The Monday from hell...

So today my classes were absolutely hellatious. I mean, Mondays are never great, but today was horrible. You know it's bad when 2 of the 3 classes lost all 5 of their class points. *Sigh* The first class was moderately bad -- they were really rowdy and didn't want to listen. The second class actually went ok. But the third class.... oh my. They were so horrible. Talking, not listening, just not paying attention to me at all, even after I yelled at them. Even after the co-teacher yelled at them! Which, btw, I was not ok with -- she made them all stand up and then yelled at them in Korean for 5 minutes in the middle of class. After that I was giving directions again, and then she tried to interrupt and explain in Korean. I told her that I would repeat in English again to which she told me they would not understand, and I said yes they will!! So I did. Then before I know it, she leaves the room. There were still 20 minutes left of class and these students were out of control! Anyway, when she left they got even worse. I made them do 15 push-ups and after that they still wouldn't listen. So I told them I was keeping them all 10 minutes after class, and that I wouldn't start counting the minutes until they were silent. Well, the silence thing went out the window right away -- they weren't listening at all. I couldn't even get them to stay in their seats. Before I knew it, students were sneaking out the back door, and opening the windows into the hallway and jumping out. I was so infuriated!! But I couldn't chase them bc they sprinted away, and I only caught 2 of their numbers... *sigh* So after 10 minutes I finally let them go. Then I walked (nearly in tears) down to the cafeteria to eat. I see the co-teacher that abandoned me already eating. She says "Bethany, I was waiting for you in the teacher's lounge!" And I'm thinking wtf!? "Well, after you left the students were really rude and ill-behaved, so I kept them after class for 10 minutes." Then I gave her the 2 students' numbers that jumped out the window and told them they need to be punished. She told me that after I wouldn't let her explain in Korean, one of the students apparently said some swear word or something really rude to her in Korean, so she just left the classroom. I don't know about you, but I don't think that's a good reason to leave a new teacher who doesn't speak Korean alone with a class that is out of control. Anyway, I was pretty PO-d, at the students and the co-teacher.

Anyway, I left school at 2:30, as soon as I was done grading and proof-reading a students' speech for the upcoming contest. On the plus side, I found another cute answer to the journal question: What is your favorite place to go in your city? Why?

"My favorite place to go is church because when die to go nice sky."

Heehee! Adorable. I wish all my students would be like this -- cute answers and decent English!

After I got home I relaxed, snacked a bit, and read my book to re-energize before dance class tonight!!

Dance class was.....AMAZING!!! It's a good 35 minute walk at a fast pace. I left home at 6:15 and arrived at 6:50pm, for class to start at 7. Well, turns out it doesn't start until 7:20ish by the time everyone gets there, changes, and stretches. There were 12 girls, including me. The oldest, and best, was 19 and couldn't have weighed more than 90 pounds. There was another high school aged girl, and then the others were all middle school. They were all super skinny and super flexible also. They reminded me a lot of when I was at the peak of my "dance career" -- aka, 7th & 8th grade, before puberty! :-P They are all pretty good -- the younger ones are much sloppier and lacking technique, but the teacher is wonderful and has great technique. She will be really great for me to tune up my technique, which unfortunately had gotten rather sloppy at Knox. Like all "familiar" things here in Korea, class was slightly different than normal ballet classes. For instance, usually we all start with our left hand on the barre -- which means that half of the dancers are facing the mirror and half aren't, and then you just turn around for the other side. Well, here they all face the mirror, so half the people start with the "wrong" hand on the barre. Then, for the other side of the exercise, you actually walk around to the other side of the barre!! Crazy. Also, they worked a lot on their diagonals... shoot, I need to brush up on my ballet vocab -- ecarte? Class finished around 8:45, so I hurried and changed and decided to walk back to the apartment instead of paying for a cab or waiting for the bus. It was a nice night out, and the more exercise the better! Most of the way home is along a walking/biking path, so there were many people out and I felt completely safe.

When I got home my host mom cooked dinner for me -- I feel bad, because I had just expected her to cook my food with theirs and I would microwave it. It was squid and green onion Korean style pancakes!! Yum! One of my favs. And of course rice. She asked me if I want kimchi, with a sheepish grin, and I said no thanks. So, I sowed that down and then took a nice refreshing shower. I think I might just end up buying myself a roll of kimbap (sushi) to save her the trouble, especially since it only costs $1. I definitely feel my endorphines pumping and I already feel so much better! Can't wait until I'm in better shape. That's all for now!! Have a great day everyone.