- I was trying to finish reading a news article before first class started. About 15 seconds after the 9:10 bell rang to signal the start of class on Tuesday, a cute little 8 year old kid poked his head into the teacher's office and gave a quick clap, as if to get my attention and say "Chop chop. Let's go, Mendoza" and quickly left. He did not seem pleased.
- I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time EVER. I know this has nothing to do with Korea, but holy crap, I don't know what took me so long. I love the Coen brothers; I love Goodman; I love Buschemi; I love Bridges; I love Julianne Moore, John Torturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, AND Peter Stormare (the hilarious Russian astronaut from Armageddon). Hell, even Flea is in the movie! It's flat out hilarious, trippy, and oddly rather insightful. I'm so disappointed with myself for taking this long to get around to it. That rug really did tie that room together.
- I saw kids playing a version of Red Ass outside, except instead of throwing a tennis ball at someone's butt, they kick a basketball. They go all out over here.
- On Wednesday we had our second staff (Korean) volleyball tournament. The first time around, I "won" a toothbrush; this time, I won mouthwash. I think they're trying to tell me something. Thankfully, they let me use my hands instead of my feet this time, so I was actually able to contribute and not make an ass of myself.
Two highlights of the night:
1) a highly energetic and insanely loud fellow from the office jumps to try to give the ball a dramatic JCVD style kick, but it sails way too high and he falls flat on his ass. The entire gym died of laughter.
2) On a match point that would advance the winning team to the finals, one team thought they'd managed to stay alive and keep the score 20-18 and started celebrating prematurely in front of the net. Meanwhile, a guy from the other team had actually managed to make a miraculous kick to send the ball clear over their heads. They didn't even realize they'd lost until the entire staff was once again leaning on each other to keep from falling in hysterical laughter.
- The office gave me a $50 allowance to go out and buy a new pillow after my co-teacher saw me constantly rubbing and craning my aching neck, so after work on Wednesday, my co-teacher took me to the mall and I bought an amazing memory foam pillow that works miracles. It only cost $47, so at least I saved the school $3.
- One of my Wednesday Grade 3 classes burst out in dance as they decided to follow the choreographed routine of the CGI kids on the screen singing the "Hi, I'm Uju" song. I expect a full out dance off by the end of the term.
- Teacher: What kind of club do you want to join at school?
Student: Nightclub.
This kid is going to grow up to be trouble.
- The instructions to "How Many?" are simple: Mr. Mendoza has a treasure chest. Write down three guess--three numbers from one to ten--as to how many of a certain item he has in his treasure chest. When every team has written down their guesses, ask him, "How many (item) do you have?!" as loud as you can and raise your whiteboard above your head. Then Mr. Mendoza will reveal that he has, say, 7 rulers in his chest. One particularly artistic student on Team 4 guessed one ruler. Rather than write the number one or spell it out, though, he chose to represent the numerical value with a lovely drawing of a middle finger. He did not have a good morning.
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