The week flew...

Tuesday July 9th
So. France class was okay. Juliet wept because she did not understand one of the problems we were doing in class. I saw Andy crying later in day and after that I saw Kelly crying. These are just me seeing them cry... I bet at least one other did.... they cry a lot. Australia and Denmark were both pretty good. Denmark was a little rambunctious at the end of the day, but that is expected.
My first graders were pretty good. I was going to try to take them to watch a cartoon, but as always, they were loud and rowdy. So I did not take them.
Korea class... well they were Korea class. Dylan was being really tough in class. Not listening, playing on his cell phone. So I threatened to take him out of class and give him to Louise. He kept it up, so I opened the door and said come with me. He said no. He moved to the front of the classroom and I kept on saying come here. So being creative, I held a vote in class whether I needed to take him out of class or leave him in. The two other boys voted to keep him and the girls voted him out. So I told him to follow me right now. I stood and kept telling him that, and he started to tear up. He sobbed all the while I kept telling him to get out. Then I went over to him and picked him out of the seat and made him come outside. I did not take him to Louise (that would have been counter productive). I did my praising him for being a good and smart student and told him how he was a leader and how everyone in class followed him. Then I talked about what he needs to do to be a better student and what I can do to be a better teacher for him. I had to take him out of class. If I let him stay when he acted like that, that would undermine my authority. I had to show him that he cannot act like that. After all of that, I was playing the music CD i made for them. I included the Macarena. Erica knew the motions, so I praised her with that, and she got happily embarrassed.
After school I went to emart and went shopping. I needed to buy a coffee maker for the office. I spend too much buying coffee every day. Emart did not have any good cheap ones. I then went to home plus. Bingo. There was a 10 cup coffee maker on clearance for 19000. When I looked were the boxes were, they were out. Normally in the states that would not be a problem, I'd just ask. Well I do not speak enough Korean. I eventually motioned that I needed help to an employee. She did not speak English. We had the conversation through miming. She went to the back and found one. Jackpot! I then decided I wanted some wine. So I bought a bottle.
I came home and I took a nap. Why not? Naps are awesome. When I woke up, I poured myself a glass of wine, and sad and watched a movie and relaxed.

Wednesday July 10th.
Field trip day! We went to Kids Park (or something like that). It was in a mall. It was a huge area with giant inflatable things, quasi jungle gyms, kids arcade games, a little pool with paddle boats, jump castles... Amazing. Great fieldtrip. Several injuries. Kids jumping and running... bumped heads and twisted ankles. But it was great. The kids got to run wild. As teachers we could do what we wanted. We could play with the kids or just sit down. I of course opted to play. Even though the kids had bouncy castles and trampolines... they still wanted me to lift them up to jump. Or to push them. Or to push inflatable things. Or to carry them... The airconditioner was not great and I use being uber active. So of course I soaked my shirt with sweat. There was one girl, Rose from Spain class. She is super cute. She always sticks her tongue out at me and I do it back to her. Making silly faces and all of that. I dont teach her, so it is all just in passing in the hallways. So we got to interact more. Of course she had me pick her up and 'jump' but after 20 times that got boring so we decided to make it more fun. I pick her up, we count to three and I jump in the air holding her, and we both fall backwards on our backs. She became the happiest kid. She got such a kick out of it. Of course... I did not really jump, more created the illusion of it and I kept control of her as she was falling... but to her it probably seemed like she was falling from 8 feet in the air and then landing on her back and bouncing. Kids laughing and happy... I just absolutely love it.
On the way back, Jin from Australia class fell asleep on my arm. Her head kept rolling down, so I propped my arm up to make a more comfortable sleep position for her. All of the kids were so worn out.
When we got back to ECC I changed shirts.
Firstgraders were loud and rowdy. My one on one with Chloe went well. Greece class was okay two. 2 of the kids got into a semi fight when the other teacher was teaching... So I was told to watch them. For me, nothing happened.  I think some of the kids are too scared to act up. A lot of the Korean teachers do not know how to discipline the kids. Their discipline is to send them to Ronnie or Louise. Us foreign teachers discipline the kids and our discipline does not end with them getting candy.  Every incident of fighting or major disrespect that I have heard about has happened with certain Korean teachers. There are definitely some Korean teachers that scare the kids. All kids push boundaries and see what they can get away with. Just like yesterday, we cant cave. If we do, the kid will just push harder next time.
After work, Ama, Rob, Niamh, and myself went to Ashleys. It is an American food joint. A buffet. All you can eat. Ate I did. There was American food, Korean food, and Korean American Fusion. The cost was 19000. For 3000 more it was all you could drink wine. Of course we did that too. The food was AMAZING. I ate and ate and ate and ate.4 full plates of food. When I say full, I mean full. Then the wine. Not great wine, but for 3000 and all you can drink... there were 4 types, and I tried all 4. 2 were good and 2 were types my mom would like (super sweet).
We walked home. Met the rest of the gang at GS, joined them for a beer, then went upstairs to go into food coma.

Thursday July 11th
PE Day. I woke up still absolutely full.Such a great feeling waking up and not being hungry. That does not happen to me very often. Since I only teach really only 2 Kindy classes all day, there is not much to say. Other than it is great. I could catch up on work if I were so inclined. I brewed some coffee. I relaxed. I prepared.
I tried to take my firstgraders to watch a cartoon. The class was on their best behavior all class. Then as soon as we got to the library to watch it, one of the kids shouted. Not just a little should, but an 'Oh my God my ears are bleeding' should. So I turned around and made all of the kids go back to class. The kids all went from being happy good students to depressed. I hated doing it to them, but some things are just unacceptable. The kid that yelled was Billy. Billy needs that attention. He probably did not think that I would actually take the class back to the classroom.  Though of course, instead of being upset, he seemed to be happy about it. He still got attention. Allbeit negative attention. I dont know if he can really tell the difference. He is super smart... but there is something a little off about him. I am concerned about what he will become in the future. I am no child psychologist... but I would love for him to see one. Some of the tenancies he shows reminds me so much of the stereotypical traits of people with personality disorders. As I have talked about before, in Korea, nobody admits there are these disorders that we have in the western world. I think ADD and ADHD is thrown around too much in the US, but I definitely have kids that that fit the profile perfectly. I do not think there is anything wrong with having a disorder... but I also believe that treatments and medications can greatly improve living conditions for people. I also think that chemical imbalances, if left unchecked can grow out of control. If I have any child psychologists that read this, let me know. I would love to describe (confidentially of course) about this kid. Not really looking for anything diagnosis wise, just so you can help me find a way to connect and really help this kid succeed.
Korea class. Dylan was on much better behavior today. We had a vocab test. I have not graded them yet. I made a comment to Erica about how I hoped she didnt just fill in one letter for the entire test. She got maybe the biggest smile that I have seen her smile when I brought it up. She was also happy when she turned it in to me... so she may have done it again... She is getting better. Every class there is a small improvement. Hopefully her attitude and outlook are actually improving. With that, I honestly hope her ability to socialize and make friends improve. Going from a person that never smiled to a person that I can get to smile several times each class and sometimes laugh... it feels great.
We were going to all go out tonight to a bar... When I got home I was too tired and pulled out. Figured I would stay in. I hate being boring... but honesty, staying in is great. Just being able to be 'off' is needed.