Week 4, Monday
There was a misunderstanding on my end today which set me on the edge of tears, mostly fueled by lack of sleep and feeling lonely over the holiday. My coteacher watched me leave the room to get water and when I came back she was still looking at me. She asked “are you OK? you look sad” and I almost lost it.
But luckily 4-1 came and knocked it all away. In one game they practiced prepositions by following the command I gave. I said “you are under the teacher’s hand” and the next thing I knew there were 24 10-year-olds piled around my feet. One played with my anklet and I had to shake him off.
I received an email that one of our fifth graders was acting strange and hadn’t taken his medication. I suppose that is what the previous teacher meant when she said that fifth grade is a handful. But I got to lead fifth grade on my own while the substitute teacher kept control in the back.
I snuck in pictures of Jonathan Van Ness, Viola Davis, and Lisa from Blackpink for our “what do you look like?” chapter. In the final practice I had them describe each other and I’ve attached some of the more… interesting responses below. I have to give them credit for writing in English at least. Strong Girl and Weak Boy are doing well in class and are interested in the topic (Tank Boy? Well…).
And I have to give props to 5-3 for asking good questions (“how do you say short? Is this hot pink? How do you spell strong?”)
Emart continues to be a place of wonderment, even if I’m blocked from having a points card until I have an alien registration card. Although they do accept my foreign card as payment…
I finally caved and bought a floor chair and a lamp. Usually the staff gives me a wide berth but today a worker asked me a question. I couldn’t put the meaning together even though I knew in context it was probably like “can I help you find something”. I feel bad for confirming what the other workers already know and I hope I don’t discourage her from helping other foreigners in the future.
It took me a full three minutes after of repeating the same words in my head to realize she had said “찾은 것” which means “the found thing”. (I’ve noticed in colloquial speech Koreans tend to make verbs into adjectives which trips me up.
The best and first example that I experienced was “좋아하는 것 가튼데” which means “I think that is the thing which you really like, right?” Keep in mind at this point all I knew was “do you like it? Yes I like it”.
In the lamp aisle a tiny toddler ran up on me and laughed joyously. Her dad soon came around the corner to see what the commotion was about. He noticed it was me and all three of us laughed.
I am looking forward to a good night’s sleep and the seasonal opening of the national ice rink. Until tomorrow~