Adios little fella

Before coming to Korea, I would've thought that the majority of the hurdles I would encounter here in the first few months would come in the form homesickness or loneliness... yet neither of these have been even remotely present (yes, I miss you all- but I'm far from homesick!).  What I didn't anticipate is that I'd get super attached to some of the kids, and be crushed when their parents take them out of the school (which happens all the time at English schools around the country - and in a fairly willy-nilly way I might add).  

Over the past few months I've been disappointed to hear about a couple of the kids that have left our school, but on Friday I was shattered to hear that my absolute favourite boy, Leo, would not be returning on Monday.  I would be lying if I said I didn't get a lump in my throat and a little tear in my eye when my boss broke the news to me...

Leo in his favourite pose as the Red Power Ranger.

He is a cheeky, naughty little fella, but I absolutely adore him. Over the last few weeks in particular, Leo has taken on the role of my shadow - literally following me everywhere I go.  I usually have to force him to go back to his classroom when I'm teaching a different class... he tries to stage jail breaks to follow me when I leave the school on my lunch break and is often hovering around the front door waiting when I come back.  He has somehow persuaded the other kids to give him dibs on holding my left hand when I take the class outside and he tells me (and anyone who cares to listen) "Amy teacher, I love you" approximately 7,000 times a day.

 

If it were the 18th century I would've had him to be betrothed to my niece Poppy - they would've made the most adorably hilarious couple ever... I can see the wedding now- him, dressed in a Power Ranger outfit (made specially by the GAP, as he doesn't wear anything else) and her, in a pink princess costume - complete with heels that would make her tower over him.  They would have been married by Merriweather (the little fat fairy godmother from Sleeping Beauty), Spider man and the Little Mermaid would've been in the bridal party and Donkey from Shrek would've been the ring bearer. They would've gorged on fairy bread and lollies and danced their little hearts out to the Wiggles until one or both of them over did it and spewed (something I have seen a combination of sugar and dancing induce in both of them... and yes, I may have had a hand in this happening with both of them... oops).  Anyway, it would have been a magical wedding... 

So school was a lot quieter, not so full of cuddles and just generally not as fun without him today... but I guess that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes :(

My first real visitor!!

Well, another week has flown by in Happy Suwon.  I'm beginning to think that time actually moves faster in Korea than it does back home... well that's the most logical reasoning I can come up with that explains how it's nearly April. Hours speed by like minutes and weeks like days... and Hey-Presto I've been here over 2 months!  I feel really settled now and think (hope) I've learnt a lot more about how to teach the little-uns some valuable things.  I'm realising that the teaching English part is only the tip of the iceberg... the kinders are at our school 5 days a week, so it's their full-time kinder, which means it's not just the place they go to brush up their English skills, but it's the place that they go to learn about important life things like sharing and not hitting and listening and being nice to your friends, etc etc . Realising that I am partly responsible for teaching them these things was a little daunting at first, but not such a scary thought now that I'm used to it... in fact, I really like that side of my job now - probably more than the teaching English part!

Outside of work things are awesome as well.  I've got a bunch of good buddies to hang out with and am meeting new people all the time.  There are lots of laughs and lots of good times had here!  And as I recently discovered, sharing those good times with an old friend is great fun too.  Last weekend my old buddy Gary came to stay with me for a few days.  Gary and I lived and worked together in hostel in London back in 2001 (the Museum for those of you playing at home) and have kept in sporadic contact over the years... If someone told us then that we'd catch up in South Korea 6 years later I think we'd have tried to have them certified (actually, we probably wouldn't have heard them because we would've been too busy trying to rustle up a few quid to do our washing... then used the money to buy beer instead... but still). Anyway, Gary has been teaching English in Japan for the last few years and it just so happened that he had planned a holiday to Korea that coincided with me being here.  So on my lunch break last Friday, I met up with Gary in Youngtong and was able to take him back to my school to sit in on my afternoon classes.  The kids were so excited to have someone new in the school (he actually got mobbed by a hoard of 10 year old girls - literally, they were hanging off him) and I have to say that it was really nice to have an extra hand in the classroom!  After school, it was deemed appropriate that Gary experience a Youngtong ESL teacher's typical weekend... and so it began... 

Who could go past a giant ale at Garten Bier? Of course, followed by an obligatory Now Bar session...

Then off to a club called Crazy Duck (why?)... How many foreigners can you pack into a taxi before the driver gets pissed off??? (there were many more than the photo is letting on)

Apparently quite a few... this driver was awesome (as many taxi drivers in Korea seem to be)

And it seems that the later into the night it gets, the more people they'll let you squeeze into a cab... and the worse my camera and/or photography skills get.

We had planned to visit the Suwon fortress on Saturday, but around 6am on Saturday morning it was discussed (over a plate of end-of-the-night-dumplings), that perhaps we would go on Sunday instead.  So on Saturday afternoon we headed over to a friends place for a roof-top BBQ... had it not started pouring with rain, it is my firm belief that we would've sat up there eating hamburgers and drinking beer all night long.

The view from the roof-top barbie... so Korean

As the rain so rudely forced us off the roof, we did what any other self respecting foreigner in Youngtong would do on a Saturday night... we went back to the now bar and backed it up with a stint in the Noraebang (purely a social comparison between the Japanese Karaoke and Korean Noraebang styles, of course). 

The photos are bad enough... I'll spare you from the video footage (Gary, you should do the same... please).

As it goes with Noraebang and the speedy Korean clock, we again, did not make it home much before sunrise.... we didn't make it to the fortress either.  Ooops.  Instead we only managed to venture into Suwon city for an hour or so before the rain and the weekend took their toll and we turned for home - not before Gary got drenched by a bus speeding through a rather large puddle on the road though (I'm still cracking up at that).  Great weekends like this don't come without their price though... my enthusiastic efforts at the noraebang left me without much of a voice for most of the week - which made trying to talk over 12 screaming children somewhat difficult.  The husky voice has developed into a cold, which required another trip to the doctor today (I'm constantly warned that colds in Korea don't go away by themselves so decided to err on the side of caution).  Again, the doc used the sucker thing on my nose (then laughed at how much my eyes watered), made me breathe the funny air (this time through my nose) and quizzed me on my knowledge of Korean drama shows (i know nothing about them except that they all seem to involve people dressed in traditional costumes, sitting around a palace having stern words with each other)... In Australia, if I went to my local GP with a similar ailment, I probably would've been prescribed a simple antibiotic to take after meals. Done. Over. That's it.  This is what I got here....

 You'd think I was suffering from pneumonia with this vast array of medicine.... maybe I'll open my own pharmacy...

As far as I understand it, the little sachets of pills are for me to take after meals - but I have to take certain pills after lunch in particular.  The pharmacist stressed this several times, yet couldn't explain what would happen to me if I took the wrong ones at the wrong time.  The bottle of liquid is essentially cough syrup which I have to take 2 spoonfuls of exactly 10 minutes after the tablets... but 15 minutes after the lunch time tablets.  Tablets and cough syrup - fairly standard medication (despite the odd packaging)... It's the smaller sachets at the front that got me.  They're patches that I have to put on my back.  I have to wear each one for 24 hours and they can't be anywhere but the middle section of my back... I can only guess at why (oh, the story of my life here!), but the picture on them looks a little like lungs (or maybe a u-turn sign,  I can't be sure), so I think the stringent positioning requirements may have something to do with the patch being near my lungs.  I don't know... all I do know is that I feel like I'm walking around with a little square of rice paper stuck to my back and that's kinda weird. 

More about the rug-rats...

My new role as a kinder teacher has not only forced me into morning classes (ugh... I hate getting up no matter where I am in the world), but it's also given me a much better opportunity to be a lot more involved in the hagwon I work in.  Although I still only teach some classes 2 or 3 times per week, there are 19 kids that I teach on a daily basis (one class of 7 and another of 12).  I feel like I'm starting to establish a good relationship with some of these kids (even though some of them drive me absolutely nuts!)

On top of this I'm the only foreign teacher on the full kindy shift and consequently I've become quite the celebrity around school... Often when I walk out of the staff-room for a class I'm confronted by a sea of children fighting over who will hold my hand (lucky I've got two) and who will carry my basket to the classroom.  Upon arrival in the classroom there is often a scramble to give me a back massage (I honestly did not teach nor ask them to do this) and a fight over who gets to be my 'helper' for the class.  If only all of this meant they'd behave themselves a little better during class time... 

The kids seem to love all the teachers and we are often inundated with attempts to get our attention.  Every time I walk down the hallway I'm greeted with choruses of "Hello Amy Teacher!!", vigorous waving and peace signs (très cool yes).  Sometimes they just run up yelling "Amy Teacher, Amy Teacher" (they always say it twice) to get my attention, but then forget to have something to say for after the greeting... or they just say something so totally odd that all I can do is nod, say "oooh" or "hmmm" and smile.  For example, the other day while on my way to the photocopy machine, I had the following random exchange with a girl called Gina who is in her third week of learning English.

Gina: "Amy Teacher, Amy Teacher!"

Amy: "Yes Gina"

Gina: "Hello"

Amy: "Hi" (smile... wait for something more, then continue walking)

Gina: (running after me) "Amy Teacher, Amy Teacher!"

Amy: "Yes Gina"

Gina: (pause) "Uuummm... Zebra!"

Amy: "Hmmm! Zebra.  Good!" (smile... wait for something more, then continue walking)

Gina: (again, running after me) "Amy Teacher, Amy Teacher"

Amy: "Yeah"

Gina: (long pause) "... Glue!"

Riiiggghhht...

Anyway, last Thursday three of my kinder classes were cancelled due to some nasty fumes coming into the school from renovations happening on the floor below.  While the school was being aired (opening up the windows, cranking up the fans, laying out plates of giant chopped onions- wtf? I thought we were trying to get rid of the smell...) we took the kinder kids to the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum.  YAY field trip!!  It was really fun to spend some time with the kids out of the classroom for a change - although I didn't get much of a chance to see any of the exhibits as I was constantly either chasing seven 4 year olds around the museum or trying to get them to stop hanging from my arms screaming "What's that! Look! What's that!".  I have to say, as annoying as the hanging off the arms was, it was also pretty of sweet.  Joey, one of the girls, was particularly clingy that day and spent most of the morning kissing my hand, or my jacket, or my scarf, or my bag, or my camera.... or anything that was remotely traceable to me.  As weird as that was, it was nice to know that my students like me... and really, it's days like that that make the more trying times in class a lot easier to bear.

 Anyway, here are some pictures of my kindies at school and at the museum...

The kinder kiddies en masse.

And now for the classes - little rascals that they are...

SUN CLASS

L-R: Julie, Kelly, Sam and Daniel.  

These are the babies who are 5 y/o in Korean age - hence about 3 or 4 in Western age.  Missing from this picture is Candy.  She was crying - as she does 95% of the day.  I have never seen a kid cry so much... seriously, she colours outside the lines - cries.  Drops a crayon - cries.  Sneezes - cries.

Kelly and Julie are the most awkward, clumsiest little girls I've ever seen!  Consequently I think that they are both an adorable and constant source of entertainment.  They can barely walk without bumping into something - each other usually, otherwise it's walls, doors, chairs, tables... everything.  They both break into a sweat at the slightest hint of physical activity and are often found with food all over their faces, clothes on backwards and shoes on the wrong feet. Standard kid behaviour, yes, but these two take it to a whole new level. Gorgeous.  

As for the boys in Sun class... Daniel is lovely and generally pretty well behaved.  Sam, on the other hand is trouble. Actually, I think he may be a reincarnation of the devil - but he still has his cute moments.  He has 2 older brothers who play rough with him and as a consequence he is indestructible (yet still loves a band-aid on a bruise).  Sam enjoys; breaking things, head-butting things, throwing things, climbing on things and yelling.  I actually really like him, but wouldn't be surprised if he serves a few stints in juvi  before he reaches high school.

I teach Sun class twice a week - one of these classes is Science.  They can't even write their own names and I'm somehow supposed to talk to them about the properties of magnets and polarized lenses! Whatever, we just play with the science stuff, do some drawings and generally just make a mess instead.  

Sam at the museum.  He ran around for a solid hour wielding this beating stick and terrorising all in his wake in the process.  Between 6 teachers, we couldn't manage to take the stick away from him. 

(also, you may notice a little pair of black legs in flight in the background... they belong to Erin - more on her later - who was mid-tumble as I took this photo.  I don't know if you can see it too well on here, but her legs are completely tangled together just from walking... something only Erin can do)

Hmm... Safe kids games.  Let's all stand in a circle and throw a pointy stick into a really small opening.  Of course this turned into 'throw the stick as hard as you can at the person opposite you'...

MOON CLASS

I still can't remember all these kids names... neither can they.  

Moon class are 6 year olds (4 or 5 western age) who have never learnt English before.  They were all given English names on their first day and I can guarantee that 90% of them have either forgotten or changed them without telling us.  Therefore most of them generally don't answer to any name.  They are HARD work... thankfully I only teach them a few times a week!

MOUNTAIN CLASS

Paul, Andrew, Andy (the one who cried through his first week at school), Alvin (I don't know why he chose that name - he was called Eddie before and that's heaps cooler!), Brian, Ricky, Gina (zebra/glue girl) and Judy

I pity the two girls in this class of boys.  They are sweet and quiet while they boys yell, punch and kick each other ALL DAY.  Mountain class are 7 in Korean age and have never learnt English before either.  The difference between the 6 and 7 year old classes is HUGE though, and these kids actually remember their names (despite changing them often), so they are a bit easier to control.  Andrew and Brian had a little stint of sitting outside the classroom earlier in the week and the whole class is starting to calm down a little as a consequence as I think that they are now a little scared of me (mwah ha ha ha!).

OCEAN CLASS

Back: Cherry, Lewis, Lynn, Grant and Jacky.

Centre: Sarah, Kevin and David.

Front: Angela, Andy, Sophia and Ann.

Ocean class is the other class I teach 5 days a week.  I love them sometimes and really-don't-like-verging-on-hate them at others.  Today, I kind of like them again, but yesterday I was definitely not a fan.  There are 12 kids in this class including 6 big, strong personalities.  This creates chaos.  When they are good, they are great though (ain't it always the way?!)... it's just getting them to be quiet for a few minutes that is my greatest daily challenge.  We are all on a discipline rampage with this class at the moment and I really don't like having to be strict, but they get seriously out of control (just thinking about that makes me not like them again)... please be good tomorrow, please be good tomorrow, please be good tomorrow. 

The boys: Andy, Kevin, David and Grant... Andy is an absolute angel (I heart Andy!).  The others are the trouble makers.

Sarah is possibly the sweetest kid in the entire school.

Sophia hugs my leg for a solid 5 minutes every day.  I tell her she is a leech... but I don't think she gets it.

Angela knows how to strike a pose.  She's a feisty little one who likes to dish out the hugs when she's happy...  Tell her off though, and she can deliver a dagger stare that rivals the most practiced divas.

Grant - the smallest boy in the class but the biggest pot stirrer around.  Grant makes the bullets for the other boys to shoot (but he looks so cute!).

STAR CLASS

Leo, Lynn, Rosemary, Joey, Kyle and Erin (hiding behind her book).

I'm not going to deny it, this is my favourite class - hands down, no competition whatsoever.  It was this class that noticed my resemblance to the Korean penguin cartoon Pororo and it is this class that I am generally in charge of when we do anything outside the school walls.  Leo and another boy, Sean (who was sick the day I took this photo), were recently moved into star class, giving Kyle some boy power (and apparently a growing attitude!).  As a class they can be pretty rowdy, but usually quieten down when I tell them to (or threaten to take away their stickers). There are often tears, but we all hug it out and everything is fine (yes, I taught them to say 'hug it out').  They have the attention spans of, well, the 4 year olds they are, but can dance to the Wiggles 'Hot Potato' song for a solid 15 minutes (which I love as it doesn't involve me trying to teach them to write! Plus, let's be honest here, I certainly don't mind a boogie to the wiggles every now and then... or every day as the case may be now). 

Joey (the hand/jacket/scarf/bag/camera kisser).  

Distinguishing characteristics: Very cuddly. Is built like a midget giraffe . 

 Likes: Pinching my cheeks and singing the "5 Little Monkeys" song.

Dislikes: Blueberry lollies.

Favourite crayon colour: Purple. 

Leo

Distinguishing Characteristics: Always wears entire outfits from the GAP

Likes: Saying "I can't do it" and pretending to be the Red Power Ranger (see above pose). 

Dislikes: Reading and writing

Favourite crayon colour: Red (like the Power Ranger)

Lynn

Distinguishing Characteristics: Almost always has her dress tucked into her tights after using the bathroom.

Likes: Saying "No!" (Amy: "Hello Lynne!" Lynne: "No Hello!").

Dislikes: The "5 Little Monkeys" song (she hates it so much that she sometimes covers her ears and hides under the table when I put the CD on... shame, as I have to play it every day because it accompanies their story book).

Favourite crayon colour: Pink.

Rosemary

Distinguishing characterisitcs: Wears nothing but PINK.  Sometimes looks like an old lady.

Likes: Arranging crayons in their correct colour order in the packet.

Dislikes: Being called Rosie. Crayons that are haphazardly put back into the packet. 

Favourite crayon colour: Sky Blue ("No light blue", she tells me, "sky blue").

Erin (the one who spotted my similarity to Pororo)

**Erin has 2 personalities that switch in an instant - happy Erin and angry Erin. See below the next picture for angry Erin's profile**

Distinguishing characteristics (of happy Erin):  The youngest in the class.  Is very floppy, bendy and awkward (trips over her own feet often).

Likes: Hiding behind the door or under the table and calling me "Pororo Teacher".

Dislikes: Leo and Kyle.

Favourite crayon colour: Orange.

Angry Erin

Distinguishing characteristics: Exhibits a scornful look that she has down to an art-form.

Likes: Scratching, hitting and screaming.

Dislikes: Everything.

Favourite crayon colour: None of them.

Like I said, sean was absent the day I had my camera in class and I couldn't get Kyle to stand still for long enough to take a photo, but I will give you their profiles anyway: 

Sean

Distinguishing characteristics: Very small and quiet.  Is often sick.

Likes: Picking his nose. Rosemary.

Dislikes: The "Heads, shoulders, knees and toes" song.

Favourite crayon colour: Dark blue.

Kyle

Distinguishing characteristics: Always wears flannel, tartan-print shirts.  Has rainbow striped leggings that he wears as stand-alone pants.

Likes: Playing the part of 'Mr. Crocodile' in the "5 Little Monkeys" song/story book. 

Dislikes: When I touch my nose (no idea why, but it limits my 'Simon Says' and 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes' repertoires somewhat).

Favourite crayon colour: Green.

Here they are again as a complete class at the museum... they don't look very happy because they were hungry and pissed off that we had to go back to school...  So was I. 

생일축하합니다

(I believe this means Happy Birthday... although knowing my luck it probably means something bad like 'I am a rabid monkey')

Korea has stolen my youth!  Yes, that's right, you read correctly.  It has STOLEN. MY. YOUTH. In addition to that, it has compromised my ability to calculate my age in a straightforward and logical way.  You see, last week I turned 26, but in Korean age I'm considered to be 27.... well for the sake of accuracy I was also considered 27 in Korean age when I was still actually 25 in Western age.  Confused??? So you should be. I am too.  I will try and explain the Korean age system to you as I understand it, however, be warned, there is a big chance that I could get this very wrong! Here goes nothing...

Koreans measure age according to the calender year rather than the 12 month years we use.  According to Koreans, you are one year old when you are born (it seems that they count the time spent in the womb as your first year of life... never mind that it doesn't account for 25% of that year).  After that you age one year with the passing of the new year rather than a birthday.  So, I was born on March 12, 1982...  By Western standards, I just turned 26.  By Korean reckoning I actually turned 27 on the Lunar New Year that passed in February and didn't age at all on my birthday last week.  If I were born in January, however, I would have been 1 when I was born and turned 2 at new year (which would've been around February sometime) - when really I was less than 2 months old! I would have turned 3 when I was only 13 months old... get it?? It's taken me 2 months to try and wrap my head around this...

Anyway, it was my birthday on Wednesday and true to form, I had an awesome day.  To be perfectly honest, I was missing my people a bit on Tuesday night (yeah, that's you guys). I was thinking about birthdays gone by and remembered a string of parties filled with friends and family.  It was weird to think that I wasn't going to have that this year - but before I had a chance to get sad I received a phone call from my supervisors at work telling me to be out the front of my apartment in 10 mintues.  I had no clue what for, but I went outside and was whisked off to Costco (a big American wholesale supermarket) where I was able to buy a bunch of things (in bulk) that you just can't get in the Korean supermarkets (I won't bore you with the details of everything I bought- but I got CHEESE!  Good, decent, non-orange-plastic-coated, glorious cheese!).  That boosted my spirits like nothing else could and to top it off, my supervisors paid for a whole bunch of what I bought as a present to me!  Sweet!

 The next morning I woke up, had a quick chat to my family while opening presents (awesome- all of them awesome - thank you!) and ran out the door to go to work.  I opened the door to find this....

My new neighbour and co-worker, Mardi, had got up early and decorated my door!! How sweet is that!?!?  Thank you Mardi!

Then later at school, some of my afternoon classes obviously got wind of the birthday news and I walked into one of my classes to find this...

This is the work of a class of 5 girls I just started teaching a few weeks ago.  

My suspicions were aroused that they were up to something when I heard them asking other teachers how to spell 'Birthday'... too sweet!

L: Amy, Suan, Sally, Heather and Lina.

Unfortunately, I don't think you can't see the words they accidently wrote backwards.... like mirror image backwards - I didn't have the heart to tell them.... so cute!

Another class were alerted to my birthday last week when the saw a package from home arrive to the school.  I've been teaching these kids since my first day here and love them!  They're about 9 - 10 years old (in Western age), so eager to learn, so well behaved and all 'round awesome... genuinely great kids. 

Anna- the class sweetheart... I'm sure you can see why.

John - how cool is he with his leather jacket teamed with a pink button up shirt over a pink polo!  His glasses also have a fluro orange twinge and he has the coolest spike-do I've seen since the 80's! 

Don - the class clown (and the boss's son).

Samira - the baby of the class (in terms of age, not maturity that is... the boys would have to take that prize)

Love (yes, her name is Love, but it totally suits).  Love is Samira's big sister and looks after her in the most gorgeous sisterly way.  Love is, without a doubt, one of the sweetest and smartest girls I know! 

And this is their board decoration...

I love you's

Don said I'm a big flower (whatever that means - he was looking at me for approval whatever it was, so I don't think it was an insult), then Anna got mad because his comments had obscured her "We love you" and "We happy" messages. After a quick peace treaty they were friends again.

This is my favourite (it's from Love). "You are best (good) teacher".  I love the clarification of best as (good)!

It didn't stop there either, next I had homework and work books decorated with birthday wishes and messages of love...

These say something along the lines of "Amy teacher I love" and "Great Day Amy teacher"... Will have to work on their grammar before Christmas card time...

Upon returning to the staff room, I was presented with a giant tiramisu from the school - which we then proceeded to eat with chopsticks.  No kidding.  There are no forks in the school (except my snazzy Tom and Jerry fork), but there are plenty of spoons - however, chopsticks seem to be the cake utensil of choice in these parts! It made the occasion all the more Korean, but certainly didn't help me eat less cake.... It sure was tasty though. 

After work drinks naturally followed and continued for much longer than they should have considering I had to be at work at 9am the next day.... but what are birthdays for if not for enjoying time with nice people!?

New Beginnings.

This week saw the beginning of the new school year in Korea, which brought with it new students, new classes and a new schedule for Amy Teacher. Goodbye leisurely days of 2.30pm starts and hello morning classes, kinder kids and full days of work! I knew my dream schedule of the first 6 weeks wouldn't last long and now that my honeymoon period is over, I guess it's only fair that I actually have to work for my pay... but geeze it's been exhausting! I mean, I know the first week of school is always a bit crazy - the kids have new classes, new classmates and new teachers to get used to, not to mention the general sense of disorganisation they must be getting from the frenzied staff at school, but I certainly wasn't prepared for the absolute chaos that I encountered!! 

Early in the week, it became apparent that the normally polite and cute children I had become accustomed to, had morphed into over-excited, seditious little devils with a knack for executing seemingly random yet synchronised acts of sabotage on my classes.  Obviously I have underestimated the organisational skills and cognitive abilities of the 5 year old brain, as I now have reason to believe that somewhere, over the course of a single weekend, a series of covert meetings were convened by my students (most likely in someones tree house... not that they seem to have them here) to discuss mutiny tactics.

 I imagine blue prints were drawn up in crayon (and subsequently buried or even swallowed) detailing the layout of the classroom and the optimal positioning of students within the room so as to create an environment of chaos that is impossible for me to control.  I bet if I got hold of the meeting minutes they'd read a little something like this... 

"OK, so Kevin, you perch behind the door so she won't see you when she comes in... David, you hide in the cupboard.... Grant, you're under the desk to the right of the teacher and Andy you hold the left side... I'll fight with Leo and he'll cry which will instantly distract her.  Girls, it's your job to keep her distracted when she comes into the room, so Angela, you hug her while Sarah gives her a sticker... while she's thanking Sarah, that's when Lynn comes in with the back massage to distract her and lull her into a false sense of security, then she'll be an open target for Ann and Sophia to wrap themselves around teachers legs.  Whatever you do girls, DON'T LET GO... Once we've got her pinned, Grant and Andy will come out from under the desks and get her arms...If you can, tickle her as well. Anything, so long as you bring her to the ground or at least a sitting position so we can reach her head.  When she's down, that's when Kevin comes from behind the door and takes her glasses and David, you gag her so she can't yell at us or cry for help...  It's important that the timing of this is PERFECT otherwise she may try and teach us something and we want to avoid that at all costs..."  

I'm learning that teaching the kindy kids can be very hard and draining work... but it's also a lot of fun and really rewarding.  Whereas last month my students were mainly between 10-14 years old, my kids now range from 3 years old (that's about 5 years old in Korean age) to just 9 years old.  While I teach most classes just 2 or 3 times a week, there are 2 classes (a class of five 4 y/oand a class of ten 5 y/o) that I teach 5 days a week.... I love them.  Seriously, I am smitten. They are both incredibly noisy classes and the kids are almost always terribly behaved, but the glimpses of sweetness they show me has made me fall head over heels in love with them (even if I did temporarily swear off ever having children after a particularly trying class on Tuesday).

  A lot of the new kids who started this week have never learnt English before.... actually a lot of them have never been in an actual classroom before!  One particularly cute little boy, Andy (one of many Andy's) spent his first 3 days at school crying constantly.  Poor little thing just sobbed and sobbed his way through class after class and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what was wrong with him.  He didn't seem sick, the others weren't being mean to him and I'm pretty sure he hadn't just endured some kind of long-term relationship breakup (he is 5 after all)... but he just cried into his books all day long.  On Thursday morning he walked into school dry-eyed.... that was until I said "Hi Andy" at which he burst into tears.  Great. It's me.  He hates me.  He hates me so much that I made him cry with a morning greeting.... but my hate-theory didn't really make sense because he kept coming up to me and holding my hand while saying something in Korean through his tears.  Eventually I went and got one of the Korean teachers to ask him what was the matter.  Turns out he was crying because he couldn't understand English.... because he couldn't understand anything we said to him. aaaawwww .  We then got some of the other kids who had been at the school a bit longer to explain to him that none of them understand much of what the teachers say at first, but that he will learn to understand soon... that's why he's here.  And just like that he stopped crying - and I think even enjoyed school on Friday! Success!

Aside from not understanding us, a lot of the new kids also didn't have English names (yes, taking on English names is a somewhat strange practice widely adopted around Asia it seems).  I was excited at the prospect of naming some kids... until I actually had to name some kids.  First of all, I was shattered to be told by my supervisor that neither 'Lucky' or 'Mad Dog' were suitable names for a child and secondly it was really hard to come up with a name that they liked!  Some had names in mind already (4 Leo's in one class... I don't think so boys!), and others had no clue... I tried to come up with English names similar to their Korean names, but when this wasn't possible I named them after members of my family.... The next day I got to school and half of them had either forgotten their names (why didn't I have the piece of mind to make name tags!?) or had changed them overnight.  Humph. Now they have English names, the next step is to try and get them to actually respond to them - yelling out "Tom, get off the table" doesn't really have any impact when Tom doesn't understand the words 'get', 'off', 'the' or 'table' and particularly when Tom doesn't remember that he is Tom....

 At lunch the other day, some of the little 4 year old girls were showing me their training chopsticks... see exhibit A: 

There's little rings to put your fingers in to teach the correct chop-sticking technique...

Anyway, so one of the girls has training chopsticks with a little penguin called Pororo on top.  As she was showing me how they work she began looking at the penguin, then looking at me, looking at the penguin, looking at me.... this went on for several minutes.  I was perplexed as to why she (a) had a very confused look on her face, and (b) had developed a sudden fascination with both me and the penguin.... but then a lightbulb turned on in her head and she cracked up laughing. And I mean hysterical laughter.  She babbled something to the other girls who also broke into fits of giggles, staring at me then staring at the penguin.  At this stage Lailla, one of the Korean teachers, came into the room.  I asked her to find out what was so funny and after a quick explanation, she too was in hysterics.  Turns out that in the minds of 4 year olds I bear a strong resemblance to Pororo.... what do you think?

In other news, it snowed like crazy again this week.  It actually only snowed for a little while, and as it was a reasonably warm day (when I saw warm, I mean it was above zero) the snow didn't settle on the ground for long... actually it was completely gone within an hour.  But still, it was, without a doubt, the most impressive snowfall I have ever witnessed.  None of the delicate little flakes of snowfalls gone by... these snowflakes were GIANT and hit my face and glasses with a splat. Naturally, i got snap happy...

Really not as impressive as in real life, the photo doesn't really capture the size nor sheer amount of the snowflakes, but it gives a small indication nonetheless...

As you may have noticed from previous posts, snow brings out my inner child.  So much so that the Korean teachers find great pleasure in alerting me to even the most minute sign of snow... apparently they like my 'happy snow dance'.  They also like to come outside with me and laugh as I run around giggling like a little girl while trying to catch snowflakes in my mouth...

Anyway, that's enough from me tonight - I have another big week ahead and should really try and start the week off as fresh as possible!  I hope everyone is well- wherever in the world you may be... In the meantime, if you get a chance, I really recommend you try a new drink I found in Korea.  It's not coffee, it's not beer and it's certainly not whisky....
Yes, that is correct. It's Cocktile.  Mmmmm.

Snow is fun but avoid the stairs... and doctors if possible.

 So, uh, going to the doctor in Korea is an interesting experience.... Run down, after working double shifts for the last week, I woke up the other day to find that the glands in my neck had swollen to the size of golf balls and I had developed a headache that promised to split my skull in two every time I moved.  I waited a day to see how I felt, and with no improvement (or rather a much worse condition) took myself off to the doctor to get something to ease my aching head and neck. First the doc had a look-see in my ears, nose and throat - pretty standard doctor behaviour in my book... but that was where normality ended and bizzaro began.  He then proceeded to stick a long metal tube up my nose and with the flick of a switch began sucking all the, erm, stuff out of my sinuses - an uncomfortable yet incredibly pressure-relieving and all out weird experience.  I wondered if he slipped, would he suck out my brain through my nose in a modern day twist of  the ancient Egyptian mummification technique? Hope not.  After my nose was sufficiently cleared of goobers he did a bit of work on my throat.  This involved a swab (not sure that it was necessary form him to stick it into my larynx though) followed by a quick spray of the throat, a short stint breathing some weird air from a weird tube, et voila, a diagnosis of tonsillitis.  Too bad my throat didn't even hurt... although whatever drugs he gave me worked a treat and I was pretty much back to my old self within 2 days!

 

The other big news of the week is that it snowed again!! Apparently this is almost unheard of in February - particularly as we got quite the dump of snow! Not wanting to let this opportunity pass, Ellen (who finished up in Korea on Saturday - boo hoo, come back!) and I decided it was necessary to try out a little something we'd been thinking about a few weeks ago.  We call it BRIDGE SLIDING...

For bridge sliding you need: a) snow, b) a foot bridge, and c) something to slide on.  A toboggan would be preferable, however, we improvised with a Winnie the pooh rubber coated foam mat (functional AND stylish - what more could you want?).

We started off with a straight-up seated butt slide (we did, after all, get a lot of experience in this while snowboarding on death mountain).  Then, we moved onto a slightly more difficult knee slide and steadily progressed to the backward-side-slide (pictured above) and other equally impressive maneuvers.

This one required a run-up and belly flop... scary at first, but not when you're a pro at bridge-sliding like I am.

This is the face of someone having TOO. MUCH. FUN. 

My first snow angel!!!  As if my clothes weren't wet and frozen enough from bridge sliding...

These Koreans really know how to make a snowball. This is, in my humble opinion, the Best. Snowball. Ever. 

Meet Wilbur, our strapping young snowman.

We made Wilbur (with the help of Mardi, our newest work colleague) before we went bridge sliding.  We returned to find him in a state of nakedness (no buttons - shock horror!). Who would violate a snowman in such a way?  Everyone knows a snowman is naked without his buttons!

P.S. Wilbur was still there in the morning, but alas, as I came home from work that afternoon, he was missing.  I found remnants of his ample head of hair and beautiful face, shattered on the side of the hill. Such senseless violence... and to such a nice snowman. R.I.P. Wilbs xx

As I arrived at school the next morning, I was met by dozens of our kindy kids screaming and pelting snowballs at each other... and then at me... who was I to deny them their fun?? And in that case, who was I to deny ME that fun?  That's right, I pelted snow right back at them. Their puny little snowballs did nothing to withstand my boulders of snow (minor exaggeration, yes). They've gotta learn somehow right?  And before you say that I was mean, at least I wasn't flinging snow onto them with  a shovel like one of the Korean teachers was doing!

Amy... My mini-me.  The kids like to identify the things that make little Amy and I the same. Aside from the obvious name similarity, we both have glasses, bangs, earrings, bracelets, parents, arms and teeth (they actually cited these things).  She also has a mini version of a red jacket I recently bought and waves at me every time I walk past (which is frequently). So cute.

Jeff, packing snowballs with his uber-cool Power Ranger gloves (note the matching snow boots and his ear muffs that inadvertently cover his cheeks).

Nathan - the object of Jeffs snowball throwing wrath... I think he looks like a baby mouse in this picture.

So yeah, snow is so much fun!! Who knew precipitation could bring so much joy?!   But do you know what's NOT fun about snow?? I'll tell you what.  It's in the days after, where you are forced to make very important and possibly life-altering decisions such as whether to take...

The Stairs of Icy Peril.... OR,

The Ramp of Spinal Jeopardy...

May I be a good friend and recommend that you stay away from both.  I have learnt the hard way... well actually the numerous people I saw stack it down both stairs and ramps learnt the hard way for us all, I just laughed (quietly of course).