Carnival 4

I had such a good day at school today I thought I would share it...

I have this class. This is a class I have had ever since I have come to Korea. We have been through a lot together. They are the class that I did pen pals with, they are the class that I joke around with the most, and they are the class that has a special place in my heart. This class also has ENERGY...and plenty of it!

When I first got this class it was six boys...no girls...just six sweaty little bodies and enough energy to make our school hum...It was my delight. I love these naughty little boys with all my heart. Now it is a class of 8...and there are two girls. However, these girls can hold their own. They can give each and every one of the boys in this class a dressing down in two seconds flat and a run for their money...needless to say we NEVER have a dull class!

Well today in class three things stick out in my mind.

It was art class day. We have art every Thursday and the kids do a variety of art projects from drawing, origami, crafts, and painting. It is interesting. I love it! Today, they were supposed to draw owls. I walked in the class and started talking about owls. We talked about the fact that they are awake at night, they have good eye sight, what they eat, what special thing they can do with their heads, and last of all the noise they make. I purposely saved the noise for last because I KNEW they were all going to make the noise...And of course it happened. They all started Hooting at the same time. The hilarious thing was that every single one of them...ALL 8 OF THEM...weren't hooting they were howling...They sounded like wolves~ It was hysterical! I stopped them and asked them what they were doing and they all looked at me with their big black eyes like I was the crazy one! So of course I had to demonstrate the difference between a hoot and a howl. They all gave me there Aaahhhh...That is what they all do when a light-bulb lights up in their brains....They have Aha moments and they actually say Aaahhhhh. I love it!

Okay...so it is happening all 8 of them are busily drawing their owls. When someones pencil breaks...This is the least favorite part of my day. I have purchased about 4 of those chintzy pencil sharpeners that I just keep in my basket but my last one was retired to the trash yesterday and I haven't had the opportunity to buy a new one yet. So I went to the staff room and got the wretched pencil sharpener. I hate this thing. For almost 9 months I have been trying to figure out how is works and it took a 9 year old boy to show me! Now I am in love with it! I actually admire how smart it is and how well it works!

A little history on the pencils in Korea....They are all those pencils with no erasers on the top. So instead of flipping your pencil over to erase a mistake you always have to have a big pink or white eraser at your disposal. You can imagine how many erasers are left on the floor on a daily basis! Each child has a pencil case that they carry with them and it is their golden ticket! Everything they need is in these cases...the cases are also quite extravagant...Some even have computer games in them...I am not kidding. Well anyway I digress. A phrase I hear at least two times every class is "Eraser please!" That sounds polite because of the please word...but it is really more of a demand. Well Doobi (yes her name is Doobi) asked Gabe for her eraser back. Gabe casually threw it to her...really not too hard...and it bounced like I have seen erasers do...but this one had a mind of its own and bounced off the table onto the window ledge, onto the window sill and promptly fell out the window three stories into the street below. You could have heard a pin drop. The look on Gabe's face is one I will never forget...then who breaks the silence...me...I started belly laughing...I mean this was so ridiculous...did an eraser really just fly out of the third story window. The kids saw me laughing then all 8 of them were pressed to the window in .2 seconds trying to find the eraser and to see if it hit anyone in the street below. Oh my word...The shenanigans of Carnival 4. I knew that we could not all go traipsing down the stairs after the lost eraser so I waited until the bell rang and then Gabe and I went down to the street to pick up Doobi's eraser. He was pretty worried about it. He thought he was going to have to give her his eraser to make up for what he did. I just laughed about it and told him not to worry that it was truly an accident. It was a fluke thing. I am willing to bet we can not ever replicate that toss. Priceless. And the laughter...oh how I love their giggles...Chase has this way of throwing his head back and almost screaming with laughter...Hayden covers his mouth with his hand and his eyes literally disappear...Kyle opens his mouth really wide and laughs really hard but no sound comes out...Jason's dimples take over his face...Tina, well she has a roar that puts me to shame...Doobi is a shoulder shaker...Peter is another face cover-er and a little bit of a ho ho hoer...and Gabe well he is always different because he is quite possibly the moodiest kid I have ever met...but I love them. I love them all for the uniqueness and their crazy mannerisms and idiosyncrasies...Today was certainly a carnival in Carnival 4 class. It was a great way to start a day!

Holly
ps...pictures and post about Busan to come soon...Bike trip this weekend