Tuesday

Well, so, first real post of this blog.
So on Tuesday, I get to school at 10:15 since I usually have class at 10:40. However, 10:40 rolls around....no 4th graders. I'm thinking, that's okay, sometimes they are late. I am sure it won't be like last time where no one ever shows up and then I find out later that there isn't class at all. Right?
Wrong.
They had a special event, so they were supposed to be coming for the first period of class but leaving for second period. But, it was 20 mins past first period, and I guessed they weren't coming at all. So, I was prepared to just desk warm until my class at 3pm. I went to the break room to get coffee, checked my Facebook and started working on this blog and doing this and that. It had been about 30 minutes from the time I decided my 4th graders weren't coming, that the door suddenly bursts open and twenty-two 4th graders invade my classroom. I was so startled that I fumbled with the mouse as I scrambled to pause the "Disney song covers" station I was listening to on Youtube and clicked out of my Facebook and other open tabs. (Like I was a kid caught doing something bad..)
It was an interesting morning. The class itself went well...in case you were wondering.
So, I go to lunch and sit with the Kindergartners (they save a spot for me at their table everyday, so cute) and then I was going to head back to my classroom when the Kindergarten Unni (the head kindergarten teacher) asks me to come have coffee in the Kindergarten building (they have their own building) and Hey-bin, one of the little Kinder girls comes up, grabs my hand and says "가자" (Lets go!) I say, "가치? 가치가?" (Together? Go together?") She shakes her head yes, and pulls me out of the cafeteria towards the Kindergarten building. I thought my heart was gonna melt.
             Oh my gosh. Kindergarten. These kids have SO much energy! The little boys run around all day and play so hard that they are absolutely dripping in sweat. It's hilarious. I've been to the Kindergarten building after lunch before, and we played a game where they would say an animal in English and I would make the animal noise...but it's turned into "Teacher Ginny makes a snake or lion noise and chases us while we scream and run away". It's adorable, but so tiring after while. And I still have afternoon classes, so I can't play with them too much. Haha, one little girl (her name is Ga-eun) loves butterflies, so when everyone else is screaming "Snake! Snake! Teacher! Snake!" She starts shouting "Butta-butta-buttafly!! No Teacher buttafly!" and waves her arms around like a butterfly. Its adorable.
Anyway, so hanging out with the Kinders is definitely something I look forward to every Monday, Tuesday and Friday. (Wednesday I leave school after my morning class, so I leave before lunch. And Thursday is my day off)
After school classes start around 2-3 in the afternoon. My after school classes start at 3 on Monday and Tuesday and at 2:10 on Friday. On Monday, all my after school 5th graders (except for one) come to class, so it is usually a really fun day and there are enough kids to keep the activities from becoming boring.
Tuesday is another story.
I never know who is going to show up on Tuesday. So it is difficult to know what to do for the day since I never know if I am going to have Monday kids or not. Anyway, so this Tuesday I was told by my 5th graders that they had a new classmate, a transfer student from another province. I just knew as soon as they told me that he would end up in my after school class and I would have a student that wasn't on the same page as everyone else...I just knew it.
Yep.
Three o'clock comes and Mr. Cho (my mentor teacher who is also the 5th grade homeroom teacher) brings in the new kid and says he is gonna be in my class from now on. I smile and welcome him. Great.
But, to my surprise, he knew everything I already taught my other kids, so that was a relief. His attitude towards class is a different matter though. My other kids are pretty respectful and enthusiastic about English, and even if they aren't, they at least pretend they are. But this kid...if he was bored, it was like pulling teeth to get him to do anything. I think I am gonna have to just brace myself for some difficult times ahead. But, whatever. Yolo. (You only live once)
Funny story for the day: So during a break in class, I had to go to the bathroom. There are two floors, and the downstairs bathroom is almost almost deserted, so I am used to being the only one that uses it (it feels like that anyway). But, while I was in there I heard *clip....clip* I listened.... *cli-clip* Were those nail clippers I was hearing? *rustle rustle....clip....cli-clip*
Yep.
 Someone was definitely clipping their toenails in the bathroom. I almost laughed right there. Why were they doing that here? And what were they clipping their toenails over? The toilet? I hoped they weren't just clipping them onto the floor. But I still can't decide which is worse, clipping them over the floor, or over the toilet? Oh I know! There is a trash can in every stall, cause, ya know, people can't flush toilet paper here. So I bet they were sitting on the toilet and clipping their toenails over the trash....bleh...still gross.
I almost wanted to wait around to see who it was, but that would have been weird, so I didn't. But it would have been really amusing.
Well, right now it's 9:05 on Wednesday morning, and I am supposed to be having 6th grade curriculum class right now...I wonder if they are late, or just not coming. I really hope I didn't get up early for nothing. But, that tends to happen a lot here in Korea. They don't tell the foreign teachers anything...or they tell them at the last minute. The VERY last minute.
Last week there was a special event on Wednesday morning, so there wasn't any English class. When did I find out about it? When I got to school and my mentor teacher was headed off to the special event. That's when. He tells me, "Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry, I forgot, we have a special event today, so there is no English class. You can go home..or...you can stay." He definitely didn't want me to go home. I could tell. He is a bit paranoid about making sure I am at school for a full 15 hours a week, even if I am not doing anything. Lol, I stayed. It was good. They shot off water rockets that they had made from two 2-liter soda bottles taped together. It was really cool. And I got to talk to some of the 1st and 2nd graders. I never see those kids since I don't have any English classes with them. Haha, they are so funny. They just talk to me in Korean. I just nod my head and say "That's cool!" and depending on what they said (I have no idea...) they either go "Yeah! Okay!" or "모? 무라요..." (What? Nevermind)
Lolz.
Well, time to go home. My 6th grade class proved my earlier point...tell you about it another time. Lets just say that I really don't want to have to teach 6th grade curriculum by myself ever again.
Its sunny and cold again on this side of the world. Hows the weather over there?
Laters!
~TWGA