Partial Revenge

Last night I was particularly tired and out of it, so rather inadvertently partially got back at Matt for all of the anti-American jabs he's always making. I was talking about a former co-worker who was from Canada and he asked what part of Canada. Not remembering where she was from, I answered, "the Canada part." Then feeling bad that I worked with her for 3~4 months and couldn't remember where she was from, I thought harder and said, "You know, one of the normal provinces." As he started laughing in a "I can't believe you insulted my province (New Brunswick) like that" way, I continued, "You know, one of the ones in the middle with a lot of people. Maybe Ontario." Tanya helped me clarify, "Oh, you mean one of the provinces with the majority of the population." Yeah, sure, as I reveled in Matt being on the receiving end of criticism about his home! For all of his criticisms, I still owe him, though. I've got to think of something really good before I leave!

Sometimes I wish I had an inconspicuous camera--either the camera phone or otherwise. On the bus the other day a teenage boy had a lovely pink and purple floral shirt on. He was very self-confident, no problem with wearing it. Yesterday Rooky (4th grade boy) had tiny flowers painted on his fingernails. It looked like a salon job, not something he did himself. Today the flowers were still there. When gender roles in regards to who's the boss or what job a person should have are so firm, it's surprising to see the guys wearing such feminine fashions. (Not to mention the purse-things the guys carry!)

The adults continue to amuse, confuse, and annoy me. Yesterday Grace talked about how there's stagflation in Korea now (a stagnant economy with high unemployment and inflation). I didn't even know that word; how did she learn it?! Start with the easy words and basic sentences before moving on to the difficult words and weird idioms that you never use correctly!!!! Then suddenly she was talking about how neckties are wider and skirts are shorter these days. Uh, are those topics related to the stagflation??? According to her, yes. So if the economy gets better ties will get narrower and skirts will get longer??? No response from her.

Mary (4 PM) is back from a month in the Philippines. She supposedly went there to study English, but she seems to speak less English now than before. She stayed in a hotel while she was there, apparently under the supervision of middle school girls (I assume Korean). So when she wasn't in class, she was speaking Korean the whole time that she was there. Her parents spent how much money for her to go?!

At 5 PM I walked into class and heard some awful sounds. Sally had the radio tuned to traditional Korean music, and it was turned louder than I could stand. The moaning music makes me think of the whine of bagpipes--just terrible! The only place it fits, at a low volume, is at a Buddhist temple--then it's OK. Not great, just OK.

In the CYBI class we read a story about a man who played his stereo so loud that after repeated complaints from his neighbors and warnings from the police the police came and took his radio and smashed it on a public street. (Of course, broken up into more than one sentence, but that's the basic point!) I asked them what a public street was, and Zach pointed outside, "There!" Yes, a public street is where anyone can see or go. Zach thought he'd be funny and asked if anyone can see into a public toilet, too. Sometimes the kids know English a little too well.

The special class had only Suzi there today, which was fine with me. We were able to do the capitalization worksheet and read the story a couple of times together. School will be starting back soon (middle school next week) so I guess the kids are enjoying their last bit of vacation.