blue-eyed devil

it's official. after years of joking about being the blue-eyed devil it's finally come true. little jenny again did not want to partake in my class. instead she hid in jk's office and cried. earlier in the day her friend lisa told me that jenny didn't like my class. i asked if she was scared of me and lisa said no. then i asked if jenny thought the class was too easy and she said no. was it too hard i ask. again lisa said no. then she said "teacher look at jenny". i didn't quite understand what she meant. lisa then went to the chalkboard and drew a picture of me with big shoes and big eyes. jenny was drawn sitting at a table reading and i was looking down at her. again lisa repeated teacher look at jenny. jenny scared. jenny cry.

jk tried talking to jenny but still nothing. jenny's mom did tell jk that jenny said i had big blue eyes. apparently for some strange reason she's afraid of me. and it seems that alot of koreans get wigged out over the big round blue eyes. even jk said something the other night at dinner. have i really become the blue-eyed devil. do these people see something deep within me. i feel so bad that this little girl won't attend my class. i've never had a child be afraid of me. the more i think about it the more comical it becomes. after all "that is my hagwon". anytime she sees me whether its in the lunchroom or in the hallway she quickly turns away. you would think that once she saw me and lisa interacting she'd open up too. but no. jk thinks it might be because her pride is hurt. i guess jenny asked lisa what i was teacher her and found out that it was a little more advance. now they think that jenny is jealous and feels slighted by this. who would have thought teaching would be so complicated. it's definitely going to be interesting to see how this all pans out. i'm trying to think of a different approach with jenny. i'll break through somehow. even if it does take forever.

so i was reading the korean herald this morning. yesterday was the big college entrance exams for the students. well apparently in korea this is a huge deal. people were camping out to get a good spot to wish those taking the exam good luck. yes you read correctly. they were camping out. mothers were praying at temples. some of the students arrived via fire trucks because they were running late. one even came by ambulance. traffic was diverted, trains were running more frequently all to make sure that students got there on time. the best part was that both korean airlines and asiania airlines stopped flying over a certain area where test were being given between 12 and 1 because that was the time that students were taking the english part of the exam. i seriously could not believe this as i was reading it. no wonder these kids are so stressed out. when was the last time you saw a vigil set up for s.a.t test. never!

the best part of today was watching the anna nicole smith video from her ama appearance. umm. hello. what has she been smoking. she made farrah's letterman appearance look good. they also had a snippet from an interview with et where she said "one day. i was walking in the park and it felt like i was on stilts". horace and i were laughing so hard. you gotta love her. she is 100% trash.

i found out today that horace, jane, christine, and i have to attend some macgraw hill [that's our school program] convention on saturday. we get to meet other teachers and listen to lectures. oh joy. and here i thought i was going to have a nice peaceful weekend at home. i guess not.