A Great Day

Today was one of the best days I've had in a long time. I mean a really, really, really great day!!!! Nothing in particular, just everything worked together well. In the first class Tomas was disrespectful so I kept him after class. He studied well with me one-on-one, so I let him go when I went to my next class. Eric continues to respond to any command I give them with, "Yes, sir!" I continue to ask him, "Am I a man?" He says yes. It's become quite a joke in that class. Eric also started them on replying to nearly any question with, "I don't know. We don't know. They don't know. He don't know......" Yesterday I made a big deal out of making sure that they at least use the right grammar if they're going to be silly. I was glad to see that Joseph remembered that it's "He doesn't know."

In the 5 PM class the girls told me that many male drivers think that women are bad drivers. Sally said that when her father gets behind a slow or bad driver that he always assumes it's a woman. If a man and a woman get in a traffic accident, the man assumes the woman is at fault and yells at her that she should stay home and cook rice. They are so sexist here!! I told the students (both boys and girls) that I don't think women should only stay home and cook, and that perhaps women aren't as good of drivers because they don't get as much practice.

In the next class I thought we were all going to die from laughing too much. Not a fake or half-hearted kind of laughing, but the guffawing that makes your eyes water and your sides split and you can't stop laughing no matter how hard you try. There were only 5 students, yet there were 7 parts in the story we read. The first time we read it Steven played the parts of both the man and the woman (who were talking with each other in one scene). He read them in a monotone voice and went straight from one character to the other with no change. I stopped him and told him that he needed to use a different voice for each character. He asked me how, so I demonstrated in an overly dramatic way, then he made a pathetic attempt at imitating me. We read the story several times, and anytime someone had two parts the other students made sure they read the parts with different voices. It was a great class.

After that hilarity, I noticed Tanya's shirt said "I am Canadian." I asked her about it, thinking it was some kind of political statement. It sort of is, but is also an advertisement for a beer. She and Matt told me about some of the commercials made by that company, which left us all laughing, despite their anti-American slant.

Because we were having such fun, I was a couple of minutes late to my next class. Some students pick up on things I say quickly, so asked me, "Why are you late?" Sorry! I was talking with the other teachers! Mary said that Paul acted the same as her 7-year-old brother; another student said that Paul had a goldfish I.Q. He certainly was silly today! When I asked why Ivan was absent, Blake gave me the "Ivan's a summer bear" line again, as he said that Ivan was home sleeping. In other words, he doesn't know.

The next class (now up to eleven middle school students) was remarkably well-behaved and receptive to learning. They asked for a game, but we ran out of time. Certainly on Friday--they deserve it.

Lastly for today, dreams. Living in Korea I've had more strange dreams than I've ever had before. I don't know if it's the spicy food or the different surroundings or the always experiencing new things or the strange sleep patterns. I still don't dream often, but the dreams are more vivid and memorable here than at home. When I dream something once (assuming I remember it when I wake up) it's not such a big deal, but when I dream something multiple times I can't help but wonder what it means. It's getting late so I'll continue tomorrow.

(I have the dream written down so I don't forget; I just have to write it better so that it makes sense to a person who wasn't there. I've been thinking about it all day, considering the possibilities, searching for reasons why my subconscious mind would be working how it is. No clear answers.)