Loose Feet

I find with every day it's getting harder and harder to leave. I know I've been regaling you, probably even overloading you with tales of my students, but they keep doing all these wonderful things that I need to share with someone.

I went up for a quick meeting today with one of my students, a girl named Ellen who's going to be helping me out a lot when I return to Korea with a womens group I want to put into action (more about that later though). When I came back downstairs to the office, I was shocked to find this...

One of my old students, June, had gone out and bought a bunch of Nutrigrain bars and left them on my desk. Okay, so it's no big deal, just Nutrigrain bars, but it meant a lot to me. A few months back, my mom sent me this huge box of chocolate and I ended up giving out a lot of it to my students -- and by a lot, I mean a lot. My students basically know me as the candyman, which is fine. They do their work, they get rewarded. Some of the students thank me, some of the students hog the candy like pigs. It's a mixed basket of reward, really.

My OF7 class had been great. They used to be my favorite class. But then with one of coworkers being fired, we mixed all of the classes up and I lost them to another teacher which was really a huge disappointment. The kids in that class always said hi to me, always gave me hi-fives. They were like my kids...haha...

One of the students was a little boy by the name of Ronaldo (yes, like the soccer player). Ronaldo is by far and away my favorite student in the entire school. Ronaldo thinks that his English is not good, but whenever he comes into my class, he speaks in English for the entire 65 minutes. And his language skills have improved significantly. He has made the greatest improvement out of any student I've met in Korea. He is polite, he is kind, he is funny, he has respect for his teachers, and he  is dedicated to being a smarter, better human being. And he is not afraid to tell you that (he told me that -- he also told me that he hates stupid people. Me too, Ronaldo, me too.) Usually, in Korea, a lot of students are embarassed to talk to you on the street. They run away from you, or hide their face. Ronaldo always comes right up to me and makes a stupid face, then asks me how my day was and gives me a high five and then waves goodbye. He is awesome. I am so proud of that kid. I only wish I could meet him again in 20 years and see what he's doing then.

I also have Robin -- aka "Fat Cheeks". He has the fattest cheeks I've ever seen on a little kid. Let's imagine a squirrel here, really. It's hilarious. I've never seen Robin not smile. Always a happy little dude. So between the smiling and the fat cheeks, he can barely open his eyes. He always waves and says hello and asks me how I am. He too is so incredibly polite. I don't know how much his English has really improved -- the language is pretty difficult for him. I do know that he is one good kid, and he will continue to cheer people up for years to come.

And then there's June. June's the one who gave me the nutrigrain bars. June's the pretty boy, but again, one of the most polite kids in the school. He tries really hard. His work was always perfectly done. Whenever I ask him a question, he thinks long and hard and then replies in the best way possible. My coworkers came in and told me how he asked them all where Charlie Teacher's desk was and then left the bars there in a neat little pile. I chased him down and found him waiting outside, and told him thank you. He stuck out his hand and gave me a good handshake, which turned into us making up a secret handshake followed by a high-five. Awesome.

These are my favorite kids.

It has to be said that these kids never ask for anything from me. They never ask for chocolate or candy. They just do their thing - mainly as well because they know that if they work hard for me they will be rewarded. That's what makes it all the more amazing. They do it on their own perogative. I have a lot of other students that I basically have to beg to get to do work - and forget about chocolate. That dreamworld doesn't exist for them...Anyway, it was just nice today to get something in return. It showed a level of appreciation and maturity that just reinforced what a great kid June is.

I'm turning into a sap...