...Time after time.

Mrs. Robinson

Several of my boy students are crushing on me. Every class I enter has a few boys cheering for me, yelling things like, "I love you!" and, "Wow! So beautiful!" The other night while walking on the street, I ran into a few of my boys and one of them suggested I actually date one of the other boys! I reminded them that I am their teacher and I'm WAY too old for them, and if that didn't close the deal, I also told them that even when they graduate the answer would still be no. Of course they laughed it off, however, I was slightly mortified. Occasionally while walking around at school, I find boys peaking around corners and watching me as I go by. I do my best to embarrass them when I catch them by saying hello or stopping to talk to them. A boy in one of my classes (by far the most handsome and popular boy in the whole school) is always trying to seduce me with his "I'm too cool" stare down. Everyday it's a fight to make him actually do his work and stop trying to make eye contact with me. I love teaching the boys but sometimes they really complicate the teacher-student relationship. Of course it doesn't help that I'm the youngest female in an all boys school and I just happen to have those coveted westerner features... I maintain that schools should be co-ed.

My English lesson stalker

Last night, while on the way home from the bus station, I caught a glimpse of a completely comatose Korean as I passed him on the street corner and headed home (sometimes seeing me in town has the same effect as a UFO sighting). Anyhow, I had been walking for about 10 minutes and was almost home when the guy comes running up behind me yelling, "I'm not a bad man! I just want to speak English!" I was totally freaked. I swung my purse to the other side, clutched my bag and prepared to beat the hell of a mugger. However, I had no opportunity to practice my karate skills. He held up his hands and between wheezes spat out, "I want to practice English with you. I'm not a bad man! I promise! A foreigner here is rare. You are special. I was very scared to follow you and almost didn't say anything, but I want to practice English. Would you speak with me? I'm not a bad man, I promise!" Honestly, he looked more scared that I did! So I decided it wouldn't hurt to ask a few questions. He told me that his English name is Frankie, he's 31 and he had a friend from New York who moved away last year and hasn't had anyone to practice with since then. He continued to ask me where I live (several times) to which I would only reply, "Around here." (He may have seemed genuine, but he did silently follow me for about 10 blocks...) I wasn't about to give him my phone number either but honestly, I had a rotten last week and was pretty desperate for some friends, so I told him to meet me at Dunkin Doughnuts Wednesday night at 7. I figured a nice and busy public place is safe. Courtney is coming with me. Here's to hoping he's not a stalker!!

Oranges for the teacher

One of the girls in my classes brings me oranges every Wednesday. What a sweet gift, eh? Her generosity really makes me feel like a beloved teacher always receiving apples from my students. However, oranges aren't the only thing I receive--I also get grapes and apples too.

Crazy Cow

Crazy Cow is the nickname of one of the male teacher in my boys school who likes me and I think he's pretty much crazy. I think I mentioned before that he's married but still asked me to be his weekend girlfriend. Well, his propositions have not stopped. He recently said to me, "My wife is 24 years old, like you. But you are better. I should have waited for you." Ack! Gag me! He's also taken to serenading me on occasion (usually something from The Little Mermaid) and yesterday--after telling me I look beautiful everyday--he almost made me fall down the stairs because he was trying to walk so close to me. How do I get across to this guy that there is absolutely no chance for him? The most difficult part is that everyone in the office thinks it's funny not serious. Darn those Koreans and their adulterous ways!! He really is crazy... and a cow...

Everyone loves a foreigner.

I was shopping in Daegu with my friend and she took me to this one clothing store that she had bought several items at before and introduced me to the owner who pretty much loves me now. She kept telling me to come back and see her (she speaks English) and then she even hugged me when I left! That was crazy--Korean's hardly hug their children! I've never had that effect on a Korean before! She was a weird lady but I liked her. She was so high fashion--kind of like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada (minus the whole evil part)! :) Courtney and Romeo went to the spa in our city Friday night and apparently met the owner who really wants to practice speaking English with us foreigners... Perhaps we can make an entrance admission/lesson exchange?

Take the lead

I've decided that I'm not going to wait for my Korean teachers to become assertive. For a couple weeks now I've just been telling them exactly what to do and it's making my job so much easier. Co-teaching is incredibly difficult because neither person wants to "step on the other's toes" and when you throw in a cultural and language barrier as well, classes pretty much become unnavigable. One of the biggest problems is that many of us EPIK teachers don't think our co-teachers are helping in class enough, but I think that's mostly because they don't know what to do. They really need someone to tell them. So this week I set aside a special part of my lesson for just the co-teachers to teach and they seem to be doing great! I'm so excited that they are actually participating in class and starting to take some initiative in leading. Treating my co-teachers more like students (as in telling them what to do and when to do it) has greatly improved classroom productivity and I hope that things continue on this path. In addition, watching my students interact with their Korean teachers is giving me some more insight into how I can better communicate with them. However, I have yet to make Mr. Nam do some teaching on his own... but it's his turn next week. I'm not expecting any light bulbs to go off.

Korean stores with English names

While in Daegu this weekend I happened across two noteworthy coffee shops with names that really touched my heart--Sleepless in Seattle and Uncle Tom's Cabin. Who would have thought movie and book titles could be translated into store/shop names? I laughed extensively about Uncle Tom's Cabin.