The Ongoing...

Hi y'all. I'm prepped and primed for my sometimes-weekly post. Last week flew by as it was only a four day week...and fantastically enough, this week is also four days. Suddenly, life is looking up. Tomorrow is a Korean holiday, loosely translated as something like "Korean Liberation Day." From what I understand, back in 1919, when Korea was under the occupation of Japan, on March 1st Korea staged a mass protest as a sign of defiance. Later on, this day was declared a national holiday! This is not to be confused with Korean Independence Day - which is in August...just keeping my peeps informed..

I wanted to take some time and rewind a little bit. Follow me back to the month of January. Maybe an ordinary month for most, however, for me, it was a month spent almost living at school! Now, contrary to what you might think, I am not complaining! Certainly, it was tiring, but just as any human being can, I was able to adapt. What am I talking about? Well, during January, I was teaching morning classes - as well as afternoon classes! As a result, some days meant 12 hours spent at school...so maybe now you can understand how it became a little like home...

Okay, I'm off topic here. I wanted to tell you about my two incredible morning classes! These two groups of kids were probably the most fun, eager, well behaved kids I've had here. Honestly, this was the biggest blessing for me.. So, as a testament to these wonderful kids, who were very much a big part of my life, I thought I'd post their photos...

From left to right: Star, June and Kevin. Star was just plain super nice - nice and quiet too! June and Kevin were kinda loud and crazy sometimes...but always eager to answer questions!

The three J's: Jane, Jenny, and Jenna! All very smart, hardworking girls!

Dave and Tom! These two boys were irrestible! So much fun all the time! Random dancing! Random singing! I'll miss 'em..

As you can see, quite a small class. I think that's what made them so enjoyable. Lots of fun times for sure..

This was my second morning class..a little older, a little louder, but still a lot of fun. These were actually taken on the last day of classes. (ie. - the pop and Canadian flags) This class would absolutely die for the game of 7-up. I was amazed at how clever they became as the weeks went on..

Again, from left to right: Hyun-hee, Shawn, and David. I especially loved Hyunhee because of his candid comments. I remember one specifically:

HH: "Teacher, do you like your mother?"

Me: "Yeah, of course. I like my mom. Why? Do you like your mom, Hyunhee?"

HH: "No."

Me: "Why?"

HH: no response..

Me: "Does she make you work to hard?"

HH: "Yeah..."

My heart just went out to this kid, he just seemed so stressed out..really cute kid. I remember being so surprised, because he totally asked me out of the blue..

John, Tim (with is head down), and Jay. Tim was officially the class clown, and I have to admit, he was funny, as there were times I couldn't help but laugh either..

Cindy, Sally and Angela. These girls were incredibly smart. Their work was immaculate! The cool thing about this bunch as well was how willing they were to share. Whenever they come to class with dok-bok-ki (a Korean spicy snack), they always offered me some!

Well, there's a brief snapshot into my life two months ago now.. It was sometimes a struggle getting up and trudging in there every morning..but looking back now, we had a lot of fun together...lots of good memories..

Okay crew. Don't forget to keep it real.

Cheers,

-Paul