Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday MONDAY

Monday Mornings are the absolute WORST! Worst time of the week for sure. Finished my last October Monday today. Sweet. Can't wait for next weekend to be over so I can relive my next monday morning. How do people do this their whole lives? Dang. I must be lazy. Anyway, I rode the bus again today and the bus driver asked me if I would be riding his bus every Monday. I said probably, and he said, "Oh, I am the lucky one." Yes, hmmm. Then he asked me if I was a Christian. Like the millionth person to ask me out here! NO. I'm not a Christian. I AM that white heathen teaching your children that you have all been warned about. So he changed the subject to more neutral territory and asked where I am from.  I tell him Santa Barbara. Apparently he's been there and is going to Los Angeles next week to meet up with friends and ... go to Vegas to gamble, obviously. He says he goes to Vegas "every year, for the slot machines! Good Party Vegas!" Yes. Good Party Vegas. Wait, Are you a Christian?

In three of my classes I teach beginner beginner English, so the children that come to those classes are either still in kindergarten or first grade.  This is their first venture into English speaking territory and as such are unequipped to answer some of the most basic English questions such as "What is your name?" and "How old are you?" If they say their name is Sung Cheong, I say, "No. What is your English name?" And if they don't have an English name I have been told by my boss to "Just give them another name in English." Wait, You mean that part of my job is naming little Korean kids anything I want? Yes. Yes, it is. And it is as awesome as you are imagining right now.  I was telling this to a friend of mine and he said, "No wonder those kids are confused. They walk in to the room, don't know anything that is going on and are then expected to respond to a totally new name." like Agatha. (Koreans can't pronounce the TH sound very well. Or Z sound, so you can only imagine what my name sounds like here.) And another thing, Koreans are born age one so Korean ages and American ages differ by a year. So a kid can come to school and say he is 7 years old and named Gweong Han and then will be corrected and told that his name is George and he is 6.


10 bucks to get a Korean kid named after you. thought I'd just throw it out there. Let me know.

2 comments:

  1. I can't wait to come visit you and meet all the Shaunas and Caseys you teach. Your welcome for giving you two options to name your students.

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  2. ohmygodohmygodohmyGOD! PLEEEEASE name a kid Fred! PLEASE???! Not Fredrick or Fredwin or anything but straight, plain Fred. It doesn't have any th's in it or Z's and I see that you are warming up to the system of graft very well by charging $10 per name...but it's worth it to call some kid Fred. Oh! Can't you JUST feel the love???!And besides, think of all the zoo animals that are SO dorky and "amusing" which are named Fred. And how can they be born at year one??? Nine months is the best I've heard of but that just means that they die one year earlier. OH! Elizabeth!!...name them after famouse people. Madonna, Nixon, Yoda,Snoop Dog

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