The Game of Life... Sort of

1. It's too cold. Let's share a blanket.
2. All the snacks here are shrimp flavored. Let me tell you, I can't get enough.
3. Although public schools don't have buses (they build apartment complexes around schools and parents just move there), private academies do.
4. Walk from the library. Note that it's on the bike path.
5. Why sure, I would love a roast chicken at this time of night!
6. Coffee shops: Korea does them well.
7. THANK GOD for the English book section at the library.
8. Our favorite store. It's obvious why.
9. Uh oh.. getting serious enough to make pinky promises!








I've gotta make this quick! It's 2 am and I need to finish reading the 4th Twilight book. (Life is full of pressing, pressing responsibilities.)

Anyways it's been a few days since I've written. That's because too many things happened and I felt overwhelmed by them all. We had Thursday and Friday off because the kids were getting shots for swine flu. I spent those days eating out, going to the library, reading at coffee shops, buying the thickest sweater I could find in Itaewan (foreign area of Korea), and bawling over my cat who was knocking on death's door. I have learned from this furry, rude little creature that I cannot choose who I love, and I'd rather spend a lot of money than think of her unhappy. To sum things up, all of her acting out was due to a painful, fatal uterus infection (yeah, she wasn't spayed like I was led to believe...) and she weighed twice as much as she did two weeks ago. Almost 15 pounds. If I had waited to take her for a couple days I would've had a dead cat. She's still at the vet's and after some embarrassing tears, a providential run-in with Yong Sit (my vet) in the elevator of my apartment, and a bag of Dunkin Donuts with a note, I think I'll be retracting my statement of "I can't pay that." It's incredibly humbling to think of making cat payments in a foreign country, but, what else can I do? Who else will take that cranky mess? Who else will let her sleep under my blanket with me, look over her pointy ears while I watch Asian tv shows online, drag a string across the floor and read a book at the same time, or play guitar while she watches with her ears pinned back?

Lesson #34: Don't get a pet in a foreign country.

Today I taught my class "Big Booty" (if you've ever worked at a camp you instantly remember the game), the vegetable game (you can't show your teeth, or laugh, and you have to say vegetable names), and we debated bake sales in American schools. (Don't judge, it's the quickest thing I could find on TimeforKids.com 15 minutes before class). One of my favorite closing comments came from Alice, "the end of bake sales in America will be the beginning of the end of obesity in America."

I did all my report cards this morning, as they were due today. I have more due tomorrow and yes, I'll be doing them tomorrow morning.

I got an AMAZING package from my grandma!! THANKS GRANDMA!!! I shared the chocolate covered pretzels with my co-workers and even gave one to my awkward boss. He chewed it up and said, "MMM! From America?" "Yes", I replied. "Your grandmother made?" he asked. He walked out of the room before I could answer, but that's ok, all the Korean staff thought you made those pretzels, grandma. Good job! I've been showing all my kids the postcards from VA and they're jealous, obviously. They rarely see trees or grass. One of my middle school students saw the picture of the D-Day memorial in Bedford and asked if it was an apartment. They really need to get out of the city... my coworkers were burning with jealousy when I pulled out the coffee bags, actually I think the coveting started when the saw the Christmas wrapping paper. My grandma hasn't sent me anything! a few people commented. Well, I'm just LUCKY.

Meagan has a kid who all day today answered "snail" to every question she asked him. I couldn't stop laughing. "What do you think about equality during the Civil Rights Movement?" "Snail." "What was unfair for women in the 50's?" "Snail." "What color is this building?" "Snail." "How many people were affected by this law?" "Snail." At the end she finally had a breakthrough when she asked, "What's a holiday you celebrate in Korea?" "Snail day. Snail balloons, snail cake, snail parade." He even drew her a picture. (If you're wondering, nothing about snails and Korea are related, except for the fact you can eat them raw.)

Things here never make any sense. Parents complain we don't have enough grammar and it's about to be completely eradicated from our curriculum. My Korean/Canadian friend commented today that Asia is like playing a board game without the rule paper. Nothing is strategic, solid, or predictable. Imagine playing monopoly with some strangers- "Ooh! What's that blue card? Hand me that! Banker? No, I think I'll take all the 20's! You take all the 5's! Let's switch pieces! Pass Go? I think I'll go there instead of Jail." That's my life, every day. I'm not even surprised anymore.

The parents visited my classes last week. They all complained that their students were not fluent in English and they apologized that the kids were not participating enough. If only they had walked in when the students were literally roaring like lions seconds before their parents arrived. Tom has a system. He hides either behind the door or under my desk every day when I walk in, says he doesn't have any homework and then pulls it all out of his bookbag just as I'm getting frustrated, says "teacher, candy today!" about four times, and throughout class raises his hand excitedly and when I call on him says, "No." and puts his hand down and laughs. John has picked up on this, as has Jacob and even Henry (one of the better behaved ones!) "Yes John?" "No." "Jacob, what did you want to say?" "No."

In any case, they never fail to amuse me. I found out today that my second grade science kids enjoy finding page numbers in the dictionary more than most kids enjoy going to McDonald's. I was running out of ideas so I said, "Ok, what's the first entry on page... 408?" and you would think I said, "FREE CANDY FOR EVERYONE ALL YEAR!" they were frantically flipping through pages, pointing at things, pushing each other (they were in groups), saying "Here! Here! Here!" and then, "TH.. TH.. THUDDED!" or "PERSIMMON!" or whatever word happened to be on that page. We also practiced syllables by clapping and doing their names. "Ok, now do mine," I told them. In unison they clapped, "Au-du-ri. 3." I had to clear that one up.

I should NOT have drank that pepsi at 8:45 tonight. I was just so sleepy...