4 Months

Friday June 21st
Today marks my 4 months of landing and living in Korea. 4 Months. That is just so freaky thinking about. I can barely grasp that I have been here for that long. Time is flying faster that I imagined it would. That means I have already been here for 1/3 of a year. Wow.
So school was pretty decent today. Only one crier, and that is because I decided I would help out Niamh. She now teaches science to my Australia kids... So she is not used to how they work. She only got done with half of the science project in her class time. So I offered to finish it in my class (instead of sending students home with half finished science). So I everyone is good. Then I get to Valeria... So the science project was about magnets repelling each other. So we tape the magnets so they repel (one is hanging from a string and the others are based on the ground). Well, when I tape hers, she says no and rips the magnet off of the string and points it so it is attracted to the magnets on the ground.... Fair enough I thought. Instead of a magnet floating and bouncing around, she wants the magnet floating and being pulled toward the other magnets. Not quite what we were doing... but still science. So I tape it up. She cries.Turns out she did not want the magnet hanging from the string... she just wanted it stuck to the magnets on the ground. It is not a battle worth fighting and I take off the tape and let the magnets sit on top of each other. Everyone else is good.
France class, we practiced cartoon. 2 of the girls do not know their lines and we are preforming on Monday... oh well.  I was able to get them excited for half of my time with them... But doing boring math on a Friday.... I can be as silly as I possibly can be (which I try to be) and the kids still lose interest.
Denmark was interesting. The kids had a lot of energy which is great for a Friday. So when the kids have energy on a Friday I am not as much as an authoritarian... I am loose with the rules as long as the kids do not get too rowdy. They need a break. I get burned out so I definitely can see them getting burned out too. Most of the students were saying I was their favorite teacher.  They were telling me that their parents were asking who they liked the most, and they said me. I do not really think the kids have any reason to lie to me.  So even though I know longer teach them science and are (class favorites) and instead teach them monotonous boring work, and them saying I am their favorite feels good. One interesting thing happened in class though. Chloe grabbed my penis (through my pants of course) and said what is that. Took me for a total loop. I um used to kids grabbing my legs, tie, arms, glasses, but never have I had a kid do that. As soon as she did I jumped back. I definitely understand 7 year olds are interested in the world and everything different, so I do not want to shame or embarrass. I just said those are my pants and kept on going. I was taking to Ama after work and I asked him, and he said it happens quite a bit. So he shared several stories of when its happend to him. If I had known that was a thing, I would have thought of a better way to respond... now I know I need to think of it.
When I got to my afternoon Canada class (my fist graders) nobody was there. There were backpacks but no students. My only thoughts were "oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, please do not be getting into trouble" Turns out Ronnie took them all to his office to yell at them. From what I understand, some of the students were sitting on the desks and being rambunctious during the break between classes. They should all know to behave, because Ronnie is always watching them. but it seems like they always still get into trouble.
Greece class (my 3rd graders) was pretty good. I gave them a quiz about a test they will be taking soon. Most of them did pretty good. There were 2 that really did not do well at all. After class, the girl that did not do well, I saw crying in the lobby. My heart sunk because I thought that she was upset about doing poorly on the quiz. So I went to Angela (my co teacher) and spoke to her. Turns out That Lucy was crying when she got to class... so she was in a sad mood all day, so hopefully it was not the quiz that re-set her off. Well I mean that in an innocent way. Id much rather it be the quiz making her cry instead of a grand parent or someone dying...Hopefully she was just crying for some reason that 10 year olds cry over. Angela said she will find out and let me know.
Went to the 'hardware store' tonight to pick up the rest of the supplies I needed for the stage (other than the sign). I set it up in my room. I really need to borrow Sarah's sewing machine, though she does not know if it even works. It was left by a previous tenant. I do have to say it does not look as good as I was picturing... but it does not look bad either. I know I could have built it for 1/4 the cost in the US and built it better. But it is just so fun to do...When I am older, no matter where I live... I need a garage or workshop. Just assembling a crappy stage in my room felt so good.
Hudson, Taylor, Sarah, and I had guacamole night. We had freshly made guac. It was pretty good. The 2 things we were lacking... cilantro and Jalapenos. We had Korean peppers, but nowhere near as spicy as jalapenos. It was a good relaxing night with some pretty good guac.
Thats all for now. I may try to run by ECC in the morning to try setting up in the gym to see what it looks like. Tomorrow afternoon I have training. Tomorrow may be a rather boring Saturday, But I still want to get some sleep/