Jennie stopped by the elementary school in the afternoon to pick up the final student evaluations and update me on the debate teacher seminar. “Some teachers have high level students and other teachers said they also have low level students. They recommended doing smaller group or pair work, like mini debates with you, to get the students talking.” We agreed that was a good idea. She said the teachers also discussed making debate less intense and treating the class more casually. I thought of the disastrous Myanmar debate and silently agreed. The local taekwondo coach, cute but very young, led out a line of little uniformed ducklings and looked at…

“어디든 가치가 있는 곳으로 가려면 지름길은 없다.” There are no short cuts to any place worth going.

Boy 3, sensitive and clever and consequentially my favorite student, pulled up an image to aid his scriptless presentation of an artwork. “This is The Scream by Edvard Munch.” This is why I like him. “I first saw it in kindergarten,” he started. Excuse me? He clarified: he had seen it at his kindergarten where the painting had been hung on the wall. I cannot think of a less appropriate painting for a school of five year olds. He said that it made him scared then and while it doesn’t scare him now, he still has dreams about the screaming bald subject. Jennie asked him if there’s anything in his…

I muttered to myself sometime during 6-5, “y’all are funny”. In the classes that have proven a little difficult, I brought out the class rules. Respect, listen, prepare. They were reminded of my expectations and thus were able to curb the worst of their impulses. It was a much needed refresher! My pre-pubescent little goblins were engaged and hard-working today. After a chat during an Avatar (The Last Airbender) streaming party with some other experienced teachers, I’ve leaned away from doing so many active games. Teacher needs a break, too! The last chapter of the sixth grade textbook is all about appearance. But to keep vocabulary simple, the book restrics…

The weekend was wild, and certainly not how I’d imagine I’d be spending America’s independence. I drove to my friend Rachel’s house in Gimhae to hang out and celebrate her “housewarming”. Her house isn’t new, but her family was able to buy the unit on the first floor and now the whole villa is theirs. I’ve never seen lodging of that size in Korea– the first floor has three bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. Upstairs there is also a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom. I had planned to buy her an acceptable Korean housewarming gift which is traditionally laundry detergent or toilet paper. Historically these things…

Today was a good student day. The kids were at turns funny and touching. Fifth grade was a standout with comedic timing absolutely on point. They had to write their own self introduction which they enjoyed, because who doesn’t love talking about themselves, and then they had to interview four classmates. I also used my own details as an example for the self introduction. The kids were either amazed that I plan to go surfing this summer, or intrigued that I take Korean classes on the weekend, or shocked by my age. Clever girls in 5-2 commented, “29! It’s so young!” Yes, I told them. Young! They also offhandedly commented…

My mom recently sent me security footage of a deer wandering through the front yard. The sixth graders guessed all kinds of animals before I played the video, not excluding tiger, rabbit, and snake. They were amazed, and even more amused, when I revealed that my mom was angry at the deer for eating her flowers. They got a kick out of that. I heard cries of 사슴 and was curious. “Is this how you spell deer?” I asked, writing 사슴 on the board. They all clapped. “Thank you, but is this right?” There was no answer so I assumed the applause spoke for itself. Easily impressed! I did a…

The school counselor told Jack at lunch that I, too, needed to do mandatory child abuse prevention training. Of course, when she sent the link school wide, it led to a Korean education website for which I do not have login credentials. I attempted to make an account on the Korean-only screen but I gave up around step 20 when my school position wasn’t even listed in the position requirement. Do I really need to watch these videos, if I’m not even considered a viable user in the system? The answer was still yes, because Korea, and I got a pass by downloading and watching the videos on my computer.…

The same trio of fourth grade girls that ask for high fives called out to me excitedly in the lunch line. I gave them more high fives and they told me I’m pretty. Win win. One from the trio caught up with me on the stairs later and asked me an interesting question in Korean. “Are you a foreigner?” She posed politely. “Am I a foreigner?” I repeated, to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding this conversation. She confirmed. “Yes, I am. I’m American.” “You’re American?” “Yes,” I answered, holding back a laugh. She was cutely serious so I asked her why. “You’re the first foreigner I’ve ever met.” “Really? You…