Words to Live By... And other musings.

For some reason, (I think because I don't have a bedside lamp and I can't be bothered to walk to the lamp store to pick one out, nor can I be bothered to get out of my cozy warm nest to turn out the overhead light in my bedroom once I'm done reading for the night) I've started listening to NPR podcasts as I fall asleep at night.  Lately, it's been Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me - The NPR News Quiz, which is, by the way, delightfully clever and amusing.  Check it out.

Anyway, Dick Van Dyke was on the particular episode to which I was listening last night and he sang the lyrics to the theme song of his longtime television show and those lyrics got me thinking. 

So you think that you've got trouble,
Well trouble's a bubble.
So tell ol' Mr. Trouble to get lost.
Why not hold your head up high
And stop cryin',
Start tryin'
And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed.
When you find the joy of living
Is loving and giving.
You'll be there when the winning dice are tossed.
A smile is just a frown
That's turned upside down.
So, smile and that frown'll get lost.
And, don't forget to keep your fingers crossed.

Aren't those just the most splendid theme song lyrics?

Now for a whole slew of stream-of-consciousness style thoughts on a myriad of subjects:

Either today or tomorrow, it will be announced which teachers will be selected to be homeroom teachers.  I suspect this is the reasoning behind many of the male teachers gathering around my desk neighbor's desk and whispering new developments.  It looks to me that they're gossiping like school girls and the sight warms my heart.

We had fresh strawberries at lunch.  They were sooo sweet and delicious.  I hope I can find a friendly man selling bags of strawberries off the back of a flat bed truck so I can enjoy them at home.  They're so spendy from the grocery store, and those back-of-the-truck produce men are much friendlier for my wallet.  :)

We just had church to wish the third graders well before graduation.  This is the first time I've seen most of them since December.  I should preface this by saying that my school prohibits the girls from altering their appearance in any way (no makeup, jewelry (except watches), and no hair dye).  In true rebellious teenager fashion, many of them decided to stick it to the man.  Instead of coming to their last day of school drunk or hungover like many of my high school classmates, they did the most drastic thing it seems Korean culture allows - dying your hair orange, gold (in an attempt to achieve California blond, I suspect), kool-aid red, etc.  Dionne hit the nail on the head when she described them looking like a forest of trees baring their fall colors.   I guess I don't have much to say about it since I, too, pulled a shock value dye job when I was their age.  Let's not forget the day I turned from blond to almost black in a matter of 20 or so minutes.  EEK.  Just another piece of proof that teenagers aren't really that different across cultures...

This week is the last week of the school year.  I've taught three classes all week.  Here's why: No third graders, no afternoon class Monday through Wednesday and no classes Thursday (graduation) or Friday (the remaining students meet their new homeroom teachers).  Bonkers?  Yes.  It's fun to be in the school atmosphere again, but I must confess that I miss the student interaction...  I'm looking forward to the new school year, except that whole lesson planning part.  That part is the things of which headaches are made.  Lucky for me, Dionne stumbled across a huge stash of English curriculum books from previous Morning English programs and Mr. Shin showed us a couple of books from his private stash.  The ideas are forming, now it's just a matter of those ideas translating into lessons.  The cycle begins.  Nice.

On a semi-related note, it feels funny to be starting a new school year in March.  Generally, I associate new school years with warmth, fall colors, new backpacks, clean notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils.  The last three, I can produce.  The first two just might take some getting used to.  But, if there's one thing I have learned to be during the almost six months I've been here (isn't that c.r.a.z.y.??), it's adaptable, sometimes with a capital A.

P.S. Today is my mom's birthday!!!  Today Kris turns 60.  She's a pretty young 60, and she and Bob are taking Sun City West by storm.  Huzzah!  Play a round of golf and eat some pesto today!  Hooray!