things i've learned this year

disclaimer: i'm not in the best frame of mind. it's been a long, weary, sick week. it is perhaps not the best time to write this, but i'm going to anyway.

have some generalizations.

bitter

~ saving face means it's okay to lie to people
~ korean students are utterly overworked and need more time to play and be children
~ hard work gets you nowhere in korea, unless you're a student trying to get into university or not a foreigner
~ people like teachers who don't teach and leave their classroom for 15+ minute stretches
~ nice people really do finish last while the self-absorbed win
~ being alone in asia means you're a mental, friendless, family-less, total loser
~ too many children age 6-9 in one room give me a screaming headache, which makes me sad because they're so cute and funny and i should like them... but i don't. they have the attention span of fruit flies on crack.
~ my lungs hate the city
~ expats love to complain
~ me included

sweet

~ i love living in a ginormous city, despite my dratted lungs
~ my boyfriend is the most patient man on earth, unless he has to wait for an elevator or his computer freezes, and even then he makes me giggle (yes, giggle. hysterically giggle.)
~ students call cigarettes "cloud snacks"
~ the ladies who work at the kimbap house across the street from work are the nicest people on the planet
~ i'm a pretty good though not very creative teacher, with potential to be better with more practice and a little training
~ i like teaching
~ i love english grammar
~ i like middle school age students, probably 'cuz i still act like one myself
~ nothing tastes better than a steaming bowl of a spicy korean soup when you are tired, sick, cold, or hungover
~ "babo" means stupid in korean
~ i am frequently babo in class, but it doesn't bother me anymore when i make a mistake in class
~ english is a freaking impossible language and i'm grateful i grew up speaking it so's i don't have to learn it now
~ i don't really want to learn to speak korean
~ i want to learn cantonese, and've finally stopped feeling guilty about that

bedtime. hope you enjoyed the list.

photos of the day:

my favorite photo of stephen (pointing). captures his personality. one of my favorite students. (yeah, yeah, i'm not supposed to have favorites. i tried not to. it didn't work.)


rah (taking a quiz) draws a picture on the board every day during break time...


my favorite so far:

before.

after.