So, what's an average day at SLP like?

Tuesday, March 21st:

9:30 (that's AM, folx) - I arrive and start trying to put together the shit I'll need to teach my pre-schoolers.

9:40 - Sophia, one of my fellow teachers and the sort of 'pit boss' of our crew tells me that Joanne-teacher, my co-teacher, won't be here today b/c she's sick. One of the experienced afternoon teachers, Joey, will fill in.

10:00 - I go upstairs and try to lasso a bunch of little crazy gremlins and get them to change theirs shoes, put their bookbags away, and sit in their seats.

10:10 - I'm halfway through the ridiculous morning song/'warm up' routine, in which I and one of the kids leads the rest of the class in a mostly mumbled rendition of various kids' songs. If video of this ever surfaces I may have to move away from civilization.

10:30 - I escort the kids, in a semi-line, to the bathroom for the first of what will be many bathroom breaks during the day. We do this like every half hour, for four hours, seriously.

10:45 - I realize that the struggle to teach the kids how to act out a scene and introduce their friends with the complex phrase "Hi, this is Myung bin," has been in vain.

11:00 - 11:25 - Break Time! Fuck yeah! The kids get to play for a bit.

11:15: I'm watching my class as well as Joey's b/c he has to go get some material ready. Yoon Hee rushes out to me in the hall, gives me a pathetic and desperate look, and then proceeds to pee all over the fucking place. Shit no! At first I start to walk her towards the bathroom, but that's quite a hike and she's dripping the stuff everywhere, so I let her finish, then we stroll over. I leave here there and grab a mop to go clean up.

11:45: My kids definitely know the difference between p/q, b/d, m/n, etc. So how to spend the remaining 10 minutes of Activity time?

11:55 - 12:40 - Lunch/play time. Fuck yeah!

12:40 - 1:10 - I repeat the same boring activity, but in Horse (Joanne's) class. These kids are pretty dumb and they're all riled up after lunch, so it takes a good bit before I get some response on the b/d question...

1:10 - 1:40 - Instead of story time today we have a birthday party! Fuck yeah! It's graham crackers and tangerines for everyone, plus a pretty sweet chocolate cake with these kiwis on top...nice.

1:40 - 2:00 - I try to clean up after the munchkins, get them to put their shoes, coats, and bags on, and of course I forget to do the wrap-up (summary) for the umpteenth time in a row. Then I escort them downstairs where they line up to board their bus and also to run around, kick and punch each other, and scream at the top of their lungs.

2:10 - 3:40 - I spend 10 minutes prepping for my afternoon classes, walk down to the corner Tostore with AJ and get something to eat, then spend the remaining hour or so figuratively twiddling my thumbs.

3:40 - 4:20 - My honor's 2.1 course. For level two these kids are fucking Einsteins. But they can also be little bitches, too, and today I'm being observed by Julia, one of my bosses. The lesson today's not that interesting, either, I mean you can only talk so long about the different kinds of clothes you wear in the different seasons. I thought I did pretty good based on what I had to teach, and Julia did too thankfully...she said to me later "It seems...you are, very patient teacher." I didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or not, so I did...but maybe I do put up with too much shit from the brats. You gotta slap em around (figuratively speaking) every now and then or they won't be afraid of the hammer coming down sometime. Something to work on, I guess...

4:20 - 5:00 - A regular level 2 class, with only 5 students, but it's still a bear to teach. These kids are soooooo dumb and soooooo afraid to talk...the only two who do pipe up like to fight with each other, too...but today it went ok. We played a game, they were happy, I was happy b/c things went a little more quickly...

5:00 - 5:50 - I spend 15 minutes planning preschool for tomorrow and then dick around on the computer, stare at the wall, or count the hairs on my arm...anything to pass the time.

5:50 - Quitting time! Fuck yeah!