Charpie's Travels

Today in first grade science, we drew pictures of ourselves. Then we labeled body parts and discussed how they help us. In the middle of this discussion, Robin pointed at me and announced, "you are a princess." Not certain how that pertained to body parts, I asked how he figured. Hyun-Joon looked at Robin with this odd smile on his face and explained, "you are pretty girl." And since, apparently, I left my crown at home today, Yeji rolled up her paper to make one for me.  I still don't know what any of that had to do with body parts. But if you ever want to feel better about yourself, feel free to come visit me in second-hour first grade!

My kindergarteners drew pictures today and wrote about what they want to be when they grow up. Annabelle ,  Henry  and Kelly  want to be doctors. Annabelle is going to help "pepple" and Henry is going to make people "batter." Ellizabeth plans to be a ballerina. (No, I didn't typo. She really spells it that way.) Justin  is going to be a thunder fighter. If anyone could pull that off, he'd be the one.  Jini wants to be a princess. Andy wants to be a shooter. I was a little nervous about that one at first, but he's a hardcore good guy. He just really wants to fight the bad guys. Maro is going to be a singer, and Ann wants to be Snow White. Peter  will be a gamer. JunSeo wants to be a baseball player. My favorite is Jaden . When he grows up, he wants to be a dad.

Every morning, I write my kinder kids' names on the board. They earn smiley faces for good behavior, following directions, or whatever I feel like giving smiley faces for. For every three smileys, they earn a sticker. The threat of losing a smiley face holds incredible sway over these kids.  We discussed feelings in speaking class. This is a dangerous topic to address with a dozen exhausted kindergarteners. Nevertheless, we talked about things that make them happy or sad or excited. When we got to angry, I received an education in how these kids treat each other when teachers aren't watching. I also learned that Peter accidentally broke Justin's toy gun hours earlier, and Justin still was not over it.  A few minutes after this conversation, Peter raised his hand.  "Teacher, take my happy face please and give to Justin." Peter is my tallest kinder kid, and he's high on the list of energetic and loud students. I forget sometimes that he's also my mo...

There are days in Korea when I wake up with one person heavily on my mind. The particular individual varies, but it's always someone from the states. I do whatever it is I need to do throughout the morning, but my mind is far from Korea. Today was Jelani's day.  It's been 11 months and a couple days. He never got to meet his baby boy. His little girl changed so much even before I moved to Seoul. It's been nearly a year, and somehow still no one seems to know what happened.  It's weird to think or say any of this, because in a way, that feels like a different lifetime. Even so, it's a lifetime that occupies much of my thoughts. 

I went down to the kimbap shop for lunch. For a little while, I had the place to myself. I picked a spot along the wall and tried to interpret more of the massive wall menu while I waited for my food.  For a few minutes today, I didn't feel half a world away from Minnesota. Sure, I was eating ramen and kimchi with chopsticks, but public radio was playing. After that was "Kiss From a Rose." When you're sitting with your back to the world, listening to Seal and National Public Radio, it's harder to remember that you're sitting in Asia.  And then I stood up to leave and discovered the restaurant was now full of blue-jacketed Korean men. I waited for the shop worker to finish rolling a kimbap, paid my 4,000 won, and mumbled "gam-sa-ham-ni-da" on my way out the door. Yep. I'm still in Korea. (And I love it.)

Mid-lecture, one of my fourth graders asked me, "Teacher, can you do eggs?" My expression effectively conveyed my lostness, and so she demonstrated.  Step One: Smile as big as you possibly can. Step Two: With your forefingers and thumbs, "pinch" as much of your cheeks as possible.  Step Three: Compare among your friends. The winner is the one with the biggest cheek "eggs."

At the bottom of his science homework, Robin wrote The End  and drew a box around it. And just in case I might still be unsure, he followed that up with the words "means it is over."