone through my powerpoint games a bunch of times, to get a feel for how they play out. Many a time I assumed that a game worked fine from start to finish, only to use it in class and find a sudden glitch in the programming.
I ran into SG2-Teacher in the hall, and she greeted me happily like we were friends, despite meeting only last night. Squee! I love making friends and in the workplace, friends are not exactly hard to come by but hard to communicate with. YSR-Teacher and I had a grand talk yesterday before lunch, with her using as much English and me using as much Korean as possible. It's a combo of Korean language learning and friendliness/willingness to fail that's helping me with the other ladies.
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12 PM: Got internet, got printing capability. Hoo-ah, hoo-ah, hoo-ah! *Spartan chant* All thanks to KBR-Teacher, who tenaciously kept asking the maintenance man to help.
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1:40 PM: Best lunch evarrr. I had lots of convo with the new teachers, which meant that I had to stretch my Korean ability to the breaking point. I used some terms that Mr. L taught me just yesterday. I asked him how to ask the kids what class they were in. Because I'd been using inaccurate terms like, 무슨 반? (museun ban) and 어떤 반? (oddeon ban) which mean more like, "what type of class are you in?" and "how about your class?" Mr. L. said to ask, "몇학년, 몇반?" (myeotanyeon, myeotban?) meaning what year, what class?
Though guessing a kid's year isn't hard. I recognize almost all the 3rd-graders and half the 2nd-graders, and the 1st-graders are all teensy little ducklings in brand new shiny uniforms. Anyhow, I used the phrase to ask all the new teachers what grade and ban they taught, which is handy to know. If a kid gives me trouble, I can go to their homeroom teacher. Or if one of my boys is in trouble, I can tell his homeroom teacher what I saw.
One of the lady teachers gently corrected my trying to say that someone was a "nice person," but she did it in a way that helped me learn, so I feel like I've got conversation partners now, though I think I have more Korean than they have English. The convo stayed mainly in Korean. Heee, I'm so psyched to have new friends.
But when I left lunch is when the real stunner happened.
I walked out past a line of 2nd-graders which melted into--1st-graders. Baby 1st-graders who have never seen me up close before. They bowed in a giant wave, hollered "hello!" a hundred times, and then some of them began to scream. Falling-apart-at-the-seams, just-cant-contain-these-feelings screams.
I don't even know what to do with that.
Their upperclassmen never did anything like this I smiled and waved and I'll get to know them all later, after which they won't be so inexplicably starstruck.
After getting back to my office, Saturday Jeongmin found me and decided we should play "Pictionary: The Card Game". We took it up to the art room and Acapella-Hyunho joined us, as did Myeongchun. It was surprisingly fun; draw a word, then try to make the other guess the word by arranging picture-cards in a certain order.
It was a zillion times more fun than I thought it would be. And we did it in mostly English! I was shocked at how good Hyunho is at English. He's B-ban, but I feel like he's been practicing hard. Hyunho asked pointedly if I have a boyfriend and I had to go into a explanation about how the guy that the kids often see me with in town is just my friend. The kids don't really understand the concept of "guyfriends" so I just say 동생 (dongsaeng), meaning that he's my younger brother. Hyunho said my brother's very handsome in that case.
Myeongchun was asking me when I start teaching classes, because he's ready to take mine. Daww. I told him we'd probably start next week but I think he's still C-ban, which means that I won't get to teach him. Myeongchun was so sweet, though. He truly has almost no English words, but he's very sincere and we work to understand each other.
Severall other boys came in to observe our game, so I felt good about that--extra socialization for Jeongmin and crew. And Jitae came back, the boy I thought was so rude because he wouldn't look at me or answer me yesterday. When I happily greeted him by name, he smiled and turned bright red so I guess Jeongmin was right about him just being shy.
A little while ago, BY came into the office to get a paper cup. I gave him one and when he left, JY-Teacher died laughing because she says he sounds 100% different in English than in Korean. I've observed this, also. Most of the boys with some English ability sound very similar in Korean, partly because their Korean tone and enunciation follows them into English.
Not so with BY. JY-Teacher says he sounds really bright, bold, and energetic in English, while he's more gentle and subdued in Korean. It's not just his personality, it's the accent, tone, pitch--everything fundamentally changes. He brings in that Cali swag he picked up from living on the West coast for a year. I've been told I change my voice totally in Korean, saying everything softer and cuter. If you only knew my personality from my second language, you'd think I was very shy.
Deokryong is also way past ready for my English classes to start. He tried to inquire very precisely about when I'll teach, where I'll teach and who I'll teach, but I had to let him know that no schedules have been printed yet.
Artist-Joohyun came by the office:
Joohyun: When is your birthday, Teacher? Is it May ___?
Me: *wide-eyed* You're right! *flips open calendar to show him where I've marked the day*
Joohyun: I'm looking forward to your birthday, Teacher. What present do you want?
Me: Chocolate!
Joohyun: Then I will get chocolate for you.
Sometimes middle-schoolers have hearts of gold. Sometimes they are just more special than you can say.
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10 PM: Also, my little Hyo rode his bike beside me for half the walk home. He had to slow down to a snail's pace but we had a good time talking, such as we could, and I invited him to play Pictionary with me, Jeongmin and Hyunho tomorrow.
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