“Today is my birthday,” self-named fourth grader Mr. Pickle informed me in the hallway before class. After getting the kids settled once class began I announced Mr. Pickle’s birthday and we all sang to him, my kids surprisingly busting out a perfect English chorus. As for Mr. Pickle, he immediately burst into tears. This only made the students sing louder. The homeroom teacher paused reading her novel in the back corner to whip out her phone and record him, presumably to send to his parents. I assume they were happy, surprised tears because his classmates wouldn’t be so cruel as to serenade him in distress. After we finished, someone asked…

Today was the mandatory debate festival. One school didn’t even show up, so at least we got them beat! Three girls and my other son, Boy 3, came to a high school in Masan at the end of the world for the culminating debate festival. I was assigned to judge video presentations from far away schools and a few live presentations that were set up like a science fair, foam boards included. The video presentations. Well, bless their hearts, they did what they could but my goodness did they lack pizazz. They had been prerecorded and as many as five individual student speeches were included in one school’s video, which…

The school week is back in full swing. Not only that but starting at the end of next month we are transitioning back to the pre-COVID timetable with 40 minute classes and ten minute breaks, due to parent demand. I’m excited for an extra five minutes to drill phonics or writing, but not quite sure what to do with myself for ten minutes between classes. In every grade at my big school, about once a chapter I have the kids write a short dialogue using the target sentences. The note of interest, however, is that I encourage them to write as crazy as possible. Today, I gave the fourth graders…

On Monday the school received notice that one of the fourth graders tested positive for Covid. The health center quickly mobilized and after I finished teaching sixth grade, I suppose because why cancel classes if we are all already here, all 900 students and 100 faculty were tested by 2:30. Then we were all sent home with a warning not to go out and wait for the test results. Sitting in bed with my laptop trying to put together an online class for the sixth grade classes I didn’t see, I suddenly got a call which I ignored. My phone lit up again and I begrudgingly answered. It was the…

After class I wandered around looking for a suitable restaurant to no avail— the gukbap place had no open seats and nothing in the many blocks I weeded through was particularly appealing. Until I came upon a new salad restaurant. It looked crowded so I swerved into the department store to browse discount sweaters and creep on the restaurant’s Instagram page for more info. The prices were cheap, cheaper than most places nearby, and it was one of the few healthy options nestled between university student friendly options like grilled cheese and fried pork cutlet. There were several pictures of two different men scattered around the social media account and…

I mentioned in the previous post that moments of warmth are doled out between servings of trials and tribulations. The bookends around this cozy weeeknd have been trying. Friday ended with me witnessing a fifth grade boy and girl fighting in the courtyard which was broken up by other students but not before the boy punched the girl straight in the face. Maybe one day I’ll work at a school with well behaved students. I reported it to Helen but who it makes it to is unclear. Do we even have a school counselor? Worse is that if the behavior is reported to the home room teacher, I feel he…

My hair appointment started with illegal parking (jk no such thing in Korea) and ended with me eating silkworm larvae in the backroom with the two stylists. Life is uh full of surprises.

Korea requires emission testing every two years and as a proud car owner, I had to face that reality several weeks ago. The serviceman told me there was a hole in the exhaust pipe and that I needed to replace it and return for confirmation if I didn’t want to face a fine. After a week of asking Yana, then Anthony, then Yana’s husband, we concluded that my best bet would be the Chevrolet Car Center. Everyone promised that the branded service center wouldn’t up sell or rip me off, which might be the case if I go to a local mechanic shop. This is quite different from the U.S.…

Sundays are a blessing because my Korean teacher always sends me off with a new bit of inspiration, especially when I feel ground down by COVID and expat life. I left class happily to get my nails done and then wandered around looking for Halloween candy to drop off at House Owner’s place. I had just exited a foreign snack shop when a young man stopped me. For a weird moment I thought he was chasing me down because it looked like I had stolen something. “Is there a problem?” I asked, having to look up even though I was wearing three inch heeled boots. “Yes. I like you.” Wow…

Jack launched out of his chair when I got back to the office. “Are you okay?” He asked. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. That’s a pretty loaded question. Emotionally? Physically? Mentally? Jury’s out. “I heard a student broke a ruler in class. The homeroom teacher was really worried you got hurt.” I wracked my brain for any incident outside of the norm; I mean, earlier I saw one boy riding another like a horse. What about today was particularly different? “She said a piece flew off.” Ah. One of the special students in fourth grade snapped his plastic ruler, sending a large shard sailing across the room…