facts and figures

I now have 7 days of teaching under my belt, if I had a belt. Which since I have several lbs of France weight still to lose, no belt is necessary these days. But you get the idea.

In 7 days there have/has been:

2 bloody noses caused by PICKING too hard. Seriously Koreans, why? I've never been anywhere that people have less shame about picking their noses. Kids, grown ups, men, women, it makes no difference. They go up to their wrists and think nothing of it. Gross.

2 other bloody body parts (mouth and a finger, no clue how either happened)

2 days (yesterday and today) where one of my students would not stop touching himself during class. I try to be discreet, and tell him to keep both hands on the table. But as soon as I look away, out of the corner of my eye, I see his hands go right back under the table and start rubbing again. Again I try telling him to stop. Thus far, my attempts have all been futile. We have student books we send home every night for communication with the parents. How to politely word that message? "Your son is disruptive..."

7 questionable (often unidentifiable) school lunches. I think today's lunch was hard boiled quail eggs. Except they weren't boiled in water alone. They were boiled in something I think might have been soy sauce, because they were brown and salty. We also had acorn jelly covered in seaweed. Hungry? Did I mention I am also my kid's lunch supervisor? So I get to serve them lunch, and then eat with them in the classroom (no cafeterias) THEN make sure they brush their teeth after lunch.

1 day without electricity. I don't know why. But when it's 90 degrees and we are having class in a dark room with no AC and I am supposed to be using the projector for the lesson, you can imagine how smoothly that afternoon went.

1 time my hair has been called ugly, at least 10 times I've been told the Korean word for curly, and 1 girl who follows me around grabbing my hair.

Countless times I've been sneezed on. I should really be better about taking vitamins.

7 days when I leave working exhausted, but thinking,"it's better than the alternative"

I don't know what is wrong with my comments. Sorry peeps. I didn't change the settings, they just stopped working sometimes.