somewhere, someone in my apartment building is listening to rather unusual vocal music.  i can't really describe it well - sort of feels like romantic classics from the '30s or '70s.  (Did those periods have similarities?  More than you might think!)

i think it's time to put away the k-pop for a while and go back to classier stuff, actually.  i'll still k-pop it up, i'm sure, but it's time for a change of pace.

it's late, i'm hot, and i'm afraid of the monsoon season.  i feel like i should be preparing for y-2k all over again, but really, people.  it's just rain.  what is more worrying is the potential for conflict with the country to the north.  maybe i should buy a flashlight?  i mean, out of all of the things i'm lacking, i feel like a flashlight could help a lot in any sort of conundrum, be it a lack of power due to heavy rain, ha, or something else that i don't even want to contemplate.  i think i'll buy one next time i'm out.  a flashlight and some jerky, ha.

people are still up all over the place!  i bought new cereal!  interesting things to contemplate, ha, but i should go to sleep.  it is way, way past my bedtime.

cute guy sleeping on the subway bench: you are adorable, ha, and I'm glad that you smiled back when I smiled at you as you woke up to catch that train, ha.

i'm miffed!

I've never typed that before, ha.  What does miffed even mean?  I will find out later.  Right now though, I want to tell you what is up in brief - I'll write more later.  (Maybe.)

1.  I hate it when I can't get out of awkward social situations.

2. I hate it when the people causing them know that.

3. I hate it when foreigners here act like they know more than I do.  Maybe they do in general, sure, ha - I haven't been here long, I'm not omniscient.  But.  Those people that offer to supplement or override my politely voiced thoughts with their clearly incorrect ones just drive me nuts.  No, know-it-all-foreigner, you're actually wrong.  Just because I'm not going to correct you in front of all of these people doesn't mean you're not an idiot.

...

Just sayin'!  Also: I don't correct them because I am a) lazy, and b) not really up for battling their illogic.

Grocery boy sighting yesterday - the first in weeks.  Didn't talk to him though (I was with someone, he was busy), but he did recognize me and smile.  Ah, I need to hurry up and learn Korean.

That's part of the plan for today, actually.  We'll see how it goes, ha.

Also, I still love my students, and I can tell that I am going to miss them SO MUCH this summer.  Oh man.  They are cute.  One of them - whose picture I really want to take and share with you - totally looks like a devil bunny from Death Note, apparently.  I don't watch it, but my kids do, and they showed me a side by side comparison - it's ridiculous and hilarious and adorable how similar they are.  Especially since the boy in question was smiling a sweet, "aaah?! What's going on, why are you laughing and smiling?" smile during the comparing time.

student update

one of my favorites was apparently not paying attention or doing his work at one point in class because my co-teacher moved him across the room.  i, and the rest of his table, thought this was hilarious -- it was hard not to laugh.  it's just that he's clearly the most advanced kid in the room, and usually he pays the most attention out of everyone.  so it was funny to have him get in trouble.

in great news for that class, perhaps my most disruptive student was EXCELLENT today.  dare i hope that my positive reinforcement and genuine concern for his survival is getting through to him?  !  let's hope that our relationship continues to grow.  or something like that.

another kid in that room -- who, for the record, seems to have not attended very often because he is super unfamiliar, ha -- anyway, this kid said, "Marry?" and looked at me while gesturing to himself.

"How old are you?"
("What?  What did she say?" -- in Korean.)
"Age.  Your age?  18, 17?"
"Oh! ... 25! Haha!"
"25!  Right.  You lie."

then we talked about soccer, about how he's going to be in the world cup next time it comes around, "representing Korea" -- and after that, we got back to marriage.

"Marry?"
"Uh."
"Merry ... Christmas!  Hahaha."

Goofy adorable children.  He, however, could actually pass for 25.  But I'm sure he's like, 16.  Hah.

urgency and my students

My students all tend to have an exaggerated sense of urgency concerning their desires.  They aren't very patient little people.  Sometimes, though, I think they complain just for the fun of it.

Generally, this sort of behavior amuses me as well.  One of my favorite student whining scenes takes place when I do not have the classroom doors unlocked and they want to get in.  They'll flatten themselves against the glass doors and yell desperately, "Teacher!  Open the door!  Open the door, Teacher!"  There is usually at least five minutes left before class is supposed to start when they do this, so it's not like the situation is as dire as they make it out to be.  Even if it were ten minutes after the class bell, it wouldn't matter because I am their teacher, and if I lock them out intentionally, clearly I wouldn't mark them late.  Anyhoo, this all leads me to think that I should lock them out more often just for fun.

The most common instance of whining, though, has to do with the summer heat.  The first thing my kids say when they walk into the room these days is, "Teacher!  Air con!"  to which I reply, "Students!  'Air con' - Air conditioner.  'Teacher, please turn on the air conditioner.'  I turned on the air conditioner.  It will be cold soon.  Wait."  Then, throughout class, some will beg for it to be turned up, others will want it turned off.  I am thinking about letting one of my classes roast next week as punishment for being downright obnoxious regarding the temperature of the room (among other things, ha.)  We'll see - I'm not sure that I want to punish myself and my co-teacher to that extent yet.

meaningless update #234

um, why do I have to eat constantly?  It's getting really annoying, people.  Let's review what I had today.

Woke up late, so no real breakfast.  Legit skip, right?  Right.

Had okonomiyaki for a late lunch - a big serving of it, too.

Had a tuna (and tofu and lettuce) salad for dinner, with a side of grapes.

I had a billion (okay, like, 7) of those tasty seaweed fortune cookie-like things and a few chocolates as a snack throughout the day.  Drank a lot of water, had some milk.  And I finished my Coke from yesterday.  Also had two unripe apricots (don't eat them, people!  wait until they are ripe) and just a few minutes ago I finished two sticks of celery with a bit of cream cheese on them for flavor.  Oh, and I almost forgot: I had two packaged milkshakes.  Those Lotte vanilla things ... are so good.

I shouldn't be hungry.  But I feel like stuffing my face.  This is so annoying!  It is not easy to carry food back from the grocery store.  It is also not hard to carry food home from the grocery store.  It's a task of middling difficulty.  But I don't really like shopping on the weekends.  Too many people out - makes maneuvering through the stores hectic.  UGH I need more food so that when I feel like this at night I can just eat, and then, eventually full, I will be able to go to sleep.  What are some good late night snacks?

The only one that comes to mind as being ultimately satisfying is ... cold pizza!  I don't have an oven.  I could order pizza, or go buy it, and then bring it home to put in my freezer, though.  But I want my pizza.  Spoiled, yes.  What else works as a late night snack?  PBJ?  I haven't eaten that in years.  Maybe a PBB -- that might work.  I wish I could go to Shinsegae tomorrow to buy bread and a couple of Japanese food items for ye olde larder.  But I have plans.  Why do I keep making plans!?  I am at heart not that social of a person!  And yet I am so busy!  What gives!  AUGH.  I am not going to be able to stop being frustrated with myself and sleep until I eat something.  The current options:

I could make more okonomiyaki.  I am too tired to contemplate that.
I could eat some tiny oranges - mandarins, I think.  I do not want to taste a citrus right now, and those aren't filling, anyway.
I could have an egg.
I could try one of those weird melon fruits that I have in the fridge.
I could put on normal clothes and go out to the convenience store to get some kimbap.  I do like kimbap, and it is filling.  But I am lazy, alas.
I could eat some more tuna salad?  I at least have all the ingredients already prepped for that.
I could eat some tofu.
I could have more chocolate.

I think, however, that I will just drink a lot of water and will myself to not be such a big baby.  Tomorrow I will buy some bread or something that will fill me up when I get these late night snack cravings.

the day in review

As I was prepping the classroom for my co-teacher's after-school class I had a student come in to visit me.  He visits my co-teacher and I somewhat regularly, sometimes just to talk, sometimes to ask for candy.  He and my co-teacher tend to chat for 5 to 10 minutes, but when it's just the two of us, we usually exchange only a sentence or two.  Communication is hard since both of us know little of the other's language.  Today, though, he had something to show me - his ear.  It seems as if he or a friend pierced it today ... with a ballpoint pen.  Excellent.  It actually doesn't look that bad.  The hole is huge, the back is a little bloody - but overall, the ear could be in a worse condition.  I wonder how many students of mine have had their ears pierced by their friends?  Probably most, now that I think of it, ha.  Yikes.  I hope his heals well.  I think his plan is to gauge it, but right now he doesn't have anything in there - ugh, he'll have to re-pen the thing if he doesn't find something soon, right?

In other, less exciting news, today was not bad!  Decent in-class behavior and excellent between-bells communication.  On Thursdays, I have on of my best and most animated classes.  By best, I just mean that they try hard and are generally good - and by animated, I mean they don't sleep and answer my questions, ha.  They are unique in that they like to come in early and get a head-start on the lesson.  They'll pick up the worksheets and read through them, asking me questions occasionally.  After that, they'll start the usual calling-of-names that seems to precede most of my classes.  I have no idea how this can be so perennially entertaining, but girls and boys in every single class of mine seem to pre-game the lesson by calling each other silly things.

My last class of the day (a bunch of first graders) was a lot of fun.  They talked too much and had to be scolded, but aside from that they really were sweet.  The girl that sits closest to the front of the room almost always gets the right answers (no surprise, ha), but even (especially?) the kids that know nothing are fun and endearing.  One of them tried to teach me Korean today.  I told him that it was English class and not Korean, and I think his friend translated that for him, ha.  But that didn't deter him from trying to get me to read something he wrote for me on his paper.  I'm always really suspicious about that sort of thing - I remember my boys earlier in the term trying to teach me all sorts of Korean cuss words.  I read "kimchi jigae" (i knew that was safe) but hesitated on the next word he wrote.  Annnyhoo, whenever I repeated after him or read on my own, he'd given me a big pat on the back and say oh, great job!  Good!  in korea, haha.  Kid.  Whatevs.  And now, I appear to be super duper tired, so I'm going to have to stop.