Banana Bucks are For the Weak

Season's Greetings! Since it is now December and I have not blogged in about two weeks, it is now Yuletide! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, particularly my family who hopped south to Florida this year. Heck, I now have high hopes for a beach vacation next year. Veracruz, Mexico perhaps?

The fellow teachers and I spent Thanksgiving together and indeed did get our hands on a turkey and stuffing, provided by U.S. military personnel. It was a great time to see all of the teachers. My mother sent an excessive amount of cheese a little over a month ago and it was certainly polished off at this gathering.

I have now spent five full days with Armadillo class. I have nine students and each of them are ridiculous in their individual ways. My Armadillo running crew consists of Rex, Sunny, Denis (the Koreans omitted the second n...I think I'll use his name on Rhyming Day), Teddy, Amy, Jina, Sally, Sarah and Eugene. Rex is a hellion and is deterred from heinous actions via bribery. Our kindergarten utilizes the falsified currency of Banana Bucks. The students save their banana bucks to purchase items such as Hello Kitty pencils and erasers at the end of each month. I remember this method from when I was young...of course I never cared whether I was showered in the currency of a given school, for it was not recognized by the United States government and I already had all of the Lisa Frank school paraphernalia I could weasel my mother into buying for me each school year. Alas, I have found Rex's weakness.

Denis is the tiniest little child I have ever seen in my life. These students are six years old in Korean age, but that means they are about five years old, western age (don't ask, but Korean age is about a year older then the age system most of you are familiar with). Denis looks like a new born. No joke. On his first day of school, he did not have an English name. By default, the power was bestowed upon myself to name him and I picked Simon, naming him after the movie Simon Birch. Apparently the name "Simon" did not tickle his fancy as much as my own and he came to school the next day as "Denis." Yes, Molly Rutledge, I said D-enis. Like I said, I eagerly await Rhyming Day. He speaks neither English or Korean and makes awkward cartoon sounds.

Teddy is my favorite little boy and his photo is at the top of this entry(aside from Huey from Hippo class-- please see video). He is so caring and plays with all of the students at play time, regardless of their popularity standing in the class. Ah Teddy is precious. He also speaks the most English out of the pack of Armadillos, so maybe that's why we seem to have hit it off.

The girls in the class are still identifying their personalities, but when they surface, I will certainly update everyone! Thus far, we have covered Aa, Bb, and Cc. I dream of apple, book, cat. I must say that I am desperate for conversation at an adult level and cannot do this for more than a year! If you are familiar with the movie Billy Madison, well, if given enough time, I will turn into Ms. Lippy, just wait.

Enough of my job. Seriously, I really miss the adult world. Mer1 left for Wooster, Ohio yesterday and I already miss her so much! We went out for a final hoorah on Saturday evening and it was joyous. Her replacement, Greg, came out with us as well. The nice lad from Toronto has altered the female dominated workplace a bit, but it will definitely be for the best. It is Wednesday night and I am over the "hump" of the week, thank goodness. I hope everyone is doing well this holiday season and I send my love from Korea!