Highlights of my Day... Friday, November 17

1. Today I taught elementary classes and, like always, because my English classroom in the two elementary schools basically only gets used by me once a week, the room is always so cold. I came prepared today though. I had worn two pairs of pants, tights, two long-sleeve shirts, and a thick hooded sweater. Murphy’s law… today they decided to turn on the heat in my classroom and so by third period I was dying.
2. Shocked my grade 5 boys with my knowledge of Korean swear words. I had told my student Brett to sit and so denying him free time. He turned and muttered some words and I was shocked at what came out of his mouth. Actually I was more shocked at myself for understanding what he said. You should have seen the look on his face when I acknowledged his comment.
3. I’m sure I’ve now convinced my students that I understand Korean more than I really do. I understand Korean a fair bit but I get the impression that today’s situation with Brett has changed their impression of me.
3. By lunchtime Mrs. Violent Teacher had heard the news that I caught one of my students swearing. She confronted me at the lunch table. My class was sitting behind me and Brett was to the right of me. I played dumb, looked to my left, and said I couldn’t see the student who had swore. I agree what he did was wrong but he wasn’t deserving of the public beating she’d so love to give him!
4. With four hours of free time in the afternoon, I amused myself with studying the Korean pop song I’ve been trying to learn, practicing Korean on random students in the halls, and chatting with my co-teachers.
5. Turns out I’m not the only teacher with too much time on their hands. Mr. Jo amused me by teaching me how to play a Korean game called “뿅망치” We played and it was actually quite violent. You start off by doing “rock-paper-scissors”. The loser then has to put the designated object (we used a baseball hat) on their head before the winner hits them with the plastic toy hammer.
6. Apparently I hit Mr.Jo too hard, missed his head and almost took off his ear..ㅋㅋㅋ He almost got me back though when I lost at “rock-paper-scissors” and so it was his turn to hit me on the head. The fear of being hit by a full-grown 40-some man was enough to send me flying across the staffroom and jumping over chairs!!! It was so hilarious! ㅋㅋㅋ
7. Jokes with Mr.Jo and I reached an all-time high. He keeps on calling me a pumpkin, which I found out is not a compliment (means ugly) and so today he dragged in this big pumpkin, slapped it and said “Amy… this you!” Of course I thought it was funny and laughed hard but my comeback was awesome and left everyone in tears. I turned around and said, “How old are you?.. 10”
8. Talk about last minute plans. Today I got invited to my principle’s son’s wedding which, I should note, is this Sunday. I told my co-workers that I couldn’t go and then they asked me how much money I wanted them to give on my behalf. WHAT?! Mrs. Chung advised me to give money cause it looks good. Looks good? First of all, being invited last minute looks brutal and suggests I was the back-up guest. Then there’s the fact that I’m not even going and yet I have to dish out the cash! Hmm… that’s not cool.
9. Ryan advised me that being invited last minute is a Korean thing but I’m still not impressed. I’m rather insulted actually. But we both agreed that because I’m obligated to dish out the cash, that we’re both going to go to this wedding and have a feast. I’m not a cheap mofo but I’m also not a stupid mofo.
10. Went for dinner at this restaurant Ryan claimed served the best 돈까스 (pork cutlet) but I wasn’t impressed. I love Kimbab Nala’s 돈까스 better though and so Ryan was quite amused at my cheap taste in food. Kimbab Nala is like the fastfood of Korean food and he thinks it’s a cheesy, cheap restaurant chain (which it is but it’s sooo good!) ㅋㅋㅋ

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How do you explain a nonsense language?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
English is the language of confusion. There is neither egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England.
-- Author Unknown