email

Subject: hi, finally
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007
dear mom and dad,
hi! oh the cold weather is here already, already!!!! *sigh* i dont leave the house without my coat, scarf, and gloves. im ridiculous.

so we're at the tail end of the term with only a couple of weeks left. i will really miss a lot of my kids: joanne who i have to keep punishing for using her cell phone in class, alex who recently changed his english name to "Tony Hawk," and little Greg who speaks english with a philipino accent :)

one of my middle school classes begged me for a pizza party on the last day, which of course im not allowed to do. i lovingly told them that their test/quiz scores were too low to deserve any kind of party. that day they got me to agree that if everyone scored 7 out of 7 on that days quiz, i would buy them pizza.

As we started to correct the quizzes, holy cow i got nervous! they'd get question 1 right, and the class yells "YEAHHH!!" question 2 right, "YEAHHH!!!" question 3 "YEAHHHA!!" i started sweating by question 5! but alas, tho many of my little geniuses scored perfect 7s, most got a score of 6. *phew!* it was a great motivator, i wish i could buy them pizza. i think im allowed to give gift certificates. maybe we'll have a "note-taking" contest on the last day, and reward whoever finds the most major and minor details in the day's lecture.

so for the rest of that day, every question i asked of the class was answered with "Pizza." they held up signs "Pizza! pizza!" and when i got back from our 5 min break in class, i came back to my desk full of little drawings of mini pizzas. they're so creative! :)

one of the favorite snacks of kids here is ramen raw, like straight out of the package with the flavor packet sprinkled on top, did i tell you all this already? they always get the spiciest one they can find, and then beg me to taste it. i told the kids im not crazy about spicy food, and they went nuts, telling me that here is korea, spicy=delicious.

there's another thing they eat called "dokpokki" it's like super thick pasta noodles cut up into one inch strips and smothered in a hot sauce. the kids buy it during the break and then 5 min after class starts again, they beg me to let them out to get a drink of water. i tell them no, and then they say im so mean b/c i cant help but laugh to see them all at their desks with their mouths open, panting like puppies. hahahahahahaha!!! ~sha