oh god, I really hope the worst is over now and I'll be able to breathe normally before I leave for Seoul this weekend. At least I hope I'll be leaving for Seoul for my official training [/sarcasm]. I tried to call my friend in Seoul yesterday to confirm/set up plans, but I got hung up on by her two year old son, Ben. Man, the babies just have no time for me.
As for the other babies in my life - two days ago, when it was raining at night and I had foolishly forgotten my umbrella at home (but I was wearing my super amazing 30 dollar Costco all weatherproof man's jacket) I was walking to my bus stop, when suddenly the rain briefly stops. I look around and nearly get jabbed in the eye with one of the branches on the umbrella - but it's one of my students, Michyelle (yes, that is her nickname and yes that is how she chooses to spell it) and she's barely managing to hold the umbrella over her head and my head at the same time. We walk to my bus stop together and then she says, "Goodbye teacher!"
While at the bus stop, I meet the math teacher (yes, this hagwon also provides math classes) and she and I take the same bus back - she gets off five stops before I do, but it's nice to have a seat companion even for a little while, especially since I've not managed to get a seat in a night bus all this week except for this one night.
Little acts of kindness like these have been common since moving to Korea - sometimes children will share their snacks with me, and sometimes parents will provide snacks for the whole class and I'll walk in and there will be a Tous Les Jours or Paris Baguette bag on my desk.
It's a nice contrast to the exasperation I feel about the sometimes maddeningly inefficient admin practices and the hardcore schooling system they have in place - Koreans are some of the most intelligent people in the world, but when you consider that for an average high schooler - school starts at seven and they don't get home until around ten at night and that the kids I teach go to their regular school before they come to me, so there's a lot of information I have to compete with in getting them to learn.
These kids have regular school, the cram school (hagwon), or as they call it, "Academy," and most of them also have extracurricular lessons like music or math or study hall. Then there's the kids who also play sports or are on the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. I see many variations on uniforms on my kids every day of the week - some of them are wearing their PE strip (sweat suit or track suit) or their school uniform or scout uniform, or they're decked out like little models. I think most of my kids come from well-to-do or very well off middle class families - their parents are doctors or salarymen and women or business owners. Some of the girls wear dresses and ribbons and pantyhose and overcoats. And then they haul off and hit the crap out of a boy who's teasing them or bothering them or breathing on them - and the novelty of little kids chirping Oppa and Unni and Noona at each other has not worn off. I also teach sets of siblings in classes - it's always interesting to look at a kid's face and see the resemblance or not in his brother's/sister's face.
As for the other babies in my life - two days ago, when it was raining at night and I had foolishly forgotten my umbrella at home (but I was wearing my super amazing 30 dollar Costco all weatherproof man's jacket) I was walking to my bus stop, when suddenly the rain briefly stops. I look around and nearly get jabbed in the eye with one of the branches on the umbrella - but it's one of my students, Michyelle (yes, that is her nickname and yes that is how she chooses to spell it) and she's barely managing to hold the umbrella over her head and my head at the same time. We walk to my bus stop together and then she says, "Goodbye teacher!"
While at the bus stop, I meet the math teacher (yes, this hagwon also provides math classes) and she and I take the same bus back - she gets off five stops before I do, but it's nice to have a seat companion even for a little while, especially since I've not managed to get a seat in a night bus all this week except for this one night.
Little acts of kindness like these have been common since moving to Korea - sometimes children will share their snacks with me, and sometimes parents will provide snacks for the whole class and I'll walk in and there will be a Tous Les Jours or Paris Baguette bag on my desk.
It's a nice contrast to the exasperation I feel about the sometimes maddeningly inefficient admin practices and the hardcore schooling system they have in place - Koreans are some of the most intelligent people in the world, but when you consider that for an average high schooler - school starts at seven and they don't get home until around ten at night and that the kids I teach go to their regular school before they come to me, so there's a lot of information I have to compete with in getting them to learn.
These kids have regular school, the cram school (hagwon), or as they call it, "Academy," and most of them also have extracurricular lessons like music or math or study hall. Then there's the kids who also play sports or are on the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. I see many variations on uniforms on my kids every day of the week - some of them are wearing their PE strip (sweat suit or track suit) or their school uniform or scout uniform, or they're decked out like little models. I think most of my kids come from well-to-do or very well off middle class families - their parents are doctors or salarymen and women or business owners. Some of the girls wear dresses and ribbons and pantyhose and overcoats. And then they haul off and hit the crap out of a boy who's teasing them or bothering them or breathing on them - and the novelty of little kids chirping Oppa and Unni and Noona at each other has not worn off. I also teach sets of siblings in classes - it's always interesting to look at a kid's face and see the resemblance or not in his brother's/sister's face.
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