They're cute, but goddamn....

One month down!  Been Teaching a Hoedong Elementary School in Busan for a month!  Hard to believe four weeks could fly by so quickly!  It feels as if I just got here! (Of course I was saying that after having been here a year) Simply amazing!

So one month in, it's time for a status update:

Put simply,
I NEVER WANT TO HAVE KIDS!!!!!!!

I enjoy working with my students, they're young, energetic, they absorb information, and you can easily make fun of them when they get whiny.  Then they laugh and you get back to work.

Except first grade.

I'm losing my hair over first grade.
Sure they're cute, they love me, they run in screaming "MYKHA-ELL TEACHAAA!  MYKH-ELL TEACHAAA!" everyday.  They're cute, friendly, and LOVE to jump around with me.
But goddamn they know NO English!
Moreover teaching them 6 times a week with no Koran co-teacher is a special kind of 40 minute hell at the end of everyday.  When the bell rings for them to leave I'm so releaved, and wave goodbye with a smile as I survey the wreckage of my classroom.

Cute and maddening, I suddenly want to write to all my old Elementary school teachers and sincerely apologize for acting like a jerk in class as a kid.  Not that I did it often, but hey, as a kid you do stupid stuff that we learn to be ashamed of as an adult (at least while sober).

My situation at my new school isn't bad, in fact it's damn near ideal to what I wanted, but as with all good intentions you find them leading you to rather different locations than you'd anticipated.
You'd think that a school that invested in bringing a foreign teacher from the other side of the world who doesn't speak the local language would come up with a better way to utilize that teacher than to strand him in a class full of little kids unable to communicate.  However, this is exactly what they've done.
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a fan of kids.  Sure they're cute, but like wild animals, I enjoy them most from a distance.  I've never been comfortable with younglings, maybe that's a result of growing up the youngest in a big family.  I've always been trying to grow up and play with the big kids.  Now it's time to regress to grade school and I find I'm constantly drawing a blank for how to respond or act.  Sure smiling goes a long way, but I'm still at a loss for what to do and how to treat my young students.  I can't even fathom why so many of them are happy to see me, sure I smile, I'm foreign, and I give out stickers, but it's more than that and I just can't figure it out.  For some reason that bothers me, because I don't know what to do with these buggers.
Specifically, my first grade boys.  The girls are great!  They tend to listen and understand more, they participate in games and do worksheets well.  However, four out of six boys are recalcitrant and refuse to do any of the activities.  Granted the reap none of the rewards, it leads them to wander around even leave class while I'm teaching.  Granted my Korean vocabulary is rapidly expanding with classroom commands such as "Ha-jima!" (stop it!) "Iri-wa!" (Come here!) and "YA!" (hey!/shut-up).  This is bringing better results buuuuuuuuut still not a controlled class.  I'm experiencing just how green I still am as a teacher and how little I know about learning with young minds.  They're still learning the basics of operating in a classroom, learning English is far and beyond most of them.

Yet, in spite of my lack of confidence and experience.  I trudge on, because I have to, and because life is about overcoming fears and challenges.  As sad as it sounds, learning to deal with kids is a fear I want to overcome, not unlike my fear of drowning, or falling to my death (and yes, these fears are on the same level that's how I feel about kids).  It's slow going, but I feel that as I continue to struggle I am formulating different goals and opportunities for my new set of students come January, when I'll have the chance to start fresh with a new batch of kids that I can train properly.  I'm reminded of how difficult it is to introduce new teachers in the middle of the school year, and how strange it must be to students to have a continuous cycle of new foreign faces in their school.
Teaching in South Korea continues to present new challenges, and though there are days I want to rip my hair out and scream bloody murder, my life here is still better than I could have hoped for!  Life here is exciting,  full of wonderful opportunities and friendships.  I am constantly busy with places to go, people to see, and things to learn.  I'm happy to begin my teaching career abroad because of these distractions.  Because nothing is quite as soothing as ending a bad day by meeting friends for beers and Korean bbq.  This place is still so strange and beautiful I can't help but wonder how I would cope with teaching back in the States without these wonderful friends and distractions.
For all the grief I give it, Korea is the perfect place for me to cut my teeth as a teacher.  One month down.... let's see how the next 11 go!