Week 9, Tuesday

This morning was a fun moment in mishearing. I had some time before class because I never time the bus schedule so I went to Ediya.

The barista asked after she handed me the iced latte if I hated her.

What?

I stood in confusion as my brain played catch up. Surely she wasn’t asking if I hate her or the latte since I just popped in.

She said again, “Syrup?”

Loan words to confuse the day! The Korean word for bad/dislike is 싫어 [shee roh] and the Korean pronunciation of syrup is 시럽 [shee rope].

P.S. can you all learn IPA, it kills me to try and transcribe sounds with our inconsistent English alphabet.

As I carried my “bad” latte, I ran into one set of my third grade twins (TWINS, Bazzle) and they slowly came to consciousness to say hello. They cut through an alley so I saw them again about ten seconds later.

An overexcited boy in 4-2 said something so animatedly that both he and I saw his spit fly in a beautiful arc highlighted by the morning sunlight. We both laughed, but only one of us in embarrassment, as the rest of the class looked on in confusion.

However, the highlight of today was the talent show rehearsal. I was assigned to be the music helper but it appears that three other teachers also have that designation.

So I sat and watched the rehearsal and figured if anyone needed me, they could come and get me. Sometimes our lack of shared language comes in handy for me.

I saw every single student perform with their class, including the mysterious first and second graders whom I don’t teach. Some of them were fascinated by me and one very brave first grade girl said HELLO several times. I saw an unexpected amount of first grade boys’ mid drifts and I love that Korean parents are chill with their sons wearing sparkly cheerleading costumes unironically.

Three of my sixth grade girls excitedly told me “we are cheerleaders!” When I asked them where their cheerleading clothes were, they didn’t understand me (sigh) but their class had a lively dance performance. My babies in 3-3 did a spectacular fan dance and I legitimately teared up. They were so good. Nick Jr paused in his running to catch up with his class to say hello to me. I really think we’re on the same wavelength.

My new MO is to answer someone in colloquial English when they ask me a question in colloquial Korean: the male music teacher and I crossed paths as I went back to the auditorium to find my missing badge. He had it in hand and asked something about “the found thing” (same word that the Emart employee once asked me about). As I didn’t know what he said, I replied back in very quick English “yeah I was going back to find it” which I’m 100% sure he didn’t understand.

Ha! Taste of your own medicine!

After lunch, I helped G do computer things and spent the rest of the afternoon making a very dope pizza spelling game for fourth grade tomorrow. And in Korean class I thought of a worksheet that would really help them.

And as usual, I met more students outside the ddeokbokki stand. Sitting on the curb was one of my third graders and her mom. She said a big HELLO and I bowed to her mom.

A young business woman on the train gave up her seat to an older woman who nearly fell on top of her. That woman also dropped her juice which I picked up and gave back to her and in turn she offered me… Her sandwich?

Later as I entered the last of my cash into the transit card re-loading machine, my last dollar bill was rejected several times. I said loudly to the machine “WHAT” which prompted the nice, possibly drifter type man at the adjacent machine, to put in two 50 cent coins for me. I gave him my dollar bill in return and said thank you several times. Pass on a good deed.

The air quality* has been bad this week which explains why my eyes sting in the morning… And also explains why I shouldn’t keep my window open at night, and not just because of drunk men arguing at 4 AM.

Tomorrow will be a nice rest day where I can finally replace my Tony Moly make up and hopefully find a red hat for my Halloween costume. Wish me luck.

*Later I will discover that I have a dust-pollution allergy that will make the next three months a revolving door of illness.