Woo, long day. We went sledding with our morning classes and I forgot to bring my camera! I'll snag some pictures and maybe videos from other people and then re-post them on here when I can so check back because it was pretty cute.
I'll get into that more fun, visual stuff later but in the mean time I've got time to kill and I assume you do too since you are reading this blog. Welcome all time killers. So let's a-ramble. Something happened today that brought to light another facet of my (vast sphere of influence in the lives of the youth in Korea) teaching gig. It's the little sayings I often repeat, that the kids in return pick up.
We were sledding. A student named Ha Yeoung is by all accounts (we teachers more or less voted) cutest child in perhaps existence. She never acts up, never talks back, never says anything negative to anyone, she always smiles, she is tiny for her age, she always is cheerful, and when Armageddon-like chaos breaks out in class she sits, grinning with her hands folded neatly awaiting calmer seas.
So back to sledding - we would all walk up the hill and line up at the top; and because it was a line it seemed like a race each time (to competitive people such as yours truly). Usually the teachers would sled down with a kid in their sled as well, because the kids got a kick out of it and occasionally one was a little scared.
Well Ha Yeoung and I had been down the hill a few times and with our combined weight and my determination to make my first time sledding since Bush Sr. was in office a memorable one, we kept coming in 1st place (though probably no one else noticed but us (me)). That doesn't matter because win or lose I have a big mouth and like usual, by the four or fifth (1st) wave/race that mouth was a runnin' some playful trash talk on some of the other teachers or students. So we line up for another race and I'm getting situated to fold my lanky into this tiny plastic sled and Ha Yeoung is sitting in front of me cool as a cucumber. We are waiting at the starting line and she turns to the kids from another school lined up next to us, and calmly says in her Korean accent:
"So who's going to come in 2nd?"
HAHAH! That's a classic Larry Bird quote that I hadn't realized I had been saying for the last couple (victorious) trips up and down the hill. I started laughing hard and realized that all of a sudden I unintentionally had this all-too-sweet-and-cute-o-matic kid actually trash talking the other sledders at school field trip to the YMCA! When she said that it kind of clicked that obviously the kids absorb what we give them fully, but mostly that I usually give them outlandishly goofy stuff.
Besides the usual (for me) sound effects and silly noises, here are few of the other sayings:
*There's an adorable, fun and husky kid I started calling 'The Main Event' (pictured above). I say it in a climactic, ready-to-rumble Areana Announcer's voice. Now I'm pretty sure he thinks that that is his English name, and whenever I say his name, Sam, he always follows it with a raucous 'tthhee MMMMAAAAIIIIIIIIINNNN Event!!'
*In one of the new beginning classes whenever a kid high five's me too hard I pretend I am really hurt and sob a little bit while I sing, "Pain and misery!" in a blues voice. It's just to make them laugh and feel strong - it's an all around great ice breaker for the students. However after a few weeks I have a class that hasn't learned to count to eleven yet, but they know the phrase 'Pain and Misery' by heart, think it's hilarious, and often sing it in repeated chorus while they are coloring.
*Lastly for all you hip-hop fans: whenever I do a bird call like a pigeon this one boy says "What happened to that boy?" hahah.
Alright, ramble out.
Tomorrow is another hopefully breezy Friday. No plans for the weekend, but the gym I'm going to sign up for makes me pay for 3 months upfront (you drove me to this, Dunkin Donuts) so the weekend will probably have to be in some ways minimal.
Check back soon for what you really came here to see, cute pictures and such and stay warm wherever you are.
BYE
oh, and WELCOME BABY JACK!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to meet our family's youngest Padre fan!
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