November 2011
26 posts
Times like these I forget my host siblings and I...
Inseo walks by and calls So Yeong and I pigs.
Naturally, we lock him in the bathroom and turn the lights off.
He escapes (we let him go).
He calls us pigs again.
I throw my dirty socks at him.
He gets his WET dirty socks and throws them at us.
So Yeong gets my dirty sock, pins him on the bed, and rubs it all over his face.
Inseo starts throwing random objects.
Later.. I’m doing...
Memories I could live without:
Tonight’s dinner was unsettling. A big bowl of spicy noodles with tons of strange little sea creatures with eyes.
At one point, I was trying to work my way around something that was staring at me to get to a bean sprout, when I accidentally bumped against it with my chopsticks. One of its little beady eyes popped off, fell to the table with a plop, and began rolling its way towards me.
I...
Last night's journal entry.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my “trouble girls” recently. Probably because I’ve interacted with them more this week than in any previous weeks.
The same day that Song I wrote her pen pal letter, I had another teacher’s high moment. I think I’ve mentioned Park Ja Yeong before, if not by name. She’s the “uncontrollable” third year that the...
Things that happen when you teach in Korea:
The high school next door holds a festival, so your coteacher invites you to join her.
You gladly accept.
The first room you wander into is entitled “The Black Hole” and is, in actuality, a dance party with flashing lights.
Your entrance is not unnoticed. A high school student yells “WAYGOOK!!!” (‘foreigner’) to the room, and everyone cheers.
Next thing you...
Teaching Highs
Yesterday, Song I (the one I mentioned in a previous post… with the picture of her about to poke my coteacher’s butt… ahem) demanded a pen pal.
Now.. this sent me over the moon. The fact that she wanted a pen pal was unheard of, and I was so excited. I kept telling her to come to my room tomorrow and I would give her her pen pal’s name… I sorta expected her not to...
Updates.
Things are going well.
The pen pal project continues to take over my life, but in a good way. My girls are beyond excited, some of them are picking out their wedding dresses for their inevitable marriages with their American pen pal, and every day at lunch I am swarmed with girls requesting pictures.
Because you see… I’ve started to pass out the MVCS pen pal letters. This has caused...
And this, kids, is why you should never use Google...
Today I did something that I swore I’d never do.
I laughed at a student’s English.
All week, students have been giving me their pen pal letters. Many have me check them over before they commit to writing on their cute stationery, and I fix the odd grammar or missing words.
Today, though. Today was just…beautiful.
bahahahha.
One of my favorite students (I mean, what? I...
My life right now sort of reminds me of a...
I’ve started this pen pal program, right? And it’s going really well- I already have over 340 students in the program (both American and Korean). But… the monkeys are getting a little -too- excited about it all.
Yesterday marked my first official “Pen Pal Letter Writing” hours in my classroom—a time after lunch where I make myself available for the girls so...
Little Life Updates
*Started taking piano lessons! My first lesson was yesterday and it was so much fun. I’ve never played an instrument before. My piano teacher is adorable and doesn’t speak much English so it’s a lot of fun. Twinkle, twinkle, here I come!
*I’ve started a pen pal project at my school and it has become an extracurricular in and of itself. The girls are so excited to talk to...
How to gain the respect of your worst student:
1. Capture a photo of her as she crouches behind your coteacher, (who is writing on the board and is completely oblivious), pretending to poke aforementioned coteacher’s buttocks. She will be shocked and impressed once the flash goes off and you have sneakily captured her miscreant deeds.
((And then don’t show your coteacher the picture, or else said student will die a bloody death...
