Hi, folks!! Not everyone on my usual distribution list is getting this email. So consider yourselves priviliged. I think you'll get a kick out of this.

First off, I *swear* this is all true....

When I started to read up on Korea, I read that it is very common for Koreans to ask personal questions of foreigners. Stuff like how old are you, are you married, that sort of thing. Stuff you may not ordinarily ask someone 5 minutes after meeting them if you were in the West. I was also told at orientation that our students would also ask us personal questions and that we should avoid them if possible. I, however, figured I have nothing to hide so I don't mind answering them. That's one of the ways I try to be "cool" with my students. So I am pretty used to being asked how old I am, where I went to college, what I got on the SAT, etc. And I always answer honestly.

You also need to realize that 16-year-olds would rather do ANYTHING than sit in class during their summer vacations, and that raging hormones and extreme boredom can produce strange situations. Read on...

My SAT Math class is the highest-scoring bunch, so we move through the syllabus pretty quickly and often the kids are bored. I have to tell them jokes and riddles and play games to keep them interested. One of the girls who sits in the front also has learned that if she asks me something like "did you watch the game last night?" then that will easily kill a few minutes because I will always answer it and I will usually tie in some story about me being drunk.

So this girl... we'll call her "Lolita".... the other day asked me "what did you do this weekend?" in front of the whole class. I explained how on Friday night we watched the Korea-Portugal game (see previous email) and that on Saturday I was feeling a bit rough but watched England and drank a lot and then went home when the bar closed. Then I asked her what SHE did this weekend and she said "nothing". I replied "oh come on, I always tell you guys what *I* do" and she said... "well, I'll tell you in private later on". Wooo!!

I laughed it off and told all the teachers and we all thought it was funny. Then on Tuesday we were taking a 10-minute break and she and two of her friends in the class... we'll call them "The Giggle Girls"... caught up to me and said "we're going out to the Kwik-E-Mart to get drinks; come with us!" I figured I may as well and two of them (incl. Lolita) grabbed my hands. So now I am walking down the street holding the hands of two of my students. If my boss saw me, I'd be telling you this story in person right now; they definitely would have fired me.

I managed to wiggle out of the holding hands situation and somehow Lolita and I were walking ahead of the other two girls. They were giggling (as they are wont to do) and they caught up to us and said "Chris, do you have a girlfriend?" Well, they pretty much ask me this every freakin day so I said "haven't we covered this?" They said "oh, we forgot". Yeah, right. I told them that I didn't and one of The Giggle Girls said "do you want me to set you up with someone?" I get that a lot, too.

I laughed that off and shook my head and saw the punchline coming a mile away. One of the Giggle Girls said "how about the girl standing next to you?" (meaning Lolita, of course). Not surprisingly, Lolita didn't even flinch. So this was not unexpected on her part. I said "you guys are going to get me in trouble" and Lolita said "if you and I went on a date, would you get in trouble?" Sheesh, talk about forward! I explained that Rule Number One was "Do not hang out with the students" and that a date probably wasn't such a good idea. She then replied "well how about in two weeks when I'm not your student anymore?" Aye yi yi.

I told the other teachers about this and they were roaring. Their kids either hate them or just sit and stare blankly. Mine ask me on dates. But wait, it gets better.

The next day was "teacher evaluation day". My morning class did the eval forms and later that day I was hanging out in the teachers' area while my math class (including Lolita) was doing my evaluation. The academic director (my boss) saw me and said "hey, I wanted to tell you about your evaluations this morning". I braced myself a bit (I'm not exactly known as a disciplinarian... my kids get away with murder) and he said "you're doing a great job, and one of your students actually commented that you're too sexy". Bwahahahaha!!! =)

Mind you, it could NOT have been Lolita who said this because she was doing my eval when my boss told me about this. So it had to be a student from another class. I told the other teachers and they were like "yeah, right!" Please! Is it *SO HARD* to believe that some teenage girl out there would find me sexy? Come on, it's possible! I think they just didn't believe it coming from me. But later that day my boss told everyone and they have not let me live it down since. I don't actually know WHO wrote it (we don't get to see the evaluations) but I have suspicions.

Anyway, word spread to my math class students and I think Lolita was a bit disappointed that she has competition now. I did ask around and found out that Lolita flirts with all of her teachers (what a surprise) but in class today someone said "I heard that one of your other students said that you were sexy" and Lolita replied "well you should see what *I* wrote". Meee-owwww!

I think this is all going to fizzle out soon but I am definitely enjoying my moment of glory and teenage crushes. I could certainly stand three months of THIS! =)

To be continued....?

Chris