"Teacher, why?"

Fruit kabobs

I hear that a lot these days. "Teacher, why?" This is mostly said by my kindergarteners, but of course, other teachers have mentioned this as well.  It's pretty typical for little kids to ask "why" all of the time, so I'm not surprised. What's surprising is how it can really get to you after the 10th time that day.  All of you parents out there are laughing at this now, I can feel it.  You know what I'm talking about more than anyone.  On that note - Happy Mother's Day to everyone! Parent's Day in Korea is coming up as well. Our kindergarteners made tissue paper carnations for their parents.  So adorable!  We had "Green Day" (one of my favorite bands!) on Wednesday. This was the day before Children's Day (Thursday).  Green Day is made up by Dayelin School (the kindergarten portion of our school) so everyone, teachers included, wear green.  I'm glad I had a bright green sweatshirt that I brought with me! So basically, we spent the morning teaching our kids how to make fruit shishkabobs and hats that look like a frog's face (photos coming).  There was a big racing game in the auditorium and we had lunch and watched a movie ("Barnyard") with our kids in the auditorium later on.

Boy Jun - I love this kid!

Me with Peter Pan class

Jim with his Pinocchio class

INTRODUCING - Peter Pan class!

LEFT: Chris.  He tries to be good, but just can't quite follow through.  He takes his time to write nicely, but within two seconds of work, you have to get him to pay attention again.  He would rather be partying I think. That or watching Toy Story. Deep down, he's a big softy who craves attention. But what kid doesn't?
RIGHT: Sally. Also loves attention, but isn't very original about it.  She likes to follow the leader, but sometimes she can be hilarious on her own.  She also really likes to blow her nose (at least 5 times a day) and she tells on other kids constantly. She's a cutie though.

LEFT: Junnie.  He's the tallest kid in class so I can relate.  He's pretty funny but gets distracted easily.  For some reason, he takes his shoes off every day, like it's going to be a long day and shoes are going to keep him from concentrating. The poor kid tries to ask me questions, but it's hard to understand him so he usually gives up. We have to work on his pronounciation for sure.
RIGHT: Jun, aka, Boy Jun.  He used to be in class with a girl named Jun, so he was Boy Jun and she was Girl Jun.  I told him on the first day that he's now just Jun. But Boy Jun is sticking.  Or as he says, "Jun Boy".  I don't think he realizes how "country" that sounds to me. He's the cutest boy in the class - so smart and so funny.  He's way more sophisticated than the other boys.

LEFT: Gabi.  She's extremely smart.  She gets  her work done fast and almost always does it perfectly.  She is definitely a "teacher's pet".  She also has a boyfriend in Jim's class.  Most boys prefer to like her.
RIGHT: June Lee.  He's grown on me a lot.  Definitely the class clown.  He cracks himself up (and me on occasion), but when he means well, he does well.  He says some apparently hilarious things in Korean, but I never get the joke. I love this kid.

LEFT: Doris.  She's extremely smart.  She rivals Gabi in that area.  However, Doris doesn't try to be cute. She's just Doris.  The difference between her and Gabi is she respects the teacher and doesn't try to get extra stickers out of her abilities. Gabi, take note :)
RIGHT: Jasmin. She's the tiniest little thing, but she loves to try to be funny. She can keep up pretty well with the others, and hold her own.  Spunky for her size.

LEFT: Emily. The Tomboy.  She loves fire and fighting and boy stuff.  She's not trying to be girly by any means.  She's a riot sometimes, and she's as smart as Gabi and Doris and does try to keep the boys in line.  She gets in trouble too sometimes, but she takes it seriously and tries hard.
RIGHT: Eric.  Oh Eric - he's the hardest to deal with.  He's a trouble making boy who tries his hardest to get away with as much as he can.  And he knows he's the most popular in class with the other kids.  The boys want to be like him and I think Gabi is going to trade in her boyfriend Noah for him instead.  But he cannot stay in his seat. He's also very sarcastic and talks back when he gets in trouble.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do with him. All he really wants is a lot of love and attention which he must get at home. I'm sure he gets away with everything at home!

The rest of Children's Day was spent with the elementary kids - Langcon students.  They had a day of going from room to room for music time, the market to buy things, make a Parent's Day card, or play games.  They were given "Langcon dollars" for the last month or so if they did well so that they could buy toys at the market on Green Day.  I and the other teachers followed our class to each room and did whatever activity with them. It got challenging when doing the music activity because the songs were really for kindergarteners. "The Wheels on the Bus?" Really?

Some of my Langcon kids (Atlas class). Back Row: Christina, Brian, Pikachu, Osman, Daniel, Huey
Front Row: Edward, June, Kitty, Sophy

I think the boys like Ashley teacher :)

Christina and June - friends.

Kitty. Somehow her name is fitting, if you know what I mean.

Brian and Daniel

Osman. He's turning from a sweet kid, to a bad mannered kid. It must be Dragon's fault (unpictured).

Daniel and Huey.  This is usually Huey's expression.

Sophy. She came in as a new student and fit in right away.

Matt, Kim, and I laying in the grass

Thursday, May 5th, we had the day off of work because of Children's Day.  There was an event in Seoul (Yeouinaru) called the Hi Seoul Festival. Actually, it's going on the rest of the week and ends Sunday.  There is entertainment such as circus acts and music, you can go to parks and fly kites, get street food, and there's a lantern festival thing tonight which we plan to go to.  I believe everything is free too. Well most of it.  We spent a lot of time outside on Thursday walking and sitting on the grass with our friends.  It's been gorgeous weather except for some rain here and there.  This coming Tuesday, we have the day off because it's Buddha's Birthday.  Another short week! I really enjoy time off.  It feels extra rewarding, mainly because of the physical energy you spend entertaining children all week and for me, the physical effort to kick pads and work out hard for an hour afterwards. As I speak, it's 1:30pm on a Saturday, and no, I haven't moved from the bed yet :)



More later!