Work, Work, Work?

            Work is fun so far! There’s only one exception: I’ve been warned by a lot of people at my school that, if I’m not mean in the beginning, I’ll get walked all over because kids don’t respect foreign teachers as much as they do Korean teachers. So I’ve been pretending that I care way more than I actually do about small misbehaviors and I’ve been scaring the crap out of little kids left and right. Combining mini-lectures that begin with things like “You do NOT come into my classroom acting like that!” and my death-glare that I have almost perfected is enough to scare the 똥 out of any little kid that crosses my path. I definitely wouldn’t say I enjoy acting like that, but at the same time it’s kind of amusing to me that I am capable of intimidating people since I never knew I could before. On the first day, one little kid said “yes, sir” to me in the meekest little voice I’d ever heard. Poor thing.

Besides being mean out of obligation, though, I think I’m really going to enjoy teaching here. I’ve only worked three days so far, but I’m having a lot of fun with my kids. I spent my last class of today explaining to the kids how I used to fake sick in high school to get out of it. Of course…leave it to an American to teach Korean kids how to slack off. But whatever…I taught them how to fake sick in English so they were definitely learning. Plus, I think these kids work way too hard so they deserve the break if they can pull it off. Anyway, it’s going to be a good year and I'm excited!