An Introduction to Some of My Other Friends...

So I thought it was time to introduce you to some of my other friends (besides Ryan is what I really mean). There are so many kids at Haba that I absolutely adore! And so many diverse personalities that really just make me laugh daily.

I know I talk often about Ryan being my favorite and perhaps that's because he was the first student at Haba to not be afraid of me (there's something about being the only white person they've seen that scares 'em) and he immediately made me feel welcome. But now that I've been here long enough to not scare the kiddos (well most of them), I've really gotten to know and enjoy (and probably favor) a few more! Unfortunately with over 200 students, and some I only see once a week for 30 minutes, it's hard to get to know them all well BUT some have really stood out!

So without further ado:

Alex
One day in Mont class I was writing all of the kids' names on their crafts projects and adding phrases like, "Alex is wonderful," "Amelia is beautiful," "Minseo is amazing." Well Alex picked up onto these phrases really quickly and has since spent every other class telling me, "Kara is wonderful," or "Kara is beautiful." It does my heart good!



Amelia
Amelia is in Mont class also and in my afterschool class. Julia told me a few weeks after I started here, that Amelia's mom said in a phone conversation that Amelia really like me and didn't want to quit afterschool class. When I heard this I was a bit amazed because Amelia is so quiet! However, these last few weeks she's really started to come out of her shell (perhaps because Jay--the loud boy in her class--left). She has taken to copying everything I say and always laughs while doing it (I wonder if she realizes that she's learning English so well by doing this!). Seriously, anytime I look at her during class she starts cracking up. It's so much fun to see a kid that was so shy when we first met have grown so comfortable with me!




Roy
Roy is a whiner. I once made him color a crayon yellow (when we were learning colors) and he threw a tantrum over it. I've seen these tantrums from him time and time again and have learned to ignore them completely, though unfortunately, the Korean teachers often give into these tantrums...seriously what do they think that is teaching? Anyway, one day Roy was placed in mine and Julia's bus after a fieldtrip and sat right inbetween us. I said hi, he ignored me, so I continued to play with the girls in front of me. I'm not sure exactly what made me talk to Roy again but I believe Julia mentioned dinosaurs. I asked Roy if he was a dinosaur and he preceeded to spend the rest of the ride (about ten minutes) trying to scare me. Since that short ride, it's been love. I came into the aftershchool room and Roy ran up to me grabbed my hands and led me around the room singing, "bedebomdabom" (no clue)and then every few minutes dinosaur growling at me. Everytime I see him in the hall he proceeds to do one of those things (and amazingly almost every 3 and 4 year old now copies him and does the same!). I even made a special dinosaur craft for him in afterschool class which he loved! It's amazing how figuring out his dinosaur love has ceased so many of the whining and rebellious problems I was having with him. Sadly, I've figured it out just in time for him to switch schools next week :(.



Gop-Bin
Gop-Bin was one of the many students in Bili class who would cry whenever it was time for my class. He was also the tiniest and, in my opinion, cutest in the class too. So I would often seek him out for a high-five because he seemed to find those a worthy reason to come near me. Julia told the manager how he was one of my favorites (they always ask) and so she once told him to give me a hug...it melted my heart. During Bili class we sing a few songs and during these songs a few of the girls usually fight over gettng to hold my hands. During this fight I looked up and saw Gop-Bin (who had been participitating a bit more each class) walking towards me with his hand held up and saying "dado" (me). I wrenched my hand away from some of the girls and held it towards Gop-Bin and he held it. We walked around in a circle holding hands for a bit and it was just melting my heart to goo! It's nice to see how I gradually become less scary to these kids and they start to accept the fact that I look different and talk different! I'm glad I got to have one class with Gop-Bin liking me :)!


Michael getting kissed by Angelina
Michael speaks English. I'm not sure the specifics of how but I believe he lived in the US for a while and his parents are fluent as well. Whenever I come into Shutterun class, Michael immediately begins telling me a story. Most of the time, I don't fully understand it (not because his English is bad but because it's the English of a 3 year old!). And when I try to teach the rest of the class English vocabulary, he'll interupt to tell me another story. I love getting to actually talk with a kid and hear his stories, however, I'm not quite sure why his parents had him in a school where he was studying such basic English (they've switched him for the new year). Perhaps, one of my favorite memories of this English-speaking boy is at festival. Michael hates to sing and dance (he lets me know that everytime I turn on the "hello" song in class.) So at the English festival he stood up on that stage and looked at his hands and sat down and did pretty much everything but sing. Which I just find hilarious, considering he was the only one who could even learn and sing the English song!

Honestly, there are about a million more kids I could introduce you to and maybe one day I will (I want to remember the stories about them too so I can make an epic Korea scrapbook when I finish here! But alas, my hands are getting tired, I have work to do, and most of all I had to scour the network's computer (which is completely Korean) to find these photos as my camera cord broke :(!