November

The weather has suddenly turned to 'really freezing cold'. There was no warning...it just happened, and now it will probably be this way until February. It has already snowed twice, but not enough to make snowballs to throw at any of the foreign teachers here.

There have been 4 more kids camps, and the final 'Travelling Freaky Show' for 2007 has taken place. With 3 of the 5 foreign teachers coming to the end of their contracts, their enthusiasm for teaching appears to be even lower than before. I had my suspicions about this during the various times we have chatted this month. These were the comments that I picked out:

Ellena: 'I'm really winding down now. I just can't be bothered anymore.'
Gerrard: 'I don't care. What are they going to do, fire me?'
BFA Pete: 'You know...my motivation has gone down 50%, and the other 50% doesn't care.' (I heard this repeated to more than one teacher. I think he thinks he is being funny.)

My own motivation, however, seems to be rising day by day...as the time the above 3 people will leave draws ever nearer. Only problem is, Crazy Korean/American will still be here. The more I think about it, the more amazed I am about that. So I try not to think about it.

This week, when the new group of students arrived they were split into 3 groups of 12, as usual, and I was lucky enough to have Crazy Korean/American as my partner for the introductions. The kids were from elementary schools, and were very shy and nervous (as they always are for the first few hours of arriving here). When we met the first group, Crazy K/A picked out a shy looking boy and asked him the following question:
'What country are you from?'
The boy didn't reply, and looked pretty confused. So Crazy K/A said:
'WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU FROM??!'
The boy still said nothing, and looked very uncomfortable. Crazy K/A then said to all the other students:
'He doesn't know what country he is from!! Can someone tell him what country he is from?'
...to which one student replied 'Korea'.
Crazy K/A - 'Very good! Yes...You are from KOREA'. The kid was now completely embarrassed. So was I.

The poor kid was right not to answer. If you go to France and ask a Frenchman what country he is from, he would just stare at you too, cause it's a dumb question. Why does she ask this? She follows this dumb question up with the following...(I know it off by heart as I've heard it so many times):

'I'm from Korea too! I was born in Korea, but when I was 2 my family moved to LA, and I grew up in Hollywood'. This is said with a tone of voice that suggests she believes she is better than all Koreans, because she went to America and 'grew up in Hollywood'! I really want to ask her 'So what the hell are you doing here??'

Another student also became her victim when he said 'What?' to a question Crazy K/A asked him. For the next 2 minutes Crazy K/A went on and on about how rude it is to say 'What?', and that they should say 'Excuse me?' instead. The poor kids are then afraid to speak. She really thinks she is a teacher. I can imagine another sign going up this week. It will read something like this:

DON'T!!! SAY what it is RUDE!!
SAY! EXCUSE! ME!!!
...and don't! take THE markers!
RED STickER. DON't!!
What?

I might make the sign myself and give it to her as a gift. She would be very happy. So I won't.


SPONGEBOB
This is a cartoon character from America (I think). The first I heard of it was when I was in Singapore, and there was an advert on TV for 'SpongeBob Square Pants Live on Stage'. There was a man dressed up as 'SpongeBob Square Pants' prancing around on stage. I know it's for kids, but it was ridiculous nonetheless. So when I arrived here and started teaching, I was sad to find that Crazy K/A always tells the students that she loves SpongeBob. She tells them this during the introductions soon after they arrive. The kids seem to know this character, and also like it. So my mission each week has been to turn them all against SpongeBob. At the start it's pretty hard, as I can't control my feelings about it, and when the kids ask me why I don't like it, I tell them it's because it's just a sponge with a stupid face on it, before miming an action of me tearing it in half and stamping on it (i.e. killing it). However, as the week goes on, more and more students come over to my side. I am getting quite a collection of pictures where SpongeBob has had some terrible accident with a knife, or his friend (which is a Star) has turned against him and killed him. It's amazing what kids can think of if you allow them to use their imaginations. By Friday I have got a large number of kids yelling out that they hate SpongeBob. I feel a real sense of achievement at that time.


One other amazing thing happened during one of the kids camps. Well, not so amazing, more bewildering. When the kids were in the auditorium for the skit performances, a group of them was trying to teach me how to greet someone in Korean. BFA Pete was just infront of us, and he heard them doing this. Guess what he did next?? He stood up, turned around, and said 'No No No No No!' and then corrected their Korean. These were Korean kids, being corrected by a 63 year old American who knows about 10 words in Korean. He told them they were wrong, and told them what they should say. He then sat down, looking very proud of himself. The kids looked pretty surprised, and waited until he had sat down before they laughed...which was too polite of them I think. They then explained to me in a lower voice that Pete was talking a complete load of bollo*&$.