Twenteen

When you stand alone, one man against ten determined five year olds, what do you do? I can't speak for the future, but just two days ago I stood my ground and came out the victor. The dispute began innocently. Jane mentioned her older sister and I asked how old the sister was. Her answer was, "twenteen." I explained that she was either twelve or twenty, not twenteen, and I immediately met the tenacious opposition of ten voices defending a number they were certain existed. Our debate went on for a full couple of minutes, my efforts against them futile until someone began to count, "eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve." Twelve was followed by a groan of surprise and a second groan of sudden realization (Koreans groan a lot). What had been an intense dispute dissipated into nothing in an instant. I wiped my brow and we all moved on.

Kindergarten journal quote: "I go to church. I pray to God to be happy all the time."

Free Radicals? Sure. Why not?

A Reason to Buy New Shoes

I stepped in dog crap this morning. I guess I spend so much time dodging loogies and vomit that I don't think to look for non-human excrement. My efforts to clean it off were futile. I tried wiping it in a pile of leaves, but then the leaves just stuck to my shoe. When I picked them off I got crap on my finger. At work the bathrooms were out of paper towels so I just took my shoes off for the day. Explaining to the kids what had happened was a great addition to each lesson. My shoes had big holes in them anyway, so since I couldn't get them clean I just bought a new pair. It was long overdue.

Today's student quote: "If you burp, you have to stand in the corner with your hands in the air. No burping!"

Day In Day Out

My alarm goes off at 6 AM but I hit the snooze until 7:30. I find it necessary to ease into the day. I get to work just after 9 and two of my kindergärtners are always waiting. It's the little gay kid and Jane. Jane is pretty awesome. Her dad is in Seattle for a few months so I have taken on the role of both teacher and father. Unfortunately, as soon as she declared me her paternal proxy, the other nine kindies did as well. The responsibility is a bit overwhelming. I anticipate the return of Jane's father so I can return to being just a teacher, coddling young minds and no longer meeting emotional needs. Maybe then, too, they will stop touching my arm hair.

I consider my job to be pretty easy. I sit in a chair and talk to five year olds all morning. They do a lot of the talking, and I learn a great deal from them. Today I found out that Poland's president had died. The kids said he died when a volcano erupted. I searched online and found it was, instead, a plane crash. They don't always have the details right, but when I was five I had never heard of Poland, so there.

Today's quote: "Martin Luther King, Jr. was president. He was assinated."

The Beginning

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