open fire

this week, i had the pleasure of hosting two open classes for my kindergarten classes. i initially thought that an open class would mean parents would come in to observe a regular old day of class. this made me nervous, but the maybe only the kind of nervous that makes you sweat a little. well, i later learned that we actually had to "perform" elaborate activities, songs, and choreographed dances. now this is the kind of nervous that makes me want to cry. i am not a performer. i never joined the drama club for good reason. i don't like memorizing things. i don't like all eyes on me. i don't like singing and dancing in front of staring and judging parents. my supervisor changed our lesson plans for each class just about every day. i had to memorize who to call on for each activity. i had to memorize what numbers to count to during one of our scripted games.
me: so i count down from 10 first and then basically count down from a descending number each other time?
supervisor: no. you start by counting down by 10. then you count down by 9. then you count down by 5. then 3.
me: so it doesn't really matter. as long as i start with 10 and then count down from any descending number, right?
supervisor: no. you start by counting down by 10. then you count down by 9. then you count down by 5. then 3.

everything was pretty much scripted out for me. i don't think they trusted me to wing it. grrr. so the open classes came and went. for my first class, the mothers reminded me of the korean version of housewives of orange county. they were decked out in bright colors, gold, pumps, and disapproving looks on their faces. it's funny. you know when someone has a booger hanging out of their nose, but you don't want to explicitly say, "hey you have a booger hanging out of your nose," so you do that subtle brushing your nose with you finger move? well, i thought i had a booger cemented to my nose all day because 3 of the korean staff at school kept doing that to me. after several mirror checks, i realized i had no booger. they were just trying to tell me to take out my nose ring. without actually telling me. so, in order to avoid another all day game of charades i took my nose ring out for the next open class.

my second open class was much better, but it was far from fun.

i'm really not into having people watch me while i work. but it's funny, i'm actually getting used to it. by the end of this year i may crave attention at all times. well, i'm glad that it's all over. every week at school seems to bring about fun new adventures. we'll see what happens next.