Day 2 - or the "day of the teacher" ... or day of the "police"?

So today has so far been much better. I'm on a 2 hour break between my morning classes and my afternoon classes and I felt much more prepared for today's afternoon classes than I was for yesterday's, so I decided to come home for a little alone time in the middle of the day!! I am a very social person, but even I like to have a little space to myself sometime.
So anyway this morning's classes went much better, still a little like pulling teeth to get the older kids to talk, but maybe they will warm up. If not, every day for the rest of the month between 11:55-12:35 I will talk to myself. I'm pretty good at that and even if they aren't listening, maybe osmosis will kick in.
There was one panic moment... I'm alone in the teacher's room (big room, 10 desks, this is where we plan, etc, etc...) and my desk drawers are kinda sticking... well, I force them shut to have my purse be out of view. Then I try to open it. They locked. Luckily I was alone, because I crawled all around that desk trying to figure a way in and started cursing at myself for being so stupid. If something won't close, why do I have the desire to force it???! I tried picking up the corner of the desk and dropping it and pulling and lever-ing it with a ruler and finally I was frustrated and embarrassed and just said screw it. I'll just wait until one of the supervising teachers comes in and say someone else "maybe a student..." shut my desk drawers and now they won't open. At this point my hands were almost raw from pulling. I decided to give it one more try and they opened ... needless to say this desk cannot be trusted and I will not be closing the drawers again any time soon.

Anyway, this afternoon still has an opportunity to be disastrous, as there is a Kindergartner class and we know I am brutal on those kids and am hoping to make 2 cry today. But thanks to you guys for reading and commenting on the positives rather than focusing on the negatives the way I was... I think the best advice I got in a pep talk was "Keep your toenails up and your elbows on the floor and you will have a great day..." There may have been more to it than that, but thanks for the wisdom, Just Jeff. Anyway, I am going to read and decompress for a little while.

So this afternoon was different. After lunch, I had my kindergartner class - which went much better with crayons and things to do - and it turns out they are probably 1st graders, so I may be able to do more with them than color.
Then, between my first and second class I was pulled aside by a man speaken Korean. Angry (I felt) Korean. Luckily Mr. Lee (the supervisor) came up and started talked to him... finally Mr. Lee asked to show my ID. I don't carry my passport with me, because it would be a huge pain if I lost it. The man asks me if I have a Visa - I told him yes, of course. One of the Korean teachers said an E-2. He laughed and looked at me and said "tell me the truth, where is your Visa, your passport, your Alien ID card? What kind of Visa do you have??" At this point I'm starting to panic. Am I going to Korean prison? At worst they would just send me home, right? So I said as calmly as I could "I have an E-2 Visa (long term teacher Visa) at my Apartment. " Now he is getting agitated and saying "ID!" so I gave him my driver's license (which looks nothing like me and reads Hricko. My passport is under the much better name of Lewis. ) My mouth is incredibly dry because the man (officer?) has my whole wallet and is digging through it. He says something to Mr. Lee and the principal (Mr. P) and they ask me to get to my apartment and bring my Passport back. The man starts hassling Heidi (the other American) at this point and she is also sent back to get hers. So we trek to the apartment and back (our classes were being covered) which took about 25 minutes. She is incredibly calm (but then again she's been through this before and I think it was worse because it was in Ghana, Africa. She wins.) and I am panicked and sweaty. I have my marriage license and my marriage certificate and my passport and my social security card. I am picturing weapons (probably batons, but maybe knives!) and 5 more of these angry Korean men and lights and no water...very Korean Law&Order type of crap. We get to the school and the policeman has left. Apparently he was not as concerned as he acted and all the Koreans believe. When I tell this story to my grandchildren, it will involve knives and lights and no water, trust me. For a minute I thought I was coming home. :)

Anyway, we went back to teaching. I was greeted this afternoon by 8 boys saying "F*** you!" and showing me their middle finger.



All in all this was a better day than yesterday, believe it or not.

We may be going out tonight to play some pool or something. I wanted to show you a picture of the nightlife view from my apartment. This is another reason why the curtain was necessary.