11:45 AM
Just finished my 3-class marathon. The kids were great, though I'm quite tired. It's a good thing I got a mountain of rest last night and the night before, or I'd really be hurting today.
The biggest thing that happened yesterday was that my Wooseok followed me home. Like, all the way home. Many kids have walked me to my neighborhood or walked me to my apartment building, but Wooseok followed me down the street, snuck inside the building, then followed me up the stairs from just the right distance to see which apartment I entered without my also seeing him.
I barely had time to set my bags down inside the apartment when my doorbell rang. I asked "who is it?" before hearing a soft little voice say, "It's me!" I opened the door to find Wooseok, looking both elated and guilty. I gave him an apple and sent him home.
I hope he doesn't tell my room number to the other kids, but it was good to see my squishy little guy, even if he arrived in a stalkery-type fashion.
Today, I had to break up a small fight in 2-3, 2-4. I was talking with one kid when I heard SG2 order somebody to "stop!" in Korean. I looked over to see my Hyunho in a small pushing match with Gunwoo, the kid that I've just now been winning over in recent weeks.
The pushing got more intense and escalated to sharp elbow jabs from both kids, and they didn't respond to verbal commands from me or SG2, so I had to physically step in. I moved between Gunwoo and Hyunho and held Gunwoo by the shoulders. He still struggled a bit, but then he finally looked me in the eyes and realized that fighting me wasn't a good idea. I'm someone who cares about him, not an enemy, he seemed to register.
SG2 shepherded Hyunho to a seat and I told Gunwoo to sit down. Then I called up the next kids to do their speaking. After initially yelling at the fighting boys to stop, I didn't raise my voice. This was a much calmer, gentler approach to fighting, and I felt better about it.
After that, I made a point of calling Gunwoo up for an extra verbal exercise, one where I ask the students what school subject they're interested in. Gunwoo said very emphatically that he didn't like any subjects. He seemed to sink into a teenage angst-malaise that was dramatic but still very sincere, when he admitted. "Hate all. Hate all subject. Don't like anything. Hate all people."
I knew I had an "in" to brighten his mood, then. I said. "Do you hate me, too?" He looked shocked, then asked me to repeat it in Korean. When I did, he grinned in spite of himself and shyly said, "No." So now I've gotten Gunwoo to admit that there's at least one thing in the world he doesn't hate.
He was adamant that he's really into music, but that he has so many favorite singers, he couldn't possibly narrow it down to one. So now I know that as well--Gunwoo loves music. I asked him why the incident with Hyunho happened and he said Hyunho had annoyed him. I was glad we had so many talks because I have Hyunho's heart--I knew he wouldn't feel estranged by me breaking up his fight. But I had to make sure I secured Gunwoo, that he knew I wasn't just casting him as the villain because Hyunho is my baby.
Seungyeop was precious as ever, and Yeonghan continues to be supah-supah cute. Myeongui couldn't speak because his voice is changing.
In 3rd-grade class, Sujin said my shirt was pretty, which was a really nice compliment. Shion tapped my fingers with his ink pen, as he is wont to do, and I made all the boys crack up. One boy said "No jem!" meaning "no fun," and I countered with "honey jem!" which is an insanely cute way of saying that something is real neato and crazy fun. As the boys left class, they kept saying 'no jem!" so I'd say 'honey jem!" back at them.
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