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Subject: RE: Thank You
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 23:47:04 +000
dear mom and dad,

with obama's win, i have never wanted to be home so badly, i really wish i was in america to celebrate.

this afternoon, my homegirl called and told me the news, and i just really didnt believe her. i then called/txt messaged every brotha & sista i knew, talking about, "It's O-Beezy up in this piece!!!!" i wanted to run around in the streets and scream and sing and cry! but there wasnt much celebrating going on in my town of pyeongchon... i heard that a pub in the foreinger part of town had some festiviites, but i missed it. ah well. most people i talked to cried. i havent yet, im still in shock.

some of my students told me they HATE obama, something about taxes for korea or something... and i tihnk some were just trying to get a rise out of me. meh, kids is kids. we had a small discussion about it in my middle school class, they asked me why people liked obama. i told them about people wanting a change from republican to democrat, some admiring his intelligence (the kids were in awe when i told them obama graduated from harvard), also mentioned about america is supposed to be the place where anyone can go and make their dreams come true, and having a black president can be a symbol of that... then later me and the kids had a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest. i won the first time, and came in 3rd the second time. but i think they cheated!

my seoul family of brothas and sistas here organized a poetry/art/music thing a couple weeks ago. we got together at one of the sista's houses, dimmed the lights, and pretended we were at an open mic a la Sanctuary in love jones. ive only seen love jones one time, i thought it was a crappy movie. for this, friends have threatened to take away my black card. BUT i do enjoy the atmosphere of an open mic like in the movie, so i had a wonderful time. people sang songs, read their own or other's poetry, it was so wonderful, being surrounded by cool people and just feeling unity and love, i forgot i was in korea for a couple of hours. everyone in attendance were english teacher, and a couple of military i think, half the people i knew, the other half i met for the first time that night. it's always great to meet new people. i look forward to our next gathering post election; i think every one of us are obama supporters.

work is going good, this term is over in 2 weeks already! i have really fallen in love with some of the kids this time. ive got one middle school girl named jenny, her english is low level and her voice is sweet, so she sounds like a little girl when she talks. when the class misbehaves, i usually something like they're being "naughty" and that they need to show "proper classroom behavior." i said this to jenny once, and 3 min later she asks me with big eyes and in her sweet little voice, "teacher, really i'm naughty?" i told her no, and then i felt so bad! when the kids are good, answering questions and such, i say, "wow, good job! what geniuses you all are!" to which jenny eagerly responds, "Teacher? Really im genius?" i told her, "yes, youre A genius," reminding her to include the article for proper grammar. now everytime she gets a question right, she says to herself, "Im genius girl." i say, "jenny, youre A genius." Then she says, "im A genius girl." its adorable!