Life

Oh my goodness, I couldn't love my kindergarteners more! They are so sweet and I love all of them. We're in Eagle class, so I have 18 little 'eagles'. We have a whole range of characters. I don't think I could chose a favorite....

James gives me lots of hugs and says 'I love you, teacher!' a lot. Alex is always up to some sort of crazy trick, and loves laughing really loudly. Eugene is petit and precious, yesterday he wore jean shorts and a pink polo. Sue wants to hold my hand all the time, and goes out of her way to try to speak in English with me. John is hyper active, but wants to succeed deep down. Emily reminds me of China not only because she loves Hello Kitty and matches her hair bows to her outfit, but because she is a very hard worker and achieves at anything she tries. Eugene loves Emily, but Emily doesn't love him. Sigh.

I could go on and on about my students. I love them all and for very different reasons, and can tell this is going to be a great year. As I get to know them better, I understand their personality quirks more and more, and can better tailor my lessons to them. I haven't even been with them very long, but you can see real progress already. They all call me Sarah Teacher, which is considered very polite in Korea. It was kinda awkward at first to respond to that, but it's growing on me. They are just like a regular kindergarten class -- they love singing, playing, coloring and being silly. They are not fluent in English yet, but their understanding is very high and their speaking skills are creeping up. I think for the most part they are all highly motivated about learning, and want to succeed.

My first day in Eagle class everyone except John and Joshua colored their girl in the story with yellow hair. John chose blue and Joshua crumpled his up. We also sing a song at the beginning of the day called 'The Color Song' and basically it repeats the line "Stand up if you're wearing green today, green today, green today" with all the different possible colors. Everyone always stands up for black and points to their hair, and then most of the boys laugh at me because I can't stand up. I should laugh at them when yellow comes along. They think my differences are very funny/enthralling. At lunch one day Emily looked at me and says, "Sarah Teacher! You have blue eyes!! Wrong!!" It caused quite a stir at the table. :)

More about my yellow hair -- I had a surprise meeting with the parents today. They forgot to tell me yesterday, and when I showed up to school today Sonya told me about it. I kinda freaked out. I was thankfully dressed nicely ... green circle skirt, white blouse and gold shoes/jewelry. (Fridays we are allowed to wear jeans and I had contemplated it that morning.) I left during circle time and met with about half the parents. None spoke English except Andrew's Dad, but my principal translated for them. I think it went really well! To get back to the yellow hair! I was told later they mostly just wanted to look at me and make sure I 'looked' like a good American kindergarten teacher. Last month another class had their teacher fired because she looked middle eastern. The parents yeild a lot of power around here.

I've been filling my apartment up slowly but surely, and it's become kind of a hilarious jumble. I got two sets of shelves the other day from a girl moving back to Maine, and on the way home the taxi driver kept yelling at me. I think he was worried about the leather tearing on his seats because of the shelves? Anyways, I usually tell taxi drivers my metro stop, and then I've figured out how to direct taxi drivers to my apartment directly (it's about 2 blocks away) but I didn't want to have to deal with that with this guy. My Korean is not so sharp, and dealing with someone who is already angry didn't seem like fun. So he let me off at the metro stop, and I thought I could just take the shelves and walk back. No chance. Earlier, I had carried one set of shelves to the taxi, and the girl I bought them from carried the other. The one she carried was really freaking heavy!! I could carry it, but not both at once. So, I did the only thing I could do and carried one about 10 feet, went back, got the other one, carried it about 10 feet past that, went back, got the other one, carried it about 10 feet past that, went back got the other one.... blah blah blah. I was laughing so hard I was almost in tears. I can only imagine what kind of spectacle I was making of myself. It took me about an hour to get home!! (It should have taken about 10-15 minutes.) There is a nice lady who owns a restaurant on the corner near my apartment, we say hello to one another when I walk past everyday, and so when she saw me she pantomimed for me to leave one set of shelves with her. I did that, walked all the way home with the really heavy one, struggled up the stairs (I live on the third floor, no elevator) and then went back and got the second set. I am still laughing about it.

Ah! I got a CAT! His owner was an English professor at a university here, and decided he had to give him up because he was traveling too much. I got him for free, plus all his accessories. He is a pure bred, snow white Persian. He is so fluffy it's ridiculous. I wanted a girl cat so I could name her Iris (the state Flower of Tennessee), but instead I've named him Muhammad Yunus, King of Nashville. Nash for short. He's a real lover.

Erin, my friend from UVa, joined some supper club thing with American Ex-Pats, and so I tagged along with her the other day. We had a great time hanging out with the other Americans. Most are working for real companies here, not teaching, so they are on a slightly different budget than we are, but it was still a lot of fun. (I spent in one night what I had budgeted for an entire week on dinner ... oops) One girl, Anna, has been here for about 5 years, and knows all the great sites. She is really smart and knowledgable, and I'm excited to go exploring with her more. She says when she first got here she spent way too much money seeing the sites, so she wants to show me the cheapest and funnest way to do it. I'm in!! PLUS!!!!! She loves to rollerblade. I am in heaven.

I went out last night with work people and had a great time. I'm younger than all of them by at least 3 years, (most more) but they are all really great down to earth people. They call me their baby. (In a sweet, let me take care of you way ... not a patronizing way.) Peter, my principal's assistant who picked me up at the airport, came and I couldn't stop laughing. Imagine the most awkward person you've ever seen, who doesn't really speak English, dancing with a bunch of Americans. He was even wearing a pocket protector and carrying his briefcase from work. I requested 'American Girls' by the Counting Crows. :)

I'm going out tonight with TJ and his friends. (TJ is from Orlando and went to Bishop Moore!) He's in the US army, and really really nice and welcoming. He's friends with tons of foreigners, soldiers and teachers, so he's been introducing me around. I love the social scene here. It's such a motley crue of expats. People I would never expect to see or talk to suddenly become friends. One of my favorite things about traveling is meeting other ex-pats and hearing their stories. Most are older than me, and have been abroad for years, in various different and exciting locals. I love hearing their stories, it makes me look forward to where my next step might be.

I met a guy stationed here from Chattanooga and almost had a heart attack. He wasn't nearly as excited as I was, and was kinda dull, but he was really cute and so Southern. I have actually taken to introducing myself as being from Nashville because it really feels more like home to me than Orlando. I miss Nashville like crazy, and Amy and I talk about it all the time. I have been thinking about the concept of home a lot lately, and have kinda decided it's definitely more of a feeling than a place. Perhaps it's just wherever you hold the best memories.

Love you all and talk to you soon. I'd love to hear what you are all up to in your lives. Also, come and visit me!