From Korea With Love

My, but this week has been busy! I have half a dozen posts simmering in my brain, but have had nary a moment for writing them down. Until tonight. After an afternoon in Temecula meeting up with an old friend I haven't seen in ten years :), I find myself sitting in a quasi-clean livingroom with a son who went to bed early and a husband absorbed with killing bad guys in a place called Utgarde Pinnacle.

So I think I'll let this post out of my brain and onto the page. ;)

As promised, I finally have pictures of my Korean students! Well, sort of. I'm not sure if it's Korean custom to hide your face whenever a camera appears, or if I'm just blessed with seven of the shyest kids around. Either way, you'll have to forgive the faceless photos. I begged. I really did.

This is Chris. My oldest student and probably my least English-literate. How do you know this is Chris? Because I told you. When I asked, politely, for a photo, he simply pulled his hood on and hunched his shoulders even closer to the table. An-young, Chris!

This is April, one of my best writers and also my quietest student. She's new to the US; she just joined my class about a month ago.

And this lovely young lady is Mell. When I asked to take her photo, she said "No!" about a dozen times, then proceeded to cover her face with her hair. She is fiery and opinionated and always asking for help, but is one of the more English-proficient students in class. After she covered up her face, she said I could take a picture. So I did.

Finally! Some brave souls! Left to right: Yuri, Dean, JP, and David. They only agreed to a picture if they could do it together. Safety in numbers and all that. Because apparently, I'm trying to steal their souls. Honestly, by the end of the night, I felt like the pavarazzi.

If I were Robin Hood, these four would be my Merry Men. They love to laugh, love to tease and we do a good deal of both. My private joke with Yuri is that she'll laugh at anything. And it's true. I can look at her funny, and she'll giggle uncontrollably. The boys know this and take advantage of it every chance they get. Then Big Bad Teacher has to step in and say "Back to work, or it's the coal mines for you!" or some such other nonsense. Then Yuri laughs even harder.

Studying does actually occur around here. No, really! It does!

So there you have it, friends. A little taste of Korea, from me to you. Oh, and if you're wondering why Yuri and JP are making peace signs at the camera, that is an Asian custom. My Japanese students did it too. I never figured out why . . . maybe I could ask. And maybe between the laughter, the demands for "Star Bucks!", and the incorrect grammar, I might actually get an answer . . .