How to Use a Korean Toilet.

How to use a inground/in-the-floor Urinal, pictures MAYBE later.

1. Make sure to come armed with toiletry, overestimate in case of emergency.
2. Position facing rounded curvature of the urinal.
3. If you have weak thigh muscles, use your left or right hand to hold your balance on the stall wall behind you.
4. Squat eventually. I know that's difficult if you're proportioned like a woman due to the relative size of the urinal, but apparently these were designed for women with manly, curveless bodies.
5. Pee hard, like a race-horse. Think racey thoughts. The harder you pee, the less likely the pee flow will veer to the side and proceed to accumulate around your feet OUTSIDE the urinal. If you pee slowly, it will drip off your rump causing a very uncomfortable sensation and most likely NOT drip into the urinal due to your curvy woman parts.
6. Use your excess toiletry to clean the war zone.
7. Put your toilet paper in the adjacent trash basket.
8. Flush.
9. Wash your hands in COLD unheated water during mid-winter.
10. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

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The Color Pink

This is a bit random, but as I was strolling the hall, I realized that there is a distinct lack of pink as of late in the wardrobe of boys. When I first got to Korea, I noted that adults and kids would freely wear pink regardless of gender, and from a homophobic country such as the USA, this was odd to me at first. Recently, I see less and less pink. At first I thought it was the season, but I began to wonder if maybe this is the influence of more 'concerned' native speaking teachers. I even hear the kids spouting the word 'gay' on occasion. Any thoughts?

Negatives to Korea, teaching ESL

I've done nothing but praise and praise Korea for being on the up and up. I love Korea most of the time. As of late, it's time for the school year to end and grades to be changed. Unfortunately, that means my sweet little fifth graders become the 'alpha students' of my school and begin to act like terrible little masses of energy. In the states, there is a very strict and stagnant program used for children who throw tantrums in the classroom or refuse to do work. In Korea, from my observations, there really isn't one. Corporal punishment was recently outlawed from Korean schools, and teachers aren't really able to cope with the loss of power in that way. There's no suspension, as kids have a 'right' to learn, and there's no detention that I'm aware of. So, I have a big problem when dealing with my students. I have already implemented a system where if they talk and don't listen, I begin to take their points for the day and they become farther away from a movie/game day. They need about 400 points for a movie or a game day.

 When that doesn't work, they are required to clean the classroom. I've also tried having them write sentences of the lesson, and for every time they begin to talk more adding more sentences. But, that's starting to not work, as well. I gave them a pop test, in which four female wannabe kpop 6th graders (they're actually only 5th) and they all cheated. This infuriated me to no end, on top of a huge communication barrier between me and their home room teacher. Thus, I made them sit girl, boy, girl, boy. The class was quiet for a few minutes until they began to get loud again, so I made them do frog jumps in an attempt to de-energize them. That doesn't seem to work either. On top of everything else, one student was writing and passing notes in class and when the teacher tried to take it, the student got physical. I wanted to send her immediately to the principal, but apparently that's not what you do to terrible students. Instead, you take their bullcrap as you attempt to get the letter. This isn't the home-room teacher's fault, she's an elder women. I took charge and yanked the letter out of her hand, made her stand up. She then proceeded to throw a crying temper tantrum the remainder of the class and did nothing. I made her leave the room.

I'd like to know, how does your school handle this situation? I'd like to give them a break, since the school year is almost over and they're worrying about a final exam, but their behaviour is inexcusable. I really dislike 6th graders, as they rarely listen and seem to think they are the best since they are the oldest students. 3rd graders tend to be better at English and more eager to learn compared to a tight-lipped 6th grader.

Let's just say, I'll be ready to go home when my contracts up. I'm tired of everyone and their mother staring at me for being different.