Another week almost gone.

November 11th
Pepero Day. (빼빼로) What is Pepero Day? It is a holiday created by Lotte, a Korean company to sell candy. What kind of candy? Pepero. What is Pepero? It is a small sweet breadstick dipped in chocolate. It is the Korean version of Pocky. The date is 11-11 so it looks like pepero sticks.
Today we were taking pictures for Christmas (so they can make a christmas picture for the parents). As I am taking France class, after I have already led the class in the hallway, my kids let me know that Kelly is crying. So I sit them down and go back to France, and there is Kelly, crying? Why? David cut in front of her in line...
Australia class and Denmark class both went well. We have open class coming up next week, so we are spending a bit of time in class preparing the kids for a class for the parents to see. It cant be over prepared, nor under-prepared. I was kind of stressed last time. This time around I am not letting it stress me too much...
My Afternoon classes were both good too. Nothing really notable happened.
After work some of us went to costco. Scott bought a refridgerator with a freezer, so he went to buy a lot of food to freeze to cook for dinner. It is such a good idea... I just am not sure if I want to spend the money on a refridgerator with a freezer that works. I lived in Manhattan for 3 years without one... Scott, Rob, Sam and I got together in Robs room to play some Mario Party and Super Smash brothers on Wii. It was an enjoyable evening.

Tuesday November 12th.
Kindy Field Trip. We went to see a musical. How much I love you. It was all in Korean. I would have taken a nap during it, but Ronnie was on my row. Only one incident happened. Angelina cried... not only cried, but temper tantrum. Why? One of the 6 year olds pushed her too hard when they were jumping during the musical. She said "Don't do that." Normally that would be the end of it... but Ronnie called her up, and coddled her... So she started crying and crying. Then a cast member (tech) gave her attention, so she cried more. Then one of our other teachers came up, and she started screaming. She wanted Angela to get in trouble. She also wanted the attention. She is one of the ones, if you do not react to it, she will stop. Unfortunately, I know know this, but none of the others do. I would have taken her down to where the 5 year olds were sitting and made her sit there because she was acting line one. I wouldn't coddle or fawn over her.
We got back in ECC in time for me to use my one class period with them (instead of 2 in the afternoon, I only had one) to eat lunch with them.
I went back to my apartment with the intent of preparing materials for open class. That did not happen, I just spent most of the time on the internet or thinking about taking a nap.
I got back to school for my one 4th grade class. Only 3 students were there. We had an easy class. There are some big tests going on in elementary schools this week, hence the small number of students.
After work I went to Hagwon. I am thinking about not resigning up next month. I still feel behind in that class. Partially because everyone else is more experience than I, and partially because I am having a tough time doing my homework.
After work, I went to pick up some stuff I bought of craigslist. It was some wine glasses and cups. I do not need the wine glasses, but would not mind them either. I do enjoy wine, and having some things in my apartment for company would be nice.
I then met up with the rest of the Hagwon crew, and we ate overpriced pizza.
I came home, worked on getting my open class stuff together because I am being observed tomorrow by Ronnie and Louise.

Wednesday November 13th.
Stressful day. For no reason other than being observed by Ronnie and Louise. I have 3 open classes next week, so I have to be observed in each class doing the material I will be doing for open class.  It is intimidating with both of your bosses watching your class doing material that you have not done with your students yet. They all went okay. The kids are much better behaved when they are in the classroom... but they are also a lot more shy and less likely to guess (even if they know the answer). The same thing happens when their parents are in the room too. The only real feedback I got was pretty much the things I expected to get (laminate the materials) and just a few little pointers to help guide the kids.
Afternoon classes were okay. One of my England girls is super cute. England is a very low level class. It is made of mostly 2nd and 3rd graders. Crystal has "What does it mean?" written down in her test bookelt. Whenever I say something she does not know, she opens her book up and asks the question. Its really adorable. She also talks to me in Korean, like I know what she is saying. Problem is, that I do not. So I have to act out or draw pictures of it... once she gets it, she gets a huge smile on her face.
My 3rd graders were pretty good. Tomy and Roy are separated now... and as such, I can really see how Tomy tries to get reactions from Roy... and then when he does, he complains about it. Its like pulling a dogs tail. you can do it a little, but when the dog bites you, there really is nobody to blame but yourself. Granted, Roy still causes problems to some... but we still have him next to Barbie, and she still impresses me with how she reacts to it. It almost has a calming effect on Roy.
After school, Rob and Scott and I went to Yongsan. Rob had to return a gamecube controller and buy a new one. We also had to get tickets for Busan. I then had to go to Itaewon to buy a game. Someone was selling Elefun on craigslist. It is a battery operated elephant that blows butterfly's out of its trunk. I knew I had to get it for my classes. The different colored butterfly could be different things they have to do (eg red is an action verb) or I could potentially even put my own pieces of paper in there. The elephant blows the butterfly's into the air and the kids have to catch them. For 5 bucks, who could say no. It has so much potential in the classroom!
I came home, and Sarah came to pick up some of her stuff that was in my apartment. I then got dinner, took a shower, and went to bed early. I was super tired.

Thursday November 14th
Gym day. I got a bit of work accomplished during gym time. Stuff I needed to do for ECC. I did not get any of my Korean hagwon homework done. After I finished all of my grading and everything else... I literally had only about 15 minutes to go my homework... and honestly, my mind was not in it. The more I do the hagwon, the worse I feel for my kids. The worse I feel for them and the more I empathize with them. Yet, I still assign them homework. Eric from Denmark class cried today. We were going to watch cartoon. I told him to sit with the rest of the class, he refused, so I made the class line up to go back to our classroom. Of course everyone was like "ERIC" so that and ostensibly someone pushing him made him cry. I lectured the class in Denmark about how to act like good students and how to be nice to your friends. I did take them back to watch cartoon. It is still so interesting how different Denmark is from Australia.
During one of my breaks today, I spoke with Christine about France. Everyone is still having a lot of problems with them. I think part of it is the parents fault. These kids while Kindy in Korea are first graders in the US. This is these kids first time away from home. They are having a hard time adapting to this environment. They are old enough to have some independence and understanding of the world, and going from a sheltered home environment to being in a school... I dont know. The majority of kids come in at Korean 6 (4/5 western). So we are made of 4 classes of 7.2 (Seven years, 2nd year at ECC), 3 6.1(6 years, 1st year). We have 1 7.3 (7 years, 3 at ECC), 1 5.1 (5 years, 1 at ECC), 1 7.1 (7 years, first at ECC). and 1 7.1.5 (7 years, 1st year at ECC, but studied 1 year at another hagwon). The one class that has that seems to have the most issues is France, the 7.1 kids. Rumor has it that normally the 7.1 kids are like that the most often.
My 4th grade class. Only 2 kids today. It was a vocab day. Ba. Daniel and Nick. Daniel could not have cared less about being there. Nick actually was better, and he asked more questions about what things meant. I guess he is normally embarrassed to as in class, but with it being a small class and no girls, I think he was more content with trying.
Hagwon for me tonight was okay. I understood the lesson.
After hagwon we went to a burger joint. It was good. Not as good as Gonnys, but better than others. They did have an amazing spicy sauce on a burger called the Red Rocket. Their chili burger fell flat (on my palate) but the Red Rocket... I would go back there for it. I do applaud them for trying chili. Not very common in Korea. If they could perfect the chili... then I would definitely go back. I just have no idea how to tell them how to make chili.
When we got back to Bobo, we all packed since we are going down to Busan for the weekend. Just a short little cheap trip to go watch the professional Dota2 tournament... and see Busan.
Then Rob Scott and I played some super smash brothers.

Since I will be in Busan Friday Saturday and Sunday, do not expect an update.... not that I have been updating frequently. Normally I will type a little a day and not publish... These last two months have been crazy....