TEXAS BOUND

Tomorrow is the day. In a little over 14 hours I’ll be boarding a plane to Osaka where I will have the joy of sitting in the airport waiting for my connection to Dallas. All in all, the trip (not including the bus to the airport) is 18 hours. Not bad.

Yoon-soo will pick me up in the morning and take me to Ilsan to catch a direct bus. He’ll pick me up in Ilsan when I return after I take the bus there from the airport. If my plane comes in late and there is no bus, he’ll drive to the airport to get me. He is very kind. Maybe we can stop at Starbucks in the morning and get a coffee to go. I need to get back in my Starbucks habit so I can feel at home in the States.

I drove my car to work today and am I happy to have it. It’s nice to get to work not covered in sweat. The class I had at 8 was a first year class, and boy were they noisy. I asked them to be quiet several times. I told them that if they wanted to be friends with me, they’d have to be quiet. As usual there was much apologizing followed by more noise.

Giving this non-test of 41 questions is quite depressing. I would say most of the kids are below average in English, and are below average in world knowledge. It’s a real pleasure when I read some good answers but they’ve been few and far between. I’ve giving the same questions to all grades, and some of the 3rd year students would flunk out of first year.

It seems that now I don’t just get gushing hellos and handshakes in the halls. Today it evolved to getting hugs from students. These are kids of 13 and older (in North American years). I get them from boys and I get them from girls. I get “I love you” from several students. I have to say it puts the pressure on to do a good job and live up to what they appear to deserve in the way of a teacher. It is kind of cool to get these unsolicited hugs. (So much for the inscrutable Oriental).

I brought my lunch to school for the first time because I couldn’t stomach the thought of rice again. I have no idea how they eat this plain and tasteless white rice day after day. It’s served every day along with food I can’t eat. But because I brought my lunch today they had chicken and it was quite edible. I had chicken, my cheese and tomato sandwich, and an apple. I left the cafeteria full and not nauseated today.

I gave my questions to the class of noisemakers that I had at 8AM when I had them again at 2:15. During the class I made them stop writing and told them to look at me. When I had dead silence I told them that if they kept on talking I’d be giving them an hour’s worth of homework nightly. That seemed to quiet them a bit. Then there was one boy throwing things across the room. He saw me looking at him, yet he persisted. In my strictest voice I said to him, “Get out of here”. He just sat there surprised. I told him to get up right now and get out of the classroom because I didn’t want him in it. He did. I think it made an impression on the class.

I asked Mee Kyung afterwards what the discipline procedure is. She told me that if I have a real problem, I should bring the student to the vice-principal. He’s the designated bad guy who students fear. That will be my court of last resort. Next time I’m in class I’m bringing a big roll of tape and taping kid’s mouths shut. I’ll try to win through humor first before launching the heavy artillery.

I closed a couple of classes with some old tongue twisters. I wrote the “How much wood can a woodchuck chuck…” on the board and asked a volunteer to read it. They did in that class and that was good. Then I said to do it fast and they could only get 2 words out before stumbling. They got a good laugh out of that. They asked me to do it and I can do that one at super-speed. They were quite amazed and I told them that by the end of the year they’d be able to do as I did. (I doubt it, but it sounds good).

I did “Peter Piper” with another class and that was tough for them. I was able to do that one quickly too, and blow them away. The one I can’t do fast is “She sells sea shells by the seashore”. However, I’ll do that with them. I need to find more of them because I think it’s a good and fun way to practice pronunciation.

I stayed a half hour after I could leave just to chat with Mee Kyung since she won’t be there when I return. I thanked her profusely for all she’s done for me. I felt like Lulu. I wanted to sing, “How do you thank someone who’s taken you for crayons to perfume”, but it wasn’t quite appropriate. Supposedly we will visit this mountain she likes and she asked me if I played tennis. I told her not in years but I’d like to. So we will see.

When I finally left it felt to me that it would be appropriate to give her a goodbye hug since we’ve bonded and are friends. At least I believe we are. But I was smart and I said that’s what we do in North America. She got all embarrassed and made an X with her arms and said, “no”. Koreans do the “X” sign for no. I shook her hand. I’ve been so lucky.

I got my computer today with Windows in English. They didn’t put Office on it yet so hopefully it will be there when I return. I hope the English teacher and I hit it off. She is another Mrs. Kim like 60% of the country. How can so many people have the same last name? I swear about 80% of the people have a last name of either “Kim”, “Lee’, or “Park”.

When I got home the elevator wasn’t working yet. I was pissed. I trudged upstairs but when I made it to the 10th floor it was back in action. Finally. I rode it up to the 13th. I don’t think it was actually broken. I think they were putting a new floor in. The elevator has just had wooden boards on the floor but now it has a nice floor. It’s a good thing it’s fixed because carrying my suitcases down would be a hell of a problem.

I’m about packed. I don’t have to take too many clothes and all I am bringing could fit in one suitcase. However, I’m bringing two because I’ll be going back with much more than I came with. Anticipating going away and going away is so weird. You anticipate, you go, and before you know it, you’re back. I’m not sure if I’ll post while I’m away but you never know. It should be both a good time, and an interesting time. I’m sure all will go well but because I am who I am, I’ll be worrying a little. I hope I don’t forget anything and I hope they let me in the country. I’d hate to be deported after such a long plane ride.