In the morning I bought adorable macaroons from a kind woman who was very patient when I forgot how to count past five. At this point I’m well versed in Chinese-Korean numbers since my kids and coworkers seem to discuss money often. However, I’m much less adept at Native Korean numbers since I rarely order more than “five” things. (And don’t let Koreans say their two number systems are like English counting and ordinal numbers. Korean has Chinese-Korean numbers, Native Korean numbers, AND ordinal numbers.) After a visit to the gym and my mandu man I took the unfamiliar but beautiful red line bus to Nana’s house. A group of…

Dear grade 6, Good riddan—I mean, goodbye! You were terrible to the end. The girls of 6-2 raised overall points by crowding my desk to chat in addition to Seonghwa and two boys of 6-4. Now, the rest of you? Climbing through windows, jumping on desks, fist fighting in the back of class. I know you kept shouting “Mission Impossible!” but that doesn’t give you a pass. It’s also the most English I’ve ever heard you speak. All I can say is, I guess get it all out now because the misery of preparation for the Korean college entrance exam is now upon you. Byeeee.

Guitar teacher played me an UNO reverse card and knocked on the classroom door after school to give me chocolate. “For giving me candy last week.” We could play this game in escalation until I walk away with a car. This morning I stepped on the back of Strong Girl’s shoe to make her trip. She turned around in the sea of students to shout 누구냐! But quickly amended to “aha teacher!” I am twelve. I will see more of her posse since the principal decided to change around winter camp, again, so I’ll have a few more fifth graders than expected. S asked me if that was okay, as…

I forgot to add that my fourth graders always request my “neck dance” when I play them this YouTube clip. I can move my head independently of my neck like a chicken which they find amazing. “Abigail teacher, do the thing!” S and the subject teachers had a special strategizing tea time (I declined the invitation) in which they schemed which grade to request for next year to maximize chances of success. Each year elementary public school teachers must reapply for their desired position. Subject teaching grants you few points so S has little bargaining room. However, few teachers want to be the homeroom teacher to grade 1 (too young),…

Quick live update from grade 3: When I sing Into The Unknown from Frozen 2 I have a chorus of echoing AaaAAAaaaaa from down the hallway. Magical. Also Frozen 2 was great. We stan snow queens who leave their traditional lives behind to live in the woods and ride snow horses.

5-1 and 5-2. Grade 5 is quickly falling to the bottom of my preferred classes. The difference I feel in class between 5-1 and 5-3 is like night and day. Gym friend kept calling himself spicy and cracking up. Since he’s fluent in English (five years in Richmond) we have our own conversations. And 5-3 had so many questions for me during their activity today. Enthusiasm! Yes! Plus their antics keep me amused: one girl pointed out my eye shadow so I sent her a very cheesy wink. One of the boys intercepted and mimed throwing up, in a very Abigail move. Another girl called me over:“Yes? You have a…

Despite a ticket fiasco, I successfully attended the WayV concert. My boys! I have ascended. WayV rise! The best part about being a fan of a Chinese group (well Macau, German, Thai, Hong Kong, and Mainland-born Chinese) is that their Korean and my Korean are both equally unfluent. There were several times when they spoke to the audience and one turned to the other to ask for a translation from Chinese or English and I felt that. Unlike other kpop concerts, I actually understood most of what they were talking about in the game and question sections since our language levels are about the same. Progress.

I am currently at home on a sick day. I was worried about taking it since previous teachers and training have said even though we have a contracted 11 sick days, it’s culturally inappropriate to use them. Today I would have helped S with grade 6 but since she plans the whole lesson and I help out with a game or activity, I didn’t think my absence would be too unhelpful. Anyway it turned out to be a non problem. S said no worries, get better and see you Monday. I don’t need a doctor’s note for the first three so I’m free to spend the day catching up on…