Three weeks have gone by and no word from me----sorry about that. Just take it as a good sign that I’m having too much fun to keep up with my blog. So much has been going on that I’m not even sure where to start… I’ll start with school. Things have definitely been getting better every week that I am at Napo. The staff and the students have all gotten more used to me, and I’ve gotten more used to teaching. I don’t know if spending less time lesson planning is necessarily a good thing…but at least I’m not stressing out about it like I used to. Discipline is still an issue with some of the students, but that’s just how it goes with language barriers and little kids.
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| Students always come over my desk to sing and dance kpop... |
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| Just your average Korean bar snack in jeonju |
Just when I thought I was getting into a groove, something reminds me that I will never really know what will happen next while I’m in Korea. I walked up to school on an average day, went up to the second floor to my desk, and plugged my USB into the computer to try and work on some lesson planning. The PE teacher, who has become one of my good friends at the school (one of 2 teachers who knows any English…), came over like he always does, and we went down to the school cafeteria for lunch. That’s when I was informed that all of my classes would be cancelled that day so that I could go to the gym and practice volleyball. I was asked “you know volleyball?” I’ve never played on an actual volleyball team, nor do I know the official rules, but I figured all of those times spent at Sewanee on the Lake Cheston courts counted as “knowing” volleyball well enough. I said I knew how to play, and I was recruited for the team. For the rest of the day, volleyball was the word. After lunch, the PE teacher took me into the gym, which is just a big room full of unicycles and jump ropes (because yeah, almost all of the 5th and 6th graders know how to unicycle and are on an intense synchronized jump roping team…). He threw some volleyballs at me, which I was luckily able to return, and he said “Oh! Good!” For the next hour, I was pelted by volleyballs---and keep in mind, that not having been warned about volleyball practice, I’m doing all of this in khaki pants and a dress shirt. At 3:20, the rest of the faculty on the team come into the gym to practice, and we hit around some volleyballs until about 4:30, at which time I am told “Okay, we play game tomorrow with Jinpo Elementary teachers. We play bad, principal very angry. We win, we get small cow. See you tomorrow!” So my classes were also cancelled the following day so that we could trek it over to Jinpo and kick some volleyball butt, which we did. So I guess we won a small cow? Gotta love rural schools.
This past weekend was another 3-day weekend, and I took a trip up to Cheonan and Seoul. In Cheonan we visited an international dance festival, which was pretty cool, and there were lots of free samples of food. I got to eat CHEESE for the first time in forever, because it is sparse and expensive around here. My body is definitely having cheese and peanut butter withdrawals (both are quite pricey here). I had to buy a jacket because the temperature dropped like crazy after about 3:00pm. The fall weather is gorgeous during the day, but every night as I shiver in the 45-50 degree weather, I am reminded of how rough winter is going to be on me here. At least I’ll fare better than my friend from Hawaii, who has never even seen snow before. Poor Zyna…hope you’re reading this ;)
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| Cheonan world dance festival |
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| O World |
As I’m standing in line with my students, thinking to myself about the possible ramifications of this decision, my parents’ advice from past family vacations comes to mind…My mom would laugh, flat out refuse, and say, “Are you kidding me? No way am I getting on a water ride. It’s October.” My dad, always thinking ahead, would say “It’s your decision…but think about how miserable you’ll be walking around the park the rest of the day with wet clothes on…” Then I envisioned what might happen if, after already standing in line with these kids, I were to change my mind: A lot of small voices shouting at me in Korean, screams of “TEACHER NO!!! JENNNNY TEACHHERRRR!!!!,” and then the last resort, actual physical containment by 12 tough little 3rd graders. I had no choice but to continue on. It was all okay in the end, and I didn’t get too wet…but I definitely took the brunt of the splashing, since I was the only one without a windbreaker on, and of course I was the big fat American human shield while all of the little kids ducked behind me on the particularly splashy parts. I took my revenge on the bumper cars, when I had the notable advantage over my students of having driven a car in real life. Heh heh. In Yeong and I were the only ones brave enough to ride the freefall tower ride, and man was it fun. He played it cool while we were in line, but I saw the terror in his face when we got to the top and I said, NO HANDS!!!
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| Crazy 3rd graders before O World |
O-World was a great day, and all of the kids had a lot of fun, but my favorite part of the day was in the morning, seeing how excited all of the kids were before we got on the buses. My entire 3rd grade class sprinted over to me as I walked through the school gates. I heard the screams of “JENNY TEACHER!!” before I saw them coming, and they all crowded around me, making it impossible to continue walking up to school. They had these huge smiles on their faces, and one of them started singing the Hello song that I taught them. The rest of the class joined in, and we all walked up to school together, in a haphazard mass, singing “Hello! Hello! Hello, how are you? I’m good! I’m Great! I’m WONDERFUL!!” Just adorable.
I’ll end it on that story, instead of the one about today’s 3rd grade class, when I had to forcibly break apart a brawl. Oh, 3rd grade….
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