I had a lot going on recently: Brian’s in-and-out visit, Andrew coming into town, heading up to Seoul with Kathy, trying to go to Busan at some point.
But the biggest thing is that school started this week.
I tried to mentally prepare myself for going back to school. After two months of little (English camps) to no (sitting in my apartment) work, I had to face up to going in and starting up with attempting to get Korean kids to pay attention in class. No easy task when it has no true standing on their grades. I’ll admit I missed working and having something to do, but I’ve thought about a few things I wanted to do in order to make things easier on me.
However, being nearly two hours late is not the way to start things for the new semester.
That’s right, folks. Yours truly had the most epic of screw ups the first day of school. After thinking that I set the alarm the previous evening, I forgot to actually CLICK the switch on the clock to activate alarm. The ending result: me running into school around 9:45 instead of 8:10 like I had planned.
Thankfully, I had taken a shower the night before so I didn’t have to do that. But I skipped breakfast and rush over to the school. I figured that I would have to deal with odd ass stares when I walk in the office, the regular teachers knowing I was late. While I’ve been here I’ve NEVER been late for school. I didn’t count on that this particular morning the school would have Opening Ceremonies for the new school year. As I walked into the school gates, I could see over 500 students along with all the teachers and staff standing outside the school. EVERYONE could see I was late and I could hear the kids saying my name as I walked by.
At that point, I couldn’t say anything. I just took my bag up to the office, came back down and got in line. Stood there as the principal gave a speech. . . I’m assuming it was aimed mostly at the new students. I have to guess or assume because I had no idea what was said. That’s how these functions and meetings go. I sit there and have no clue as to what’s being said. So I often entertain myself by looking around and observing things. The main thing I noticed this time around is that the opening of the school reminded me of Hogwarts only no cool robes, magic or sorting hat. All the kids were lined up in neat rows and sectioned off by their grade level. The watched as all the old first years and second years became the upperclassmen to a group of scared looking kids in street clothes. All the kids in the middle section were former 6th graders from elementary schools. They didn’t have to wear uniforms at their old schools and now they had to be in an extremely rigid world. This is where they had to get serious about school if they wanted to have a fighting chance in life in this country. Middle school makes or breaks you almost for life here, and the new kids looked appropriately scared. There was a point during the ceremony where the younger kids have to bow to both sets of upperclassmen and in return the upperclassmen nod to them in acceptance. I found the ritual of the whole thing so unique than what’s done back home in the states.
When it was all over, I went to the office. I had to end up hunting down information about my schedule and I finally found out what I needed to start doing for the new school year. Once I met the new English teacher, it really sunk in the Mrs. Jeoung, my old co-teacher, was gone. I had known all along that she wouldn’t be here this semester, but she was such a HUGE part of my life here at my school. I never connected with my other co-teachers like I did her and it’s going to be so evident this time. I have to be way more independent now, and that’s not the biggest thing. I’m going to miss her presence around here. Flat out the woman is a good teacher and students did like her a lot. I don’t need to know Korean to see that. She kept my classes in order and things ran smoothly. I rarely had classes that got bad when she was in them. On a personal note, she was the one person I could talk to on a regular basis and she by far knew the most about me. It may not seem like much, but when you sit in a room full of people everyday and you honestly can’t talk to them because of language issues, you notice when things change. That will be the toughest change to deal with.
Still, I’m looking forward to this. I think the classes will not be as tough to deal with because I have a better idea what to do and how to plan things out. Oh there will be problems. . . . no question. The first thing with the students is that 1/3 of the school population doesn’t know anything about me. The older kids have seen me, they are used to me and at least know who I am. Even if they don’t speak to me that much, they at least aren’t freaked out by my presence. But yesterday when I walked down the 1st year’s hall, the kids all started freaking out as if I had grown horns and started breathing fire. That part will go away, but it’s going to get on my nerves a bit.
But one thing is for sure. I'm going to remember to set my alarm!!!
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