Wait...the HILL is Teaching People Things?!

Today will be my third day of teaching. Nothing could have prepared me for the challenges I would face, or the joys I would find, by teaching six to eleven year-old Koreans the nuances of English. Like, when I am trying to get them to do something hilariously simple like open a book to a certain page, and they defiantly and insidiously glare back at me, chuckling in their native tongue, obviously making fun of my phony seriousness and inexperience, requiring seven or eight more demands for the accomplishment of said action. And, on the other hand, when I am teaching the difference between the usage of "was" and "is" in a sentence, and I stand by a child at their desk, who is obviously frustrated and dearly wanting to complete an exercise correctly, struggling to achieve despite the banal pressure of the classroom dynamic and acute attention from a very large and foreign teacher, they slowly utter the correct answer and I can say "Yes! Right! Very good!", and they beam with such genuine self-satisfaction. That is the BEST.

Basically, over the past few days, I have had a couple horrific, nearly unmanageable classes, and also many that went swimmingly and delightfully. I teach six 45 min. classes a day. Two of them are to 5-6 year olds who are learning things like colors and pronunciation. Two others are to 7-8 year olds which deal with more complex items such as different kinds of food, and handwriting. The other two are more involving, to 9-11 year olds, where short stories are read aloud, comparisons and contrasts, key details, and detailed attendances like writing a paragraph summary of the story and locating pertinent details within.

For the most part, the kids are shy but receptive, and once positively encouraged, seem to enjoy going through the exercises in the lessons. Its obvious that my novel and exotic appearance intimidate and sometimes mystify them, but the more I act like my goofball self, wildly gesticulate and animate my words, they drop their cautious facade, and begin to participate in a way that is most enjoyable for everyone. They're real funny. Some of them are very involved, and some almost invisible. Both genders are to be found equally within both the former and latter category. I have found that if there is a majority of boys, then they will act out and try to wrest control of the proceedings from me. Its the same for girls, if they are a majority. There are only a couple students out of the six classes I have that make it their purpose during class to grate my nerves, and when this happens, I can see the heavens opening up, and the gods bent over in cacophanous laughter at this fierce, yet just, karmic dealing. Jove, Hermes, Yahweh, Kali, Zappa, and Freya all grin down at me, poking, jeering, shouting "Yeah? You like how that feels, bitch? You like that?!" But, overall, things are fine with this new profession of mine. I received absolutely zero training here at the school, which has definitely been a problem, but I am getting by.

All of my coworkers are very cool. There are about a dozen Koreans, and five other American/Canadians. I live in the same building with all of the westerners, and from the get-go they have been totally generous about helping me out and showing me around, showing me how to eat the food, what soju NOT to buy, letting me borrow their power converters to charge my laptop, and just being very inviting, friendly, and cool.

I am enjoying a delicious breakfast of orange juice, green tea, two friend eggs and rice, with Dvorak on the internet radio (my connection is lighting fast) and a beautiful, rainy city to gaze out upon. Its nice to finally love my life again.

Thank you, Lord...Thank you, Lord....