A Perfect Saturday after a LONG week

After the field trip on Tuesday my week at school didn’t go as well as others have. I realized part of the problem is there has been a lot of change in my class and both the kids and I can feel it. We have had three new students in the past month, with one new one beginning on Monday. As an adult I have issues with change, so I can only imagine how having three new students in a class of 6 can feel on my students. The first new girl I had, Cindy, is doing amazing now. She had a rough start, but is fitting in just fine with the other students, and in fact was a HUGE help with my new girl Julie. The boy, Jayden is beginning to calm down a bit and he is slowly finding friends in the classroom. Julie though, is still having a hard time. She started last Thursday and came for Friday, but then was gone Monday-Wednesday of this past week. She has really only been here 4 days total. She is getting better, but still cries at any transition time. On Friday near the end of the day, I was informed by my Korean helper, Liz, that Julie’s mom is in some form of broadcasting and there would be a film crew coming on Monday to follow her around and make a documentary. I was thrown off by this and had about a million questions for Liz, none of which she could answer because no one had actually told her the whole story either. I was told to inform the rest of the teachers on my floor. I quickly found Gordon and relayed the message to him and he thought it was ridiculous too. I simply said, “she still cries! And Brain begins Monday.” Gordon agreed this was a bad idea and talked to our direct supervisor and told her what he thought. By the time we left 40 minutes later there was no change yet, so who knows what will happen on Monday morning.

I didn’t take this bit of news very well, in fact, I got really upset. Most of the other teachers at my school who are new have all had at least one moment where they have been anger, sad, frustrated and couldn’t quite deal with the culture differences here. I haven’t had one of the moments yet, Friday was my time to have that moment. I became really frustrated with Korean parents and the school and how they handle situations. Basically parents have full control of the school and what happens, regardless of what is best for the child and other students. I am the only one so far that has received new students. At first, I thought I was getting the new students because I was the smallest class, but now I have two more students than both Casey and Toriann’s class. I learned I am receiving the new students because the parent’s know that the classes are leveled; Gordon and I have group A and Toriann and Casey have group B. This leveling is simply based on how much English they know, not how smart the child is. However, parents hear there is a level and automatically want their child in the higher level. Cindy is a perfect example of this. She is a great child, but she is not at the same level as the rest of my class, and I always feel bad for her because I know she doesn’t get everything like the other students. Gordon told me Brian, my new student for Monday, is the same way. I wish the school would tell the parents no sometimes and consult us more often on these issues, but I realize this will never happen. I vented to my coworkers and didn’t really feel all that better. We even went out for a drink after work and Gordon offered that whatever time the camera crew shows up that we just change the schedule so they are in his class. I don’t really know what will happen tomorrow when I arrive to school, but I am sure it will be an interesting story!

Saturday was quite the contrast from Friday. It was one of the first truly sunny, warm days in Seoul. It is like in Seattle when spring finally comes and everyone is in a great mood. It was sunny, warm and I had no plans for the day. Toriann and I have been talking about walking around the city for awhile now, but it always seems like something was going on any day that was actually sunny. We decided to try and walk to a nearby mall that we knew how to get to from the subway, but couldn’t really figure out exactly where it was in relation to where we live. We studied the map and set out. It turned out to be about an hour walk, which was perfect. We decided it was too nice of a day to be inside the mall, so we quickly went in to get we wanted and then headed toward the river. As we walked toward the river we noticed how nice the neighborhood was and that we need to come back and explore more at a later date. We got to the water and realized we were across from the baseball stadium. We have heard that Koreans take their baseball quite serious, and were curious about attending a game. We figured we might as well walk across and at least see the stadium and maybe look into tickets for another day. We got across the river and realized a game was beginning in about 30 minutes. We both said at the same time that we should go to the game, it was sunny and warm out and what better way to enjoy the day! We were trying to find exactly where to buy the tickets and couldn’t find it, so we did what we always do when we are lost and asked the first foreigner to could find. We picked the right group of people! We ended up buying tickets with them and sitting with them. It was a group of about 15 teachers, who all live about an hour or so north of Seoul. They were a great group of people from all across the U.S., Canada, and England. The stadium itself was smaller than a baseball game from home, but it was crowded and the fans are equally, if not more, excited. The game was the Seoul Bears (who were told to root for ) against the other Seoul team (I forgot their name). Everyone buys foam bats and hits them together during the chants and in place of clapping. It was very exciting, and you easily get caught up in the excitement of it all. I wish I knew exactly what they were chanting, maybe the next game I will ask a Korean! We sadly forgot our camera, so we have no pictures, but next time we go.

A couple innings into the game we got hungry and went outside to find some food. As we were walking we ran into a group of guys we met about a month ago on our trip down south. We have seen them a few times since then as well. It was so random to run into them right outside the stadium. We ended up eating dinner with them and heading back into the stadium. They were in a different section of the stadium, but it was great to actually run into people we knew! As we were walking home, both Toriann and I agreed it was just the type of day we needed. I definitely feel refreshed and rejuvenated for Monday and the craziness that will probably occur!