PTA + Me = Boring :[

BIG NEWS: My hair straightner is working again, just when I thought all hope was lost. Sorry, that had to be shared. So, Mrs. Kim picked me up at 8:20 a.m. this morning just like every other morning she's picked me up. On the car ride to school she tells me that classes are starting at 8:40 a.m. this morning instead of 9:00 a.m. because there was a PTA in the afternoon. Great, and I didn't even dress-up as good as I could have. Anyways, this is where all the teachers get introduced to the parents and the princpal talks your ear off. I was like, awesome, I get to sit through an assembly with a bunch of Koreans who speak Korean and pretend I know what is being said...Can't wait! Well, the morning went by pretty fast, which was good because I only had four classes of 5th graders and just wanted the PTA to be over with. Well, I loved the grade 5 classes today. I think they are my favorite grade so far, but I haven't been introduced to the 3's or 6's yet. The 5-7 class was by far my favorite and their homeroom teacher is a "cutie". I think he might be my Korean teacher crush, maybe I will make him my KFC...just kidding mom ;) One day I will sneak a picture of him to post on here and show you. In the 5-6 class one of the students speaks AMAZING english...yes the amazing deserved to be all capitalized because he is just that good. He was so cute too because Park Jung-su thought he had a question for me during my introduction period, but he didn't and he was so confused, so standing there he was like, "I don't have a question, should I introduce myself?" I was like, you are adorable. Now, back to the 5-7/cute teacher class, I forgot to mention it in an earlier blog that skin whitening is huge here. So, I walk into this class and I notice this kid sitting at the very front who, honest to god looked like a mime. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud and realizing that in Korea it is cool to look like Michael Jackson...who knew he would start such a huge trend, it's really kind of scary. Anyways, I couldn't stop staring at this kid the whole class and I was sitting at the very back. Perhaps he wasn't face whitening, but did it ever look like it. P.S. I got to sing Simple Simon four more times today! That song is kind of catchy. Lunch today was very good. I never thought I would say that about cafeteria food, but every single part of it was good. There was my favorite, fruit salad with yogurt dressing, rice as usual, kimchi, which tasted good today, and dried fish. Not sure what type of fish it was, but it tasted damn good. The principal even went out of his way to come over to the table I was sitting at and wave and nod hello to me; how nice of him. After lunch, I hung out in the office until the PTA. I drew pictures on pieces of paper for a game I will be playing with the 5th graders for the rest of the week. The pictures took me 2 hours to draw, color and photocopy. I thought I did a grand job, as did Jiny and Jung-su. I had to take pictures of my artistic skills, so here are two. You can see why I'm meant to be a teacher. By the way I didn't know I had that kind of ability to draw. I know, they are pretty amazing, and yes they were all free hand. Then came time to head to PTA in the gym. All the teachers sat in the front row, which was a very long row and waited and listened. The assembly started off with us all standing, hand on heart and listening to the Korean National Anthem, which I'm sure is the Stars Wars theme song at some points. That was followed by a song that every one in the gym sang and was conducted by one of the 6th grade teachers. Then we all bowed our heads to a song that could have been "Somewhere over the Rainbow" if played a bit slower.The principal and vice-principal got introduced and then the vice-principal took over and introduced every single teacher to the eager audience of Korean parents, some of whom dragged their poor children to the assembly. I was the very last teacher (save the best for last) to be introduced and I must admit I was nervous. Then we all sat back down and listened to the principal give awards to parents and teachers, I have no idea what they were for because of the whole Korean language thing and then the prinicpal pretty much talked everyone's ears off for about 45 minutes. I picked the nail polish off my fingers and tried to nap, but didn't want to get caught with my head falling down or landing on Jiny's shoulder, so I moved around a lot to stay awake. When the principal was finally done talking a video was played that introduced MeonWooGeum Elementary School and it's website and then, I'm guessing from the Korean pop-ups and animation, the schools proposal for the next year or so was discussed in a video. As thrilling as this assembly was for me, I could have done without. Jiny was like, "You are bored?" Ah! Yeah! I don't understand anything...Hello!! When the PTA finally ended, Jiny and I headed back to the office and I finished the drawings, checked my email and facebook (since the internet on my computer seems to be down, I had to use the other computer in the office) and then I headed home. Tomorrow, the teachers are having a welcoming party for me, I'm not sure what that entails, but I do know we are going out for dinner. I imagine drinking, eating and talking will take place, so I will be sure to fill you in on how that goes, language barrier and all. Damn, that means I need to dress nice and look even more presentable than when I teach. YIKES!!