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…

Mom sent me some Christmas candy and Christmas themed bags to pass out to my coworkers. After divvying up the candy and tying the bags, I gave special ones to the subject teachers and put the rest in the teacher’s lounge with a note that said: 안녕하세요! 제 엄마는 크리스마스 과자를 보내셨어요. 맛있게 드세요~ I don’t know if this is correct but I figure mistakes are part of my charm. And look, mom, I referred to you with honorifics! I’m evolving! S came with me to the teacher’s lounge to explain to the office staff what I was doing. They were very touched by my note and they lauded my…

Another plot twist: H is leaving after the end of the semester to take care of her baby for a year. She said “this is why you have to stay for three years! So we can teach together again.” Third grade classes went well today as G’s good influence still hovers over them. It was also easier since I was more involved in class time and grade 3 is the most intrinsically motivated; I’ve never seen so many hands in the air. The girl who gave me an I love you note last week handed me a vitamin today. 4-2 was bananas as usual but they can behave when given…

H is back. Guitar teacher is back?? Plot twists all around. 5-1 made me question why I ever wanted to teach kids in the first place. Grade 4 and 5-3 reminded me why I did. THANK YOU KIDS. (S teaches 5-1 Korean and also has the same sentiment. VALIDATION!) 4-3 has a new student so I crouched down to her during the pre-class chaos to ask her what her name is. Suyeon, one of my roleplay buddies, actually pointed her out to me. She handled my surprise Korean well although I wonder if our class antics made her bat an eye… (playing with Baby J, draping myself across one girl’s…

The sound of the devil’s instrument called my attention and I peeked into the 5-3 homeroom to see what was happening at 1:45 on a Friday. It must have been play time— kids were spread out over the room indulging in various activities. Tank Boy must have caught me peaking because as I walked away he bolted out of the classroom to say “hi teacher!” I asked him who could play “my heart will go on” because that’s the only intelligible recorder song I’ve heard ricocheting through the hallways this year. He didn’t know but did tell me he could play Hey Jude on the guitar. Yesterday I saw him…

G confided in me again that she’s still offended by the poor behavior of other teachers in the school. To my great surprise she added: “I don’t like the way the male music teacher speaks to you. It’s old style. When he talks to you like that I feel uncomfortable.” My first thought was VALIDATION! You know the various run ins that I’ve had with the male music teacher (please note he is a separate and distinct entity from guitar teacher). And you also know that Korean has various politeness levels. The male music teacher has spoken to me with casual language from the very beginning. While technically it follows…