So Eun Ho just walked over to me and started taking big elaborate sniffs of the air around me. Evidently my eyes are bloodshot and they suspect I took in too much soju tonight. They are probably right…I feel a bit tipsy. But what can you do when you’re out to dinner and everyone wants to drink with you? According to all my training, I must comply! I mean, we were out with the supervisors of the district…I certainly don’t want to give them a bad impression of me or my school. And I can’t say that I mind drinking a little soju, either. It’s been a rough week.
Dinner tonight was an elaborate affair at a restaurant I hadn’t yet been to in Buyeo. I think it is probably a really fancy place, because if I understood right, the bill for all of us was $500!! Granted, there were at least 25 people, but still…that’s steep! It was pretty good, though. I had an egg dish while everyone else had fish and we topped the meal off with what my co-teacher called “burned rice soup.” It sounds gross, but it’s actually quite delicious. It’s the crispy outsides of the rice pot softened with flavored water and heated again. I love it! We ate with the three supervisors who visited our school today. I guess they must have been happy enough with us. Evidently, the principal (who I decided I would refer to as Big P, simply because it amuses me) and the head supervisor graduated from middle school, high school, and college together and even taught together for a time. He was a really nice guy. He came over to talk to me (sort of) and basically just told me how pretty I was. How can I not like him? The other supervisors were nice, too, and told me to do my best with the kids. I replied that I hoped I already was and I think they were amused by this comment.
My co-teacher has totally been hovering over me at school functions lately. I think he feels bad for deserting me when he was sick. I told him I had a hard time with it. Then again, he’s always been helpful…maybe he’s not acting any differently. At all the dinners we have had in the past week, though, he always sits with me and the women and I feel that’s not where he would normally be or like to be. Ah, well…if he’s determined to be helpful, then I am most appreciative. Otherwise, I dine in silence, wondering why I hear my name so often.
I mentioned last time that I was a little mad that it seemed we were going to put on a show for the supervisor and then yesterday, ironically, my fourth grade “co-teacher” didn’t even show up for class until at least halfway through! But today wasn’t the big deal I’d thought it might be. They came in about halfway through for about five minutes and then left. I guess that’s the typical situation. It was fine, though. They were evidently impressed and the kids were well-behaved, so everyone’s happy. Kim Eun Soon was probably more involved with the class than she’d ever been, but it still wasn’t a half-half situation. I should definitely find out if any of the teachers want more of a co-teaching situation. I think I give them plenty of room to step in if they want, but my impression is still that they are all more than happy to hand it over to me. It’s hard for them, I imagine, to try to teach a language they really don’t have a command of themselves, and they probably figure I can help the kids a lot more. I’d like to think they’re right.
Today I had to discipline my sixth grade class and I think they were really sad about it. Some of them asked me later if I was still mad. I tried to explain that I wasn’t mad—I just need them to be quiet and listen—but I don’t know if the message got through. The sixth grade teacher was gone today and I think he felt a little bad that his kids gave me a hard time. They’re hard even with him in there, too. I need to do something about them…some kind of discipline to force them to do the work I ask. They realize I have no power to actually make them do it, so all the boys take reckless advantage of me. It’s to their own detriment, though, because it’s not like they’ll be done with English once they’re done with me. They might as well do what I ask, because it will help them later! But no…they just ignore me and giggle in their little groups. Sometimes I want to just scream at them—they are so blatantly disrespectful!—but I am not really sure how much authority I have as a teacher. It’s enough to make me glad I only have 5.5 weeks left with the bunch!