Shut up, Malfoy.

So, today John and I got the fantastic opportunity to experience "Dr. Fish." We were at this swanky coffee shop/cafe in Seoul and you had the option to purchase 15 minutes of Dr. Fish therapy with your drink order. We opted for definitely yes on the Dr. Fish. There's even a "Dr. Fish Zone" on a raised platform in one whole corner of the coffee shop. First you rinse your feet off in a small wooden tub and then you stick them into the shallow pool where the Dr. Fish await. The Dr. Fish then swarm onto your feet and begin to eat away at all the dead skin on your feet. It tickles like crazy at first and we have some hilarious pictures of ourselves being tickled by the Dr. Fish. You can view those photos here:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41503&l=ec4e5&id=631992912

Needless to say, Dr. Fishes are amazing and I would recommend them to anyone who needs a little foot exfoliation and some cheering up.

Autumn is definitely starting to happen here in Korea and I couldn't be more happy about it. It is no longer humid, but sunny and cold. There's a definite briskness in the air that just feels like the fall and I love it. Not to mention, my fall clothes are so much nicer than my summer ones and now I get to revel in hoodies and scarves and fun colored socks. And it's awesome to be able to walk outside now and not feel instantly sticky. Gone are the days of sweat and humidity; blankets and tea and the changing colors of leaves to come!

Speaking of changes, teaching is getting a whole lot easier. Or maybe it's not getting easier, we're just getting used to it. We definitely don't feel as overwhelmed or swamped or tired as we did before. We find ourselves falling into small routines, picking up new and helpful habits, learning our students and how we need to teach them, and getting used to our schedules. I'm finding that I am really enjoying myself, and I'm also finding that I'm not the rockstar teacher that I thought I was going to be. I mean, I'm not a bad teacher, I'm just realizing that teaching is harder work than I imagined and that a smile and an extroverted personality will not necessarily carry me throughout all of my classes. I am learning the importance of being well-prepared, having big expectations and committing to them, and that sucess doesn't happen in a day. And I have learned that I cannot expect all of my students to love me, but that I can strive to earn their respect and admiration. This one is a hard one for me because I have always wanted everyone to love me. I know that my time spent teaching here in Korea will be one of those experiences that shapes me and adds little (or big) dents into my character.

And lastly, speaking of experiences, there is a high school aged boy that has been hanging around the Center lately. John and I believe that there is good chance that he could be developmentally disabled but we don't know for sure. All we know is that whenever he sees me, John or Johnny he talks to us. He knows that we are foreigners and English teachers so when he talks to us he tries to air all of the English phrases that he can. He's bombarded us with "Hey baby" and "Psst, come over here" and "How ya doing" over and over again. But by far the best phrase we've ever heard come out of his mouth has been "Shut up, Malfoy" (for those of you who might not know, this is a Harry Potter reference). He usually mumbles this over and over in the middle of conversation. At first I didn't understand what he was saying because it's just absurd to hear somebody, especially in broken English, tell you to "Shut up, Malfoy." And supposedly I'm not the only Malfoy, John and Johnny have both been told to shut up too.

Sometimes you don't know what to do...

In my last post, I talked about a class of five-year-olds. Well, I have two of those classes. One is a kindergarten aged beginner class. Another is what we call an ATC (American Textbook Class). That means that these children are geniuses. They know all the basic vocabulary words, phrases, concepts and often complete sentences. For example, today I had a brilliant little boy tell me, "I want to poop." He was no older than four, by American calculations. Anyway, you get the point. They are English phenoms. The trouble with this class is, they are as smart as some 10-year olds I have, but as wild as jungle monkeys.

I don't know how to teach them. I am very discouraged. I cannot control their behavior. They get distracted. They roll around in their seats. They hit each other. They say sarcastic or funny things in Korean to make the other children laugh. I don't know what to do... My superiors see that there is a problem. This situation is very complex and I don't even think I could articulate all of the ins and outs of the problem.

I would like it very much if you would pray for me. Please pray that God would give me some sort of illumination, as how best to teach these children. That's all. I am just very down-hearted about all of this, and need some prayer. Thank you all.

I taught five-year-olds possessives!

I yelled, as I burst into the office triumphantly energetic. JoAnne, the native Korean English teacher, looked at Jonathon and said, "what does he mean, possesives?" (It should be noted here, that I talk too fast for Koreans. I have reassured them, saying I talk to fast for some Americans too. JoAnne, despite her excellent grip on the language, and my efforts to slow down, continues to disunderstand me.) Before Jonathon could answer, I sang, "mine and yours, mine and yours, I taught children mine and yours!"

I was excited. This was on day seven in the classroom. Teaching had turned out to be arduous. We had gone from working zero hours a day, for two months, having quit our social-work jobs at the end of June, to working 8-11 hour days overnight. We have been teaching now for two full weks. It has been greulling at times. For our first two days, I was sick in my stomach, having eaten some Bibim Bap that didn't agree with me. Since Wednesday, this week, both Ferial and I have had colds that have kept us weak, sore and tired. Add to all of that the normal stress of starting a new job, the added stress of that new job being in another country and the insane stress of having to deal with kids, American age 3-14, for 6 hours every day, who by the way, don't really speak your language and would rather be doing something else...

So, teaching four-year-olds, the difference between "my book" and "your book" was, in my mind, an enourmous success for the day. Now don't get me wrong, we are really enjoying our jobs. However, we are looking forward to the day when doing lesson plans won't take us two hours every morning. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we don't have to be into the office until 1:30, at the latest. However, we are regularly going in at 9:00 on those days, just so we can prepare for classes. We have been told that preparation gets much easier and we relish the thought of being able to sleep in until 9-ish, get up, have breakie, read some Holy Writ, and head into the office after a light lunch.

Life has been good though. Two days ago, I was out in the courtyard, playing "Red-Light, Green-Light" with some 4th graders, because I didn't want to plan a lesson for that class, when a guy walked up to me, who was definitely not Korean. In the middle of yelling "Red-Light," I heard him say, "Are you American?" I was floored...I think I just stood there with my mouth open for a second. "Like, I mean, you're not Canadian...?" he said. My students were frozen in place, waiting for a chance to speeed ahead again. "Yeah, I'm American. You?" "Yeah," he said. I shook his hand, "I'm John." "Jason." "TEACHER!!!!!!" I asked Jason if he could give me fifteen minutes, to get rid of the Bulgogi Boys and he said he would go and get his wife and meet me back outside in twenty.

Long story short, Ferial and I now have a new set of friends. They are married, 26 year old Christians from Indiana. They are a bi-racial couple and love many of the same movies and tv shows we do. Thus far, we have only spent a couple of hours with them, but it promises to be a good friendship, already.

This is getting long, so I'll quickly fill you in on a few other things: We went to Seoul for the first time, last weekend. The photos are on Ferial's facebook. It was a lot of fun, and we made sure to stop by Starbucks, while we were there. I am reaping the benefits of that, as I type. We had dinner that night with a Korean woman Jonathon and I knew from Briercrest, Annie. We ate at a Brazilian Barbecue restaurant - all you can eat meat! In the Bay Area, it would be called a churiscaria, if you want to find one. Amazing food. It can be pricey, but you won't regret it. Also, this weekend is a three-day holiday, which is a rarity in Korea. It is Korean Thanksgiving, called ChuSok. We are looking forward to resting up, kicking a cold, and getting to know the newest crew members on our rocket.

Happy ChuSok!