horse first, cart second

so, here, the school year begins in march. which means kindy classes end in february and some kids (5+6 year olds) move up and the 7 year olds move on to elementary school.  as i've mentioned, i have the youngest class currently enrolled. Since they're so young and they just got a new teacher (me) two months ago, my coworkers and the teacher i replaced told me i'de likely move up to their new class with them.  friday is graduation and our new classes were announced today. i am not moving up with them. i am instead getting the newest bunch of "5" yr olds. ..kids who won't know a word of english. kids who will cry and pee their pants daily. i keep trying to reassure myself that they will be adorable and possibly really smart and will understand basic rules. i keep trying to not think about it or care about it until it actually happens (and is (probably) awful) but it's very hard. i'm usually good at putting things out of my mind but life events are very sparse here. without something to worry about what do people think about?   

i love you teacher

i know some people who openly admit to doing/not doing things so that their students like them.  i know from experience that a child's love is fleeting and could care less about them liking me or not. some days the will love me, others they won't but everyday they'll sit nicely, raise their hand, listen to teacher, and not yell.

my favorite student is the youngest in the school. tony. he's so smart and so excited to impress me with things he's learned. he remembers from one sentence three weeks ago that i like green apples not red and i don't like lemons or kimchi but i like pizza. (sometimes he gives me a fake plate and says, here teacher, i you pizza and green apple, no red apple, teacher likes green apple and no lemons) our school went on a field trip sledding. i was told that the teachers watch while the kids sled. i wore sneakers instead of boots. upon arrival i was told that my class was too little to sled alone so the teachers all had to ride with a student.  glad i wore sneakers instead of boots.

those of you who know me from way back know that i always get a concussion when sledding and therefor fear it.  however, here (maybe just because it was a lot of kids? maybe always?) they have a dude at the top who sends the first row of people down in a group and dudes at the bottom who push people in different directions if they're about to collide.  it was pretty awesome.

tony was sooooo happy that our sled went the fastest and the farthest (i started off the day breaking but my feet were cold and there was too much snow in my pants so i figured if i just start first i can not break and not worry about running over small children)   he was so tired after two hours but resolved to not stopping - he wouldn't get off my lap at the bottom of the hill - he could barely walk back up the hill - i ended up, at some point carrying him and the sled up the hill which he thought was hilarious. tony kept saying "i love you teacher" and "sarah teacher is good teacher, i love sarah teacher" i know it's the same as "i'm having so much fun"  but i have to give credit to my young coworkers who want the students' love. it is kind of nice having a little one tell you over and over that they love you.  even just in the 'i'm glad i helped you have a really great day' kind of way.

oh bread

everyday i have to eat lunch at school, in a classroom, with the tiniest kids who try and grab at me with their rice covered fingers.  There's another Korean teacher in the room to help them out as well. Our lunches are white rice, radishes, kimchi, bean sprouts or fish noodles and the main dish.
my favorite main dishes?  curry (doesn't happen often - maybe once every three weeks?), eggs (once/twice a week) dok boki, and chop chae. i think that's it.
My least favorite dishes?    fish pancakes.  fish heads. chicken feet. spam.  and various mystery meats that look like indecent parts of animals and the korean teachers refer to as 'hamburger steak'.  then if i ask " is it....(every meat dish i know in korean)" they tell me no, hamburger steak. it is impossible. for all of those things, which are all very different looking and tasting to be called hamburger steak when they are in fact neither hamburger or steak. fact.
mostly, i just eat rice for lunch.

sports

i really really like watching sports. so many asia cup soccer games on the big screen lately(go korea) hockey (whats wrong sabres?) i've even taken to watching basketball?  (but. i still think it's the easiest game and therefor the least sporty.) anyway,  it's almost time for my favorite day: superbowl sunday.  the only bad part about football and being from the future is having to avoid facebook sunday/monday till we watch the game monday night. (and it's bad because i never remember to and always find something out)  also, it won't seem like superbowl sunday without cool ranch doritos.   oh the problems of this world.

summary

my resolve to get it together in a week wasn't as...well... serious as i thought it would be. anyway. i unpacked yesterday. here's a brief summary of things that have happened so far.

1. week one i hung my clothes to dry on the roof as instructed by my hotel. but. they froze.
2. i'm responsible for the youngest kids in the school. they get really excited to tell me things but don't have the language to and its usually just a lot of flying hands and sound effects.  this is one of my favorite things.
3. saw the two headed turtle again.
4. had a girls night with the most amount of laughing i've done in so long. the sorest cheeks and stomach in years. seriously. 
5. field trip to a two hour long korean children's play.
6. watched a lot of football.
7. i have korean bbq at least 3 times a week. yeah!  
8. i have slept through one noraebong session but still have yet to go and sing. (this time) 
9. one four year old boy looked down my shirt as i was zippering his jacket, saw my tattoo, told me "teacher your tshirt is so funny" and now tries to pull apart my collar to look down my shirt everyday.
10. only once, so far (cross your fingers) i turned the sink on forgetting it was on shower and got soaked while dressed for work and about to head out the door.

other than that, just a lot of hanging out. being back with old friends, meeting new ones and missing cheese.

Achilles' heel

I'm not really stupid, and I don't often waste money...but every single time a dolphin cruise is advertised i think it's a good idea.   

cat in a rage

This last week was a little stressful.  Mostly self induced and a little how gross my new living space is.  I hate it. and I stewed over hating it for about a day and a half until i decided it's fine because i can just make it better in time.  (but lets be honest...who wants to have to wait for things)  (and then really, if we're being honest, i should tell you that it won't be better - just less noticeably gross upon arrival)
Also, i had three days of training with all the new teachers that were hired this month. There was a lot of mandatory singing and dancing in a room that was far too hot for fun but the group i was with was kind of awesome.  new year's eve was our last day of training so after we went into seoul and celebrated together.  new years day i spent in my neighborhood at my old spot, in our old way - heading home from noraebong well into the morning.
Today was my first day with the kids.  Going from 3 hour classes to 40 minute classes is amazing.   So far so good. we'll see how long it takes those new teacher/good behavior fears to wear off. 
I'm giving myself another week of procrastinating and then i promise to A. unpack my suitcase B. upload the pictures i've been taking and C. blog regularly.