Too much Korea.

Some days Korea is just too much.

My new Wednesday schedule only consists of two classes.  It seems that would be a great thing, but my two classes are both after lunch which means 1) I have to sit around and wait all day before I teach. Sitting around and waiting all day is not my favorite 2) The kids are CRAZY because it's after lunch and after they've been running around and playing.

Granted, my third graders were good this afternoon.  Have I mentioned how cute they are?!  Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse with sixth grade.  In the less than a month I've been teaching at the elementary schools I've learned something very valuable: I never want to teach sixth grade.  These pre-teens are too cool for school, which high schoolers can be too...but at least my high schoolers could understand what I said to them.  Trying to get a classroom of 17 sixth graders to sit down and shut up when they don't really even understand what you're saying isn't cool.  Add in the fact that I have NO authority with them and there's no co-teacher with me and it just makes things worse. Classroom management plans are in the works, but this is certainly unlike any other situations I've had in the past.  Let's just say today's lesson plan went out the window quickly and instead ended with the class writing the key phrases 5 times each....and one more time for each time someone talked....which was a lot of times.

After what felt like an interminable 40 minutes with the sixth graders from hell, I went back to the teacher's office.  I have a little over an hour at the end of the day without classes, so I was sitting at my desk preparing materials for Friday.

About five minutes before I was supposed to leave for the bus my CT called me (even though he was just upstairs?) and told me to go see him.  Luckily, it didn't take long and I went back downstairs just in time to grab my things for the bus,

As I was outside walking to the bus my CT shouted my name out of the window and told me to come back in.  When I told him that I was going to miss the bus he said "It's ok, next bus!"

This is not what you want to hear just as you're breaking free from school.

Now, this CT has been asking me about a certain e-mail I supposedly should have received, but haven't.  Apparently he didn't believe that I didn't receive it because he made me show him my entire e-mail inbox, which pretty much meant me explaining what every single e-mail was about because he couldn't really understand just by looking at it.  Don't you think I would recognize an e-mail in my inbox that had Korean writing on it??

After I apparently proved myself, it was another fifteen minutes of him asking "why didn't you get the e-mail?"

Hmmm, I don't know! Why don't you call them and ask them to send it again? Or have them send it to you?! There must be some sort of proactive solution there somewhere.

Finally, he said he would drive me home since he made me miss the bus.  Just what I wanted.  Another quality 20 minutes of stimulating conversation focusing on how important it is for women to get married.

To cap things off, some of his parting words with me were "Sarah, don't forget! Meeting man! Get married! Very important!"

Some days you just get an overload of TIK moments. This was one of those days.