Day 43

Today was my first day of teaching at the elementary school!
It wasn't so bad, but it wasn't the best time.

When I showed up, I walked into my classroom 10 minutes early. From now on, I am going to go to school when the bus drops me off at 1:30. There were already about seven 1st/2nd graders in class and they were jumping back and forth on top of the tables! I was shocked! I made them get down, but then they started trying to speak to me in Korean. It was kind of funny when one of the girls asked me if I spoke Korean (in Korean of course) and I replyed in Korean (I only knew what she said because Meok had taught me the word just yesterday).
I was freaking out in those 10 minutes, waiting for HyoJu to show up. After she showed up and we started class though, things were okay. I actually really like my 1st/2nd graders. They're super excitable, and they don't mind saying what they know in English (very limited), even if they're wrong. One little boy, Kenneth, copied what I drew on my name card onto his name card. He even tried copying the cursive I used on my stack of books. So adorable!

My 3rd/4th graders were a little more shy about speaking in English. All, that is, except for one little girl, named Rose. She showed up to class early, and left late. The whole time, she was asking HyoJu how to say different things in English, and then asking me. She asked me: "What is your favorite animal?", "What is your favorite food?", and "What is your favorite bird?". I also have a midget in that class, Alexander. He is so good at English though, and he participated so well, I wanted to hug him! He was the exact opposite of Michael, another little boy in class who didn't want to do anything at all. It took the entire class for him to finally write his name, and then draw an apple and a watermelon. I also have my strangest name in that class. One little girl showed up rather late to class. She didn't have an English name yet, so we let her think a bit. When she finally decided on a name and wanted to know how to spell it, I was amused to find out that she wanted to be called "Sheep". What's super funny about it is that Korean people have a hard time saying sheep so when she says her name, it sounds like "ship".
And one boy in the class, Harold, spelled his name "Halord". Such a cutie!

My 5th/6th grade class...I'm sure they all think I am treating them like babies. I could also tell who was a 5th grader and who was a 6th grader by the participation. 5th graders actually did the name-cards. The 6th graders waited until I had told them individually at least twice before starting. Especially two boys, Bill and Peter. Two of the 6th grade girls only said they liked money for the longest time.
There is one girl in my 5th/6th grade class who is only a 1st grader! Her name is Mary, and I feel so bad for her. She looks out of place and rather lonely. She sat at a table with two other girls, but the other girls were close friends and they never spoke with Mary. I understand that she's good at English so she's more advanced than her peers, but putting her in a higher class just seems too hard emotionally. I would have preferred if she were in my 3rd/4th grade class. She'd still be too advanced, but at least she'd be with people who weren't so much older than her. When I was a 5th grader, I thought the 1st graders were tiny babies. I can't imagine how she must feel in class with all of them.

Well.....that's about all for school.

Other things I did today....I had another conversation group meeting. It was hard, because this was a beginners class group. I tried to speak slow, but we didn't really know what to talk about. We talked a lot about travel and movies. The best English speaker of the three girls really liked the movie Child's Play. Chucky still creeps me out, so she thought that was pretty funny. Then another girl said "What about jombee?"I had no idea what she was talking about. Another girl typed it into her e-dictionary and then showed me. She was asking if I liked movies with zombies! We practiced saying zombie for a little bit.

After our meeting, I came back to my room and made lunch for myself. First time I've ever cooked for myself in Korea. It wasn't anything special though. I just had to boil some water to heat up my microwavable rice bowl, and then I fried up some spam. I used the water I boiled to make instant cappuccino. It might not have been anything big, but I was proud of myself.

Before I went to the elementary school, I went to a bookstore and bought another childrens book. This one is called "Pretty Princess Stories". It has the stories of Thumbelina, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling, and Snow White. I bought it to practice my reading.

After I returned home from school, I played around on my computer for a bit, and then Daniel called and asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him and Victoria (they always eat out!). Jina was teaching at the hagwan, and told me she would be late, so I was on my own for dinner. I headed out to where they were going to meet, and then had bulgogi. I haven't had it in a while, and I forgot how simply delicious it is. The taste is just....simple. It isn't bland or anything like that. It just isn't spicy.