Episode 48: In Which DFM Wreaks Havoc on Korean Law And Order And Wags His Finger At English Ethnocentrism

When I got to school today this girl was waiting around and seemed to be one of the first students there.  She sat beside me on this bench and put her shoes on with me.  The school's hedgehogs have had some babies, so this girl was keen to tell me about the new baby in her family.  I didn't understand what she was saying, but it seemed to be positive so I gave her a high five (I'll feel like an idiot if I find out later she was telling me the baby died).

It's hard to pick a favourite student since so many of them make me laugh, but if I had to pull a Peggy Hill and "accidentally" take one of the kids back to Canada with me it would be this girl with the golden smile (and the Minnie Mouse ears).

I can't walk down the hallways without causing whatever line I'm sure the teacher worked very hard to put her children in disintegrate.  Luckily I was going to the same class as these children, because by the time they stopped to say "hello" to me fifteen times they were way behind their classmates.  I also got a chance to try out my new Korean word "kapshida," which means "let's go!"  Actually, it's not a new word for me, but I don't know the polite way to use this word so I've had to wait until I could find someone younger than me in order to use it properly (remember the rigid hierarchy here).

This boy made me take a picture of him with his glue.  He was pretty proud because it was a new glue, fresh out of the package.

I don't know what caused it, but Eugene Park (at the back) and the boy in the front were engaged in a silly dance here.  (Note:  Park, like Lee, is a surname that does not exist in the Korean language.  It is pronounced "Pock.")

The six year olds were making pictures of ants by cutting out circles in newspaper and glueing them onto a sheet of paper (part of some "Newspaper In Education" fad going through the countries schools).  Many of the kids wanted to show their pictures to me.  At the top of the page you can see that this girl had drawn every picture for which she knew the English name.

I think this was probably Thomas the "Shark Boy" again.  Take a minute to look at some of the items he included in his ant picture.  I think he was trying to spell "car," but I'm not sure.

More London ethnocentrism here.  A "famous building in Great Britain" is Big Ben.  I can't deny that, but you'd think that Great Britain was England after using this book (the children already do).  Sadly, Fight Girl (colouring) had developed a bit of a fever towards the end of the day, so she had lost some of her usual spunk.

I'm not sure how this girl made it, but if you wear a hat like this you're going to get in my blog.