A little more of the every day

Going back to some classic Kpop, let's listen to a little Jinusean: Phone Number.

Yesterday in Phonics 2 we had a problem with, guess who, Haram again. He wouldn't participate in class and just sat with his chair pushed back like a bump on a log. This happened after he had lost all his stamps for speaking too much Korean, so I think that was part of the deal, but finally he agreed to play our memory game if I gave him back one stamp. He lost it like 5 seconds later for speaking Korean again, but at least it got him to participate. I found out today that after that class, they fought in the car and Haram got so mad that he walked home. So, needless to say, today we had a big old RJ (restorative justice) meeting with the whole class to get to the bottom of it. I mostly just sat there and tried to understand as much Korean as possible, but I only got that Dongwon was either singing or listening to a song and Haram told him to be quiet/shut up rudely, and then Dongwon later kicked Haram. Not really sure what it was all about because it wasn't translated for me, but the great part is that after the meeting, the last 20 minutes of class went really well. Haram was really careful to write down the homework sentences and write "homework" above them so that he would remember, which is HUGE, so I was super encouraged. Maybe tomorrow will go well!

Yellow class was hilarious yesterday, because Jack, the one boy in the class was not there, so Eileen and Susan were extra silly. There is a song that goes with each unit in the Backpack curriculum, and when we sang it, they decided to create a dance that involved mostly chicken neck bobs and some pharoah-pharoah style hand motions. I wish I could have filmed it. I brought it back in class today, but Eileen wasn't there, so Susan felt too shy to join me. So, I chicken-bobbed and pharaohed it up by myself while Susan and Jack just laughed at me. The things I do to convince kids that I am a fun teacher.

Last night we all went over to Sunny's house for a little welcoming for Kate/goodbye to Janet meal. Sunny's family shares living space with their church, so we ate in their sanctuary area.

The table was long enough to fit all 14 of us, counting Sunny's children. Sunny's husband cooked the bulgogi on a small table in front of us, and we nibbled at the salad as we waited. Everyone ate communal style, none of that American "everyone get your own plate and portion" method. I embarrassed myself with my poor chopstick skills yet again...who knew cucumbers were so difficult to hold? In general I feel I've been getting worse. Even this morning Yoonhyung commented on how badly I was doing. Korean understanding success, chopsticks fail.

The way a meal here usually goes for me is that I attack the food with vigor at the beginning, maybe with too much vigor, and then feel like I ate an entire watermelon in about 15 minutes. Probably not the best plan, but the food is so delicious that you just kind of want to shove it in your mouth as fast as possible.

I just love sitting around talking...well, I guess I don't always contribute much to the conversation but it is just one of my favorite things to just listen, and kind of take in just being together. That's going to sound like cheeseball city to anyone reading this, but however hallmark-card-worthy that sentiment is, I enjoy it nonetheless.

We closed out the evening with singing round the piano and a group photo. It is probably one of the last big dinners we will have before Janet leaves on Sunday, so it was a little bittersweet.
But tonight we will have another girls night, watching the Bacherlorette, eating snacks and drinking wine, so we're still stuffing in the memories together.

I hope this doesn't all sound too much of the same to you all!
Thanks for reading!
-Abby