Korea and I have been together for two months as of today,
Wednesday, January 16, 2013. We’ve had our ups and downs. And I don’t think
Korea is the one for me. But why not have fun while I’m young? So we’re not
gonna break up just yet.
Some really crazy American pop culture references have been
occurring in my classes, and they have not been coming from me. Now most of the
kids are around the same age in the classes but they aren’t necessarily grouped
by school grade or age, though those are often similar, but their English skill
level groups them. So naturally, a student in one of my phonics classes is
going to speak the least amount of English. But they try very hard for me. And
it is so adorable especially when they’re 7, 8, and 9 years old. So I’m in the
middle of phonics class with this lovely little boy named Richard who just has
the cutest little face with the biggest checks and the squintiest little eyes.
I just wanted to squeeze him all the time. I’m standing in the front of the
classroom trying to teach these children the “ou” and “ow” have the same sound
when I feel Richard pulling on my shirt. “Teacher. Teacher. Teacher.”
“Yes, Richard?”
“Hammer. Hammer, down. (pointing down) Down. Hammer.
Hammer.”
“Yes, Richard. There is a man with a hammer downstairs.”
(Some men where doing some construction on the first floor
of the building.)
Then Jacob, a 9 year old Korean boy who sits in the back of
the room, equally as cute, but four times as terrible, jumps out of his seat
and yells, “MC HAMMER!!!!” and begins do his odd rendition of Hammer Time. It
was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life.
Then today, in a different phonics class, we’re flipping
through our flash cards. I’m showing them pictures and they’re spelling words
with “ai” and “ay” sounds. Riveting stuff. When we get the picture of rain
instead of spelling the word, one kid stands up and begins to sing It’s Raining
Men. Since when do 11 year old Korean boys know The Weather Girls? I was
laughing so hard I dropped the flashcards.
So two months. I feel like I’m starting to figure things
out. Ha…no I’m not. It finally smells normal. It took a good while for me to be
able to walk outside and not smell Korea. I can’t really describe what it
smells like. You know how people’s houses have different scents? Well I’ve
decided countries have different scents. I can’t smell Korea anymore. I guess
that means I really live here. My butt is a little bit smaller from all this
walking. Not mad about that. The whereabouts of the foreign grocery store has
been located, which will be key to conquering Asia. I will be pay 17,000 won
for a bag of shredded Mexican blend cheese when necessary. This isn’t about
survival anymore. Conquering. I’ve been
going to a church about 30 minutes from me in Gangnam. One of my favorite
things about the service is that for a little over an hour I hear nothing but
perfect English. Yeah, Jesus is great too, but ENGLISH! It’s like I step back
into the US for a little bit. If the US were full of Asians and just sprinkled
with a few white people instead of vice versa.
Love you guys. Miss you guys. It’s still pretty cold here,
so if you want you can come over and we can snuggle and watch Wild America.
xoxo
p.s. please forgive any spelling or grammar errors. I now find myself saying things like most funniest and very many times. I also can no longer distinguish between no, know, or their, there, and they're.
