Ji-Eun and Yu-Mi are my best friends.
i love talking with them. i love that we are basically all the same age. i love that we can gossip about boys and celebrities. Everytime they take me out, they spoil me. I can’t wait to spoil them back. We giggle and pig out on cake. i love how we 3 fit so well! im so glad they joined my teacher student class otherwise i dont know if i wouldve gotten to know them this well! <3

i told them that my hair and face were freaking out from the dryness and they took me to the face shop

More and more teachers keep adding to my teacher classes. i wish both my wed and fri classes were merged into 1. i think ever since last thurs when the word spread around school that i was putting my effort into learning korean, there has been a wave of teachers appearing before me to happily teach me any word in korean. the students also have this same mentality. during classes, they point and say the word in korean. when i repeat it back, they get all jazzed up. or some write words and have me read it. this makes them really happy. i think that as the teachers and students see me putting effort into learning korean, they in turn are putting more effort in learning english. at least the school in general is attempting to speak more in english. this includes the gyo jang soen sang nim (principal) making a surprised appearance in our office on tues with a giant smile on his face.

since i am now part of the samul nori “band”, i attend the once a week practice on mondays during lunch. the only thing is i only get to practice with them for 15mins. the reason being i have class during 4th and that somewhat cuts into lunch. our school has 2 lunch periods. the 3rd and 2nd years have a longer lunch period than the 1st years. so by the time i get done with 4th, i rush to my building where the cafeteria is, scarf down my lunch, brush my teeth, power walk to the 1st year building where the samul nori room is next to and by that time there is only about 20mins left of lunch. soooo as i was walking to my building after class i ran into my samul nori teacher and main coT. he basically told my coT that he feels really bad about me not having enough time to practice so he was willing to help me practice during one of my free classes. i said sure bc you cant really turn down anything. you dont want to hurt anyones feelings. i somewhat didnt want to bc i like my free times sitting on my bench under my tree but…. oh well. the teachers here are busy but once they see my schedule, they say that im busier. lol

its been 3 days since i started really learning korean and i can read and write korean. i just dont know what im reading or writing. i am forever grateful to all the teachers that take their time to teach me during lunch or any break. most days i sit on the bench under a tree outside my office and attempt to read 1 of the 4 children’s books that my main coT lent me. it took me 1hour to read 5 pages. these books are equivalent to a 2nd grade book. sometimes when teachers and students pass by and see me, they smile and say hello. today was the 1st time that some students approached me and sat with me on the bench.

as i was sitting under the tree, attempting to read the same book for 3 days and eating a lollipop, 2 sunbaes came walking towards me and i looked up at them as they neared “my bench”. they sat on my bench and said hello. i was very taken aback by this forward gesture. sure a lot of my hoobae students are becoming more comfortable towards me but most (2nd and 3rd years, whom i do not teach) are still shy of me. so i was surprised when i asked them for their names and years. the 1 boy that i remembered very well was named Bu Seok. i remember him well bc he asked a lot of questions and was very engaging in getting to know more about me. the other boy said his english name was charlie. Bu-Seok said he was friends with Min-Gu (student prez) and i said “ohhh me too and with Geun-Su. i played juk-go with Min-Gu, Geun-Su, Hee-Sang and James.” he saw the book i was reading and my cheat sheet of the korean alphabet and he said cute (in korean). luckily i had learned the word ‘cute’ the day before. i asked them if they wanted lollipops (i always carry candy with me to eat and share) he showed me is student ID and asked me to read his name. he was very happy about me reading his name. as he showed me his ID, there was a $2.00 bill in his wallet. i must have looked very shocked when i saw it bc he was super happy to show it to me. he said it was very lucky. i asked him where he got it from and he responded by saying work. he acted it out also. he gave me the money then i gave him the money. i figured it was somewhat of a tip. as this conversation was happening, 3 more sunbaes came walking toward our direction and sat with us. 2 sat on the ground as there was not enough space on the bench. some students from the 3rd floor of 1 building yelled out “hello jennipur teacher”.

i said hello.

they said “you like chupa chups(referring to my lollipop)?"

i said yes.

they said "me too."

then they said "my english not good but i love you."

i was somewhat confused so i gave them a thumbs up. this was the 2nd "i love you” of the day. the 1st one was during my 2nd class where another student said “he loves you (pointed to his friend) and wants to marry you.” again i just smiled and gave the thumbs up. lol

after that 3rd floor convo, Bu Seok and others asked if i knew Seung-Pil. i said yes, he is 1 of my new teacher students. they said he is their home room teacher. then they asked if i thought he was handsome to which i said that everyone was handsome. they asked if i liked him and i said yes he is a nice person. this was when they got really excited and started laughing. i guess they were going to grill me with deeper questions but then Bu Seok’s phone rang and it was his teacher calling them to get back to class. so our bench conversation ended with them going back to class and me continuing where i left off in the book.

i really wish i was teaching all 3 grades. the senior class seem to want to conversate with me more. maybe bc theyre more comfortable with their english? i just love how during the 10min break inbetween classes while im walking back to my office, there are always students looking outside their classroom window and they always say something to me. most of the time they ask me questions like “did you like lunch?”, “are you finished?”, “are you well?” “do you have good class?” and sometimes they say things like “very nice to meet you” , “look very nice”, “tchingo (friend)”, “good day”…

bc of the location of the school in downtown and the location of my apt in the popular sachang square, i see students from my school everywhere. when i do see students or when they see me, they always say “hello teacher” and bow. it still catches me off guard when that happens outside of school. i dont expect them to do that but they do it anyways. both my students and non-students. either way it makes me super happy not bc they are doing it but bc they are acknowledging my very own existence in this very foreign land.

i keep getting asked about where im getting my lesson plans. to be honest its all from my head. when im sitting on my bench and under my tree and i have my notebook and not reading, thats when im lesson planning. all from memory. every lesson has been tied together since week 1. so when i show them my notebook of my lesson plan sketches, they are get all shocked. they cant believe that im coming up with the lessons. i think theres something going among the teachers about how wonderful my lessons are bc ive been asked about my lessons so much this week. my main coT must be behind it. lol she loves to tell everyone how im doing and everything possible. she also keeps telling me that i should write a book about how to teach english bc she’s never seen students become so engaged in lessons and are actually learning. i was so touched when she said that. then the following days, my other 3 co teachers told me the same thing. wow! they all said that they are always looking forward to the next lesson and that they have so much fun learning with the students. im also finding more notes for me to read from students when they turn in their classwork. these comments from both teachers and students make me feel so happy! it solidifies the reason why im in korea. <3