Koreans - kids

Koreans are pretty cool for the most part. They all seem pretty friendly. They smile a lot when I see them because I guess that since I don't know Korean, that is all we can do...just look at each other and smile. Well they also stare at me quite a bit. Some people I know get quite bothered by it but I don't mind at all. They are especially enamoured whenever I where shorts and a short sleeve shirt because then they can see my body hair. The kids at school would be happy to sit and pet my arms all day long. I don't let them do this but sometimes they get a little heavy petting in when I turn my back and when I tell them to quit they look up at me and say "Hair so softa". It is sort of cute and slightly creepy. I know I cant complain too much because a girl I met who (dirty blonde hair) teaches kindergarten has a little girl in her class that licks her arm hair and says "Teachers hair golden". Guess sometimes touching it isn't quite enough and you actually have to put your tongue on it to get the full effect :)

For the most part the kids are just like kids anywhere else. They study much harder than kids back home. A typical high school students schedule is to start school at 8am, get done at 7 or 8pm and finally get to bed at 1 or 2 in the morning after 4 hours of homework. I am working at an Academy so I am teaching kids that have already spent their 6 1/2 hours in public school. Then they will have a few academies (maybe math, Korean, and English) and then finally make it home around 7 or 8. A teacher at my school said that in public school a good portion of the class sleeps through class because they are so tired from all their late nights. Since the classes have about 50 kids in them it is hard to stop anyone from sleeping. It is sort of sad to think that these kids spend so much time in school.

Clark