1.2 Fall 2019
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Week 11, Monday
There is something I didn’t tell you. PhD asked me out. I politely declined but offered if he was at all spending time together non-romantically, I would be happy to meet, but only if he wanted to. So on Sunday PhD and I had kimchi stew and later he said “you’re the least foreign foreign person I know.” I was all “hair flip of course” until I was forced back into reality today. To be frank, I had an embarrassing school lunch (have you ever thought someone’s ankles were cute? Please kill me) and felt depressed about my language lacking. Everything I have come to fear about lunch conversations happened…
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Week 10, Friday
The grade 6 girls told me that my two braids were very cute. While the boys were being re-assigned seats, the girls of 6-2 gathered around me and asked me about K-pop. “Do you like in NCT?” “Of course I do! Look at this video I took of their concert. Also do you know WayV?” “No… Teacher do you know BTS?” “Yes but you should listen to the new WayV album”. The student that S mentioned before was in the gaggle of girls and tried to tell me again over the din of boy’s voices in the background that her family thinks I’m pretty. Something dramatic happened in 6–4 that…
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Week 10, Thursday, Halloween & WayV
I interviewed every third grader for their individual speaking test today. Having been the student of speaking tests in Spanish, Czech, and Korean I deeply empathize. They all tried and for the most part did very well. I know they’ve never had a test like that but today they looked a foreign person in the eyes and could say “how old are you? I’m ten years old.” I realized how small they are, sitting across from me. And I definitely have a soft spot for Nick Jr which I’m trying to keep from interfering with grading. G later revealed to me:“When I was in junior high we had a foreign…
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Week 10, Wednesday
Guitar teacher saved me from another silent lunch by mentioning his Halloween; he was also in Itaewon at the same time.“Wow we could have seen each other.” I said, although the reality is Itaewon was crowded and my PhD friend is 6’4” so if I walked behind him, I was effectively a ghost. He added: “I went to Yongsan park on Sunday. There were many foreign families celebrating Halloween. I just walked around.” “Ah I see… you were walking off your hangover?” A moment passed thinking I was mistaken until he admitted with a small laugh aimed at the window “…yes”. On the stairs a rowdy boy and Strong Girl…
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Week 10, Tuesday
A weird day after a long weekend. A third grade student didn’t recognize me en route to school at first because I was wearing a black facemask. Almost after we passed each other he lit up with recognition and did a delayed a little bow. “Handsome” student knocked on my classroom door before the day started and brought me candy. Ironic, considering she usually asks asks me for candy. Very sweet. As S was absent due to her son being sick, I went down to lunch by myself and sat with the usual group. G and the subject teachers talked in Korean so I just ate lunch and zoned out.…
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Week 9, Saturday, Halloween Party
You may start your night sharing soju and chips with new friends in the park while watching blowup T-Rexes chase kids and end the night by splitting nuggets in a crowded McDonald’s at 3 AM with a person in a dinosaur costume who’s getting a PhD in physics. That’s just the magic of Halloween.
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Week 9, Thursday
Where do I even start? Today was the talent show. Third grade class did their fan dance and I am so proud. I didn’t cry though so winning. In the second half of the show I stood near the area where students lineup. I met some very outgoing second graders who shouted hello! I asked one in Korean, are you ready? And he became very shy. So cute. I gave them high-fives as they walked on. They’ll be my students next year. I wished all the students good luck as they walked past me to the stage and before 4-2 went on stage, I chatted with them. My SEVENTEEN fanboy:…
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Week 9, Wednesday
How did I survive sitting at a computer for 8 hours every day? The nice thing about planning time at school is that nobody cares if I am just reading articles or making PowerPoint or lesson planning or doing Korean lessons. As long as my work is done. In a very frank discussion on the school stairs S turned to me and said, do you use tampons? It turns out she bought them thinking they were pads (to be fair, women’s hygiene products are terribly Victorian about showing what the actual product is). The previous teacher stored tampons like a squirrel in winter and every week I find a new…
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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…
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Week 9, Monday
Fifth grade played a game in which they were given dialogues with missing words. The full dialogues were posted outside the class and one person from each group had to run outside, read, and report back to the group. We actually spent the whole lesson on this since the students at this school are lower level in English (although I’m not sure what that says about us as teachers versus the system itself). They were surprisingly challenged by my name selections of… Nathan. Nathan?? Very unexpected. But my “handsome “student called me over to review pronunciation and she did an awesome job. So proud. Curly hair bangs in fifth grade…