And I was right…my third-graders make me want to leave the continent. Every week starts pleasantly enough, with dutiful and obedient classes (for the most part), and just when I start to think that I do love teaching after all, the ten-year-olds charge in with a confidence that can only be demonic in origin, destroy my room and morale with a double-whammy hit, and leave me broken and despairing. I’m a shell of a woman, I swear. I’m thinking more and more that the behavior problems are just a stage. Third grade always seems to be the worst behaved, and then they settle down, more or less, by fourth grade. At least, this is the pep talk I give myself to excuse my inability to reach them. We’ve learned a couple words together this semester, at least, and they have managed to pick up “I’m hungry!” all by themselves. It’s a never-ending chant in the room nowadays.
Otherwise, it’s been a pretty good week back. That time away did rejuvenate me, far more than my other trip did. I’m nearly halfway through the semester now, all of the sudden, and I can see the end in sight already. I don’t feel as burnt out—though I am running low on original teaching ideas—and I am increasingly able to find joy in what I do on a professional level. I may be exasperated at times, but I still enjoy my students much more often. Perhaps I’m not as enthralled as I once was, but…sometimes it gets old saying hello to every single student multiple times per day!
Today I had lunch with my second grade students. They were being so crazy…my little bf, Joo Hee, told me how he ate a flower in the lunch line because he was sooo hungry. And then he started burping. Sometimes I forget how young these kids really are. I would be a lot less frustrated, I think, if I took the time to remember that they are only Jackson’s age. I expect too much at times, I suppose. The rest of the lunch conversation consisted of the kids pointing to each other and yelling, “CRAZY!” This is far and away the insult of choice in Korea. I think it must translate to something far more derogatory because it’s the cause of such unrestrained mirth. They were doing it again in taekwondo, too, but this time it was the middle-school students! I just shake my head, but by this time, they’ve typically forgotten that the original goal of speaking was to communicate with me and become too involved in trading insults. Sooo glad I’m not that age anymore.
This afternoon, I had to attend what I was told was an educational meeting but was really a lame volleyball tournament. I was none too happy about it, and I guess it showed—several of the teachers asked me if I was sick. No…I just have other things to do besides watch our team get schooled! I didn’t get a chance to plan anything for tomorrow, either, so I had to do that at home tonight. Boooooo. At least I got a ton of ddok out of the deal at the more-than-meal-sized “snack” we had afterwards.
It’s hard to be negative now that spring’s really here. It’s warm enough to go without a jacket again, the sun’s been out every day and doesn’t set until after seven, the fields are beginning to be plowed, the hills are turning green and flowers are sprouting everywhere…my heart is glad. I love to see everything alive again. Koreans are inexplicably so proud of the fact that there are four seasons here. I tell them we have four in America, too, but they don’t seem to hear me or don’t care. Perhaps they do have a point, though…I’ve never been in a place where the seasons are so evenly dispersed. California and South Africa really only had two seasons, to be fair—hot and dry and cool and rainy—and in Montana, winter encompasses half of the year (at least back when I lived there, five years ago) and the rest of the seasons are fairly short. I am growing to be a fan of Korean spring, now that we’re seemingly through the dreariness of March…if only there was something better than torrential downpours awaiting me in summer!