Charpie's Travels

My kids watched a little video this morning. When it ended, Maro noticed me Korea-style kneeling in the aisle by the back row. She walked over and, for a moment, held my face in her hands. Then she proceeded to pet my hair and repeat "Oh, good job! Good job, teacher!" I imagine this is precisely the way she sounds when she talks to Acorn, her dog. 

Every day, we spend the last few minutes of third block getting ready for lunch. We pulled out the lunch trays and chopsticks, lined up to wash our hands, and set out to the sinks. Except for Jini. She took her sweet time setting up her tray and cup. When she finally meandered toward the door, something seemed amiss. She nearly made it into the hall before I figured it out.  Half of this girl's clothing never left the back of the room. She kept her white shirt and white tights on, but her pink dress sat in a heap under her desk. If it weren't for the "I'm a sneaky genius" expression on her face, she probably would have gotten out of the room before I noticed. I do love the look of pride these kids have when they think up these things. 

Holly and I set out to find Aveda today. It took a while, since the one for which we had directions didn't seem to exist anymore. But Holly knows everything and, a few subway stops later, we were at a different Aveda. I know I'm in Korea. I know that. But my brain still has this notion that, at a place like Aveda, people will speak English. Not so, my friend. However, these non-English speakers were fabulous. They brought us tea, loaded us up with fashion books and hair color samples, and whisked away Holly's purse to be locked in a safe place. I think they thought I was just accompanying Holly. So while while they started with her, I got a free foot massage. Korea is full of wonderful free stuff. Aveda has an online aide for Korean/English conversations. However, this didn't prove useful enough for Jae Young, the poor guy who was trying to figure out what in the world I wanted done with my hair. After an extended period of confusing questions and confusing answers an...

We learned about shadows this morning. It wasn't on the agenda, but it's my favorite thing we've done in science. I was trying to explain tree shade. Calling it the tree's shadow means zilch if your kids don't know what a shadow is. So I walked down the aisle and pointed out my moving shadow. They were in awe. Pretty soon I had kids nearly falling out of chairs and crawling under desks looking for more shadows. "Look! Ann has shadow!" "Kelly's foot has a shadow!" Maro was clever enough to try pulling out the emergency flashlight...though I'm not sure if she planned to search for or make shadows. Either way, I loved watching the light bulbs go on all over the room. I never envisioned myself in a teaching position, but moments like this make me understand why others do this for a lifetime. 

Early on this morning, Justin earned a frown face in place of a happy face. Not long after, Annabelle insisted that I give her one happy face to Justin. Like...seriously insisted on it. So I did. You should have seen her smile. In return, she received a sticker (worth three smileys!). Before the class could fully flip out, I made a big deal about what a thoughtful, nice thing Annabelle had done. I felt a need to make a disclaimer that I would NOT be handing out stickers to everyone who offered to give away a happy face. (I once gave a happy face to a student who helped another kid, and daily students inform me that I need to give them happy faces for helping people.)

English names are fluid here. Today Annabelle informed me that she wants me to spell her name now without the last 'e'. Andy regularly alters his name... Jandy, Pandy, Mandy (until I told him I know a girl with that name). And, just for today, Justin decided to be Bustin. It's the best when said with a Korean accent.   It's not only the kindergarten kids. Jenny is also Jinny, and Alice is the same person as Sarah. My friend Dawna said that, a day after she started teaching, a girl at that school changed her name to Dawna. I think I'm going to start dropping letters out of my name, too. Or swapping them. Tomorrow you may call me Zabeth.

I teach a lot of cute kids. A lot. JunSeo is a quiet cutie. He's the perfect kid who stays in his chair and raises his hand and only speaks when you call on him. Except for the times I turn around to see him perched on top of a desk peering over my podium at my monitor. Or the times I can't see him because he's disappeared under his desk. Or the times he's lost in his own world playing with toys he pulled out of someone else's cubby. But he's so stinking quiet and well-behaved most of the time. I have a hard time imagining ever being mad at JunSeo. JunSeo has super cute, narrow eyes. Every time he talks, he squints and his eyes disappear. And then I get distracted wondering how in the world he can see anything at all. He also doesn't walk. I wish I could do a demo, but it's more like a combination of walking, skipping, and leaping. Even if he starts out with a walk, he always ends with an funky jump. I don't think he's ever landed simultaneous...