The Phallic Stage

Well my friends, it has been quite a week over here in Seoul. The other teachers and I had to teach a bit extra this week because Darcie came down with bronchitis and was out of commission for about three days. Thankfully, she is coming around and will be back this week. Because she was out and one of the classes that she teaches is Huey's class, the other teachers were able to experience my favorite student. On the first day, Maria had the pleasure of teaching Huey. Now Maria has only heard my rendition of Huey up until this point and had never personally experienced his ridiculousness. Immediately after she entered the classroom and before the wonderful world of phonics commenced, Huey revealed himself. According to Sigmund Freud, the phallic stage of the Psychosexual Stages of Development occurs between the ages of 3 1/2 and 6 years. In this phase, both boys and girls, focus on the penis. It is a crying shame that societal values have Huey caged up in his jeans embroidered with dancing teddy bears. Freudian theory claims that this behavior should be wrap up in about the next year for my dear Huey. The bizarre thing is that I am the only teacher who has not witnessed Huey's phallic stage and each day I am thankful.

On the second day, Carly was granted the fine opportunity of educating Huey's Hippo class (each kindergarten class has an animal name). Although there are three additional students in this class, all attention must be focused on Huey keeping him in his chair and his teddy bear pants. Now while Carly taught Huey's class, Huey wrote the word "Prologue" on the dry erase board with a highlighter. First of all, I am sure that 7th graders would have a problem spelling this word. We have concluded that Huey is a genius. Although, he seems to have hyperactive tendencies, sings songs while I am teaching, runs around the classroom, dances and plays with Hot Wheels toy cars all around the room, he is able to spell Prologue.

Aside from Huey, the weather has gotten much cooler lately and it has been so nice to sleep with the windows open! My weekend was rather uneventful. Carly and I went to eat at a really good Indian/Nepali restaurant called Yeti near our apartment building on Friday night after work. I had to get my curry fix for the week. Carly had never smoked hookah and so we got a strawberry flavored hookah after dinner which was a nice way to end the week. When I got home, I found Sister Act on television and that concluded my Friday night. Last night Meredith T., our friend Kim and I had some cocktails on the roof and it was gorgeous! I really need to take some photos of the view we have from our roof and it is beautiful especially at night.

This morning was nice because my family and I hopped on Skype and because my sister was in on a Saturday night studying for midterms, we hit her up on the conference call as well. Of course all of Rachel's friends paraded into her dorm room so we had to greet about 20 sophomore students at Ohio University as I was still in my pajamas with wild hair. One of the friends in her hall is Korean and ventures to and from Seoul on a regular basis so I'm planning to get some hot spot tips from Ken. I had to hassle my mother this morning to begin a care package for the oldest Denbow child living overseas. Among the items requested were The Office, season 4, corn tortillas, Amish cheese and an assortment of baked goods. I eagerly await the arrival of this package and if you do happen to see Dave or Carol loitering around Wooster parts, please be so kind as to remind them of their sad, lonely offspring wandering the streets of Seoul in hopes that she will someday recieve a small parcel from her loving family in Wooster, Ohio.

Well that about sums up my week and I just got in from dinner with Meredith T. and Imee (another teacher from Chicago) at Casa Maya which was a so-so dining experience but pricey and their "queso mixto" had a poor consistency and was very stringy. After dinner we went to The Coffee Bean Co. to continue our high calorie spree weekend and discuss plans for next weekend. Our plans apparently include Club Caliente in Itaewon, and by the sound of the name, it should be a rip-roaring good time.

Anyway, I miss you all very much and enjoy the e-mails! Keep them coming because I love hearing what everyone is up to :)

Peace from the East,

Mer