Anna's going-away barbeque
was really fun. There were a bunch of Koreans from English group like Erica,
Rachel, Heather, Kim, and Ashley, Bobby and Tony, who I'd never met before, and
a bunch of the teachers from my school, everyone except Shannon and Tara.
Shannon had plans to be in Seoul with her friends and Tara wasn't invited
because the other teachers don’t like her. Bobby brought out a legit
barbeque, with a tiny grill, and he made gkalbi. The pork was really
good. We ate directly off the grill, and everything was delicious.
Everyone was talking and laughing and drinking and having a great time in
general. Then the food went away but the drinks kept flowing, so everyone
got a little drunk. I stopped drinking pretty early on in the night, but
everyone else kept going. Still,
everyone had a great time, and I get along really well with everyone.
Then Anna was gone, and
this week I was in charge of her old classes, like I will be for the rest of
the time I'm here. I really like her classes. She's got some great
kids. The highlights of her kindergarten:
Steve is by far the best
kid in that class because he's smart, creative, and completely goofy.
Every time he makes a mistake he puts his hands on the side of his head
and shakes his head back and forth really fast and yells
"Aaaarrhhhh!" He has really floppy hair in a bowl cut and so it
looks hilarious when he does this. He also looks a little bit like a
monkey, with the bowl cut and his sticking-out ears. He's really
difficult to control sometimes, but he never does anything too crazy, mostly
just moves around a lot and talks a bit too much.
Julie is beautiful and
sweet and innocent, with this high pitched voice that's somehow not at all
annoying. She LOVES me. She might be the most beautiful kid I've
seen since I came here. I've thought so ever since the first time I saw her in
the hallway. She's also pretty smart (at some things, sometimes) but
mostly what I love about her is that she always tries, and that she isn't
afraid to make mistakes sometimes.
Sally bugs the crap out
of me sometimes. She's hands-down the smartest kid in the class, but she
can't sit still to save her life. The best thing about her is that every
time she finishes her work, while she waits for me to finish checking it she
gets bored and spins around until she tips over. Which is pretty funny to
watch. I think she's fallen over while spinning in circles at least twice
every class I've taught her in. While I love it when she falls (because
she doesn't care, or realize that it happens every time she spins, so she just
gets up and starts spinning again) I can't stand it when I'm trying to tell her
something and she keeps running away. Every time she finishes her work
she puts her pencil away, but when I have her fix mistakes she goes back to get
it and then puts it away after every mistake and runs off. So when she
has lots of mistakes it takes forever to get through because I have to call her
from halfway across the room and then she has to run to the other end to get
her pencil and come back and then do it all over again. For every
mistake.
Anna only has eight kids
in her kindergarten, and most of them are really quiet. Cherry (no joke,
that's her name) is really quiet, as is Cindy, though Cindy's been absent all
week. Junsung is pretty quiet too and so is Andrew. The only other
kid who is loud is Ryan, but I haven't decided about him yet. So far he
doesn't seem to have much individuality. He mostly just makes general
noise. It's not enough to be annoying, or enough to set him apart at all. He is Steve’s best friend though, so maybe
there is some latent awesome in there that I’m just not noticing yet.
Tonight Holly took
everyone to Songtan, where the American Air Force Base is. Her husband is
in the Air Force, so she spends a lot of time there visiting him. She
actually originally came to Korea to teach because he’d been stationed here and
she didn’t want to be away from him for a whole year. We went to this really good (for Korea)
Mexican restaurant, where a guy named Chuey sang Latino music all night with
his guitar. The food was delicious, particularly because I’ve been
missing Mexican food lately. I have never been so appreciative of an
enchilada. Holly, her husband Chris, and his friends were going out
afterward too but everyone else was going home because tomorrow is Jeremy and
Allison's going-away party and that night is looking like it's going to be more
than a little bit crazy. We all wanted to rest up. Besides, three
new teachers showed up just this week so they're pretty exhausted. I’m sure we’ll hang out with these guys a lot
more in the future.
Speaking of the three new
teachers, they are Cally, Tween, and Kristin. Kristin and Tween are from
Canada, and Cally is from New Jersey. Seriously, what do I have to do to
escape New Jersey? Ever since I left Fordham... I’m kidding. Cally
is really cool, and it seems like she and I will get along pretty well.
Kristin is pretty cool too. Tween seems cool, but she didn't come
out tonight because she has taught in Korea before, so she has friends in Seoul
that she went to visit for the weekend. Still, I think that more than
anyone else I'm going to get along with Shannon and Tonya. Not that the
other girls aren't cool, but it's just that over the past three weeks the three
of us have bonded a lot.
Anyway, it's late and I
want to read before bed for a while. People should get on Skype more
often, and if I've sent you a friend request, you should accept it. DO IT. You'll like it, I promise.
I'm a good Skype friend. I buy you Skype presents, and come to all
your Skype games. I wear Skype foam fingers and cheer for you and
everything. Seriously, it's good times.
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