He confessed

Remember Myeung-Sung, the boy that loves me? Today he actually confessed. It went a little something like this:

Myeung-Sung: Teacher, give me candy?
Me: Why should I?
Myeung-Sung: Uh, Teacher, please give candy.
Me: Where is my candy? You never give me candy.
Myeung-Sung: I give you love.

So I gave him a piece of candy - after I made him ask politely and correctly. It's the first time anyone has ever told me they give me love.

Auguste Rodin

Amber, Hannah, and I went to the Seoul Museum of Art on Saturday and basked in the glory of their Rodin exhibit. Rodin created well known masterpieces like The Thinker and The Kiss, but he also has a lot of other pieces. His sculptures are beautiful and unique. My favorite one is called The Eternal Idol which is below.
I find the pose and arrangement of this statue very intriguing. I also think it is tender and lovely. It was a day well spent at the museum.

Good things happen

My "I hate Korea" moment did indeed quickly fade. The last couple of days at work have been long, but pretty good (except when I caught two girls listening to their MP3 players instead of me, but I won't dwell on that.) And it's Friady!! Wahoo!!

Yesterday in class I asked the students, "If you could go to any country on vacation, where would you go?"

Girl: England.
Me: Why England?
Girl: No, Chris.
Me: Who is Chris?
Laughter from students.
Girl: Teacher, not Chris, Chrisssss.
Me: What? I am so confused.
Girl: Not go to England - go to Chris.
Me: Ah, Greece.

I have one girl student, Na-Kyeong, who is probably the sweetest student I have. She listens in class, she answers questions, she comes to talk to me in my office, and she even let me have one of the anime pictures drew - it's hanging up in my office. Today I gave her a piece of candy (remember that post I made about the power of candy? It so true.) After I gave it to her, she hugged me, told me she loved me, and kissed me on the cheek. First time to be kissed by a student. I was taken aback but she's cute.

Um...

I feel like I should post something because I haven't said anything in a week. Let's see - monsoon season has started. Which means it's hot, humid, and then randomly pours rain. Awesome. I've given up looking cute for the next two months and my hair will always be in a pony tail.

I'm exhausted. Summer session has started, which means because I work at an academy and there is no such thing as summer break I get to teach more classes. So now I'm teaching 30 hours a week - some days seven hours straight. It's tiring.

In one of my classes yesterday I was asking the students a whole bunch of questions; random things like "if you were stranded on a dessert island, what three things would you take?" and "if you could have a super power, which one would you want?" Toward the end of class I decided that they needed to ask me some questions - that is after all part of conversation. I'll admit I opened myself up for it, but I thought they would take note of the kind of questions I was asking. They did not. The first three questions were:

1. How old are you? (not that bad - I answered honestly)
2. When are you getting married? (slightly worse - I said I don't know)
3. Don't you want to lose some weight? (I was flabbergasted by this question. Sometimes Koreans have no concept of what the rest of the world is like - and it was just rude. I answered, "I'm not Korean," and moved on from there. After class I told the boy he should never ask that to non-Koreans because it's rude and they would get offended. I'm not sure if it sunk in or not.)

Luckily the rest of the questions were fine. But I had a "I hate Korea" moment when the third boy asked me that. Luckily it has passed. Here's hoping for more respectful students today.

Age is just a number

On Wednesdays I have a conversation class at the elementary school with two girls - Julie, age 12 and Ju-hyung age 10. These girls are pretty funny. They've argued several times about who is cuter - Jacob or Edward - from the Twilight series. Julie is team Edward, Ju-hyung is team Jacob. But today they actually agreed about something. They agreed that a Korean actor, Kang Dong Won, is handsome. Here he is:
After they showed me his picture online the conversation went a little something like this:
Me: You are right, he is handsome.
Ju-hyung: Teacher, he is most handsome.
Julie: He is mine.
Me: How old is he?
Julie: He is thirty.
Me: Isn't he a little old for you?
Julie: Teacher, age is just a number.

Smart answer, kid, smart answer.

Excuse Me?!?!?

Me: Okay class, I want everyone to tell me what you did over the weekend.
Most of the class: I played computer games, I watched TV, I didn't to anything, blah, blah, blah (they're always so excited to tell me things and expand so much... NOT).
One cute 12-year-old boy student: I slept with my friend.
Me: What?!? Oh, you mean you slept at your friend's house?
Boy student: Yes teacher, that's what I said.

I almost had a heart attack. But don't worry, I'm still alive.

Meet Myeung-Sung

Myeung-Sung is on of my students and I'm pretty sure he has a crush on me. Examples: he once tackled hugged me (this was slightly awkward), he told me I have to stay in Korea until he graduates from college, he once wrote on the chalk board "Teacher I miss you," he's given me food on several occasions, and somehow he got my cell phone number and texted me on Monday night (this was pretty impressive seeing as how his English skills are not the greatest).

So there he is, the boy that loves me. But why is it that only a 14-year-old boy loves me and not an actual adult man? Hhmm, pity.

Beautiful Boracay

My vacation to Boracay Island, Philippines went a little something like this: walked on the beach, read on the beach, swam in the ocean, went sailing, went horseback riding, drank a fruit smoothie every day, ate on the beach, got a massage, watched beautiful sunsets, star gazed, and basically just relaxed.

It was beautiful and I really enjoyed it.