No Such Thing as a Patience Pill

I just finished Day 3 of teaching. You'll be happy to know that I am, in fact, still alive and kicking. Teaching is tough for different reasons than I initially thought. I don't think the kids are bad. The language barrier interferes a little, but it mostly acts as comedic relief. I just never thought I would get so tired. It seems that each class just kind of sucks the juice from me. And, since I am the new kid and I have a very unique position in the school, I always have to have my On-Face. It's like I'm being graded every second that I am out of my apartment. And even when I get home, I am still a guest. I still have to be "On." It's not that I'm complaining about it (I realize that this might sound a bit whiny). It's just that I'm learning just how much it takes. Nothing in life is easy. There is no patience pill or time stopper. So you just have to figure out what you need from you to make it through the day, week, month, year.

I also developed this annoying little habit of trying to see how everything can be a lesson. Ahhh! Is this how teachers think!?

Okay, on to the good stuff from my first few days of teaching. I teach three kinds of classes: all-levels freshman, split-levels freshman and all-levels sophomores. High schools only have three years here, so the only students I do not teach are the seniors. All-level classes means that the classes are mixed with beginner, intermediate and advanced English speakers. The split-level means that they are divided by ability. So, in sum, I see each freshman twice a week and each sophomore once.

In my "all-level" classes, we played a game that required the students to write down six facts about themselves. Here are some of my favorite answers:

"My favorite food is hot fish water"

"Random fact: I am handsome"

"Random fact: I am Jesus"

"I want to visit Hell"

"My name is Harry Potter." (This was a girl. Her Korean name is Hah Rae Paht)

"My name is Madonna"

"My name is David Beckham."

"My favorite hobby is kissing."

There are dozens more, but those were especially good. Another funny encounter:

Student: "Teacher, you look like Hilary..." she paused and I thought, "Please, please don't say Clinton." But she finished with "...Duff!"

Me: [Very much relieved that I wasn't confused with a 61-year old politician] "Thank you!"

I received my scooter today. Yikes! I am a little nervous! The past few days I have been using a happy little bicycle, but I have traded it in for a happy little moped.

Not gonna lie, it was a little interesting the first time I took it out. But, I woke up early this morning and practiced, so I think I got it now.

Well, I started this post Wednesday afternoon. It is now Thursday morning. Yikes! Busy busy! Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll post more soon... :)