WHEEEEEE!!!!!

So, another week comes to a close. We are ever more suspicious about the level of monitoring going on in our home and my kids continue to provide me with material.

So, classes went pretty well this week, well, all but one. There was only five minutes left of class, but I just could not take it anymore. I walked out. I just couldn't babysit any longer. The kids in that class can do everything that I want them to do, they just chose not to do anything and to mock me instead. Yea, fun! I was fed up and left. Later two of my kids came to the English office to talk with me and their head teacher about class. One of the boys was really upset and was crying a little bit. It turns out that this boy thought that I was mad at him for his drawing on the black board (class activity). He thought that I left class because of him. He was really upset and teared up every time I looked at him. I tried to reassure them that they did not do anything wrong, I was not mad at him (he and his friend always do a good job in class) for his drawing, and that they did not need to apologize for anything. Eventually, they seemed to feel better and they left the office.

Later, both of the boys met me in the hallway while I waited for one of my Junior 2 classes to start. They wanted to make sure that everything was okay and that I wasn't angry with them. The little boy was starting to tear up again, so I asked him if he wanted a hug. He said "no", so I asked him again - "Are you sure you don't want a hug?" and held my arms open. Then the tears started to run down his cheeks and he nodded "yes" and ran into me with open arms.

Okay.

Class successes: Not too many. English cheerleader - Go! Verbs Go! (get it?) Anyhow, I'm a dork. So, in class I can be a bit of a spaz sometimes - but I want to get them animated because they sit stationary for long periods of time. I like to run around class and try to get people talking. I also like to work with the kids who don't really have people to work with. So, I have a little conversation practice with a girl and guy in the back of the classroom because they won't talk to each other. Everyone stopped talking to watch what I was doing - after getting them refocused on what the class should be doing, I went back to talk with the pair. The kids around me told me that they were both really shy. When I had the groups present, they didn't present together, but the boy volunteered at every single opportunity even though his English wasn't the best. At the end of class all of the students gave him a round of applause for his effort.

My oh my!

Okay next: Children's Day

Today is Children's Day. Some of my kids had exams today (junior 2) so their special day was, well, not. But I was invited to attend and chaperone movie afternoon for the Junior 1 students. Me, about 5 other adults and 500 hyper children. Interesting.

One of the other English teachers who I work with invited me to come along with her class - but I didn't know how to get to the theater, so she asked her kids who could meet me at the school and take a cab with me out to the movies, she told me that about 45 student hands shot up in the air all at once. She laughed as she has never been able to get that kind of response to a question before. She picked one kid who lived near the school, and then, she said, experienced one of the biggest groans from the disappointed students.

So, I met the student outside of the gate and we set out for the movie theater. He was talking to the cab driver about how I was his foreign teacher from America, but I how I am actually Korean. He played translator for us and I gave him praise for his English. When we got out of the cab, he held the door open for me and announced
very loudly, "After you Ms. Molly!" to get the attention of his classmates. He was so proud that he got to bring the foreign teacher - cute. This was greeted with a lot of applause.

So, all 600 students were standing outside of the theater in rank, waiting to be let in. Finally they are allowed in by class. I go with my class 5. Immediately, I am greeted with, "Teacher Molly, here!" "Teacher Molly, here!"

So, the movie. I didn't really get it. I mean, my favorite part was watching an old man suture a ceramic bowl (the conservation geek in me). Other than that, well, Zhang Zi Yi runs a lot.... Also the kids' response was entertaining. They applauded for, well, anything. They applauded when Zhang Zi Yi first showed up on screen, when her love interest showed up on screen (followed shortly by laughter), when she started running, when she fell down, when she started running, when she got water, when she started running, when she made him dinner, when he gave her a barrette, when she started running, when she fell down, when she fixed up the school room, when she put up paper cuts in the window, when she started running....

Anyhow, the movie was not too interesting, except for the bowl repair, but I loved being there with all of the kids and watching/listening to them. Far more entertaining. Also, I had a lap full of food and drink that the kids pushed on me which also kept me quite entertained.

I was also informed that I must attend a dinner tonight for all of the Junior 1 and Junior 2 teachers. It was okay. This time I went sans Matt. My first adult dinner without the white guy. The dinners are pretty boring, the English teachers try to include me, but it gets exhausting for them to constantly funnel conversation for me. So, I sit and look at the chicken feet on the lazy susan. Every now and then one of the other non-English teachers would shout out random English phrases for my benefit, but other than that, not too much in the way of excitement. Mr. Math was there. And, well, he didn't spend a whole lot of time in the room for Junior 2 teachers and, instead, spent a lot of time staring at me. A bit unnerving, y'know to be constantly stared at. It seemed to be making some of the other teachers a little uncomfortable too, but he didn't break gaze. So, staring, dice game - yup, you could say that I graciously took the first opportunity to jump ship and head home with my bag of pigeon (?) and chicken feet to give to Matt.

Anyhow, now I can officially start my long weekend!