somethings that i've noticed and observed the last few weeks:
1) some of my kids have genuine interest in some of the characters in the story, they have sympathy and actually care about some of the people in the books. in my english chip class we were reading a book called The Earthquake. as you probably surmise, the story is about an earthquake and 2 main characters. Gabriel likes Silvia and they were supposed to go to a movie but for some reason that doesn't happen and he goes to the theatre alone and she goes out to dinner and earthquake happens... Nicky is depicted as a really nice/kind guy.. and one of my girls asked me with a worried/concern look on her face "is Nicky dead??"... i thought she was cute
2) friendship forming: i had a girl that was quiet and shy but really wanted participate and stuff, but she wasn't as confident as other shy kids in my class (because she didn't have friends in the class). so for midterm group activities i put her in a group with 2 other girls that seem to be very friendly and they hit it off really well. ever since then the 3 girls sit together and are pretty good friends... its pretty cool to see it develop
3) kids are very adaptive/observant: we were reading a story, The Secret Garden, and there was Mary who was a girl that was always pist and anti-social. she wore black clothes only, which i associated with sad, serious, depressing, etc for my kids. later in the story she was wearing yellow/orange so i made my kids associate with happiness, energy, etc... and that day i was wearing black, and they asked if i was sad.... hahahah
4) saying "we": so the culture of korea is saying we and our when refering to people and things... kinda like the collectivistic mindset/culture of eastern society... and its interesting to know that i started saying things like that... the other when i was teaching my listening class about american civil war, so their project for the class was compare/contrast the american civil war and the korean war, analyzing the pros/cons of reunification... when i was talking about korea, i was using terms like if we... then our... for them... for us...
5) some people are so dense: i think of myself as generally open-minded, mild-mannered, and nice (maybe not mild-mannered but it sounded nice in that string, but the other two i truly do). so theres never only one way to do things... and its not always the right way and the wrong, there are just different ways. so why can't some people just expand their minds and recognize that...
- exhibition 1: if you know a way to get home by subway that takes 30 mins to get to one of two stations nearest to you place but still have to walk 10 mins or taxi ride wouldn't you want to find a more convenient way to get home?? i am trying to help you out by saying that there are two buses you can take to get home that drops you off right in front of your place, one which takes 25 mins or so with a guaran-f'ing-tee seats, or two 45 mins with a 80% chance of a seat, wouldn't you want to know about it, or just tell me off and say well its nice that YOU know about it... blows my mind
- exhibition 2: step out of your comfort zone, you are not at home... some things people have strong beliefs for or against and that's fine (such as things like being vegetarian-ism, or not drinking), but things like eating spicy food, c'mon people this is korea (its known for that!!). if you had a stomach ulcer, allergies, or weak stomach i wouldn't say anything... but oh i don't like it, step up to the plate homie/homegirl. there are different levels of spicyness in korea (its not just on or off), just like how there are nice people of differeing degrees. and you end up sitting there eating something that the place is not know for so its not remotely satisfying when everyone else is eating something so damn dericious... AND the waitress has to make yours on a different pan instead of throwing everything in the middle of everyone... AND you pay more than us... grinds my gears -.-
