10:40 AM Merry Thanksgiving, y'all. It's been a lovely morning for me and it promises to be a good rest of the day.
The heat was off in 2-1, 2-2, so despite it being not a terribly cold day, my hands were icy-freezing by the time things were over. I had a good time chatting with the kids, especially Beomjoon. Beomjoon has decided that he's really quite fond of me after all. He had lots of things to tell me and things to tease me about.
Daejeong commented that my hair was "real, true yellow" as if it was a new revelation. No matter how long the kids have known me, it always surprises them that my hair is real.
Soonhyuk wants to know when I'm getting married. He has a girlfriend, so I jokingly asked him when he was marrying her, and he replied "tomorrow". I marveled at the bravery of a middle-school wedding and Soonhyuk told me that he's actually an adult. Also, he lives in Australia and owns a private jet, so he says. I was duly impressed.
SY and I sat and ate tangerines together this morning, at we pored over my Intermediate Korean textbook. She remembers most of the English words from her college studies, but it's been 10 years since she had to use them. It's nice for me to see how much effort she puts into learning words to say to me. The verbal side of our friendship isn't effortless, but it's good.
Isn't it lovely to know somebody cares? That they want to connect with you even if it's hard? I hope the kids feel that way when I talk to them.
The Americans in town are having Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it. Last year I didn't go, but this year will be a good time to have a big meal with friends and really think about the holiday and about being thankful.
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2:40 PM Whoa, I've got tears in my eyes because C-Jeongmin is sad. He came to my desk with a brochure in his hand--it's for a Technical high School.
Only the lowest students go there. It's a sentence to a future of blue-collar labor, and the sentence gets handed down at age 16. My boy sat down by me and I kept my arm wrapped around his shoulder for 15 minutes as he tried not to cry and bit his lip until it bled.
It was awful. C-Jeongmin is not just a quiet kid--he's next door to silent. But he always taps my shoulder when he walks by, always remembers to give me candy or ask if I've eaten lunch. He's incredibly sweet and thoughtful. While C-Jeongmin hung his head and just sat steeped in hopelessness, I left my arm around him while I talked with his buddy Seongjik in Korean. Seongjik is going to the Tech school also, but he's more hopeful.
I used to call this one Bitty-Baby Seongjik because he was a tiny mite of a 2nd-grader last year. This year, he's still kinda short and his voice hasn't changed but he's not actually what you'd call small anymore. I pointed him out to C-Jeongmin and said that he'd have Seongjik and lots of other boys from our middle school to see. He won't be alone.
I also told him that he must come and visit me often. He has to come by, somehow, It's terribly important that I get to see him again. I want to know that he's living well and growing up safely.
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