191. Green grape candies from my new 1st grade
student Gyeongcheol. I noticed his smartness in class and at the end, as
everybody lined up to get goodbye high-fives, he placed a couple of candies in
my hand and said "seonmul!" Or "present!"
192. 1st-graders not wanting to leave class when
it's over, saying "do we HAVE to go?"
193. Ponytailed hair, a nice change for the
middle of the week.
194. Knowingly the Korean word for ""
sleigh"--seolmae.
195. Little pink note-papers taped all over my
text books, notes to myself.
196. Having a moisturized face , which made it
through winter without chafing, chapping or cracking.
197. White marker board entirely filled up with
my writing from class.
198. Knowing the school like the back of my
hand, which stairs lead where, which rooms contain whom.
199. The serene in between moments.
200. Switching out my old book for a new book.
11 AM. Nice day, good morning classes, beautiful
children.
1:30
PM. JY has a long day ahead of
her--6 classes, like my Monday, because she has to do extra to make up for
going to Seoul that one day last week.
Went to the special needs room and Youngminnie
was there! I knew he had autism, but SG said she didn't think he was
participating in any of the special-needs activities. So it was nice for me to
see him.
As soon as I walked in, he did his usual
salute. it involved standing up and
saying in Korean, "attention! And now we greet. Peace be with you..."
It's technically what the kids are supposed to do when their teachers enter
their class the first week, but Youngminnie does it all the time and doors or
solo, without the aid of a whole class to back him up.
And this time I was ready for his super-formal
lunch question, because I had studied up. He asked the Korean equivalent of,
"milady, hast thou or hast thou not dined already." And I answered
with, "Yes, I hath dined."
Then I hugged him before going over to sit with
Dohyun, our student with cerebral palsy. We held hands and talked about his new
homeroom teacher and the nice warm weather we've had today.
5PM: Worth noting that I wore my hair in a ponytail today and everybody went nuts. JY told me it looked great and she never discusses my appearance, the kids remarked on it often, and Euiseon had a come-apart in class trying with great zeal to convince me that poinytails are the way to go in the future: "Teacher...hairstyle up? Yes, this. Better. Best hairstyle, yes." On the walk home, one kid (who I don't even know) yelled, "You are SO CUTE." in formal Korean. Maybe it's a look I ought to repeat, in that case.
--------------------------------------
