Anyway, I'm listening to Talkie Walkie. This is the best "I'm up early and I had time to heat up milk to put in my coffee and I'm just going to stare at my apartment for an hour before even have to think about getting ready for work" music.
I'm excited about today because I don't have to work tomorrow, Thursday, or Friday. This week is 설 날, or Seoulnal, which is impossible to pronounce. My six year old students make fun of me when I try to say it. We westerners call it Lunar New Year, but I've read that that's not a very good translation. It's not really a lunar anything. And how would you determine the new year by looking at the moon? Anyway, I'm way out of my realm of understanding, but I definitely don't have to work for the rest of this week. So. Yay!
Also we (the Jenkins/Varner team) are going to the climbing gym right after work. This is the best thing we've started since coming to Korea. Ashley has been a climber for a long time; she and Derek found this place and they've been teaching us how to climb. It feels really, really good to be using my muscles and creative problem-solving skills. It's slow-going, but I feel great.
Also it has given us the chance to meet people. Most of the people there can't speak English well, and we really can't speak Korean, so we are forming friendships based on charades and awkward giggling (I think I do most of the giggling). Sometimes, as you can imagine, it's really awkward. Last week Ashley and I were resting by the heater (it's cold in the gym, and most Korean places don't have central heating. This place has a giant, portable gas heater) and we were just sort of talking together, when suddenly this man approached me and..not really forcefully, but in an on-a-mission kind of way, he led me to the bathroom and started really emphatically showing me the faucet. And he kept turning the handle to hot water, and saying "hot water!" and then to cold water, saying "cold water!" This went on for so long! I was thinking maybe there was something on my face...And I sort of looked... But there wasn't... And I was so puzzled and worried. Finally he left, and I sort of stood there for a moment. I checked my face again and decided that it was okay for me to leave too, so I found Ashley and we just puzzled and puzzled about what just happened.
Finally Ashley realized that we had been examining our hands right before this encounter. We were just looking at callouses and comparing general redness. And he probably thought we were saying "Ewww! Our hands are so dirty!" Ha ha! So I timidly approached him and tried to let him know that I understood and I was thankful.
My little six-year-olds are graduating from pre-kindergarten in three weeks. OMIGOD! I can't believe the little kiddos are all grown up! They are going to be in kindergarten soon. I'm going to be such a stinking crier.
I'm excited about my new class though. I've learned a lot this year, and I'm going to be able to apply all of that to a fresh new class. Hopefully I'll be a much better teacher, and at least I'll be prepared for the behavior problems that completely baffled and almost destroyed me a year ago. Plus, my little Sealions are getting too heavy to pick up. They will have more fun playing with Mr. Stephen. He's stronger :)
No comments:
Post a Comment