10-12-13 Cookies, French Braids, and Happy Jiwoong

2:30 PM Saturday class was great! I was covering for another teacher so I wasn't even supposed to teach today, but it was loooovely.

Last month I was kind of awful. I had a movie for the kids but it was too linguistically complex and too devoid of action. Teaching the 1st-graders was an exercise in boredom and teaching the 2nd-graders was better, but only because the class consisted of 3 girls with high-level English and 4 of my favorite boys.

Last night, I went to Homeplus for supplies. I got plain cookies, chocolate spread, chocolate chips, jellybeans, 4 packs of rainbow sprinkles, pecans, raisins, and chocolate drawing pens. I was going to be ready.

So today I had the 1st graders for two class periods, then the 2nd graders for two class periods. I repeated the same lesson, which was not really a lesson--we divided into teams and played Scattergories, then played Guess The Compound Word, followed by and Rorshach Test, where the kids made lists of what they thought a certain picture looked like, getting points for unique answers.

For the 1st-grade class, it worked really well. They were all up in it, earning points and shouting answers. The group of 4 too-cool-for-school boys were terribly interested in getting the right answers, and they actually won and got the right to decorate their cookies first. And the kids had a ball decorating, too. It was a great time.

The Spread.

Some of the 1st-grade girls have excellent English, and I'm really close with Jeongin, Choongeun, Yoonyeong, and Dabin, who I helped practice their English skit. Jeongin and I have the same taste in music and we make each other laugh, so we get along well.

Inbetween class periods, I played my English-Korean word game with the one girl who seemed to have no friends. Saturday Jeongmin also joined in and kept writing really complex English words, insisting in an overly innocent voice that "this is a common Korean word. It's not so hard." Brat. Showing off his superior knowledge again. During the spelling game, he also tried to convince me that another team's point should be discounted because Congo was spelled with a K, not a C. Nice try, Saturday Jeongmin.


The 2nd-graders were great. There were so many kids there I didn't know, and it turns out we had some boys from a different middle school. I thought we were the only boys middle school in the area! The other boys had really good English, too.

But when I walked in, I saw....Jiwoong.

Oy vey at the Jiwoong. "Whyyyy?", I thought to myself. It's bad enough I'm teaching on a Saturday, and teaching a class I didn't do well with last time, and to top it all off I've got to deal with Grumpmaster Jiwoong? He didn't raise his head once in our last afterschool, and yesterday when I greeted him on the walk to school, he ignored me. I said hello again and he didn't respond, even though he was 2 feet away.

I thought there's no use trying with this boy. Just no use. I feel like I'm cracking the shell, then beneath it there is just more shell. I didn't want to bother even saying hi to him anymore. Why reach out to a student who doesn't care in the slightest?

But. Today during our Scattergories games, Jiwoong was responsible for about 1/4th of his team's points, because he had such good answers. He played his phone for most of the class, but he'd drag himself away from the screen when there was a chance to prove he was wittier and cleverer than the other kids. When we were passing out cookie supplies, he walked up to the front of the room and patted my shoulder to ask for a paper towel.

That is huge. Yesterday, he was treating me like the living embodiment of chicken pox, but today he was enjoying himself, asking permission nicely, and making art out of his cookies. I also made the mistake of leaving him alone with the chocolate chip bag. He finished off the bag, and he must have eaten an entire half-cup on his own.

HH was smart and amazing as always, as were Big-Guy-Geon and Sparkly-Daehoon. Daehoon and HH would loudly protest every time I gave the girls' team points they didn't think were deserved. During break, I played the English-Korean word game with Daehoon, HH, one of the girls, and a boy from the other school. The kids who didn't know me were impressed that I was trying to learn Korean, but Daehoon couldn't resist picking tough words like "index," which I definitely didn't know.

Geon's Cookie Tower.

Haneul's Heart Cookie, Which She Gave to Me. 

Then I left class and worked with the four 1st-grade girls who wanted help with their skit. One of their moms ordered lunch for us, which was so nice. Rather than practicing, we spent a huge chunk of time bonding and chatting. The girls' skits were great and their pronunciation was really good, too, so they didn't need much help.

So I braided their hair.

Jeongin's Hair.

Yoonyeong's Hair.

Choongeun's Hair, Which I Could Not Get Straight.

Dabin's Hair.

Next time, I'll get it done more smoothly. I was out of practice! The five of us took pictures together, sang songs, and the girls told me that I was friendly, like an older sister. They said if they had a big sister, they'd pick me. Soooo sweet. Makes me miss my own sisters quite a lot. In short, Saturday was beautiful!

10-11-13 Protecting Minki, Technical Glitches, and Good 3rd-Graders

11:45 AM Oh, this morning I was heartbroken. I walked into 1-3, 1-4 A to find a large 1st-grade boy slapping Walk-to-School-Minki repeatedly.

It was in the back of the class, but even when I shouted at the boy in Korean to stop, he kept smacking Minki's face, which was red and covered with tears.I ran to the back of the room and pulled the bigger boy away, still shouting "What are you doing?" in Korean. The boy let me move him away from Minki, but he was seething with anger, like he'd been defending his sister's honor or something.

We just stood there for a full minute, the big boy glaring hatefully at Minki, my hands on the boy's shoulders to keep him in place, Minki sitting in a chair next to me, crying. Finally, Co-Teacher got to the room and I explained to her that the bigger guy had been hurting Minki. Minki left the class, presumably for the nurse's office, and the bigger boy was made to do punishments in the hallway--not sure what.

The rest of that class was awful. 1-3, 1-4 A's TV doesn't work right, so my lesson was ripped to pieces since none of the visuals could work and we couldn't play our game. By the end of class, I had one kid throwing paper airplanes, four kids loudly requesting that I play "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, and two kids standing on tables. Oh, I'm doing a bang-up job as a teacher, by all evidence.

But I did get to bond a bit with Bossy-Dongseok, Loudmouth-Sangyeop, and Round-Faced Heesu from that class. We had a good time talking together. Next week I will remember that their classroom has no video and I'll prepare something else.

After my second class, I went to the 1st-grade wing and found Minki--I knew he'd be either in 1-3 or 1-4, I just wasn't sure which. I slid in next to him at his desk and gave him candy, since he hadn't gotten one in our class. He looked so much better and he brightened up with the candy. Dongseok came over and sat by us, since Dongseok can't stand anyone getting attention when he's not in on it. When I left a few second later, Minki called out "Thank yoooou!" What a sweet baby. And he's so tiny. How could anyone hurt him?


2-1, 2-2 B was a little better. The class has Shotputter Jinseong, Thank-You-Minseop, Taylor-Swift-Yoontae, and Twin-Seungho (who is half of the only pair of twins at school). 1/3rd of the boys read manhwa (comic books) through the whole class and didn't bother to participate, but the rest of them were fairly interested. I was trying so hard to keep my energy up when I was still ready to cry over Minki in the last class.

The activity was over their heads, but they like the "Price Is Right" money guessing game at the end. And during a video, I played my English Word-Korean Word game with Yoontae, who I hadn't gotten to speak to before.

This morning, O-Teacher told me that the bullying problem with Seongwon is an ongoing issue. He comes from a poor family and O-Teacher says that his parents have told him not to hit anyone back, because if the other kids parents decide to sue, they can't pay for it. I wondered if Seongwon could just stay away from the 3rd floor where the big kids are, but O-Teacher says that a little 1st-grader once threw all of Seongwon's spare clothes in a toilet, so the problem is not confined to a floor of the building or an age group of children. I need to pray.
-----------------

3:30 PM: Well, 2-3, 24B was another massive technical glitch. The internet in their room was busted, so I couldn't play any videos, just my powerpoint slides. Several of the boys were into the games, though, including one of my favorites, Tall-Sweet-Junho who told me loudly at the start of class, "I WANT TO PLAY GAME. READY." Hurrah for enthusiasm, Junho. Class went okay but not smoothly, and Magician-Byeongyoon came into class at the end. He still has a cast on his foot, but his crutches are gone, so he can move around better.

Then I had 3-7, 3-8, 3-9 B, but one of the three classes was on a field trip, so there weren't many guys. We had a lovely class, shockingly, and they liked everything we did. I never thought I'd see the day when my 3rd-graders comprised the best class of the day, but they really did this time.

Secret-Daeho wormed his way into class for his second round of candy this week. He's not even in my class, but he always shows up when there's candy to be had. Secret-Daeho was walking with me down the hall and when I greeted Hyunkyeong and Sooncheon, he said that I should "pay attention to only me". Cute.

Then I thought I had lost Daeho when I was on a different floor, asking another 3rd-grader from my class what his name was. The boy told me and I repeated his name to get it in my memory, but I forgot it when Daeho suddenly came up and said, "His name not important! Only my name. I am special--only one who is special." Sadly, his interruption strategy is fairly effective; I can't remember anybody else when Daeho is butting in and talking over them.
-----------------------------------

10-10-13 Worried About Seongwon, Chatting, and Chill Afterschool

11 AM: Got to school today and there were a jillion technical difficulties. My computer wouldn't print and it wouldn't connect to the internet. I had to print things off of B-Teacher's computer and I was 7 minutes late for my first class because I did not have their materials on hand. Oy vey.

But it went well! 2-1, 2-2 A are among my favorite groups because they have Letter-Byeonghyun, Joker-Seongmo, Poet-HH, Artist-Joohyun, Kimchi Power Kyeongbae, Glasses Seohyung, Red Sweater-Keundeok, Perpetually Sick-Byeongmin. They're awesome.

We played Scattergories, where I'd say they had to name "Countries that Start with V," which was hard (only Venezuela and Vietnam) or "Foods that Start with B," (they named 20 foods easily) or "Things You Wear Which Start With P". P was perhaps not the best letter to pick for clothes, so I learned my lesson there.

After class, those that didn't win candy could come up to me and say what they wanted to be when they grew up, to get candy. HH says he wants to be a grown-up when he grows up. He's smart enough to understand that I meant an actual profession, but whatever. And darling Red-Sweater Keundeok who rarely pays attention in afterschool winningly said, "When I grow up I want to be a teacher, just like you." Who knew that Keundeok could bring out the charm like that? Cutiepie Artist-Joohyun says he wants to be a "drawer" when he grows up.

1-9-10 B is a favorite class of mine, though their sound equipment was malfunctioning and we could only play videos without the audio, which makes for a dead class. It's another class chock-full of favorites: Laryngitis Seonghoon, Teddybear Deokryung, 8-bit Glasses-Seonghyun, Wide-Eyed Joonpil, Tan Skin-Sanggyu(Deukhee, BFFs), Baby Deukhee. Crazy-Hair Daejeong, Sits-by-Deukhee-Yoosuk. 

They loooooved Scattergories. "Clothes that Start With S" was a really creative topic for them, and they moved past "shirt" and "sweater" into adjective-noun pairings like "skinny jeans" and "short pants". They didn't want to stop playing Scattergories, but I had to move on.

After class, the kids crowded around for candy, and I told them they had to say different professions--if one kid said they wanted to be a doctor, no one else could say it. I got some great answers like, "I want to be a professional soccer player," "I want to be a model," and "I want to design computer games." Good job, boys.

But I have a huge concern, right now. About Seongwon.

After my second class, I realized I left my energy drink can upstairs. When I got to the room it was gone, so I've undoubtedly given one or more sneaky 1st-graders a massive caffeine high that they will be riding for the rest of the day. Mission: Retrieve Energy Drink was a wash.

But when I left class, I saw Seongwon in the hallway; the C-class 2nd-grade boy who hangs out in the special needs room, the boy who hit my shoulder too hard on Tuesday.

About 10 boys were standing around him and his friend Inha had his arms pinned in place, but no one was hitting him or touching him. Still, Seongwon was crying. And I mean he was seriously crying. No tough middle-school boy would let you see him like this unless he was hurt. I yelled at Inha in Korean and he let Seongwon go.

Seongwon drifted to a corner and the other kids kind of stood around, some still trying to talk to him. I stood in front of Seongwon, protecting him, even though I couldn't tell what he needed to be protected from, exactly. I held his hand and tried to pull him along with me, maybe downstairs to the teacher's office where we could get some help, but he wanted to go upstairs to his next class.

I let him go. I told KBR-Teacher about seeing him cry, and I also told O-Teacher and Co-Teacher, just so I have a chance at taking care of Seongwon's trouble, whatever it is.
-----------------------------------------

1:30 PM Seongwon's fine! Some 3rd-grader had punched him hard in the collarbone, and Inha was just sort of holding him up while the other boys watched him cry. They were being a little callous, observing his pain, but at least he wasn't being ganged up on. And though I kind of want to find that 3rd-grader and flatten him, I won't.

I passed Seongwon in the hall after my third class and I gave him a piece of candy. He looked fine. Just before lunch, he walked past me and patted my shoulder, the way I taught him was okay. He's gonna be all right, at least for now. It's a relief to know Inha wasn't a culprit.

After lunch, I walked around with JY-Teacher and then she gave me her phone number. She says I'm to call her if I ever get in a difficult situation or I need advice. At last I have an unnie(big sister)!

Post-walk, I went to sit with the special-needs boys Jaehyung and Byeongsu, outside their locked classroom. We sat on the bench and I used all the Korean I had to ask about how they liked lunch and what they did for the holiday. Byeongsu actually has a fair understanding of English because while he couldn't say much to me, he could translate to Jaehyung most of I was saying.

Daesung gave me a soccer poster of an American player. It's his move toward cultural connection. He likes soccer and I like America, so he thinks it's a good combination of interests. Daesung, Inha, and Seongwon came over to chat while I was talking with Jaehyung and Byeongsu, whereupon Seongwon said that Daesung is my boyfriend and we must marry. Then Inha said Seongwon's girlfriend was Park Geun Hye, the current president of Korea, and everyone had a good round of teasing everyone else.

I really liked practicing Korean with the boys because I'm constantly pushed to try more words. Plus, the special needs boys and my group of favorite students don't care about language mistakes--they fumble through English and I fumble through Korean, and we all have a pleasant time sharing in the linguistically flawed conversation. I tried out several verb forms I learned only yesterday.
-----------------------------

8 PM: Afterschool was fine! I just let them chill. We watched Star Wars and those of them that wanted to do some English practice with me got the chance to, but I didn't try to lead the entire class in any academic endeavors.

I wish I could say I felt guilty for not giving them some serious schooling, but the longer I do afterschool, the more it seems like a free period where I chaperon the boys and make sure they don't get hurt, but where they don't have the energy or the inclination to do anything resembling a real class. So until I hear otherwise, I'm going to let go of the death-grip with which I'd been trying to control the class and just let them sit calmly.

I played word-games with the boys who seemed to need it. Letter-Byeonghyun wrote words in English while I struggled to match them with Korean words. We had some great conversation, too--about how he wants to be a composer of piano music when he grows up, and how the Korean word for "kitchen" is hard to spell. He says it's good that I'm learning Korean because many Koreans are scared of talking to foreigners because English is stressful. I told him that's why I use so many Korean words in class--so the students can hear me making mistakes, so they won't be scared. Talks like this are among the many reasons that Byeonghyun's one of my favorites.

After Byeonghyun, I sat by Jinseop and played the game with him. He's B-class, but he always tries his best and he's a darling boy. He got really tickled when he stumped me on words like "pet". I welcome chances to make Jinseop feel special, because he is. I gravitate toward the flashy kids, and Jinseop's the last kid in the group to stand out in any way, but he's still important.

Next, I saw poor Afterschool-Jeongmin laying with his head on the table, dead bored. Afterschool-Jeongmin is one of my unfavorites, not because he's a bad kid but because he never wants to do much of anything. I would smile at him and get a vacant expression back, so I started not even trying to connect with Jeongmin. But I walked over to him and took the chance that he'd want to play the word game, and sure enough, he was cracking up over the mistakes we both made in our spelling. I don't think I've ever seen this particular Jeongmin smile so sincerely.

I gave Jeongmin candy when class let out, and I asked Sanghwa if he wanted some. Of course he did, and he was eager to tell me that he wanted to be a businessman when he grew up, in exchange for an orange candy drop.

It was a lovely, lovely, lovely day. Good classes, stress-free kids, and lots of connections made. The Lord sure blesses big sometimes.
------------------

10-8-13 Chanyeong, Can You Speak Japanese, and Leaving School Early

9 AM: Second day of exams. I didn't teach yesterday and I won't teach today because all the kids are being put through the wringer of academic evaluation. Poor guys.

Yesterday, I took my desk-warming time and fixed up a really good powerpoint that I think the 3rd-graders will enjoy. I'm getting a sense for how to alter other people's materials--I get some worksheets and powerpoints from the internet, then I delete, add, cut and paste until it looks like something my kids might respond to.

I barely saw any kids yesterday, but when exams finished I was returning to my office when a voice called out, "Teacher Leigh, Teacher Leigh!" from down the hall. Even before he ran up to me, I knew it was Saturday Jeongmin, the 1st-grader. Most of the boys call me Sem or Leigh-Teacher, but the only kid who inverts the order is Saturday Jeongmin.

He came up to discuss his exams with me in full, clear sentences. I ran back to my office to get him a piece of candy and he told me he liked it, in five different grammar forms. Jeongmin is so good at English for his age, and so excited to practice it, he often says every possible variation on the point he's trying to get across. I do the same in Korean, if I know how to say something two ways--I just say both for the practice and for the chance that I've doubled my shot at being understood.

This morning, I went to the special needs room to chat with O-Teacher. My smiling piano buddy Jaehyung is back from the hospital. Joonseong, the one who can get violent, was in a good mood. And I started talking to the big kid, Chanyeong.

Yesterday, I was leaving school at 1 PM because exams were over and the kids were leaving. Chanyeong was standing by the gate and as I left he asked me, "Eodigayo?" And it wasn't just a casual question; he wondered why I was leaving school at the wrong time. I said "Jib-e" meaning "I'm going home." He said, "Waeyo?" or "why?" But waeyo can also mean "what?" so I thought he was asking me to repeat the information and I didn't explain why I was leaving.

Today, I told O-Teacher that Chanyeong had asked me where I was going yesterday, and Chanyeong heard me talking about him; he hid his face behind a book. I asked O-Teacher what Chanyeong's hobbies are, and she said he likes to draw. He also likes memorizing the make and model of cars, then drawing the car.

I sat by him and commented on his drawings. He does layered drawings with several cars and buses drawn on the page in ink, then more cars and buses drawn in crayon, on top of and overlapping the ink cars. It's really kind of cool, in an artistic sense. Chanyeong kept hiding his face when I'd talk about his art, but he was smiling the whole time and I patted his head to let him know he was appreciated.

O-Teacher says he also memorizes the people who go with certain cars--for example, if Chanyeong saw you driving a 1997 Ford Explorer, he would be able to see you car in a random parking lot and say it belonged to you, but he'd also be able to see you in a crowd of people and recite what year, make, and model of car you belong with. She says he can do this for most people he has ever met. Kind of mind-blowing.

Seongwon is a 2nd-grader who hangs out in the special needs room, and this morning he sort of slapped my shoulder. He is even more desperate for attention than the average boy, and he gets hit and punched a lot by his friends, so all his actions tend to be demonstrative and extreme. The tap wasn't hard enough to hurt, but still harder than it needed to be.

I slapped Seongwon's shoulder in the same manner, then made an X with my hands to show him that he couldn't do that. Then I patted his shoulder, to show him how he could get my attention in a gentler way. Before he left the room, Seongwon stepped up to me and patted my shoulder, not because he had anything to say, but just to show that he could be nice. And probably to be proprietary. Seongwon has to connect with me somehow because he's C-class, so I'll never teach him English, but he's not special-needs, so I have no reason to teach him piano, like I do with Jaehyung.
------------------------------------------------------------

10:30 AM Hahaha! Just cracked my Vice Principal up by asking in Korean if he could speak Japanese. He said he can't. It was such a random thing to ask, but I spent all morning studying the grammar form, "Can you____?" so I wanted to try it out. He was much amused, and now I know that I'm saying the form correctly.

I also now sympathize more with my students asking me questions that relate to nothing in particular--it may be because they just learned a new word, like 3rd-Grade Yeonghyo yesterday asking me, "What's the economy like?" My knowledge of economies, whether mine or those of other countries, is pretty well limited. When I couldn't reply, Yeonghyo settled for asking me to read his friend's shirt. Taegyu (Japanese Soccer Kid, who is not in fact Japanese) was wearing a shirt with our school's name written on it, and when I pronounced it, I got applause from both boys. C'mon, guys. You know I can read! We have established this.
----------------------------------------

4 PM: Like yesterday, I got to leave right after lunch and go to the gym. It's so nice to have the extra time. I ran across a tumblr blog that is full of animated GIFs that describe how native English teachers in Korea feel, and this overly enthusiastic ostrich and the accompanying caption match reality pretty well.
.................

When my school lets me leave early, I'm like…

10-6-13 I'm Back

8 PM  The weekend workshop went fine. I signed a contract saying that I wouldn't discuss which test I was writing for, who I met at the workshop, or any details regarding the questions, so I'll mention what I can.

I got up at 4:45 AM on Friday to get ready for the trip, triple-checking my bags to make sure I didn't have any forbidden items because we weren't allowed to bring laptops, MP3 players, books, or paper--nothing on which we could store digital information or write down information.

I caught the 6:40 train from my hometown to Seoul, rode for 90 minutes, then got on the Seoul Metro, taking the subway to the right stop and emerging at the right exit. The facility was 2 blocks away, and I had an hour left before check-in time, so I stopped for coffee and ran into a guy friend from my province. I had been concerned, but I felt better once I saw somebody I knew. I quickly made friends with some of the girls at the event, so I had a wide variety of people to talk with and eat with over the weekend.

At 10 AM on Friday, security took our phones. I first got a cellphone at age 15, and since that time I don't think I've gone a full two days without the ability to contact my family by phone. But they knew what to expect, so we were okay. I think...

The first day had a lot of lectures and I learned a bunch of information. I was so silent in my absorption of the information, the people in my group thought I was shy. When I finally responded to somebody's joke, one of the people in our group said, "Good job, Leigh! You finally spoke. You're so quiet over there." In 27 years of living, that is the first time I have heard myself described as quiet. It was wonderful. I felt like I had discovered a new identity. :-)

Being locked away from technology, books, and access to the world (security accompanied us everywhere--there was no chance to leave) could have been really rough, but the people I was with made it all right. Everyone was thoughtful and generous and I so appreciated everyone's positive attitudes. It was a good experience--I'd do it again.

And now, photos from Wednesday and Thursday!

My Desk at School.

Can you tell a girl works here? Supplies are kept in one of two pink containers, my Korean language homework is in the pink journal with the cross on it, bright stickers are all over everywhere, and if you look closely, you can see the tiara my Lunch Co-ordinator gave me.

Letters for the Boys

Don't know if they read them or threw them away or what, but I wrote notes for 8 afterschool boys last Wednesday--just thanking them for helping with class or asking how their pet dog was doing or complimenting their choice of video clips last week. 

10-3-13 Gaining Perspective, and Shopping in Hongdae

7:30 AM  Day off for some holiday, the precise nature of which is unclear to me. My friend and I are going to Seoul for shopping and haircuts and maybe, just maybe, a guitar for me.

I feel like I have a better perspective on the afterschool boys after some rest. I neglected to say that they've been studying like maniacs this week, in preparations for midterms next week, which should be an utter nightmare for them. Midterms for Korean kids are not like midterms for Americans, unless perhaps you're at some kind of Harvard-prep school. Here, I believe midterms affect your placement in class, which in turn affects your future. The A-class boys will go to good academic high schools while the C-class boys will go to technical high schools to learn a trade, and I'm not sure where the B-kids go.

In other words, their brains are friend to a crisp, preparing for one of the least-fun weeks of their lives. It's not surprising that they didn't behave well for me. And I put too much pressure on them to validate my career choice--if they respond well to a lesson, then in my mind I'm a good teacher, so I'm getting rewarded professionally. If they don't respond well, that means I'm not a good teacher, which makes me disappointed and upset with myself, so I get upset at them even though it's not their fault.

They're kids. They're not going to behave in an idealized way, not even half the time. They have school stress and family problems and who knows what else. If I've lost some (or all) of their respect, I need to find ways to mend it or work around the lack of it.

Because as much as I wanted to not be their teacher yesterday, because they're not charming, delightful kiddies who enjoy my every word, I am still their teacher. I can pray for them, and in some small measure I can help them. Yesterday, just one time, I got Taehoon away from the bullying kid.

And while Sanghwa was sweeping the steps in the afternoon, another kid said to me, "Sem! Sanghwa, he hit me!" Sanghwa said it was the other way around. I had a whole conversation with the boy on the steps about how Sanghwa was my afterschool boy, and I was probably going to be on his side in the argument. The conversation was had mostly in fun, but it was interesting that Steps-Boy decided that I was invested in how Sanghwa behaved, like his homeroom teacher might be.

I also have to remember their souls. I rarely pray for the salvation of anybody, because it's just not something I think about. My own heart rests safely with God, and the same goes for the members of my immediate family, so I'm ashamed to say that I seldom consider the eternal life of the people I meet every day.

But even if I don't know how to witness to these boys, I can focus on loving them the way God loves them instead of getting lost in my own hurt feelings, which are unimportant. Hurt feelings distract me from serving and from praying. Last night, I woke up twice in the middle of the night with a burden to pray for Dongmin, the bully. This doesn't happen to me. I just pray--I don't get impressions about who or what I should be praying for. But I prayed for his life and for his heart, that the Lord would save his body from harm and his soul for heaven. I was barely awake enough to know what I was praying, but it must have happened for a reason.

It's a good life. There are things to do and people to care for, and instead of simply hoping that things go well in the future, I'm going to actually ask God to bless the kids.
--------------------------------------------

7:30 PM Whee! Had a fun day. Me and my friend (L-Friend) went to Hongdae, a district of Seoul known for being great for shopping, music, and artsiness. It's the district around Hongik University, or in Korean, Hongik Daehakgyo, shortened to Hong-Dae (홍대).

We bought our tickets to Seoul last night, then boarded our train this morning and sat on the floor of the cafe car all the way because we'd accidentally bought standing-room-only seats. But the cafe car wasn't crowded and we laughed and chatted all the way.

In Seoul, we had a few mix-ups with the subway, but the subway lines are all color-coded and even if you get on the wrong line, you can transfer at several different points. So we took the orange line, transferred to the green line, and stepped out of the correct exit. (If you get directions to a place in Seoul, they usually tell you to start navigating from a particular exit point. If you leave the subway at exist 5 instead of exit 8, you're often in a whole different section of town, and it's hard to navigate Korean roads by street number, because the numbers are rarely in numerical order and the streets aren't always in blocks.)

L-Friend had a haircut appointment, and I decided I needed my bangs trimmed, just to see if this salon was workable. It was great! The staff all had some English, they did a fine job with my bangs and a gorgeous job with my friend's hair. And while I waited for her cut to be finished, one of the girls in the salon brought me a glass of water, cookies, a pillow and an English magazine. Salon, you've won me over. Me and my friend decided we're definitely going to be repeat customers there.

Then we had lunch at a place called O-Bento. "Bento" is Japanese for "lunchbox" or possibly just "cutely packaged lunch," and our food came in these precious little bowls. It was warm and delicious and very filling, so we said it made up for our nasty dinner in our hometown last night, when L-Friend got some deokbokki and fish cakes that were less than good, and I accidentally ordered teriyaki-style chicken hearts.

Yes, chicken hearts.

The restaurant looked so normal and so Western, and we were lured in by the promise of not having to cook our own dinner. We learned much that night. I learned not to order anything that is two words long in Korean when the only word I recognize is "teriyaki". I should not assume that the second word relates to beef. The second word might, in fact, relate to chewy organs whose rubbery texture makes them barely edible.

After lunch, we shopped at a department store, then got our nails done. It was the happiest, girliest, most refreshing time. Which is good, because tomorrow I leave for Seoul again at 6:30 in the morning for an all-weekend-long workshop for writing test questions. But after figuring out the train and subway with L-Friend today, I feel more confident in my ability to get to the place by myself. Should be an adventure!
---------------------------------------------------

10-2-13 Jjang, Juliet and *sigh* Afterschool

10:45 AM First two classes were awesommmme!

The kids in 1-1, 1-2 B were perfect beasts last week, being easily my worst class of 1st-graders and the cause of no small amount of depression. Sungmin was the only kid I remembered from this class, and I remembered him because he asked if I was crazy last week, before asking for a fair chance at winning Connect 4.

But today, we had fun. I started off with a video with music in it, then I explained that everything we were doing today was going to be in teams. When I began our spelling game, they got invested because points went to the team who guessed the word first. Then we learned about American money and I passed around a $5 bill I still had. Many of them decided to smell it.

Next, we filled out worksheets, watched another video and played our betting game with comparatives. They ate it up and were smiling and laughing. Crazy-Sungmin was thrilled that I remembered his name. His best buddy is called Sucheon,

In the back of the class, I unexpectedly ran into the jjang, the kid who runs the show. I can't always tell who this type of kid is in any given class, and since I teach leveled classes (for example, all the B-level kids in class 1-3 and all the B-level kids in class 1-4), there's an entire swath of the student body I'm never seeing. For some classes, I don't see the obvious leader because it's possible that class 1-3's jjang is a smart one in the A-class and class 1-4's jjang doesn't care about school and is in the C-class, leaving me with a class full of regular power-game-free B-level kids.

But I found one, today. A very tall, silent boy who sat in the back and quietly worked on his worksheet with me. This student was very tall for first grade, and if I'd seen him in a 3rd-grade class, he wouldn't have looked out of place. When I asked his name, he wrote "Goongwon". Then I moved down the line to work with the next kid, who said his name was Goongwon. I pointed to the boy behind us and said their names were the same, whereupon Real-Goongwon told me that Tall Kid's name was Jaehyung, like my piano-playing friend with autism. Jjang-Jaehyung responded by throttling the kid, who hollered to me, "He big! He is best!" I think jjang literally means "best," too.

Jjang-Jaehyung wouldn't finish his worksheet, saying that there was nothing in the world he wanted to buy, but he told me so in respectful Korean, with the 'yo,' ending, so I left him alone. But during the comparatives game, Jjang-Jaehyung moved from the back of the classroom to the front seat so he could figure out answers better and shout more clearly. At first i thought he had left the room, but to my shock, he was sitting four feet away from me. I like this one.

2-3, 2-4 B was next, and that class has Sanghwa in it, plus Sanghwa's buddy Scorekeeper-Yoonseok. Last week, I needed someone to help me keep score in the game, and Yoonseok was the one to volunteer. He's a loudmouth attention-hog and I really like him. There's also Tall-Sweet-Junho in this class, a boy who looks at me with protective affection, like I'm his baby sister, despite being 13 years older. He's darling, and is good at answering questions.

And hanging around in the classrooms after class is still working out well, because I give out extra chocolate to the kids who talk to me. I couldn't understand why one boy couldn't say, "My favorite movie is..." until someone explained that the boy was C-class. I walked him through every word, after that: "My, my, favorite, favorite, movie, movie, is, is..." and he got his chocolate. Also saw Magician Byeongyoon when he limped into class on his crutches. I asked him, "How's my favorite magician?" He replied, "Just horrible!" with a smile.

My most-liked 3rd-graders are slipping up and calling me "Leigh" instead of "Leigh-Teacher". Eh, it's totally not a slip-up; they're doing it on purpose, trying for more familiarity. I admire their persistence but I have to add "Teacher," though America-Hyunkyeong, Secret-Daeho, and Intensity-Insung will probably drop the title again the next time they greet me.
-----------------------------

12:45 PM  Governor-Yunho came by my office and I asked him why he's been calling me "Julia" in the hallway all yesterday and all today. Turns out, he's been saying Juliet. He repeated to me: "Julia. Romia and Julia." "Oh," I said. "Juliet? Romeo and Juliet?" He nodded. I pointed to Yunho and said, "Are you Romeo?" He nodded an affirmative. Glad we've got that cleared up.

I gave Governor-Yunho chocolate and he left, only to return 2 minutes later to tap his flashlight against the bottom of my upturned shoe. No idea what that gesture was about, but I'm assuming that shoe-tapping with a flashlight is affectionate. I almost feel sorry that tomorrow's a holiday because it means I won't get to teach Yunho.

2-9, 2-10 A went great! According to the Document O' Kids, this class has: Clever-Seonwoo (afterschool), Big-Guy-Geon (Saturday), Soccer-Minwoo, Stoic-Seonghak (afterschool), Funny-Taekyeong (afterschool).

They really enjoyed the big game at the end, especially the reversal where our end-of-class spelling game changed the winner not once but twice. We had a good time together--lots of smiling and shouting, and Clever Sunwoo got to show off his cleverness. JY-Teacher was in there with me, and it was a right fun time.

I-Love-You-I-Need-You's name is Junho! And his friend We-Go-Date Kid is Danhee.

I wore a silver cross necklace to school today, and I didn't think anyone would notice, since it's a symbol of my faith in Jesus, but in America is doesn't really signify anything--gangsta rappers wear crosses, too, and we don't think they have a commitment to God. But Danhee saw my necklace and said, "Christian! Me too, very big Christian!" Dawww. It was such a sweet moment.

Then 15 minutes ago, Daesung stood outside my office, just looking at me. Then he said, "Christian! Same!" I smiled at him and we talked for half a minute about us both being Christians. I think I could tell he was--he seems to sparkle with inner joy, despite being stuck in C-class, which is a really soul-sucking place to be.

At lunch, our Lunch Co-Ordinator came by and put a tiny diamond tiara in my hair. No lie. I took it out after a minute, but she came back by and put it back in. Guess I'm wearing it until school lets out.

---------------------------------------------------

6 PM  Ugh, afterschool was so bad, I came home and had a good cry. No kidding, they finally broke me. They weren't even being mean, just ignoring everything. Yesterday, I had 4 boys in the back playing their phones. Today, the absent kids come back, so I had 9 boys in the back playing phones.

Because I don't have the energy to stop them. And I haven't bonded with the new boys who were absent for 5 weeks, so that feels weird, too.

I spent a long time modifying a new game I thought they would like and the good boys in the front only sorta-kinda made an effort at playing it.

I wrote short letters to 8 of the boys. No telling if that was the right thing to do when they're so far gone in terms of being invested.

But before class, Pepper-Dongmin was keeping Taehoon from leaving the 2nd-floor office. I told Dongmin to move and he did. Dongmin shot Taehoon this strange look and explained to me that Taehoon was his friend. In the hall, I said to Taehoon, "Is he your friend?" He replied, "Yes. A bad friend." -"Nappun chingu. I thought he was being mean to you." -"Yes." I really do think Taehoon and Dongmin have some kind of weird friendship, but I've never forgotten that Dongmin's the kid who was feeding pepper to smaller students who couldn't say no.

I misspelled the word "secretly" on the board, and Seongmo corrected me. When I fixed the spelling, Byeonghyun said, "No, leave it, it's cute." I couldn't believe what I was hearing."Me spelling words wrong is cute?" -"Yes, very cute." And now Byeonghyun thinks he's my oppa (big brother).

Back when I predicted that the 3rd-grade boys wouldn't soon change their habit of calling me by my first name only, I was wrong. Now they call me "Leigh...Teacher." There's an ellipsis there, as they pause just long enough to let me know they could be familiar, but are choosing to take the high road and be polite.
---------------------------------------------