thank you, uh... i'm not korean (?), thank you, next question, how tall? 172 cm, no, no way.
90% of the student population at my middle school is male. Their favorite adjectives? "Pretty" and "Beautiful". My first introduction to the students involved 10 boys pointing through the classroom window and screaming those two very complimentary words, followed by a stampede through the door which led to the line of questioning listed earlier. While I was warned that all western teachers are subjected to the same overt enthusiasm, with the same adjectives, the novelty has yet to wear off. I giggle constantly :D
Regarding the obvious gender imbalance, I asked my co-teacher, "How the heck did this happen?!" (I was a bit gentler, of course, but really??) Her response? "Most of the girls are sent to girls school until the school is filled. The rest of them are sent here." I asked whether any of the girls find that to be, uh, upsetting. She said, "No! They are always happy!" I try to remember that when I look across my classrooms of 38 boys and 2 girls. I'm sure they're happy.
Wonderfully, my students' enthusiasm is not limited to giving compliments. In fact, they exhibit their zest for life by careening through the hallways between classes, wrestling, punching, holding hands (boys with boys, girls with girls), punching while holding hands, stumbling, and shrieking. LOUDLY. They also enjoy a full ten minutes between each class, which allows for a considerable build-up of energy in the halls. I'm in full support of the chaos. As long as nothing breaks and they sit quietly after the bell rings, I think it's healthy. American school kids could benefit from a little MMA between classes.
On the topic of athletics, I was asked to feature sports in my home country to break up the monotony of textbook work. Each class appeared to thoroughly enjoy listening to the first 30 seconds of Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" and viewing photos of infants wrapped in Terrible Towels. "Repeat after me, students: Terrible Towels". Students, "Terriber Towrers!" Uhhh... they're working on it. The same goes for my name, since the Korean characters that most closely spell "Bethany" are pronounced "Pesany". My co-teachers gave me a heads-up that the students might find it a bit humorous, since "sany" is a bargaining term. It means, "how cheap?"
wonderful.
I, also, am working on my language abilities. I have officially registered for a free Korean language class that will meet at Chonnam University twice a week for the next three months. Yes I'm intimidated. I've found that, while I'm spectacular at parroting, nothing sticks. I've also devoted virtually no effort to making any phrases stick, so there may be hope for me yet, provided I put in the effort and so on and such.
I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress :)
Love,
How Cheap Hazelnut
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