Yay, its Friday! I'm so excited! This weekend is going to be so much fun! Tonight we are staying in so we can be well rested for our big hike tomorrow and Katie’s big birthday celebration tomorrow night!! We are going on a hike that I hear is near impossible, but it has old temples along the way and a gorgeous view of all of Seoul once you make it to the top. Afterwards we are going clubbing for Katie’s birthday. We are going to be exhausted! I have a feeling that we will be up for more than 24 hours..
This week was pretty good, flew by like usual. After being really stressed out last week and feeling like I had no time to do the endless amount of projects and preparation they wanted us to do AND be in the classroom all day, I talked to Jade about not taking Ta-Leah’s class anymore and doing a lighter load, or having the new boy, Josh, take over some classes for all of the LCI teachers. Sue gave us the amazing news that next week, Josh will be teaching Manners and Etiquette, Science and going to P.E with the morning classes! Awww I gave her a big hug and almost teared up because I was so relieved that we would have more time to prepare for our special and afternoon kindergarten classes cause lately I haven’t been a fun teacher because I haven’t had time to plan something interesting for those classes. I cant wait until next week and I can have some more time to just breathe!!
Oh, and we have a new boy! All of us have been counting down the day that he gets here because we are so eager to see who we will be spending the next year of our life with! His name is Josh, he is 22 and from a small town in Georgia. He is extremely friendly and upbeat. He used to work at Starbucks and definitely fits the profile. He is outgoing, energetic and seems to be happy all of the time. I really like him, he seems very genuine and just a nice person. I have a hard time keeping up with his energy level, especially when I just get to work, but I think he’s great guy. It’s always weird for me to think about how this person is a complete stranger, but in a year he could be one of my best friends. So far I can already tell I will be really sad when Andy leaves us, we’ll have to just wait and see how Josh goes…
This week in my special classes has been absolutely nuts! With Josh here my special teacher has been with him helping him out. I thought my classes were chaos before, ohhh no! I used to only have to calm them down and handle the screaming, pulling and pushing for the first 5 minutes, now I have the entire period to struggle to get them to settle down. The kids don't listen to anything I say regardless of my tone. Instead they treat me like a jungle gym, run around the classroom and climb on the shelves, even run on top of the tables! The girls like to latch onto my legs until the point where I cant walk. Its really cute to see how much they love me when I walk into the classroom, but after a minute, I’ve felt enough love and just want them to let go. Haha. I’ve begun to just give up and spare my energy by just putting Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I figured since I’ve been teaching them about feelings and emotions that this movie was appropriate and educational. Maybe not, but I enjoyed the silence. Its definitely been one of those weeks where I am telling myself that I NEVER want to have kids!
In my morning classes have been acting just as wild lately. When Taleah was their teacher, they were so quiet, calm and well-behaved. Now I cant get them to chill out! They do a much better job of listening when I count to 5 or turn off the lights, but at times it can be overwhelming with these kids. Since they are older and understand me better, I tend to just let lose with them and play around, dance, and act silly with them. They love it when I play Mellow Yellow for them and allow them to get up and dance for a few minutes. This usually leads to them attempting to pull up my shirt and poke me in the butt (some sort of Korean thing that they have been doing for years where the students think its okay to poke their teacher in their butts. Apparently it's them telling you that they like you, and think it’s hysterical! I absolutely hate it!). Will, Sue’s son, tries to lift up my shirt all of the time. I don't really understand why the students think this is okay, I would never do that to my teacher in Elementary school, but no matter how much I tell them not to, they still think its funny and continue to try. For the most part, though, these kids are pretty great and I am beginning to really love them. I didn't feel much of a connection at first, but slowly I have been falling in love and finding myself look at a few of them adoringly. Of course there are the few that drive me nuts though!
I have been getting much more motivated to learn Korean this week. I’ve been keeping a notebook to words I want to learn and practicing my new words with my students. The other day I was letting my student play a matching game while I sat with my favorite student, Christina, as she taught me the days of the week. Christina is 6 years old and probably the daintiest little thing I’ve ever seen! She is so small, sweet, and adorable. She is always singing or humming, making cute/funny faces and in her own little world! She is quite the space cadet, who can slow class down, but she is super smart and too darn cute for me to get mad at. She reminds me a lot of Tanya, maybe tha’s why I love her so much. I think she is my new Kevin. I would steal her and take her back to keep her if I could. Christina and I were sitting at the end of the desk having our own little tutoring session. She was saying the numbers 1-15 and having me repeat her. At one point she paused and said “okay, what's next!?” in a really cute tone, like she was excited to play teacher. I laughed so hard and just tickled her for being so clever with me (and I didn't know the answer so I thought I would distract her ;-) It was definitely one of those precious memories in my life! I was sitting with Christina in the playroom today, letting her play with my hair and making faces at each other, and I thought to myself that I hope I have a daughter that is just like her someday! I never will, she is really quiet and doesn't play with the other kids much, which isn’t like me, but I can dream. So, the Korean is going smoothly, its almost impossible for me to learn new words, so I know its going to be a struggle, but I'm feeling really motivated at this point. I can’t wait until I can be in the teacher’s room and hear the Korean teacher’s talking crap about me, or be on the subway and respond to someone who has said something rude to me that they knew I couldn't understand! Lynn and I are going to start having weekly tutoring sessions with the material they give to the Korean kindergarteners next week. I'm so excited to start learning faster, and to spend more time with Lynn. She is the best!
Well that was this week. I have to go now so I can rest for the big hike and Katie’s birthday tomorrow!
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