Writing by my genius kids!

Sebastian - Kindergarten
If I could go to the sky, I would eat the cloud when it is night.  I will play with the stars when it is afternoon.  I will have a blast off from the sun in the morning.  It will be so fun.

Kate - 2nd grade
Dear Ms. Alexandra Teacher,
Hi, I'm Kate.  I know you like chicken nugget.  Do you like pizza, french fries, and spagetti?
From: Kate

Yurim - 2nd grade (another child genius)
World's Greatest Teacher
I had met many teachers in my life.  A lot of teachers made me smart.  However, above all these many teachers, Alexandra Teacher was the best.
She is funny.  She teaches English in a fun way, so it isn't boring.  Many children likes it too.  I think it is a terrific idea to teach in a fun way.
She is wise too.  She is great in English.  I could call her a Einstein or the genius artist Leonardo Da Vinci!  It is very easy to take a class with a genius teacher.

Chris - 3rd grade
Dear Alaxzendra techer,
Thank you for teaching me.  You are so admirible!  You are the only teacher that teaches annoying 3rd grade that sings.  You are the best teacher I ever, ever have in my whole intire life throu 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010!  You are so so so so so so so so so so great!!!  I can't live without you!  You could go to school everyday and get 10000000 points for monthley test and other quizes.  I will never ever forget the face of you!
Love,
Chris

Eric - 4th grade
Time goes by and I am 31 years old.  I will being a famous baseball player.  My team is Boston Red Sox, and I'm Pitcher.  I will learn how I can throw the fast ball, change up, curve.  And I think USA's baseball is very hard.  Because I always do 3rd inning.  That means, I'm only a little good pitcher.  And I will play baseball seven years old more.  Then, I will live a good apartment with my family.  And I will do a teacher. When my money is many, I will buy two computers and one little computer.  Two is I do in my house, and one is I have to use that.  And I will be happy living.

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you

Whoops!  It's been a month since I've updated again :-/  Life has been crazy busy this summer, so I when I have some free time it is hard to juggle blogging and catching up on episodes of True Blood and J Shore (speaking of, Angelina is so annoying she makes me almost not want to watch it, almost).  Usual stuff has been happening over here, drinking soju and eating kimchee sums up a lot of nights.  Life is pretty good and time is flying by!  Hard to believe I only have 4 months left in Korea.  4 months in Korea seems short, 4 months at my job seems brutal!  Although, when thinking about it, things are infinitely better than when I started.  I actually have several really good friends at work now, which makes the long days so much easier to bear.  I guess that's a perk of one year contracts, people are always coming and going.  Hmm, what else?  Vacation in Malaysia was amazing.  I can't wait to get back to SE Asia this winter.

Anyway, on to the kids.  The elementary students are on break from their regular schools this month, so they have been so much better behaved than usual.  A lot of them are actually taking some time off, which makes me dread September when they are all coming back!  Kindergarten boys have been really into showing their penises lately since they discovered in the bathroom one day that Kenneth, who was born in America, is circumcised.   It was like the biggest news ever.  Kenneth's mom had to call the school and ask that the kids stop teasing him about it.  Interestingly enough, Kenneth was found under the table a few days later showing it to Matthew.  He is one of my favorite kids, and I HATED him at first.  He is so intelligent it's shocking, but super emotional at the same time.  He is always sputtering out things like, "Please be patient with me while I hand out the books.  You need to learn patience, wait your turn."  Keep in mind this kid is 6 and English is his second language.  He can also draw incredibly detailed maps of the world, including all major cities from Paris, to Washington DC, to Ho Chi Min.  Awesome kid.

I am going to post a bunch of their writing, but it's too much to include in an email posting.  So...actually go to the blog if you want to read some of their brilliance!  BTW - the blog address is t-your-blog.blogspot.com.

xoxo

I can see!

Ok, I had the lasek this weekend.  All I can say is MAJOR OUCHY!  OMG, they told me there would be pain, but I didn't know the pain would be like this.  Here's the play by play.  I couldn't get a day off work (obvs), so I had to just leave 2 hours early on Friday (it's recommended you take at least 3 days off, I got the weekend plus 2 extra hours, sweet).  I roll in, they do about 45 mins more of tests on me (in addition to 2 hours of tests I had previously gotten) and then they prep me for surgery.  Surgery was a little scary because you can see everything they are doing to your eye (yikes) and the laser smells like burnt hair, so of course I imagined my eyeball bursting into flames.  But I didn't feel anything and they gave me a teddy bear to hold, so I was cool.  I then went into the recovery room to lay down for a half hour.  They had previously asked me what kind of music I wanted to listen to during recovery and I chose pop, which turned out to be an interesting medley which included "In da Club" and "Ooops! I Did it Again!"  I see the doctor one more time, he says everything's great, come back tomorrow morning, you are free to leave.  Now, they said I wouldn't have any pain until the second day, so I insisted to everyone that day that I would be fine to go home alone and went this mission solo.  Not wise!  The pain started immediately.  I leave and decide to beeline it for a cab.  Only problem is the eye center is in prolly the busiest area of Seoul.  It's smack in the middle of an outdoor shopping area and I have to walk through about 8-10 mins of crowds to get to a cab area.  Here's a pic of what I'm dealing with (stolen via google images):

Smack in the top center of the photo there is a blue sign with Korean lettering.  That is the eye place.  Not crowded at all.  

Furthermore, it's Friday at 8pm, prime shopping hour.  I was about ready to jump out of my skin stumbling around trying to get a taxi.  Note, yes, I have been here many times before.  And yes, I knew the crowd sitch. And yes, I knew I would have to venture a ways to find a cab.  Should I have not been so pigheaded and asked for help, yes.  But of course, I had the "I can do this myself!" attitude.  Ughhh.  Anyway, I will spare all the details, but the pain for the next 2 1/2 days was worse than I ever could have imagined.  Like I was being stabbed in the eyes while they were on fire and a steady stream of tears poured out eyes and nose.  I thought this can't be right, but when I had my next morning follow up appointment (I brought a friend this time), the dr said my eyes had already healed 30% in 14 hours!  He said I would continue to be in pain for the next 2 days, which I was, but by Monday, I would be ok, and I am!  He also said to take Monday out of work, but we know that can't happen.  It will be another week before my vision is perfect, but I am sitting here typing for the first time in my life with no glasses!  Hooray!  I don't think I was quite prepared for what I was getting into, but I think I will be v happy when all is said and done.  I have to go in tomorrow and get the clear bandages removed from my eyeballs.

That's about all for now.   I have some funny office things to write about, but eyes are really tired from looking at computer screen.  Sorry if this post was boring -- I might have gone into too much detail :-P

Picking or Not Picking?

Thanks everyone who emailed with comments about the kids and their cuteness.  Yes, they are very cute.  Now,  if only there weren't so many of them...  Usually problems this week, hitting and punching, bragging, yelling, and now one kid got in big trouble for spitting at the other kids.  We had to threaten to take his birthday away -- man, the things  you can threaten kids with!  "You're not going to have a birthday this year!"  Hahahaha!  Someday, in a land far far away when I am a parent, I will have so many things to threaten my kid with!

I am currently trying to fight the man.  2 reasons: 1. we have a new "summer schedule."  Summer schedule is not good.  Summer schedule is very bad!  I now work 11 classes straight through with no breaks two consecutive days.  That shit is not gonna fly! 2.  I need to take a day off because I am getting lasek on my eyes(!!!!).  We don't get sick days, so I am trying to finagle a day out to get that shit done.  Ughh, FML.  It just happens to coincide perfectly with my extra classes.  Grrrrrr wish me luck!  Oh and we are having surprise observations yet again this week, meaning there are all kinds of peeps sitting in my classes taking notes.  Rule of thumb at school:  it never gets better, it only gets worse :-/

More funny things they do.  One class has invented the hottest new game called "picking or not picking."  Pretty simple game:  you cover your nose with one hand and either pick or pretend to pick with the other.  Everyone else has to guess.  Fantastic.
Today in kinder there was "fart smell."  No one was owning up to it, so of course there was serious investigation.  I had my back turned grading their workbooks when I feel something brush my butt.  3 of them were smelling so close that their noses were touching my bum.  It was then determined I was not guilty of fart smell.

Back in Action!

My apologies for leaving the blog high and dry these past few months.  It's definitely not because I have had a lack of things to talk about, but rather a lack of time!  Sundays tend to be pretty low key, so I am going to attempt to write every Sunday.

Let's see.  I have officially made it through 6 months of living here.  Sometimes it seems like the last 6 months have flown by, and other times I feel like I have been here forever.  Summer is definitely here, and is just as extreme as the winter.  It's hot as hell everyday!  I don't notice too much because I am only ever outside on the walk to and from a restaurant for lunch.  I walk home everyday from school, but it's 8pm by that time.  This week marks the start of monsoon season, awesome.  I better order some rain boots, because we all know I can't find shoes here!

World Cup has certainly been crazy here.  It was a terribly disappointing evening (ok early morning) here last night with both Korea and USA being eliminated back to back.  Seoul has set up jumbotrons and viewing parties all over the city.  I've made it to every game, except the one that was on at 330am on a Wednesday morning.  Although, I was definitely in the minority as most other people did go out.  On the plus side, I was one of the only ones not in major pain at work.  Minus side, I missed out on some serious fun.   Here are some pics of different games:

This is the first game, Korea vs. Greece at City Hall in Seoul.  20,000 people there in the pouring rain.

Celebrating the win!

This is last night's (final) game. I watched in a different part of Seoul, COEX mall area. Raining again!!

Poncho!

We still had a good time despite the loss.  

School is better in an it still really sucks kinda way.  Hours are still long and boss really blows, but I have been hanging out with some of my coworkers a lot more and it's been really nice to not hate each other.  It's definitely a much better crew in the office now than when I first came.  I tried to nominate myself as Employee of the Month for June (not that we have an employee of the month contest), but on Friday I was scolded for writing "this is silly" on a kindergartner's picture diary when he jokingly wrote about his friend hitting him.  Apparently his mom didn't think it was as silly as I did, oops.  Maybe next month...

This is officially the longest time I have ever been away from home without at least a visit.  I am really missing my friends and family a lot.  I also terribly miss watching CNN and being able to see the news in English.   And I really want some rain boots, and to get them I have to have them shipped to my mom and then she will  send them to me because no companies fucking ship to Korea!  I know when I leave here, there are going to be so many things I miss about Korea.  Namely, Hobak House where you can get the bombest Korean meal for $5 and a free slushy on your way out (will take pics this week, I am in this place everyday), the shabu shabu place in my building (pics to come), staying out way to late, not driving, not paying rent, kimchi everyday, soju, my kids (well, most of them), but def not my job!  LOL

That's it for now.  I'm really tired from staying out wayyyyy too late last night and then trying to sleep in a Lotteria (Korea McDonald's) at 730 this morning, so I will have to post more later.  Here are some pics of kids from a recent field trip.

Chris on the left, Joshua on the right.

Rei

Tony, climbing up the science exhibit

Liz (snob)

It's Cinco de Mayo and I'm doing big things

As usual, I am doing something huge with my life.  My current mission is to eat at every Mexican place in Seoul. The best part of this mission is knowing there is no way I will fail!  Of course I am ranking them as well.  Thus far I have eaten at Dos Tacos (2 locations), Taco Amigo, Panchos, some shitty place in the mall near my house, Panchos, and On the Border.  Today, Jullia and I are going to Tomatillo - which we hear is the best place in Korea.  I'll be the judge of that!  I just checked out the website and it looks legit.  Going to be a good day!

Today is children's day, so we have off from school.  I have been looking forward to this day for many months.  I have accepted the fact that this one year of working at my dreadful school has shaved  5 years off my life.  It's a feeling of constant stress being there.  Yesterday we took the morning kids to the park to play instead of doing work.  I had no idea this was even happening because no one tells you anything.  It was fun seeing the kids get to run around and act silly.  The bad class was, of course, being bad.  While all the kids were playing on the swings and blowing bubbles, they were fighting.  One of them even managed to get in a fight with kids from another school because he threw sand at them.  WTF is wrong with these kids?  It's like they are so caught up in tattling, that they miss out on the fun kid stuff.   Good thing was they are not my class, so I just ignored it and let someone else deal.  Their homeroom teacher was so stressed after that day that she came in the office and laid under her desk.  Can't say I blame her.

Jullia and I are going to Thailand in July.  Who's been?  We need recommendations, especially on places to stay.

Finally outside of Seoul!

Ok, the blog is back, officially this time.  OMG, since there has been a major blog hiatus, I don't even know where to start!  Obvs a lack of writing doesn't mean a lack of events.  I promise to start writing again.  The problem is I hate my job so much that M-F I am too angry to blog!  But I have to suck it up and deal, bc some of the stuff that makes me the angriest is the funniest to write about!  On the weekends I do a complete 180 and I am so happy here!  Especially now that spring is FINALLY here, Jullia and I are having a great time exploring Seoul and other parts of Korea.  I will write about work/kid stuff later, but for now I will just update on our travels this weekend.

On Saturday we planned to go hiking in Sokcho for the first time.  Seoul is on the western side of Korea (facing China) and Sokcho is on the eastern side (the Sea of Japan).  Basically from one side of the country to the other.  Korea is small though, so driving across it is like going across MA from Boston to NY.   Since it is easier to leave from my place, Jullia came to sleep over on Fri night and let herself in while I was at the gym.  When I got home, we headed out for dinner around 10pm (I changed into yoga pants and a USC hoodie - no shower).  We decided on Sabasaba Chicken to eat by the university near my house.  We roll in, there are a lot of people there, mostly students and businessmen.  We order some garlic chicken, potatoes, fruit, and beer and crush most of that food.  We're sitting, beyond full holding tummies, finishing our pitcher of beer when the businessmen decide to approach us.  Mind you, most of them are soj-ed  out!  (I can't describe soj-ed out well, but it's a certain type of super hammered that only soju will do to you.  Soj-ed out people have that "look" and you just know their head is emptiness.) One super soju warrior comes over and presents us with a giant platter of peanut chicken as an offering as he tells us how beautiful we are (keep in mind my no shower/outfit).  So he sits with us and brings along a friend, who actually seems normal and speaks very good English.  Blah blah blah they are going on and on all the while the soj warrior is screaming to all 12 guys that he is with to come over and say hello to us.  One by one, most of them come say hello at some point.  Finally they leave, but not before paying for our entire bill, score!

At this point we are feeling ok.  We're rid of the weirdos and our kinda expensive dinner is paid for.  The restaurant is on the second floor of a building and we are seated near the window, so we are keeping tabs on the guys outside drilling cigarettes and hugging, etc.  Next thing we know, one of the quieter businessmen is back with a new friend.  Now we start feeling a little uncomfortable.  They sit with us and make small talk in the little English they know.  The very proper man next to me asks me what I do for work, so I tell him.  Perhaps he thought I was just BS-ing when I told him I teach English.  Then he asked me how much I make (in Korea, everyone asks how much money you make and how old you are, like right off the bat).  So I tell him  I make 3 million, he nods and says, "Well, do you satisfy?"  I'm a little confused, and then he asks again, real slow and suggestive this time so I get the point.  These businessmen all think we are hookers.  Unshowered, sweatpants wearing hookers.  Suddenly, I see the guy hiding inside his jacket.  More of the businessmen who had supposedly gone home are back behind me and are prolly pissed that this dude and his friend Min have already closed in on the 2 white hookers.  The best part is that these dudes were all wearing wedding rings and their cells had pics of babies as their wallpaper.  Anyway, this was where we explained very clearly - several times -  that we were out past our bedtime and then RAN a few blocks until we knew we were clear.  Oh, one dude also asked for our numbers and then did the "show me your phone so I know it's yours" drill.  Awesome...

We got up on Saturday and headed to the bus station for our hiking extravaganza.  5 hours later, we made it to Seorakson Park in Sokcho.  Yes, 5 hours -- 3.5 hours on the bus from Seoul and then another hour and a half to get lost in Sokcho - who knew you had to get on the bus on the right side of the street?!  How do we know if we're on the right side?!  We saw the number 7 bus and hopped on!  When we finally made it to the mountain, we immediately realized why we had traveled for so long to get there.  It was BEAUTIFUL!   The only problem was the crazy wind!  We huffed and puffed our way up to nearly the top of one peak (this took hours), and all the hikers were telling us no, don't go up, in Korean.  Finally we met a super nice family near the top.  The mom nudged and whispered something to the kid - who was about 8 - and he said to us in perfect English, "Don't go any higher, the wind is too strong and dangerous!"  The mom and dad looked at us and nodded while doing the Asian "no" which is both arms crossed in front of you.  So cute! We went up a little more before I was positive I was going to be blown off the mountain and starting screaming Al style.  This is when we turned around.  Ughh, we were so close to the top, but the wind was so brutal it was burning through our ears!  And there was snow up there!!  WTF?!  So we're going back in about a month, and this time we are staying over so we can hit both beach and mountains.  Here's some pics:

Oh yeah, that's me at the entrance to the park with a giant bear.

GIANT sitting Buddha near a temple in the park.  

Awesome!

Obvs time for some poses!

The peak we were climbing!  Almost there, damned wind!!!

These "rest areas" are all over the mountain.  If you want to get drunk while hiking, there's plenty of beer, soju, and makali sold at these places.  

1st and 2nd grade were easy. But social studies, division? This is gonna be tough.

Yellow dust sucks, period.  What is yellow dust, you might ask. Well, let me tell you.  It's this annoying-ass "dust" that blows in from the deserts in northern China and Mongolia.  Basically, it makes everyone mad sick bc you are breathing that shit in all day long.  And I thought Asians wore face masks to be fashionable!   Ughh, I am always coughing, bloody snots in my nose, wake up in the morning and my eyelids are glued to my eyeballs, etc.   I don't like yellow dust!

Not too much new going on here.  Kids are the same as always.  The bad kindergarten class (which has many of  the same kids from the bad preschool class) is growing increasingly violent.  Is it bad that I think it's funny?  These kids straight throw down!  Today in another teacher's class, Edward stood up out of nowhere, stormed to the back of the room where Rei sits, pushed Rei so he tripped over the backpacks, and started beating his ass while he was down!  Although not innocent, this time all Rei could do was block the punches.  I was just pissed I didn't get to see that!  This shit happens all the time though!  There is also Alex in that class (who came in Monday with a FRESH mullet cut).  Alex hits the kids and if they don't hit back, he basically calls them a bitch who can't hit because they are weak.  Pretty funny shit.  The funniest part is that Edward's mom sent a letter to his homeroom teacher saying that he is a shy and introverted sweet boy and that she is fearful for him bc of the display of violence in his class.  I was like,  please!!!  Your son is the worst!  The same day she sent the letter, another mom - from another class - called the school complaining because Edward had tried to strangle her son in the bathroom.  Bitches are crazy!!  Never a dull day around there.  Some days, particularly Tuesdays, I feel like I am going to lose my voice from having to shout so much!  Sometimes it's because I am yelling at them, but most of the time I am just trying to talk over them.  Mornings are not so bad, but the afternoon kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays are BRUTAL.  They are so loud and so fucking annoying.  I actually told a group of kids yesterday they were annoying little fuckers, to which I got the response, "Teacher, what's annoying?"  Look it up in the fucking dictionary, your picture is there.  Good one, I know =)

In good news, I am closing in on 4 months -- one third of the way done!  Yahoooo!!!

And, since when has it ever been 87 in MA in early April?!  It will prolly snow next week, lol.  ^^

Take a picture, trick!

Alert the press, the blog is officially back.  I suspended blog for a bit because there was a chance I was going to be leaving Korea and the stress of the situation caused me to have no ambition to write.  Contrary to how I sometimes sound, I am quite happy here.  I don't think I would stay longer than a year, but I am enjoying all the trials and tribulations of living in a country so foreign from my own.  I just tend to focus on more of the negative aspects in the blog mostly because they result in more interesting stories!  Anyway, it was actually reasons at home that were causing me to think of leaving.  My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, and until she had the surgery to remove the tumor, we didn't know what the recovery process would be (if she was stage one, two, etc).  I made the decision that if her treatment required chemo, I would leave here to be with her.   I can't imagine her going through that without me there.  THANKFULLY, she had the surgery this week and is now cancer-free.  We are immensely relieved and hopeful that her recovery will be as easy as possible.  So that's that.

Things are pretty much the same old around here now.  School has been mega draining.  We worked 6 days this week bc we had to attend some retarded (sorry for the use of this non-pc word, but it's appropriate) workshop on a Saturday, so we all pulled 60+ hours this week.   Only cool thing was the workshop was up north near the border, so we got to see life up there from the bus.  We are planning a full border tour when the weather gets better -- not independently of course.  I don't need to be sentenced to 12 years of hard labor!

Oh!  How could I forget?!  We had a field trip yesterday to a play called "Doggy Poo."  I knew that was the title going in, but I didn't anticipate the main character to be a giant piece of poo.  Talk about poo poo smell!  I don't get what it is about Koreans and their apparent  fascination with poop, but this is supposedly a very famous play!  All the older kids in the afternoon program had seen it before!  Anyway, here is a quick summary (from what I gathered, it was in Korean but a Korean coworker explained a couple things to clarify).  At the beginning, there is a scruffy dog running around.  Scruffy dog takes giant poop on the stage, this is all acted out.  Lights fade to black, then there is a spotlight on just the poo, which is now huge and steaming.  Poo is a person!  So Poo is having a rough life and thinks no one wants to be her friend.  Her one friend - who was compost (this part had to be translated to me) up and left with some farmer in a wheel barrel and then some random dancing chickens and hen didn't want to hang out either.  This all goes on for about an hour until Poo meets a flower and melts into the ground doing this crazy expressive dance and helps the flower grow.  WTF?!  I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it though!  Someone has pictures, I will steal and post soon.

Things that Make You Go Hmmmm

A restaurant up the street from my apartment has potentially the most disturbing toilet I have seen thus far in SoKo.  The hole that drains the water when you flush is actually covered with a screen, so nothing but liquid can go down.  Next to the toilet are giant tongs, so you can scoop out any tissue you accidentally toss in there, or better yet, your number 2.  It is my assumption that if you do a number 2 in there, you would then toss it in the trash can.  Also, the bathroom is unisex and also doubles as the mop closet.  The entire menu with pictures is on the wall next to the toilet, so you can decide what to order while you are in there enjoying the ambiance.  Oh, and of course there's no sink...at all.  So obvs my dumbass threw tissue in there and flushed 3 times before I realized what the situation was.  Then I had to use the tongs... GA-ROSS!!

I have picked up the worst expression from my kindergarteners.  They will hold a book or whatever up to my face and say, "Alexandra Teacher, smell this.  It's poo poo smell."  I find myself saying poo poo smell all the time now.  FML!

blog on hiatus

After my last post, I received several "why can't you just quit" emails.  Well, to break it down, the school owns my ass.  Unlike many foreign countries, when you work in Korea your employer owns your visa.  Meaning, if I was to quit or get fired, I would have to leave the country immediately.  Now, if I was to immediately find another job, I could ask my school to release me early from my one year contract and then I could transfer my visa to new employer.  However, chances of them cooperating when I am basically bailing are slim to none.  What normally happens if you are so miserable you have to quit, is you find a new employer that is willing fly you to Japan to chill for a few days while a brand new visa is processed and then you return to go to your new job.  In the meantime, you are contractually obligated to repay your previous school the airfare they spent to fly you to Korea (about 1k) and repay any vacation days or holidays you have used (about 2 weeks total right now).   Plus you have to move out of your apartment and store your stuff with a friend, or lug it all to Japan with you.  Oh!  And since most jobs here have one year contracts, if I was to quit now and start a new position April 1, that would mean I have just committed to another year in Korea.  So, that's the 411 there.   And no, none of that is going down.

With that being said, the blog is being temporarily discontinued for a bit.  Please email or FB to keep in touch during the interim.

xoxo

Umm Yeahhhhh...

Hello Peter. What's happening? Ahhh, we have a sort of a problem here. Yeah, you apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your T.P.S. report.

Uh, huh.  My mom explained to me yesterday that I am not allowed to quit my job.  As much as I want, as much as everyone there wants to, I can't quit.  It is the most draining job I have ever had.  This week has been especially terrible.  I now have over 200 kids a week, that I see multiple times.  Just to clarify, I teach most kids 3 times a week, and there are 200 kids in total.  So 200 kids, 3 times a week.  No wonder I am staying out til all hours, I need to release some frustration! I have tons of first graders.  Yesterday, it took me like 10 minutes to explain how to write your homework down in the homework notebook.  Before, at the end of the day, I often had older kids who are much easier to teach.  They have been in school for a while, their English is very strong, they don't have behavior issues, and you can sit for a little at the table with them while teaching.  Little kids are very hard to sit with.  You have to constantly watch what they are doing.  "Why are you under the table?  Are you on the right page?  Don't throw your eraser!  I am serious, I better not hear the words poo poo again!" and on and on.  And "Teacherrrr!  What page?!  Danny keeps looking at me!  Joey go like this to me!"  Ahhhh, by the end of this year, I am going to be a mental person.

All this would be somewhat tolerable if I liked my coworkers.  I felt so silly saying to my mom, "Moooooommmm, I want to quit!  No one there is nice to me!"  Well, no one is really nice to each other, it's not just me.  Like I mentioned, we got 2 newbies last week.  One dude's luggage didn't come for 2 days.  Part of the job of being the head teacher is to welcome you when you get here, show you how to use your appliances, and help you settle.  So he gets in at night and has no Korean money, no bags, no food.  He asked her to borrow $10 Korean to get some food, toothpaste, etc.  Her response, "There's a bank down the street, it will be open in the morning, just change your money then."  He was like, uhhh, I kinda wanted to eat tonight too... Anyway, he didn't get the 10.   That's how everyone is there!  Apparently last week a post it was left on my desk about a class I was supposed to observe instead of having a break.  I'm chatting about how I have to finish my grading when across the room I hear the dino say,"Ummm, Alexandra, you don't have that break today, remember?"  Uh, no, I don't fucking remember.  And believe me, I would not forget about the loss of  my only break.  "Yeahhh, you are supposed to observe GT1 reading class."  "No, I'm not."  "Ok, hold on, I am going to get Lumbergh."  Ok, like why do you care?!  Anyway, Lumbergh (not real name) comes up.  "Yeah, Alexandra, there was a post-it on your desk earlier in the week. "  Me: "I didn't see it."  Her: "Well, yeah, it was there.  And I know it was there, because I saw it there, because I put it there."  Are you fucking kidding me?!?!  Her:  "It would really be best if you didn't take your break today."  Ok, I guess I won't!  Oh, and break is not like a real break.  It's the only time we get to grade and plan.  It's not like I am taking a walk or on FB.  Anyway, my point is, you see me 10.5 hours a day, why didn't you just tell me?  Oh yeah, because then you would have to talk to me...  Stuff like this happens all the time.

Ok, I am finished.  9 more months...

It's all about the Hamiltons, baby!

Not sure what it is about Korea that gives me the stamina to be able to stay out til the wee hours of the morning. I guess it's because that's just what you do here.  This weekend was pretty crazy.  Today is Independence Day, so we had a long weekend, holla!  We def celebrated!  Friday night the teachers at school had a dinner to say goodbye to 2 teachers and welcome the new ones.  AWKWARD!.  I have never met a group of people who are so difficult to talk to!  I mean, I didn't have a beer! And anyone who knows me knows I never turn down a beer.   Argh, anyway, at least the food was delish.  We had shabu shabu (sorry no pic) at a place near the school.

On Saturday, Jullia and I went to get haircuts and I did my usual weekend routine of hitting up Myeungdong for some retail therapy.  The 1st H&M in Korea was opening that day, so obvs I couldn't miss that event.  However, I didn't anticipate the red carpet and line to get in, so I hit Forever 21 and bounced.  I brought out one of the new teachers to meet Jullia and a Korean friend for dinner in Hongdae.  We had a fun squid meal called osambulgogi which was so good, but spicy!  This night ended up being really fun!  We bounced around Hongdae a lot, ending up going to 3 different places and meeting up with some friends.  The second place was ooc!  Everyone in there was getting crunky!  Peeps pouring tequila right out of the bottle into your mouth!  I didn't partake because I knew I would die, but I did get in trouble here for breaking a light on the ceiling while I was dancing on a table (dancing on tables is huge here).  Me, Scott, and same Korean friend who was at dinner decided it was a good idea to stay out til the subway opens again so we don't have to cab, we're always thinking ahead.  We somehow lost track of time and ended up not leaving til 7, at which point it was time for breakfast (obvs).  It is so easy to lose track of time because everyone is still out!  The restaurant we went to was packed!  We had squid soup (of course, what else would you eat for breakfast?), and finally called it a night at 830 in the morning!!!  WHAT?!  We got back home (all the teachers live in the same apt building) and decided we were still hungry and needed Egg McMuffins, so of course we hit McD's.  I made it home for real at 9:30, just in time to bump into Dino on her way to church, ouch.  She was of course, very unfriendly when she saw us by the elevator with our McD's cup.

I was tired on Sunday, but it was supposed to be 50 and sunny, so I didn't want to waste a good day sleeping.  I dragged myself out and we were going to have a picnic at the river, but when we got there we were freezing and decided to just go out to eat.  We had planned for a week to noreabang (karaoke) on Sunday night, so we got together the crew and made it happen.  It was so fun!  Noreabang places are not bars, they are private rooms with flashing lights, tv, sound system like you're giving a concert, couches, etc (see pics).  You get a couple microphones and tamborines -- I guess some places even have costumes you can wear.  And you can bring anything you want in, alcohol, food, etc.  It rocks!  We had a blast!  I went home at  3 and that was considered "leaving early."

Tomorrow is the start of a new school year.  UGHHH!  Not looking forward to this!  It's going to be a rough week, but at least it's shorter!

Jullia and Scott doing a duet, me busting moves.

Jullia and Flavio (yes, a Spanish name) duetting.

Kyo and I, I am really belting it out!  Kyo was the best singer by far.

Us, from L to R, Goeun, me, Scott, Kyo, and YS.  Jullia and I love YS.  I am trying to get him to marry me and move to America, but for some reason he's not having it.  Strange :-P

Domcheemb

Updates have been happening less frequently lately, I know.  I have just been so effing busy/tired!  A lot's been happening at school, including my boss becoming ever more bitchy to everyone as each day passes.  And, man, preschoolers are so whiny.  And they cry so much.  Ughhhh.  Two new teachers arrived today.  Both are teachers in the US and Canada.  I didn't think that would be the case when coming here!  They are all expecting us to come up with real lesson plans and shit, for 10 classes a day!  Anyway, new teachers seem aight.  Tomorrow is kindergarten graduation, should be pretty fun.  And word is the school is treating us to the Outback tomorrow, holla!  Outback here is v expensive!


Now to talk about the title.  Domcheemb, I think, is like the Korean version of pantsing someone, but not the same.  They sneak up behind you with their hands together as if they are clapping and try to ram their hand up your butt.  It's so freaking weird, and they all do it.  Occasionally they try it on me, but they get in big trouble.  Charles managed to work domcheemb into his essay yesterday.  The writing prompt was "describe what you would like to do over a school vacation."  Charles wrote: "Over vacation, I want to first domcheemb an anaconda.  Then the anaconda will attack me.  After I will punch."  Oh man, I really hope I have him for writing class again next semester.  I will miss him a lot!


Jullia and I did some exploring around Seoul last weekend.  The weather is finally warming up.  We hit up an outdoor market in Insadong and peeped some temples.  Long weekend coming up (Korean Independence Day -- independence from Japan, fyi, not North Korea!) so hopefully we are going to norebang!  

Monks and some other peeps posing for a pic at the gate of the temple in Anguk, Seoul.

Temple, it was crazy fancy inside!  

Another temple.  Don't be afraid of the swastika emblem on the top -- it's a sacred Buddhist symbol denoting a temple. 

Us cheeseballs posing with the happy Buddha.  I hate that people dump their water bottles there!

Imma buy you a drank

There is no Korean equivalent for the phrase "skeet, skeet."  Shocking, I know.   And disappointing, skeet skeet is one of my fav phrases!  Went out in Sinchon last night with the usual crew.  Another painful day at work!  My coworker Scott and I met Jullia at Beer O'Clock for some food and beers.  Shortly after, 3 Korean friends joined (same ones that stayed out with us really late after super bowl).  The intention was to watch the Olympics, so we got some drinks, drank them, got drunk (T Pain lyric right there!) and decided we were in the mood for some stripper pole action again.  Man, I love that bar with the stripper poles!  It's funny, in the US I would prolly be like, why the fuck are there stripper poles in here, but in Korea I am bout it bout it!  Really fun night!  We drank somaekcol, played darts, danced like crazy, and I ended up in the DJ booth taking over the lap top (yes, I got in trouble for this.  Filipe, the Spanish speaking Korean bartender was like WTF are you doing in there?).   In typical fashion, 2 Korean friends passed out at the bar, and one dude - who we call T Pain bc we can't pronounce his name - was out cold!  Scott had to carry him up the stairs and put him in a cab with the other friends.  Hilarious!  And although there is no word for skeet, I did learn chaesu upda (suck it), shido (I hate you), and domchemb (up your butt).  Overall, a very successful evening/morning.

Today was less enjoyable.  I had a sick hangover, but you can't tell the kids that!  I started to feel better around 4:30; by this time I had taken about 6 tylenol and 3 b12 pills.  I did have a very good laugh when one of my second graders got kicked in the junk during the break before reading class.  I shouldn't have laughed, but I couldn't help it.  He was sitting in a chair when I walked in and yelled, "Alexandra Teacher!  Stephano kicked me here!"  while holding his crotch.  And Stephano was just sitting there laughing his ass off.  Now if only my director would understand that I didn't come to Korea to be a teacher, things would be a lot better.  I keep catching her peeking in the windows of my classroom, checking out what's going on.  She's been extra scary lately, always yelling at the kids for playing and stuff.  They are kids!  They only get a 5 min break between classes, let them be silly.   Two new people are coming on Monday, I think.  We want to plan a norebang night (Korean karaoke), to welcome them.  When I say we, I mean myself and one other person.  We'll see if they're game.

Early night in on this Friday evening.  We were out til 4 last night, then a 10.5 hour day today, so I am pretty wiped out.  Just got back from sushi and going to veg and hit the sack.  I want to do some sight seeing stuff around Seoul tomorrow.  It's supposed to warm up a lot this weekend and I want to take advantage.  Will def take some pics!

Domo Obrigato, Mr. Roboto

It's bad.  I am obsessed with Japan.  OB-SESS-ED.  Well, Tokyo technically since it's the only part of Japan I have visited thus far.  I fear I am going to become one of those terribly annoying people who compares everything to some other place they have visited (ie, "This sushi is ok, but it's so much better in Japan."  "The QuickE Mart in Japan has way more stuff than this" (which is true), or "I really prefer to pay in Yen." LOL).  Bottom line, our trip fucking rocked.

I could give the play by play of the weekend, but the pics pretty much tell it all (many of them have captions), so here's the link to my picasa album:  HOLLA TOKYO!  The only thing that is not there is Sat night up in da club, because the damn place wouldn't less us take pictures!  Believe me, we tried!  But da club played all the hot jams, so they're forgiven.  Anyway, instead, I am going to perform a comparative analysis on Korea vs. Japan.

KOREA
1. The subway is cheaper.
2.  Cabs are WAYYY cheaper (they are absolutely ridic in Toyko).
3.  Korea has more street food.
4.  Korea has the waffle treat, Japan does not.

JAPAN
1. Not sure why, but the Japanese are SO friendly.  People went out of their way to help us!
2. The food is DA BOMB!  Everything we ate was absolutely delicious.  And since we were ballin on a budget, we didn't even splurge on anything extravagant.  A $7 sushi meal was to die for (yes, I used the phrase 'to die for').
3. Toyko is very picturesque.  From the Vegas style neon lights to the mid-city gardens and temples, everything is gorgeous and well manicured.  Can't beat a Japanese garden!
4.  There are parks and gardens everywhere!
5. All different types of people are represented.  Korea is a kinda uptight and vain culture.  You have your super skinny females in their standard outfit of dress, leggings, super high heels, and Louis Vuitton bag and your metrosexual males in tight pants, tight shirt, tight jacket, scarf, purse, and man bob.  Pretty much everyone looks like that.  In Japan, peeps of all walks of life are prevalent!  There were Japanese (obvs), other Asians, North Americans, Europeans, white people, black people, gay people, David Bowie clones, Harajuku girls, everything.  And no one looks at you twice.  It's very un-Korea, where there are mostly Koreans and white teachers.
6.  I can buy shoes there!  They had regular sizes!

Now if only they offered the same type of teaching contract Korean schools offer, I would be there in a heartbeat!  I am seriously shocked at how different the two countries are. The vibe is different, the culture is shockingly different, even the weather is different (Tokyo is warmer).

Anyway, I am super tired -- still catching up on sleep, but here are a few pics.  Check out my web album for more.  (I don't know why these look so blurry!  They are normal in web album.)

Me and new friend, Atsuso, who showed us around.  We are eating squid balls on the street.

Dinner on Sat night:  salmon, tuna, and chopped tuna belly :-)

Jullia and I at Meiji Garden in Harajuku.

Sanja-sama shrine in Asakusa

So, I like sushi...

...and giant bottles of sake!

The Hangover, Writing by Charles, and Food Pics!

Today I am in pain.  Not sure how I survived this day at school, but it's over and I am relaxing with some Rice Snacks (cheese) -- that's their name.  A few of us went to a Super Bowl party last night at Beer O'Clock in Sinchon.  It was super fun and we left around 12:30am.  On the walk to find a cab, we decided we all wanted "just one more beer."  Ha!  I got home at 4:30am after drinking quite a few somakcols.  We ended up randomly picking this bar that had not one, but two stripper poles and a Spanish speaking Korean bartender (I have NO idea how we discovered he spoke Spanish!  We were prolly muttering something about donde esta la biblioteca.)  VERY fun night, not so fun morning.  And I was observed today by the director.  I actually did manage to pull it together quite well. For some reason, all the kids wanted to sit on my lap today too.  I was thinking, ughh, please don't touch me.  And no loud noises or sudden movements :-)

Us; notice the size of the pitchers here.  They all look like this.  

Stripper pole on the left and I'm doing the Asian V.  

Me and my somakcol # ??

I have more writing to post.  Charles is at it again for your entertainment.  Kid is seriously a genius.  

Topic:  Have you ever wanted to look like someone you admire?  Describe what you would do to look like this person.  

Charles:

I always want to look like singer G-Dragon.  He have a big bushy silver and gold hair.  He is handsome and tough.  When I saw him first time on the television When I saw he it click tame.  So now I like to be singer G-Dragon.  If I want to look like him I will make a wig and put on the wig on my head.  Then I will be very funny.  Wisgly, Buggly, Bissly.  Now I finished!  But I will slow a singer G-Dragon.  If I throw you need to catch and see the picture and throw again.  Please I want to be a award!

Excellent work here, Charles.  I seriously look forward to everything he writes.  Today, he wrote a short story about T-Rexes dropping out of the sky like rain.  He also rocks the perm and John Lennon style round glasses, priceless.  Oh, and if you are interested in seeing Korean pop star "G-Dragon," here's his FB http://www.facebook.com/pages/GDragon/12737047477 .

As promised, here are some pictures of food.   I eat all this stuff on a regular basis (excect the pizza).  

Tonight's dinner, kimchi jigae (kimchi stew).  Yes, it is served boiling hot and Koreans eat it like that.  

Lunch, tuk mandu guk -- rice cake and dumpling soup.  Kimchi left overs back left. 

Kimchi - from R to L kimchi cabbage, something from the sea in the front, spinach-ish veggie in the back, and mysterious fish substance that I eat almost everyday but have no idea what it is. 

Dolset bibimbap - spicy rice and veggies served in a hot stone pot topped with an egg.  

Pizza, wings, and beer at the super bowl party.  Holla!

I know food pics are a big hit and peeps are curious about what I eat, so I am trying to take pics of everything I eat this week.   This includes Japan, where hopefully I will get some bomb sushi and homemade ramen - as in handmade noodles.  

Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay

Yup, there are 4 dogs in that photo and 2 girls sippin lattes.  That's because it was taken at the dog cafe!  So cool!  I was a little nervous going there that the dogs might be sedated or something, but they were def happy and running anywhere they wanted (there are more pics on my facebook).  They def poo-ed anywhere they wanted too.  One lucky man had the job of following dogs around cleaning up poo poo.  I guess my job isn't that bad.  But then again, he does get to play with dogs...  I counted, there were at least 35 dogs and one fat kitty.  Potentially the coolest thing about Korea thus far.  


Pretty chill weekend.  After the dog cafe we went out to dinner in Hongdae and met some new Korean friends.  They were super friendly and a lot of fun.  They introduced us to somakcol shots -- which is a glass of beer with a shot glass of coke at the bottom, and a shot of soju inside.  We had a great time with them, until the guy dropped his condoms on the floor and Jullia tried to "discretely" draw his attention to it.  He picked them up off the floor, realized what they were, and flung them 5 feet!  He tried to deny they were his and his gf was HORRIFIED.  I think it was a life time of embarrassment for her in 10 seconds.  Apparently you don't point out dropped condoms in Korea.  Good to know!  We left shortly after. 


I FINALLY saw Avatar today.  This time I showed up 3 hours before the movie to get the tickets.  And it sold out, again.  But not before I got mine!  It was great though.  Of course I didn't get to see it on the biggest IMAX screen in Korea though, which was my goal.  That was screen 7, and we got screen 4.  Oh well.  Joining the gym is proving to be just as challenging as seeing the movie!  I tried that 4 times this week with no success.  No one is ever working the desk!  And today, there was someone there, but you can't join on Sundays.  WTF?!  I might just give in and join the more expensive one in my apartment building, this is too much of a pain in the ass.  I get fatter everyday that passes...


Hoping this week goes by quickly.  We are going to a super bowl party after work tomorrow.  The game is on at 8am here, so we will be watching it 12 hours later.  That means no internet for me tomorrow!  Wed we are going on a field trip at school to see some play.  And then the much needed 3 DAY WEEKEND!  

If you ain't got no money take ur broke ass home!

Idk if I mentioned that I replaced my camera last week at Digital World.  Digital World basically rocks.  It's a giant, giant Best Buy, but if you pay cash, they bargain with you.  It's awesome.  Best part is that the starting off price is pretty good, then they throw in all these extras, AND slash the price!  The dude even gave me a second battery!  Loving it!  Anyway, bad thing is I am nervous to carry it around with me now.  And I need to be carrying it bc I want to start photographing my food and posting the pics.  So many times I am thinking, damn I wish I had a picture of this.   Pos next week I will take pics of all the stuff I eat regularly (ie most of the 4 squares menu).  Oh!  Breaking news!  4 squares has a real name!  It's Kimbap Heaven!  Kimbap is like Korean sushi, except with no raw fish.  I'm not that into it, but peeps love it.  Typically, it's egg, spam (yes, spam), florescent radish (this is served with everything, will post pic), sesame leave (not good), carrot and some other garbage, rolled in rice and seaweed.  Maybe it would be good sans spam and radish.  I fucking hate the radish.  It's like kimchi, always on your table, only disgusting.  It is FLORESCENT YELLOW.  And it doesn't start out that way.  Can't be healthy. Pics to come this week.  Anyway, the point is, although 4 squares may want to call itself Kimbab Heaven, the rightful name remains 4 squares.

The kids continue to be a constant source of entertainment / WTF moments.  We've started doing something new in preschool thanks to Scott Teacher.  Normally, when the kids are bad, we take stars away from them.  They hate it, but it's only effective with some of them.  The worst kids don't care (funniest thing is the stars don't mean anything!  They just get erased at the end of the day, but they die for stars).  So now when they are bad, we put red dots next to their names, which can't be erased.  They HATE it!  In reality, it means nothing, but they hate seeing the dot.  It's kinda working in the Rainbow class, that combined with threatening to take away computer time.  "If you act like little shit heads, no computer class!"  Always the "if, then."  Ughh, I am always talking about Rainbow, and I don't talk about Sunshine enough.  Sunshine is the class that sings.  I love them, so much.  Sure, they are hard to control and never want to stay in their seat, but they are cute overload oh fo sho!  They are so happy!  They never fight, they hardly ever cry, and they have the best personalities. The girls are always decked out with huge bows in their hair and poofy skirts while the boys wear polo and sweater vests with bowties.  Not one kid has a perm in this class!  (have I mentioned the perms before?  Please comment/email me and let me know.  It's post-worthy if I've missed it).  I always save 5-10 minutes at the end of this class for dancing.  I really need to tape it.  These kids have moves!  Last week we learned the twist, they love twisting and some of them can really move their hips!  This week was the YMCA, which is so funny bc they have no clue what the Y is, but they LOVE the dance.  One kid has this cowboy lasso move he does while swinging his hips that makes me die laughing.  He knows I love it, so he does it every time he sees me.  I NEED to get that on tape.  Also, my fav kinder class (yeah, I have favorites, so what?) does a dance to "Yellow Submarine" which involves sliding on the floor, I guess like a submarine.  It's hilarious.  My job is to stand on the edge of their dancing circle so they can high five me as they go around.  Oh boy!

As promised, I have more essays.  Charles was a big hit last week, and I don't think these will live up to his caliber as an author, but they are still amusing.  Writing journals are due on Monday, so more goodness awaits!

Topic:  Think about a time when you forgot something important.  What did you forget?  What happened?  Write about what happened first, next, and last.

DongHa:
First: I go to school.  And friend show the piece of pictre.  And I thought piece of papor is my home, next: I find and find but I didn't find a piece of pictre.  It must be here.  Iast, I give up for find pice of picter.  But my ohtor friend give my piece of papor.  I think it is amigaize.  And I show piece of pictre.

WTF?  Does anyone understand what it is he lost?!

Jason (same topic):
I'm say my grandfa.
"Can you record TV?" he said ok. next I'm happy so much, I want tv record good.  The TV record is nice!
I want to see the TV tonight.

Worst part about Jason's is I gave it back to him twice and told him to write more!  This is the 3rd edition of this story!  Ay ay ay!  How do I grade these?

In other news, Jullia and I booked a last minute trip to Tokyo for a week from tomorrow (long weekend for the Lunar New Year).  HOLLA TOKYO!

Punxsutawney Phil

It's Groundhog Day, and of course that little fucker saw his shadow!  Not sure what kind of effect a Pennsylvanian rodent has on weather in SoKo (also known as the RoK for Republic of Korea), but I am pissed nonetheless.  The temps dropped majorly today, so I blame Phil.  I also blame Bill Murray and his Groundhog Day movie, where everyday is the same bad day.  That is how I feel at school!  Everyday it's the same shit.  Drama, drama, drama.  Today we had a meeting with the director about the Rainbow class (the bad class).  Basically she told us they are too out of control and we need to break up more fights before they start.  Also, they need to stop acting like wild beasts in the hallways before and after lunch.  Ughh, I usually teach them before lunch, so now I am responsible for getting them to act human before they eat.  One of the other teachers suggested I tell them if they don't behave, they don't get to eat.  LOL.  I have become the master of threatening kids and the "if, then" situation.  "If you don't stop talking, I am taking away 5 points and writing a note to your mother,"  "If you burp again, you are being sent to sit alone in the library,"  "If I hear one more person quack, I am erasing all your stars."  And on, and on.  Bribing works as well as threatening, "If you want to watch the Happy Feet dance, then you have to finish 3 workbook pages."  It never stops.  So, we'll see how tomorrow goes and my newest threat, "If you don't sit in your seat and wait to be called to line up, go to the bathroom, wash your hands, and get out your placemat without getting into any fights (sigh)... you don't get food."

Anyway, my real reason for posting is this amazing essay written by Charles in first grade.  Charles actually speaks English well, but clearly doesn't give a fuck about his journal and just writes any old thang.

Topic:  Write a letter to the mayor of your city.  Tell him/her what you like about your neighborhood and what you would like to change.

Dear neighborhood
Nice to meet you.  We can't tease ity.  We need to gather money speedy and help ity.  We need to have enough money and, put on the pitcher.  Next we need to wait untill it rumble on ity.  And when it's finished, raise up the pitcher.  The delivery will bring it to ity.  Then if it is finished again, we need to march.  And we need to tell when they are on market, tell what is more tastier.  last, when it's done, we can do anything.  But don't be pokey!
Sincerly,
Charles

I want to write on his paper: "Charles, WTF are you saying?!"  There's more good writing to come later this week, I am sure!  It's level test on Wed and Thurs, meaning the kids have to test to see what class they are placed in in March.  That means a whole lot of new essays they have to write on the spot.  They are sure to be interesting.

Stage 5 Clingers

Wouldn't you think kids who love to give hugs would be cute?  I am seriously being hugged all day long.  I love the hugs, it's when they won't let go that I get annoyed. They are the worst clingers!!  And it's not unusual to have 5 kids hugging me at once.  Then I can't move...and some of them tackle.  After 'sit down' and 'be quiet,' the most common phrase I say throughout the day might be 'get off of me!'  Although, today was hilarious.  I ran out of copies of some stupid ass thing they were doing in preschool.  So I went to the copy machine with 2 little followers/clingers.  There was a left over birthday cake next to the copier, which I didn't know about or wouldn't have brought the kids.  They stare at the cake for a couple seconds, then start poking it a little to try the frosting.  All of a sudden, one of the kids just plants his face in it and starts chowing!  It was the funniest thing I have seen.  He looked up and was so happy!  I tried to yell at him, but I was dying laughing.  I was happy he did it, it gave me such a good laugh!  I kinda shuffled him back to the classroom so he wouldn't get in trouble.  Too cute!

I told a lot of people before coming here that my biggest fear teaching little kids was that they would cry.  I thought they would cry sometimes.  Nope, I don't think I have had a day without at least one crier.  They cry all the fucking time!  I don't even know what the fuck they are crying over!  The stupidest shit makes them flip out.  Yesterday, some kid had a full fledge spasm because I told him he needed to write more in his workbook.  I thought he was dying or something.  I was like, are you crying over the fucking workbook, and he's like yes!  The Queen Bitch was crying today.  I might have mentioned her before, she's in the bad preschool, and is catalyst for a lot of the problems.  How it is possible for a 6 year old child to be so manipulative and vindictive, I do not know.  I love when she cries, because it means she is not getting her way for once.  She causes fights in the classroom, she isolates kids and gets the others to pick on them all day long, and is just straight up nasty.  She is always making kids cry, so I love when she has a tantrum.  Her birthday was this week and she came in with brand new highlites and a perm on Monday.  She is 6!!!  I refused to acknowledge it.  That is another thing, these kids are beyond spoiled.  The girls come in all the time dressed as princesses, wearing tu-tus and crowns.  Many of them have highlited hair, and the boys all have perms!!  It's ridiculous.  Several of the preschool boys rock the permed hair / skinny jeans (and I mean skinny) / Burberry shirt look.  They look like they just walked out of a Korean boy band music video.  They are generally the brattiest and worst behaved.

I was busted today for stealing school lunch. Caught red handed with chopsticks.  Here's the thing.  We can get the lunch for $15 a week, but it sucks 3-4 of the days.  It's taken right out of our paychecks, so whether you eat or not, you are still charged.  Maybe the biggest problem is it is catered and gets delivered at 9am and we eat at 12pm, so it's ice cold.  Normally when it's good, I stroll by, quickly fill a bowl, and scurry into the office to mow it down.  I pulled my move today, and got nabbed!  15 mins later, the academic coordinator said, "the director wants to know if you have decided to join the lunch program."  Give me a break!  I just want some samples!  I can't commit to eating random spongy fish/octopus medley 5 days a week.  Not when there is a 4 Squares 2 blocks over!