Sunday August 4th
Today was a relatively boring day... well to start out it was. I worked a little on cleaning my room. Slowly but surely it will be somewhat respectable. I think one of the reasons I am never too gung-ho about cleaning is that I really have no reason to have it clean. I wish I did... but I dont. People spontaneously showing up to my apartment is very rare. I know my Bobo friends could, but I have a smaller monitor then a few of them, so really my room has not much to offer. Its cluttered, but not horrendous. I guess I am just pretty comfortable like that. Maybe someday I will get motivated to make it beautiful... but until then... meh. I spent some time watching netflix and movies that I downloaded.
I went to the hardware store to pick up fly paper. I have small flys around my apartment since I got back from Jeju. They are bigger than fruit flies, but smaller than house flies. They dont do anything but annoy me. So, instead of letting them live in peace, I must get rid of them.
Rob, Sarah, Ama, Hyejin, and I all had Samurai BBQ for dinner. Delicious as always. We then sat outside of the GS and Sam and Carrie, and Hudson and Taylor came out. We sat outside of the GS drinking and talking... Same ole same ole.
We did discover that putting a melon ice cream bar in soju makes a deliciously refreshing drink. Its awesome because it is cold, smooth, and it has a slightly milkshake feel to it. Stayed up for too long... but that is the way the cookie crumbles.
Monday August 5th.
I woke up far too early especially considering being up late the night before. Unlike some others, I was actually feeling great. I had that energy and excitement for being back in the classroom that I was missing the last 2 days of last week. Only one near crying incident. Sharon... She gave Julie a sticker, then saw Julie throw something away. Sharon assumed that it was the sticker she gave Julie (even though I had told the class to pick up trash). So Sharon gets all flushed, eyes start to water and comes and gets my attention and tries to tell me that Julie threw away the sicker she gave her. Honestly... this has no effect nor bearing on my life. It is not like throwing away another kids pencil, or doing something mean. I can only assume Sharon wanted me to yell at Julie... but before the tears started flowing, Julie pulled out the sticker that Sharon gave her. Crisis or I guess cry-sis, averted.
Australia class good. A few people are still gone on vacation. Some people came back. Emily came back (she was gone last week). When I saw her in the hallway before class, I caught a quick glance and thought Oh No! Chicken Pox.... Luckily no. She got eaten by mosquitoes. Not good for her. But one of the last things I want is a room full of crying itchy infected kids.
We have a new girl in Denmark class. Regina. I met her mom after class. I had literally only been in class with Regina for 2 periods. I had been out of class for about 15 minutes. Her mom speaks English pretty well. She spent 4 years in Pal Park NJ. So she thought that was fun I was from NYC. She told me how good it was to be around Americans again, and she just loved how much I smiled. The fun part was, in this 15 minute period of time, Regina was telling her mom all about her first day, and what is one thing she was really excited to talk about.... Eric Teacher. So I guess I made a good first impression on her... She was telling her mom how fun and exciting I am. Her mom told me that she is not that concerned with Regina being the top student or anything. She more wants her to be socialized with other students (she has been in France for several years). Which I dig. It is far easier to keep kids happy when their parents arent forcing them in every aspect of their life to be perfect. She is Korean, but she does not seem to like the Korean education or social culture. She is a more worldly Korean. She seems to have more of the idea that the kid should be happy being a kid. I dig it.
My firstgraders had a bit of energy today.... but not in a bad way... they were actually able to accomplish most of the work and not get too crazy. I was happy about that. Today at least, Wendy did not seem to be trying to impress the class. Billy behaved. Emma had a ton of energy as per the usual. She is super bright, I just wish she behaved a little better in class.
One thing that I do, when some classes are just beginning, I look in the window and make a silly face or point, and then I freeze. Kids love it. So simple, but everyone loves it. Well today when I was doing it to a class, Ronnie came walking down the hallway. The pose I froze in was me pointing in the classroom. So he stops and looks and tries to see what I am pointing at (nothing). Then he kind of looks at me, then looks back to where I am pointing. I do not break character... which the kids laugh at even more. Then I just unfreeze and keep on walking. I am sure Ronnie was utterly confused. Then in another class, one of the Korean co teachers was leaving the class right when I was walking past the door, and she jumped... so I walked in the class she just left. (I do that often, I just pretend I am going to teach them). This time... I motioned for them to all be quite. I got down on all fours and bent down by the door... the kids knew what I was going to do... I could hear them giggling. When Gina walks back in I jump up and make a roar sound. She screams. The entire class bursts out laughing.
My afternoon 3rd graders were okay today. It was a small class, but it was mostly the bright students that were there. So the class went pretty well.
Walking home, Ama and I stopped at a Hi-Mart (an electronics store). I was going to pick up a computer cable... I ended up buying it. I also bought an electric trimmer. I brought one with me when I moved to Korea. Every time I used it, I had to plug in a voltage transformer, since it runs off of the 110 instead of 220. I also did not bring the trimming guide attachments with it... So it did its job... but I felt it was time to get a new more efficient one. This one is plug in or battery operated. I got it so I could trim my beard or moustache, or goatee, or whatever... but the thought I had to night... this is just what I needed to defur myself. I am getting so hot, that I could take a layer off and be much cooler. So I will do that soon.
Tonight for dinner I had 만두 (mandu) The store right by us sells frozen 만두 for not much money. I bought some. I bought 2 bags, and it can very easily last me for the rest of this week. Now what is it? Dumplings. Just regular dumplings. But instead of regular dumpling filling, these have more Korean foods, like Kimchi in them. Delicious, cheap, easy to cook. I was satisfied.
So, thats all for now... I'll be hitting the hay pretty soon.
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