Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The Best Medicine


I believe I may have... no... no... I know I have virtually lost control of my treasured speaking class. I simply could not stop laughing today. And neither could they.

Let me start at the start. Strange circus music began playing, which signaled the beginning of the final class of the day. I walked towards the room and quickly realized something was wrong. All the lights were off.

Immediately, my ninja senses entered alert status five. Stealth mode. My dress shoes whispered noiselessly on the floor tiles. With lightning speed, I whipped open the door and flicked on the lights...

Nothing. Not a girl to be found. Backpacks and books were strewn across tables and chairs. But no students. That's when I heard a girly Korean giggle. It came from the back closet. I sprinted to the closet door and grabbed tightly (still in absolute silence).

More girly Korean giggles. Then an attempt to open the closet door from the inside. However, my massive ninja strength prevented any escape. After several more minutes of high pitched girly laughter (and several more feeble attempts to open the door), I released my captives for interrogation purposes.

This was only the start.

During the interview time, Joy and Annie insisted on interviewing together (I called them "JAnnie" one day and they have taken it to heart). The interview question was "What is the nicest thing you've ever done for someone?" Joy told a lovely story about helping a little boy home in the rain. Then it was Annie's turn.

She talked about how she'd made a birthday present for her cousin. "I made him red crap," she said innocently. I couldn't handle it. I started laughing. She didn't understand why.

I asked, "Did you make him 'a' red 'crab', or 'a' red 'crap'?"
"Red cra-b," she replied. "Teacher, what is 'cra-p'?

Luckily, I know the Korean word for poop (imagine that) which is 'dong'.

Joy demonstrated her new knowledge... she squatted and said, "Crap, teacher? Dong?" I covered my mouth to hide my laughter and nodded.

Then the two girls just lost it. They laughed and laughed... and so did I.

Then they couldn't leave it alone... "I make red crap", "I make rainbow crap", "I make brown crap." Tears poured from our eyes.

They ended the day by hiding in the closet again and also giving me a gift (see following pictures).

I think I needed to laugh. It felt good.


Yep, folks, nothing says thank you like a hard boiled egg.
It says, "To. Ryan from. IBt Tofel. girls."

This side says, "thank you teacher to teach us."



A wisegirl once said,"Annie is back. Class very noisy."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's aweseome, Ryan! What an unforgettable memory! :)
Just curious: are hard-boiled eggs a traditional gift? Regardless, it's really touching. You're obviously going a great job there and changing the lives of quite a number of children. May God continue to bless you and your work!

katie said...

i think this story just made my day! i burst out laughing in the middle of Chapters.

Mandipants said...

hahahahaha, I agree with Katie- this story made my day :)

red crap... oh my- and even better, rainbow- genius :)

Unknown said...

I am crying right now as I laugh at your story! It brings back fond memories of Alyssa and I laughing uncontrollably about poop.

good times.

Unknown said...

Ahhh....poop. Good times, good times.

Nic Schneider said...

This is the funniest thing I've ever read in my entire life. End of story.

Kia said...

That was amazing.