On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I "teach" monsters. They are mostly all seven years old, wild, disrespectful, unable to speak any English, and I dislike most of them. One howls like a wolf whenever I try to say "be quiet". Another regularly takes naps under his desk on the floor, and is unresponsive to any sort of remonstration, other than the 13 year olds I sometimes employ to "give 'em shit" in Korean. And yet another little bastard spits on me and tries to bite me whenever I drag him out of class for being an irritating little shit.
So it was with great joy that I managed, on Tuesday, October 24, to convince my boss to give me half a day off in order to pick up my mom from the airport. My mom had amazed me... before this, she had never ventured outside the borders of North America. But after hearing about Dad's adventures here this summer, and of course the stories and photos of an ever-growing Joe, she was convinced to make the trip here herself.
Unfortunately, we were unable to take any time off work during the 2 1/2 weeks Mom visited. But we made several trips into the city (to Namdaemun Market, Insadong, Gyongbokgung Palace, Itaewon... all the big tourist stops). But we all knew the real reason behind her visit... it was not to see Korea, nor really to see Matt or me... no, it was all about Joe.
2 comments:
Just love how you have the word teach in quotations marks rather than monsters. There's the truth. I taught a kids' class in Korea for four years and they wore me out. A Korean TA was regularly called in to distribute the corporal punishment part of their education. It's such an amazement to me how they grow up to be so self-disciplined and successful.
I was just thinking about how your mom cooks such awesome food and thought when they come home I am making hanna take me to her mom's house for supper.
OH my name is minnow and lou because pete is in australia and I pretend I am the cats posting on his blog.
farideh
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