ANOTHER WEEK DONE

Yes, it's Friday night. I'm through with school for the week except for the weekend tutoring. Friday's are tough because I'm sick and tired of teaching, and the kids are sick of me (I think).

I used a new attitude with my 4pm class where I can't stand most of the kids. They're too noisy, and they don't make any effort. I know they're young but still, I've seen young polite kids in my life who make an effort. So today without anger, I yelled at times and slammed the door. It was acting to get their attention and put a little fear of me and my craziness into them. It's not ideal, but if it buys me some peace, then that's the plan for them.

The kindergarten kids crack me up. They love to say "no" to anything I say. Then they babble at me in Korean and I answer them in English. It's fair. I don't understand what they're saying, and they don't understand what I say. But they are cute so I seem to be able to survive. I'm not sure I'm serving any purpose for them. In fact, I don't even know if I'm supposed to.

I was told by 2 of my 6PM girls that "I'm handsome" and "I'm cute". I don't think they are flattering me to butter me up, I think that it's just that they like me. I told them they were making me blush and then explained what blush meant. I have the little moments like that, that mean so much to me and give me such joy. Sometimes I feel like Sally Field at the Oscars. "They like me. They really like me".

The shuttle to the school didn't pick me up today. Why? Who knows. I took a taxi and I had Kelly's card so I showed him the address. He drove me to the wrong place. I told him and he looked again. Then he phoned the number on the card. I suppose Miss Moon answered and let him know where they were. I checked later with Jack as to if the card showed the proper address. He said it did. You have to love these Korean taxi drivers. But for $2 I suppose I shouldn't expect much.

Jack isn't going to Seoul this weekend so he'll be doing the tutoring driving. I'm a little disappointed about not driving, but if you know my driving, you'll probably think that's for the best. Tomorrow night is bar night for sure. Vodka in Korean is "Vodka" and tomato juice in Korean is "Tomato Juice". So I'm set for drink ordering.

Another small but priceless (to me) moment occurred while I was standing and waiting for the shuttle. Three little girls (about 10) came up to me and said, "Hello, my name is ....". That is one great thing about kids. They like to talk to foreigners with the little English they know. Now if I can only find people over 30 who will talk to strangers...