2. Couldn't help but feel like I had just adopted 33 kids today in my first period class. Students showed up late, some were sleeping, that one particular girl came hung-over again (or sick... maybe both), and I walked in to catch a bunch of them copying each other's homework. I really didn't want to lecture them about manners, and lack there of theirs, and so instead I decided to do a surprise homework book check. Out of 33 students only 7 of them had brought their homework books.... ouch. Tough lesson to learn... tough lesson to give, too.
3. Two more weeks, that's how long I'm giving this one student before she fails. It's brutal but it's true. We've only had five classes together but 3 out of the 5 of them she's shown up hung-over and slept through most of my class. I've of course have marked her absent but each time I've tried to approach her with concern and talk to her. Today I learned, she just doesn't care. She doesn't care about my class, about me, about her classmates... about anything but herself. I know you can't change people, you can only hope and try to make them want to change. If she sleeps through one more class though, she'll automatically fail my class. One more week isn't enough time to help her change her ways.
4. One of the two students that totally are my "life-line" in my first class was absent today and so I tried my best to stay afloat with just one life-line student. I don't know what it is about this class but their energy levels are in the minus levels. They're good students but just so quiet... so quiet!
5. As if teaching a class full of students who don't even say "boo" wasn't hard enough, the university has given me a drier than dry textbook to teach from. I would have used it as a coaster on my table if it weren't for the fact that I'm embarrassed and can't believe someone actually picked this textbook for us to teach. It's pages are jam-packed with words and so it's visually very discouraging but it isn't until you read what's written that you see the true brutality of the text. So, today I decided to scrap any hope of teaching from the book and instead I taught them a song, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando.
6. While talking about the song, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree”, I mentioned that the ending was so incredibly sweet and romantic and so one student asked me, “Is your boyfriend romantic?” Come to think of it though, I don’t think I’ve ever dated a romantic guy. There was Byung Ryang who’s idea of romance was waiting till White Day to finally tell me “I love you”. Pretty Boy’s idea of romance came with a price tag, a bill, that I often more than not had to pick up and pay. Busan Boy’s idea of romance was calling me a trillion-billion times on my cell phone, which only annoyed me because I can’t stand talking on the phone and, as a result, I placed his name in the “stalker-style” list on my phone. My ex-fiance’s idea of romance was proposing to me in the basement of his house two days before I left for Korea and so ya… kind of a problem for me. I use to like this one guy though, back when I was 18. We had met at a Christan Resort where I was working as a children’s Sunday school teacher. After he and his family left the camp, he started to write love letters to me. I ended up leaving him though to date a bad boy, but I still have his love letters that oozed with sappiness. Speaking of which, just last week he came across me on Facebook and messaged me. He’s now engaged, as anyone who can write such heart-pounding love letters would likely be. But as for Q, hmm…. his idea of romance is more practical, like walking Mi Nam, giving me boxing tips, and doing my dishes. I’ve tried to be romantic with him by lighting the house with candles and writing random notes that I’d hide in his shoes or whatnot, but he showed up too late and I almost burnt my house down as a result. And as for the letters, some he didn’t see and so he walked around with them in his shoe. I once told him that I thought it was romantic when a guy gives me the last bit of whatever we’re eating together, like the last scoop of ice cream or the last sip of coffee. Of course I don’t eat ice cream or drink coffee these days but the idea still applies to other foods and drinks, and let me tell you, Q has definitely been pushing this idea… hahaha. Tonight he shared yogurt with me and upon offering me the last little bit, he said “here you have the last… because it’s romantic.”… hahahaha.
7. I think the most romantic guy I’ve ever encountered was Drama Boy but we weren’t even a couple. We were more or less testing the waters at a most inappropriate time for me (while I was heartbroken because of Byung Ryang). At the time I had injuried my leg and so every day he use to rub medicated lotion on it. He tucked me into bed before he went home, often picked me up from school and brought banana milk to surprise me, he even once kissed Mi Nam for me… hahaha. But what I thought was the most romantic was the notes he use to leave for me to discover in the morning. After tucking me in bed, he’d turn on my computer, type a couple of Konglish sentences and then leave. His English at the time wasn’t very good but what he wrote was from his heart and it was his attempt at being very open and honest with me. I know he loved me, as did I to him but not in the way that he wanted, deserved, nor I wanted, and so we stayed friends. I still have many of his morning messages saved on my computer, here is my favourite:
To amy
Ahh……….
What about your leg…?
괜찬아? Today is hospital promise and pet-store promise (total 2 promise)
Too busy day….
……
……..
……….
……..ahh……. amy….. honestly….i felt sad last night
Do you see boy about me? I am not boy…. Age is big problem? I don’t think so….
… when u said me I am a student and boy….. I don’t like this sentence…
Please…….don’t say student and boy about me.... please………..
If other people say about me…me is student and boy … its ok.. but I wish …
I want…..i am MAN in front of YOU….
I can promise you THIS….. I love you more than anyone in the world
…..
………….this is my perfect moment with you…
8. Psychologically speaking, tonight I brought my students to boxing. It was quite clear I did so, too. I just couldn't focus and, with everything I do wrong at boxing, out came good ol' faithful... the four-foot beating stick.
9. Got quite the double-dirty looks tonight at the end of training when Junior Mint told me to weigh-in. I always wear several layers while training and so I peeled down to my pants and white tank top. It's no surprise at how much one sweats during training and so, needless to say, my white tank top had become somewhat see-though, thus making it quite obvious that I was wearing a hot pink sports bra underneath. I didn't think anything of it but I instantly felt like a pervert, a kind of freak, when I got a dirty look by a particular amateur boxer (age = 34).
10. OK, so I'm not so shy with my body, nor can I really be at boxing, a sport that constantly makes us strip down to our bare necessities for weigh-in. I weigh-in 6 days a week. Moreover, I've seen all my teammates in their skimpy panties and, on any given day pretty much, I can tell you what colour and what style of undies my teammates are wearing. So, I thought his reaction was quite immature and he had made me out to feel rather insecure and definitely uncomfortable. Now had I not had been wearing a bra, OK, then there'd be reason for a reaction... hahaha. Q’s back from Busan and let me tell you this, he may not call me beautiful and he may not often flatter me, but he definitely didn’t complain when I opened the door wearing what I had wore to training… he did however note that I really needed to shower... hahaha.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Is romance dead?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night is a very old human need.
-- Margaret Mead
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