1:30 Rained this morning.
Fortunately, I bought an umbrella two days ago, so I was boyscout-level
prepared for the rain! Or not. Because my pants were roughly 5 inches too long,
and they dragged in the water and nearly tripped me. And they made a sound when
I took steps, like ka-flup, ka-flap-whup. I pretended like it was totally
normal, and the boys didn’t seem to notice.
Also,
I was further encumbered on my morning walk because I was juggling an umbrella,
a laptop case, a purse, a bag full of presents for the office staff, AND three
smoothies I accidentally purchased.
How
does one accidentally buy a smoothie, let alone 3? Well, this morning I went to
my closest coffee shop to buy 3 cookies.
They were going to be for A-teacher, B-teacher, and JY-teacher, three people
who have really helped me. But when I got into the shop, there were no cookies
for sale, just cheesecake and breakfast sandwiches and plastic cups of fruit.
So I gestured at three fruit cups, thinking they would make a decent present.
Little did I know that I was not buying the fruit itself, but buying the fruit’s
future identity as a smoothie. So once I had my orange, strawberry, and kiwi
smoothies in a disposable case, I proceeded to take the 20-minute walk,
hoping that the cardboard wouldn’t dissolve in the rain.
I
got to school just fine. J
I gave smoothies to A-Teacher and B-Teacher, but JY-Teacher was in class, so I
drank her kiwi smoothie. I also got my 3 big presents to the three chief
people—containers of my favorite brand of coffee from home given to my Principal,
Vice-Principal, and main Co-Teacher. I had also read that you should bring
snacks to the office some time, so I got some individually wrapped candies and
set them out by the coffee pot for the whole staff—everyone seemed to like them.
5:00 I
sat in on more classes today, and it was fun to see the class in action. I got
ideas for how to change things up, too. After class, B-Teacher asked me where I
planned to travel while I’m here, because he can list
about 10 countries he’s toured. I said I wanted to see Japan, but right now I
feel like it’s super ambitious to try to see Seoul next weekend, but that’s
what I’m aiming for. This weekend is for lesson planning, and probably for
trying out that church I saw on my way to school, even if there are no English
services.
One
of the younger male teachers told me that he saw me at my favorite coffee shop
on Tuesday night. I didn’t see him, though, so either he was only walking
by the window, or he was there and just didn’t say hello. I think he told me
that he lives near my coffeeshop, too, but we were speaking Konglish, moving
between the two languages, and specifics get lost easily.
KB-Teacher
gave me my afterschool class schedule for next week, and I’m excited. Regular
classes have to follow the textbook, mostly, but for afterschool classes, you
have just a few kids with a relatively high English level, and you can add
things like music, drawing, acting, anything fun you can think of. I’ve heard
that your afterschool kids are the ones that are really yours because you learn their names and
spend quality time with them each day.
I
can’t wait to actually teach the boys. And apparently they’re excited for class
too, because KB-Teacher said the kids have been bugging her for days, asking,
When do Pretty-Teacher’s classes start? I presume they know that I have a name,
but in the meantime, there are worse things to be called than Pretty-Teacher.
I
take that back—one student definitely knows my name. He even spelled it correctly. In a
full-length letter, written in English. This morning, I was shocked when a boy
walked into my office space, handed me a little envelope and said, “This is for
you.” The letter said that his name is Byounghyun. He said that the school was a little
lonely when the last native teacher left, but maybe things will be better now
that I’m here. He said that I shouldn’t be discouraged if his classmates are
rude—that’s just the way they are, and he said that I am “maybe the first
beautiful teacher we have had”. Aw.
He
came back a few hours later to ask if I had read his letter. Read it? I
memorized it, then tacked the envelope up on the wall of my cubicle! Because he’s
the first student whose name I know. Byounghyun reminds me of my American students,
who I loved tremendously, so this gives me encouragement that I can see my Korean
students in the same way I saw my American ones—as delightful people who I have
a chance to nudge along as they learn cool things.
I
got two huge packages of stuff I’d ordered today—I got them delivered to the
school because I knew that address before my apartment address. As I sat
looking at the two massive boxes, wondering how I’d get them home, my Vice
Principal noticed them and had one of the English teachers carry them and drive me to my
apartment . And we left work an hour early, too! My Vice Principal is
a really sweet man, and I’m just bursting with gratitude that he was not just
perceptive enough to see my problem without me saying anything, but he worked out a
solution for me as well. It’s a blessing to have someone looking out for you, let me
tell you.
