When Kindergartners Attack

Apologies for the hiatus, I caught a Korean virus and just couldn’t shake it.  I was diagnosed with a mild case of Bronchitis, Rhino sinusitis, and a middle ear infection after going to the doctors 3 different times.  I was sick for about a month!  The longest and most exhausting sickness I can remember enduring.  Now, I am finally feeling better and it feels great to have some energy during the days. 

Classes have been fun and eventful since being transferred to my new school.  I have gotten to know some of the teachers and students pretty well.

The English classroom- notice the huge structure in the back.  The students love to sit up there and read...or throw books of it at other students. 

What a welcoming face!  The entrance to my classroom.

When I leave here, I am going to miss the fun moments of the days like lunch.  I seem to be some sort of celebrity with the Kindergartners through 2^nd graders- I guess they haven’t hit that stage where they are too cool to say hello to someone.  Going to lunch though, the cafeteria is a small building behind the school that is attached with walkways.  I walk in the door and if I am early enough to catch the young ones eating, they all scream my name and wave.  “Malia teacher!”  “Yeong-go seon sang nim!” (that means English teacher in Korean)  It’s nice to hear and see them get so excited just to see me. 

Some 1st graders brushing their teeth after lunch at the outside water fountain.
Notice the large fish tanks on top.

After lunch, the younger students and I have started a ritual of feeding the animals.  The Vice Principal is a very handy man.  My Principal defined him as someone “who is good at making things from other people's trash.”

A walkway to the front of the school.

He really likes nature so we have a pond with goldfish and handmade boats, a big cage with bunnies and chickens – in there together, all classes have tadpoles, there are fish tanks spread all around the school, and his most recent project has been creating a nature trail behind the cafeteria.  Aside from the enormous trampoline, I think the nature trail is the students’ favorite thing.  

The pond by the cafeteria.

The fish during feeding time.

One day a couple of weekends ago, the weather was very nice.  The sun came out, there wasn’t much wind, and it was hot!  Since then, aside from occasional rain spurts, it has been very beautiful.  There didn’t seem to be any gradual change between winter and spring- just an immediate jump from one day to the next.  I am definitely not complaining about that.

My school from the front.  The space on the left
 is where the new gym will be placed.

Last week, I went outside to enjoy the nice weather and walk around the playgrounds.  There are two playgrounds: one near the cafeteria and one in front of the school.  I walked from one to the other taking pictures and talking with the students.  Little did I know, I was in for a treat.  The playground near the cafeteria is for the Kindergartners.  Two of them ran into each other and one was on the ground crying.  I went to console her by picking her up- bad move.  All of the other Kindergartners saw me do this and came running over to me asking to be picked up.  I soon had about 10 little kids tugging at my legs and clothes to give them attention while they all screamed at me, in Korean.
I somehow got away and started running and they all chased me.  I guess they thought it was a game.

The Kindergartner's playground and trampoline in the yellow and green tent.

From above- one of the Kindergartners wrapped around my legs
begging me to pick him up.

I tried to turn it around and make it so I could chase them but then all of them ran in different directions and when I went to sit down and they all came up to me telling me to chase them.  I got away scratch- free, just a big green marker stain on my jacket that must have been from craft class before lunch time.  Now I know to stay away from that playground and picking the kids up if I don't want to be bombarded with children pulling at me.

 This is one of the awesome parts of playground that the kids can swing on.

The shed.  It's a secret, but my school is actually Hogwarts!

The side garden.  The hut to the right is where the rabbits and chickens live.

Hollow gourds that my Vice Principal painted
and hung on the walkway to the cafeteria.

Finally, my Principal.  She is a very nice woman but boy does she make all of us work hard.  Our school is small and she expects a lot out of all the teachers- so much that many of them work all weekend and stay at work until 10 at night!  She speaks English very well and loves the language in general so she is always pushing the teachers and students to speak it constantly- which is why I now have a class on Friday afternoons where I teach English to the teachers.  She is definitely a tough cookie and has a good reputation because of it.  She is famous in our city because of her ability to speak English so well and for being a leader of an English program established in our city for our province.  She just arrived at this school in about November but has already gotten approved to build a gym for the school because they didn't have one.  It was started in February and should be done in September!