Sometimes students surprise 선생님

I had to title it with the Korean for the alliteration. I just had to.

As the title suggests, sometimes my students really surprise me.

On an assignment to introduce me to a new friend, my fifth graders:

She dislikes her friend, she likes teacher Kristen teacher.

I look sad, but his compliment makes me smile again!

Then, just this week I had my fourth graders design signs for the lesson "don't." Needless to say, there are a lot of signs that say "don't die." Among the "don't die" signs are some real gems.

One of the more creative. The little guy in the corner is himself as a ghost looking at himself as a dying angel.

A budding artist indeed.

"Don't pick the nose." A very good observation by a 

student who was doing this only moments before.

Don't tell me what to do, kid.

Apparently she does not eat at her English Academy. (Hagwon kid)

This one also had to learn "Don't write on the desk" 

while practicing the letters for his sign.

My sixth graders are making Bucket Lists to practice future tense "I will." The most popular response of the day is "I will fly." Yes, they plan to fly with no assistance whatsoever. 

My favorite response: "I will win a Nobel Prize. I will donate ₩1,000,000,000 to science." This came from the same girl who wants to learn English so she can work for NASA. I've said it before, I'll say it again, you go girl.

Sometimes this job seems difficult. Sometimes, meaning a lot, I miss friends and family. Sometimes, I miss the convenience of living in a country I can understand. Sometimes, I miss cheeseburgers. However, I look at things like this and I smile. My students make me smile (most) everyday. I have a wonderful job that doesn't require me to wear an apron or answer phones (and when I do answer a phone, they tend to hang up), and they pay me really well and give me all the benefits that every person should have around the world. 

Honestly, I can't imagine where I would be if I had stayed in the States. Most likely miserable, working a dead-end job for minimum wage as I have been forever. Happier everyday that I get to do what I do.

I suppose I should say, "Thank you."

So, I saw this late night show once where the host writes thank you notes to special people from the week. I figure I have a lot to be thankful for, so why not give it a try?

Thank you to Korea, for always proving me wrong. Even though most of the time it happens right after I say something, you always show me how much I have to learn about this place. Thank you, also, for your distinctive scent, lest I ever forget where I am.

Thank you, ajumma on the train. Actually, I didn't know that the subway doors meant I should go through. Thank you for always being there, or anywhere else, to provide a helpful and forceful push in the right direction, with a scowl of disapproval to boot.
In case you don't know what an ajumma is:

Thank you, Koreans, for not believing in lines. Really, why wait?

Thank you, students, for treating me like a rock star. I know that it won't last forever, but I really enjoy walking down the aisle to lunch to high-fives and waving, while hearing "Hello Kristen teacher!" over and over. Best part of my day right there.

Thank you, 6th graders, for making everything violent.
Me: Okay, today we're going to learn future tense, like "I will." Okay? It's something I haven't done yet, but will in the future, like tomorrow, next week, or next month. Got it? Repeat after me: I will.
Students: I will.
Me: Good. You say "I will" and a verb to describe things you do in the future, like "I will do homework," "I will sleep," or "I will eat lunch." Got it?
Student #1: I will hit.
Me: No, we don't hit.
Student #1: Yes, hit. I will hit.....him!
Me: No, you will not hit him. No hitting.
Student #2: I will kill.
Me: What?! No killing. No one will kill.
Student #3: I will kill.
Student #2: I will kill.....you?
Student #4 & 5: Yes! I will kill you!
Student #4: Not yet, in future!
Me: Well, at least you're getting the concept of future tense.

Thank you, cocktail in a bag. That is all.

Thank you, Korean language, for being as complicated as possible to further confuse me while I desperately try to learn you.

Those are my thank you notes for this week.

Soul to Seoul

Last weekend I had the privilege of visiting Seoul.

I honestly didn't think it would be that vast of a difference from Daegu to Seoul. However, I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

I traveled with my new friend Katie, a Floridian and fellow artist/weird person, by KTX to Seoul Station. From there, I had to get a transportation card to get around on the subway. I'm pretty sure that I got screwed over on that deal by a "helpful" young man by the T-money card machine. Oh well. When someone comes up to you pointing at a store and talking to you in rapid Korean, you tend to follow. Or, at least I do.

From there we attempted to navigate the underbelly of Seoul. Fortunately, we didn't get lost. We made it all the way to Hongdae, which is basically the place all the foreigners go. Our hostel was fairly nice, and the manager was very friendly, though Katie had a rough time understanding him. We ventured out the first night and found two other foreigner friends. We decided to get cocktails in a bag (which is basically the most genius idea ever) and then we went over to Suzie Q's.

I have to tell you, that is the most amazing bar I have found in Korea yet. The DJ was playing old vinyls from the best era of music ever: classic rock. One whole wall was covered in his record collection, and he took requests. So, of course, I had to request some Journey. If there is nothing else in this world that is good and true, there will be Journey.

After a long night, we got some sleep and woke up early to head over to the Trickeye Museum, which was too much fun. All the trop l'oeil paintings you can imagine. Then we went over to the Seoul Art museum, which was housing the Tim Burton exhibition. That was amazing. True, we did have to wait two hours to get into the building in the rain, but it was totally worth it. I saw one of the hands from Edward Scissorhands, and the Catwoman costume from Batman. I saw all his sketches and parts of private collections from around the world. It was really exciting.

After that, we decided to unwind at Lotte World, which was kind of lame due to rain, and the fact that Katie doesn't like rollercoasters. However, ice cream and K-pop before taking a spin on the teacups made up for that.

The next day we went tourist to see the palaces and traditional villages, as well as some shopping.

All in all, a pretty good weekend. Exhausting, but good.

Molding the minds of youth

I teach elementary school in Daegu, South Korea. I teach grades 3-6. That's 23 classes a week, roughly 580 students. I have to say that I wasn't too much of a fan of kids in the States, but I love my job.
Teaching elementary school kids has its perks.

For instance, I teach by entertaining. Unfortunately some of my day has to be spent drilling vocabulary, but I try to have fun the majority of the time. I don't necessarily want to be known as the "game teacher," but I enjoy my classes as much as the kids do. I think that's what counts. We're getting learning done in an environment that is positive and motivating.

The kids seem to like me. At first, I was the strange foreigner. In fact, I'm still the strange foreigner, but now they are less terrified of me. I feel like a celebrity sometimes, actually. All day long, as I'm walking down the halls I get kids rushing up to me, waving, saying, "Hello, Kuh-ris-oo-teen!" Occasionally, I'll have students try to have conversation with me in English. Mostly they ask me simple questions like:
"You have boyfriend?"
"You have married?"
"You wear lenses? Colored? Your eyes blue!"
"You have no boyfriend, so other teacha, yes?" (with this question they offered me their homeroom teacher. Now whenever I teach with him, they make little "ooo"s and kissing noises. I guess they either don't know, or care, that he is married already.)

I have certain students that have already made an impression with me. One of my fourth graders is my "yes man." He follows everything I say with a series of yes's.
Okay, we're going to go over the vocabulary of the lesson.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"
Yes?
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"
Are you really excited?
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!"
Okay! Let's do vocabulary!
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

One of my fifth graders doesn't know much English, but he's such a sweetie. Most of the time, instead of actually doing the work, or answering a question, he will look at me and say, "Teacha, so beautiful! Fantastic! I love you!!" While he says "I love you," he generally puts is arms over his head in a heart shape and leans sideways. He's adorable.

Of course, I have already found the "Hermiones" in my classes. The kids that just can't take it, they HAVE to answer the question. Their arms almost detach themselves and keep floating just so they get called on. Most of the time they are the only ones with their hands up, so they do get called on a lot.

That's just a taste of my everyday work life. I'm sure in the following months I will have good days and bad days, but so far it's been nothing but golden. *knock on wood*