the Calm before a storm, badness on the Rise

it was surprising that today was actually really, really nice. i had to teach kindergarten mostly by myself (trying to quiet down and keep the interest of thirty kids under 6 is daunting in any respect, i think), but i survived! it's actually me conjuring up this post to surmise my day, as far as you know. second grade was easier to handle; three students from the usual 10-12 since we split the classes like it was supposed to be. although, trying to teach bingo is a very difficult task...and fourth grade! new student! forever bingo part 2 with no winners.

I really don't want to be evaluated tomorrow. It's seriously too much pressure..but it'll be over in a jiffy, probably and depending on how long the principal and vice principal stay to watch me , and i'll look back and laugh at how much anxiety i thought i had at the time.

i've come to realize that, despite it all, i adore the children. yeah, i definitely have favorites (i think all the little boys with glasses are absolutely tops..maybe i sympathize the fact they have poor eyesight, but i've always had a fondness for people with glasses); i think the 금반 kindergarteners are my all time faves..maybe tied with the kindergarteners and some second graders at 안의...i totally think there's a second grader who likes me too much...i mean, he's jumped on me, scared me nearly shitless (the sneak-behind-your-target-and-yell-when-he/she-turns-around tactic was employed), and always want to do the dancing singing activities with me. if another kid tried to intervene and do anything with me he gets kinda violent (ie: kicking). and he resembles jonathan taylor thomas. a little.
i would have to say the only aspect of life here i really can't stand is...where i'm situated and sometimes the food. it's interesting how i find that i'm not really as lonely as usual. at least..i think i'm not as lonely. on the outside?

teacher, teacher

i was so stressed today. so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so (yes, i'm typing this) stressed. It turned out all righht. I only really taught one class kinda on my own and it was my favorite: kindergarten~! most of them knew their abcs and could count to ten. that was awesome--plus they are super adorable. i hope to get pictures of them sooonn (i loved this little girl with pigtails~~so cute!! and she would raise her hand and say stuff about stuff from my mini ppt intro). 1st/2nd grade was hard to deal with...those boys were a naughty bunch. dancing/jumping/not participating/playing during the lesson. i tried to discipline/get them in order, but they dared to defy me! god..i'm really not accustomed to being an authority figure and being in the teacher's seat feels so weird (i was about to say wrong). fourth grade is a little better, they understand the englishes quite well. they were singing an "i can" song (it might've been from barney...which i watched today. freaked me out a little). i think next time i could be on my own more, but i get stuck with cristal i'd be a little more relieved and make lesson plans with her. damn, why don't i have a fucking korean scholar? but..it's a helluva lot easier to talk with her and she's teaching me korean.

A conversationalist knows you gotta reciprocate

it was quite pleasant today (except for lunch, i'm really not liking lunch on weekdays). i think a lot of it was attributed to being with crystal during my time at school rather than "david" and his afrocized, froggish teach pal. i actually did some form of work, on my lesson plans for the next week or so. i think it's pretty official: i like the kids at my main school the best. they are mostly

a)cute
b)nice (to me and at least from what i've experienced..)
c)eager to learn english

some, what do call em...read-thru/grammar/spell checks were requested and definitely a bitch to try and fix. it was a lot like high school. i heard a sad story that truly got me on the verge of near tears. i kinda wish i hadn't asked some things..back. i'm wondering how tomorrow will go.

i had a mr. mackey moment and stumbled on this bit (not said by him)--

It is sometimes hard, in times like
these, to understand God's way. Why
would he allow nine innocent people
to be run down in the prime of their
lives by a senior citizen who, perhaps,
shouldn't be driving? It is then that
we must understand, God's sense of humor
is very different from our own. He does
not laugh at the simple "man walks into
a bar" joke. No, God needs complex irony
and subtle farcical twists that seem
macabre to you and me. All that we can
hope for is that God got his good laugh
and a tragedy such as this will never
happen again.

Make ya speaks a good Englisher; unicorns

oh my fucking god. i had my first class today and i didn't think it would be that difficult to do since i sat in & participated in a real class earlier in the day, but--like this doesn't routinely happen--i was WRONG. i didn't know they expected me to just start teaching, getting all the kids together and stuff...it was overwhelming because i was so unprepared...(that fault is all mine). most of those kids, especially the third and fourth graders i had today, were a rowdy bunch who wouldn't listen to me. they really kinda pissed me off. ending my rather horrid day at work was receiving a phone call from a certain somebody i've been meaning to contact and was going to today--it was just so fucking weird that he sorta read my mind/was thinking the same thing, all psychic about it, and i got a ring from him in one of the more awkward locations (ie: in the backseat of a teacher's car while he was giving me a ride home). luckily only one other person was adept in english and didn't know who i was talking to so (and could prolly understand my predicament) he didn't really care. the uncomfortableness got kicked up a notch when i had to have a little looksee at that other english teacher's house. very, very strange because i was still, rudely i speculate, on the phone with that guy.

looking forward to teaching tomorrow? um...at least this time i have an idea in mind.

me and The Wombats

I know I've mentioned The Wombats for a while on my blog (perhaps most notably last year...during august). I don't exactly remember the first time i heard them (2006, maybe?), but i know for sure the first thing i listened to was "lost in the post". it was their band name that attracted me and i became undoubtedly hooked to the catchy lyrics and tunes ("party in the forest" won me over just because of a certain name heard throughout). All right. I missed my chance to see them last august. I tried to see them play in march (horribly thwarted), but managed to see them walking around outside. I didn't have the chance to go all the way to austin, texas to see them (and other awesome bands) at SXSW. So last night was redemption for all the shit i had to put up missing the wombats in the u.s. playing in places near me.

Ok. So i get outta the car. I stand like a ridiculous fool near the box office for the purchasing of a ticket. Crowd of people mysteriously around there and i'm thinking, "shit, are they all up to get some tix?" and i turn to the look to the right a bit. The first thing i notice is some guy who looks familiar and this other guy near him also looking mighty familiar..lo and behold! TORD AND DAN in real life TAKE 2! I seriously couldn't believe it. So i stood like an idiot watching people taking part in conversations with the two wombats. I'd like to believe they looked my way some and i got over it to go stand in line to buy tickets. Brief conversation with some girl regarding the t-shirt i was wearing at the time, doraemon if you care to know,and, lemme fast forward here [--ohh, waiting in line to get in--now waiting for the first act to get on...juvenile kids attempting hipness of sorts--] to the first band. In all honesty, I have no idea what they called themselves (i'm also too lazy to look it up, i guess) and i didn't think they were very good. The only vibes I got from them were metally Led Zeppelin wannabes who looked like a little bit like nirvana (well, like, three band guys were grungy). Sadly, i admit that i felt like bursting out in laughter during their set--i just didn't understand why they were there, i suppose. Band #2: Pop Noir. This was fairly better; it was more dancey and they were slightly better looking (the lead singer=bad ass version of ben from the tellers). In regards to the danciness: Some guy i had seen outside, who had quite the acceptable asian friend with him and was generally rather acceptable himself, shimmied his way close to stage, by me, and continued his shimmying--up against me no less! Also during the set, Mr. Bad-Ass Ben Look-a-Like danced across the stage (comparable to the way the teenagers guy did) and eventually went into the crowd to dance among--he rubbed up against me too! What the hells? Is it 'cuz of my ridiculously smooth arms? Is it? IS IT?? I must admit they are naturally ridiculously smooth, though...Anyway, another interesting aspect of Pop Noir was this weird pipey/woodwinded powered keyboard. That was pretty interesting. Indeed.

Shit, this is turning into some long rabble of irrelevant recounts that apparently have no relevance to what the main focus of this post is which is the wombats. So, here we go, were're getting to the good stuff, we're reaching the peak of orgasm, the high before o'd-ing, the onset of the cheeky, saucy, coquettish, crazy lads finally arrived when the curtains rose and all the young kids (probably girls specifically) squealed in anticipated delight. With my amazing psychic skills, I totally predicted this which really freaked me out, they opened with the "Tales of Boys, Girls, and Marsupials" a cappella.

CHECK IT OUT! MURPH! AHHH!! I much enjoyed the eccentric anecdotes shared between songs (ass-less axel rose pants on Tord). They played all the songs off the album, one i wasn't so aware of, and invited the crowd to grab each other's bottoms. I would've preferred that they play some of their older stuff, like "Summer Hit", "Derail and Crash", "We Don't Mean That Much", or "Caravan in Wales" but maybe those kids around me wouldn't know all those classic Wombats tunes. They ended with "Let's Dance to Joy Division" and it got major crazy with people clamoring on stage, including me. I danced the shit outta that song up there, mere inches from Matt (alas, i didn't touch him or whatever, there was also some guy who worked there trying to protect him or some shit like that). I regret not going around to Dan and Tord during my time on stage. My jamming got cut short when some huge-ass security guy grabbed my arm, pulled me to the side, and almost flung me off there. Scary shit.


Here is a picture of the event described above (me on stage, picture taking, while the security guy was dragging me off). All in all great fun. Mincey was there! Tord kinda high-fived me (he backtracked just to get to me)! Mmm. More free stuff too: poster AND sticker.