On Monday the school year officially started. Usually I go to my second school (Nokjeon) on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I was expecting to go there but no such luck. They sat me down at my desk and didn’t tell me anything except that the English timetable hasn’t been completed as yet. That was on Monday.. today, being Wednesday, I’m still at my desk doing nothing. The third grade teacher speaks no English whatsoever, though I can tell that she’s trying.. she came up to me about ten minutes ago and said “Shib-uh… I… third time… [a lot of rambling in Korean]… co-teacher…” and then left. I think that means that I have a class to teach at 11am (being third period) with her. So now I’m stumped for things to do.. I was supposed to ask the kids about their holidays and then have some fun playing games etc, though I just looked at how many students there are in the class (to choose an appropriate game to play), and there’re two. Two. Two!
I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but most of the teachers have left my school. Now we don’t have a Vice Principle nor a grade five teacher. Mr Joo now takes care of grades five and six: totaling four students. We got a new kitchen lady, so the one who I called Nuna (elder sister) has left. This one, Ms Mira, speaks English really well.. actually better than most of the other teachers. I’m stumped as to why she’s in the cafeteria! Some of the admin staff are still here which is good since they’re more friends of mine than some of the teachers (teachers are always busy). Finally, the new principle is a good man, who loves his Soju. He’s milder than the last guy, not so boisterous but nonetheless still quite jovial. See, we had the Welcome To Gurae dinner last night and the soju poured freely and now we’re all feeling like crap (except for the ladies that is). I’ve also just been informed that we’re dining together once more tonight and that the menu is Duck.. that’s fine by me, but you kinda have to read between the lines here. What she really meant is that we’ll be having Soju and a little duck to make it go down easier. I guess its no surprise really.
Oh and on a final note, I sat next to a kid on the bus today, he would’ve been no older than three, and he was sitting there with his legs dangling no where near the ground, all wrapped up in his blue snow jacket; and he was softly crying to himself. I got worried and asked my friend Mr Hong (the bus driver) what was wrong. He told me in this broken Konglish that he’s crying because his parents had split up and had an argument that morning. I found it hard sitting there next to this poor little boy with huge tears running down his face.. he was just so quiet, as though it was his own problem and that he was doing something wrong in crying about it.
Sorry to leave it on such a sad note, but I want to be able to remember this when I’m back to a mundane life behind a desk somewhere. So now, I still don’t have my timetable, which I’m completely fine with.. I’ve gotten used to the “Korean Style” of last minute information. Being elementary school, it only takes a couple of minutes to prepare for a lesson.
PS: we had a great snow competition yesterday. We got into two teams, I as the leader of one and Mr Jong was the leader of the other. His team won the snowball fight, but my team won the best snowman comp. Here are some pics:
I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but most of the teachers have left my school. Now we don’t have a Vice Principle nor a grade five teacher. Mr Joo now takes care of grades five and six: totaling four students. We got a new kitchen lady, so the one who I called Nuna (elder sister) has left. This one, Ms Mira, speaks English really well.. actually better than most of the other teachers. I’m stumped as to why she’s in the cafeteria! Some of the admin staff are still here which is good since they’re more friends of mine than some of the teachers (teachers are always busy). Finally, the new principle is a good man, who loves his Soju. He’s milder than the last guy, not so boisterous but nonetheless still quite jovial. See, we had the Welcome To Gurae dinner last night and the soju poured freely and now we’re all feeling like crap (except for the ladies that is). I’ve also just been informed that we’re dining together once more tonight and that the menu is Duck.. that’s fine by me, but you kinda have to read between the lines here. What she really meant is that we’ll be having Soju and a little duck to make it go down easier. I guess its no surprise really.
Oh and on a final note, I sat next to a kid on the bus today, he would’ve been no older than three, and he was sitting there with his legs dangling no where near the ground, all wrapped up in his blue snow jacket; and he was softly crying to himself. I got worried and asked my friend Mr Hong (the bus driver) what was wrong. He told me in this broken Konglish that he’s crying because his parents had split up and had an argument that morning. I found it hard sitting there next to this poor little boy with huge tears running down his face.. he was just so quiet, as though it was his own problem and that he was doing something wrong in crying about it.
Sorry to leave it on such a sad note, but I want to be able to remember this when I’m back to a mundane life behind a desk somewhere. So now, I still don’t have my timetable, which I’m completely fine with.. I’ve gotten used to the “Korean Style” of last minute information. Being elementary school, it only takes a couple of minutes to prepare for a lesson.
PS: we had a great snow competition yesterday. We got into two teams, I as the leader of one and Mr Jong was the leader of the other. His team won the snowball fight, but my team won the best snowman comp. Here are some pics:
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