No Correlation

Ultimate Reading

I teach a beginning reading class for two students... 민교(mingyo) and 종은(jongen). They are excellent students (I would guess they are about 7 or 8 years old). However, Jongen happens to be a little faster than Mingyo, so sometimes I have to create extra challenges for her, to allow Mingyo to catch up.

Challenge 1: I held the book upside down and asked her to read. I actually found that she read better when I did this, because she had to concentrate so much more.

Challenge 2: Jongen grabbed my arm, said "Teacher", and pulled me to the wall. Then she did a handstand and motioned for me to hold the book upside down (which was right side up for her). She read about three pages before her face turned red and she couldn't keep her balance anymore. So funny.

Challenge 3: Jongen also likes to slow motion fight, which is always fun.

Challenge 4: Imaginary soccer. Somehow I always end up being the goal keeper.

Jongen is awesome and she's a total Tomboy. She takes TaeKwonDo, plays soccer costantly, and always has a few sports related injuries (or dirt on her face).

Yesterday, she brought a rubber band gun to class. She demonstrated her skills by shooting a poster in the back of the room.

I also think she is awesome because she is left handed like me.

Perhaps someday I'll have a daughter like her.

(Notice bicycle accident injuries and left handed "victory" symbol)

Mingyo being goofy for the camera

How to Take a Test

My special elementary class recently took a very difficult test. We were discussing the test, and I asked "What do you do when you don't know an answer?"

Annie put her hands together, closed her eyes and said...
"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God..." and then God says, "It is B."

She said it worked 6 out of 20 times.

I couldn't stop laughing.

As a reward for their hard work on the test, Steve bought them pizza. I watched in shock and amazement as three little girls put away two pizzas, gossiping about elementary school romance the whole time.

Board Game Cafe

In Korea, they have this great invention called a "Board Game Cafe".

You go to a place much like a restaurant, you are given a menu, and you even have a "waiter", but the menu does not contain any food items... instead, it contains games.

You choose a game (or ask your "waiter" to recommend one) and play as long as you like. The "waiter" explains the game if you don't know how to play. You can also switch games at any time.

You pay by the hour (about $1.50 to $3.50 per hour per person depending on the Cafe).

We played Jenga, Pit, and Suicide Monkeys. It was awesome.

I almost forgot one of my favorite parts... We were also given a big plastic squeaky hammer and everyone would hit the loser on the head with it.

On the walk to the bus

A Bee

I made a little girl cry the other day, when I killed a bee in class. I bravely climbed onto a desk and crushed the bee using a vocabulary test sheet. I was proudly displaying my smashed bee trophy (to the cheers of the class), when one of the boys pointed out that Grace was crying. Poor girl. I guess she couldn't handle the thrill of the hunt or something. I felt bad. But not too bad. She ended up leaving class with a "stomach ache."

Have you ever wondered if babies can see angels? Sometimes I smile at little korean babies and realize they are looking over my shoulder... but there's no one there. I imgagine they must see an angel. One that's following me around and keeping me out of most trouble.

Bukhansan and Hangang

At the river we had quite an adventure...
[1]Shot fireworks.
[2]Had swordfights with the firework sticks.
[3]Got a mini private magic show from a street magician selling fireworks.
[4]Almost got killed by fireworks when someone elses fell over and started shooting at us.
[5]Watched Jin try and fly a kite without wind. (Thought about trying to shoot it down with fireworks.)
[6]Ooohed and Ahhhhed while a helicopter crashed into the river... (it was a remote control helicopter. And had nothing to do with fireworks.)
[7]Left just as strange sounds started coming from the water (probably a mutated monster, disturbed by our fireworks).

Sketches

I had a sudden urge to draw...

...and think.

A Wedding

I was given the opportunity to attend a Korean wedding. Jane, one of my Korean co-workers, got married on June 6th. The wedding was made up of two parts... the white dress blah blah blah... and then a traditional Korean part. Sadly, I didn't get any photos of the traditional part.

Here are some of my feeble photos. I must echo Dave's words... why do people have beautiful weddings with horrible photographic lighting?

An Essay

Today, in school, our class played volleyball game. I don't want to play with boys because they are wild and they have no order and they are really strong. I hit the ball so I have to come out to ground, and some boy step my foot and some boy push me and step my face. It's really hurt. I can't touch my face. I don't like today's volleyball game, but volleyball is still excited.

-Emily

I See...

...said the blind man to the deaf man who sat at the corner of a round table. And he prayed... God, help me to let you help me.

A wiseman once told me, "You can learn a lot from a person's eyes."

Everland

It was awesome. I'll let the photos do the talking...