triangle madness

so i made a little fifth grade girl cry today. i simply asked her what her name was. she looked up at me, put both of her hands over her face and burst into tears. and these were not quiet, little tears....she downright started sobbing. i was shocked with not a clue as to what to do. i was racking my brain for a solution and all that kept coming up was "this has never happened to me before! i can't believe this is happening!!" the entire class was staring at us now and so i quickly began saying over and over, "it's ok, it's ok, you don't have to tell me your name, it's ok!!!" the korean english teacher who i'm working with acted as though this sort of thing happens all the time and just motioned me to move onto the next student. so, i just sort of left the poor little distraught girl there sobbing and went on with the "what's your name?" game. i think it is clear to me that i am not meant to teach children. i had already been thinking this after my first day in goryeong, but now i find that this conclusion is solidifying itself in my mind. i mean, the kids are cute and can be absolutely hilarious, but honestly after 20 minutes of the "what's your name" game and then another 20 minutes of "what's this shape?", i'm done, you know, i'm ready to move on. i'm ready to never talk about triangles and rectangles and circles ever again. but guess what? i have to repeat this 40 minute eternity two more times in one day. and then again for two days every week until december 15th. oy. but there is an upside to the whole goryeong experience: there is NO prep. the korean english teacher has each classtime all planned out and she just plugs me in where she wants to. and on the hour-long drive to get to and from this little mountain town (when my eyes are not closed because of car-sickness and i am not chanting my taxi ride mantra "you will not throw up, you will not throw up!!"), i am witnessing some of the most beautiful countryside i've ever seen.....brilliant green rice fields.....lush mountains everywhere i look.....dramatic, cloudy skies (it's monsoon season right now)....and the sweetest little villages scattered here and there where life seems a whole lot simpler and slowed down.....
i also reap great enjoyment out of standing in front of the class in slippers (everyone takes their shoes off at the front door of the school and wears slippers inside)! and i love how everytime i arrive at a school to teach, no matter what time of day it is, even if class was supposed to begin five minutes ago, i am offered a seat in the head master's office and a cup of tea....so i always say, "ney, kamsa hamineeda" which means "yes, thank you." and i sit with a group of koreans and sip my tea while they all speak to each other in korean and occassionally smile and nod at me! i actually enjoy this very much. for once, i don't have to DO anything or SAY anything. i can just sit there and chill out with my cup of green tea and hear this amazing song-like language coming from their mouths.....