Wild and crazy weekend? No, but a good one. Last week was business as usual. I did find out that Father's Day (like the open class we had in November except for daddies) is in April while Mom and Dad are here which is one less Saturday. Disappointing to be sure but it's really forced me to internalize the concept that this trip is for us to see each other, and we'll do as much of that as possible and beyond that is beyond control.
NYU (in their afternoon class) has kind of changed personality from tractable little kindies to afternoon students with a mind of their own. Luckily, I still have enough report to guilt trip them into oblivion, so I have hope that their behavior balances back out, as they're still great kids underneath the ill directed energy. Friday I had another Mom-ish moment when I comforted 3 crying children in the space of 10 minutes. First up was Brian who was crying "because Noah punched me" and then when I asked if anyone else hit someone he nodded and with ruthless honesty, added "Brian" to the list. The two boys held hands and made a solemn vow of peace before scampering off and clobbering each other on the heads again. Next was my favorite student of UCLA, Leo, who was also crying from some tragic playroom drive by punching. We found the culprit and extracted the apology and that was that. Last, UCLA (formerly of Columbia) Natalie had a serious skinned finger incident following a falling toy so she was upset enough I had to just hold her a bit before going off in search of a band aid. Productive 10 minutes, cue Super-Teacher to the rescue and the kindergarten world is restored to rights.
Friday night....yep, Level Eks. It was nice to see everyone, I had some nice conversations with members of the club that I hadn't interacted with very much. We went to the mandu place and I still managed a few pork dumplings despite being full. Saturday was also fun, I hung out with a friend in the morning and defied the neeeeearly spring weather by wearing a dress. My legs are sick of pants and tights, they crave freedom, haha. That night, co-Whittie Reese came over for dinner and I force fed him chile and Phantom of the Opera and had some nonsensical but endearing conversation. As always, it was lovely and fun to spend time with someone from the same background. Great time.
Today was unexpectedly fabulous. I went to "brunch" with my Korean friend Helen from English club. She has a great accent from going to boarding school in Cambridge and uni in London and we drove for about an hour to find this random restaurant. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon drive- slightly rainy, heated seats, and countryside. Korea had a great hair day this afternoon, it looked stunning. There were all of these mountains with nary a Matrix-style apartment complex to be seen. The restaurant was on Taechun River (I think I spelled that somewhat correctly...) and it was absolutely gorgeous. We sat in an enclosed and heated patio and the view just opened up in front of us in all of these shades of gray and green, especially the water. I loved seeing the undeveloped side of the country which is not easily accessible when your transportation is limited to trains and taxis. We had an interesting lunch of salad bar type sides and like 6 kinds of Brazilian style BBQ- we had several cuts of beef, sausage, duck, and pork. Random but I appreciated the protein. During the meal a band played a set of English classics and I especially enjoyed "I Will Be Here"-- yeah Theta! After, we got some coffee from the restaurant and sat by an obliging campfire. The smoke turned out to be not so obliging so we did a quick circuit of the grounds and hopped back in the car. More driving driving driving (God I miss cars...) and we went to another traditional Korean restaurant that was very ornately landscaped with kimchi pots and had another patio with campfires. The conversation was lovely, I felt like for one of the first times since I've been here, I met a Korean with whom I can be a bit sarcastic and caustic without fear of offense. This is nothing against Koreans- I love how warm-hearted they are and I don't want to violate that with an insensitive remark but that barrier was able to come down a bit today. We sat there for a bit before winding our way back home, a leisurely 5 hours after we departed. It was so so nice to elude the clutches of civilization for a bit. I feel rejuvenated.
This week is classes as normal, next weekend I'm heading to Seoul (which I finally learned how to pronounce by the way- not "soul" like Americans say but more "sah-ool" said quickly) for a teacher refresher course. So that's that, love to all!
B
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