And this little piggy went "Wee wee wee!" all the way home.

Swine flu seems to have hit a whole bunch of schools really suddenly this week, in Seoul at least. I kept seeing Facebook status updates mentioning how schools are closing or whole classrooms or grades are being shut down because so many kids are coming down with it. A group of doctors in Korea even had a meeting and decided to encourage the government to shut down schools for a week or so to slow the spread.

The problem with schools being shut down is that this may take days away from teachers' vacations. I already bought my tickets to the USA, so I hope there aren't any complications with it. I'm planning on just keeping my mouth shut until someone else brings it up.

My school first had one first grader that supposedly was infected with Swine flu and then a classroom or two of the first grade closed. In one class, only one student showed up and ended up eating lunch in the teachers' cafeteria with his teacher.

Then the entire second grade was shut down and all the subject rooms were announced closed. I wasn't told the latter bit of news and having to basically teach by myself again, I had my English classes in the English room. My co-teacher, Yumi, asked, "Didn't you know?" after she was surprised that I was having classes in the English rooms, since they were not supposed to be used. She was the one who should have told me, of course, but we all forget sometimes. I preferred that no one told me, anyway; it's easier to teach in my own classroom rather than traveling from homeroom to homeroom.

I also went to another Bboy competition today and had an awesome time. I was giddy afterwards from the combination of excited happiness from the show and complete exhaustion. I decided to go to sleep rather than partake in any Halloween activities because I was so tired; plus, I already had an awesome day. That was enough for me.

In the meantime, here's a bit of memories from before I came to Korea. I was waiting on job offers at this point. I drew this for my friend Lisa, but in order to see the message, the speed needs to be set a little lower than halfway. Enjoy.

(High resolution of the final image: http://74.53.173.162/large.php?rn=6534080865292b80977262ac9942be92P)

Gosh. I miss my dog.

"But you know, I was always this strange."

Lately, I've been struggling a little getting used to my new co-teachers and the new atmosphere of the subject room teachers.

The students haven't changed as much as the teachers have, however. They're always giving me cute stories to write.

My "Miss Korea Gloria" class is still adorable, even though I feel like all the 6th graders are getting a bit noisier than they used to be. One of the girls from that class is in my after school class and has decided to like me. Her signature bright and energetic "HeeeellOOOOOO, Miss-ih Gih-loria" is very cute and I've told her that she suits her name, Sunny, quite well.

Being rather mature and kind, she's a bit of a favorite among the younger girls in her after school class, but some of them have no clue how quirky she is. One of them is the cutesy Annie, probably the most distracted girl in the class, as well as one of the most distracted girls. Period. After observing Sunny interacting with some of the other 6th grade girls, Annie commented, "Sunny... you're sort of strange." Sunny, being Sunny, blinked a few times and then laughed, "Hohoho! You're just figuring it out now, aren't you?" Then with an air of nonchalance, she added, "But you know, I was always this strange."

A boy in the "Miss Korea Gloria" class has recently decided to wait to be the last one to give the password when leaving English class, but for good reason. He's been adding in his own improvisations when telling them to me. Once, he changed a few terms so that he ended up calling himself "handsome," almost expecting me to shoot him down. Last week, after learning that pumpkin is a pet name in the USA, he called me "pumpkin." I don't know if he meant that in the Korean way (which would mean I'm ugly) or the American way (which he understands as meaning "cutie"), but either way he thought he was quite clever.

While I was on the way to the office from lunch today, another 6th grade kid, although I'm not sure from which class, called out to me, "I love you!" when he spotted me as he was running up the stairs. I looked up and saw him waiting, still frozen in a running position, waiting for my reaction. I probably had a look of confusion on my face, so I quickly smiled and responded, "Aw! Thank you!" and then continued to walk back to my office. I'm not quite sure how else I should have responded. o_O

One of my previous co-teachers, Sun-Mi, is now teaching a 3rd grade class as a homeroom teacher. Last week, a few of them approached me as the rest of the class was settling down and asked if I knew their homeroom teacher. I said, "Yes! I do. Please tell her I say hello." They beamed and nodded.

Later, Sun-Mi and I bumped into each other in the main office. I mentioned that her students asked me if I knew her. She laughed and explained that they were asking her how to say it in English and was practicing the question for a while. They also told her that they really like me, so they make sure to be on their best behavior when they're in English class with me.

How adorable!

The importance of zoning out.

Lately, it's been difficult for me to ignore what going on around me - what people are talking about, what people are doing when they get up from their seats, and the like. There's been quite a shift in social dynamics between the subject teachers, and it's a shift I'm not that comfortable with. It doesn't help that all three of my co-teachers have a hard time talking with me in English or understanding what I'm saying half the time. I'm not saying they're not friendly, but it's hard having no one that I can trust or talk to face to face on a daily basis.

So, today, during my lesson preparatory time, I decided to draw some character masks for my after school kids, rather than simply rely on ones available on the internet.

There are certain activities that all of us find some solace in, I think. I have several: drawing, singing, dancing, reading, writing, snowboarding, rock climbing, meeting and getting to know new people ... among other things. Even when I'm in the middle of teaching, I can just focus all my energy on teaching and I lose myself in it. I have no time to worry or feel upset or plan or anything else that may take up some of my cognitive energy. It's all about what I'm doing in that moment for the time being.

It's so refreshing.

I got to drawing and all the chitter-chatter and gossiping of my co-workers just disappeared and it was just the paper, the pencil, the marker and me.

Sometimes, I forget that how important it is to have something like that on a regular basis. And I'm a person that gets easily bored. I like to be challenged and to try new things, feel like I'm improving or accomplish a goal or outcome.

Especially since I'm in a new place, I've forgotten that regular challenging and enjoyable activities that give me some zoning out time keep me feeling refreshed and alert.

I'm hoping I can find something I can lose myself in while I'm here. I'm looking for a dance class of some sort to join; until then, my undisciplined self will have to make some mandatory time for activities that will allow me to break away from these little stresses that really don't matter. Without those breaks, I think I let those little stresses start building up and weighing on me. Then life starts getting stale... and I'm all about the breath of fresh air.

P.S. Washing the dishes used to be one of those zone out times, but that was when I had a window in front of me. I don't know what it is, but I cannot zone out washing the dishes when I'm staring at a wall.

"Sometimes... you are like a boy."

Gender expectations in Korea are still pretty clear cut and traditional, but changing little by little. If a boy tells a girl she's physically "strong," then it's usually to tease her - it's taken as slightly questioning her femininity.

My new co-teacher, being an older man, has these assumptions without even realizing it. He recently told me that he's been taking a more gentle approach with the girls in the class in terms of classroom management and discipline, but now he thinks it's not a good idea any more. I firmly agreed.

Meanwhile, he's made it clear that girls don't play soccer, don't play video games, and so on. I don't really hold this against him, but I do feel a shift in the classroom atmosphere because of this and other aspects of his teaching style and his attitudes. It's not that it's terribly gone awry, but I have to get used to it, and it takes some energy to combat the whole "girls are meek princesses" attitude a little.

I admit to using some of the gender expectations with the kids in the class. For example, if I tell a girl that she's being "scary" because she's playing too roughly with another student, she usually becomes bashful and is careful not to be so "scary" any more, at least around me. The boys aren't as bothered by it, so I use other approaches.

In the meantime, I can't say I'm on the 100% feminine end of the scale either. That's pretty normal, in my opinion, but my students aren't exposed to it as much. When they found out I play video games, they were shocked. The girls didn't seem to mind, but the boys were in awe.

It reminded me of when I student taught in the USA and the 5th grade boys found out I liked Kingdom Hearts and Halo. They argued over who would sit next to me while we were working on a ship-in-a-bottle project. There were girls who played video games too, so I didn't see the big deal, until they told me that I was the coolest teacher they've ever met... probably because I played video games. Haha. I told them it's not a good thing if their teacher plays too many video games, but they insisted that it's a wonderful thing. So, in the USA, it was more that I was a teacher that played video games than that I was a girl that played video games. In Korea, it's that I'm a woman that plays video games.

Later on, in an after school class, I was explaining the meaning of "lurk," and one of the boys said, "Lurker!" which is a creature from Starcraft (a strategic computer game) that hides under the ground and attacks with spikes while still hidden. I was excited I could have a point of reference to explain the meaning, so I exclaimed, "Yes!" and continued explaining using the Lurker.

The boys stopped talking and James asked, "Miss Gloria... You know Lurker? You play Starcraft?"

"Yes. I like it, but I'm not good."

Brian thoughtfully stated, "Miss Gloria. Sometimes... you are like a boy."

I couldn't really disagree.