It's How You Get There

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. -George Bernard Shaw Their eyes are gleaming in anticipation. White teeth glinting. They stomp eagerly at the line, aching to dart forward, but are held back by the invisible force of command. I begin inching backwards, knowing that if I move too quickly the tenable control we have will break, and I may not be able to get it back before the damage has been done.  I stretch my legs a little bit, all the while watching them carefully. Looking for signs that one of them might snap. They chatter excitedly, fidgeting, but they stay behind the line. Taking a couple steps backwards I look over at the others then nod. They back away from the sides of the line, leaving me alone to face the eight kindergartners twitching for the signal to charge into the playground.  Eyeing them suspiciously I address my little pack: " Now, remember, we run when I say 'go'."  Shouts of agreement come from the gr...

Violence is never the answer but sometimes, like with cockroaches, it is the only possible response. Tanya Huff If you've read the title, and it made you squirm, this post may not be for you. I'll still love you, I won't even know you didn't, and since you clicked on the link, I've already got the click count so feel free to move on to a bug free realm.  For those of you who have stuck around, LET ME TELL YOU. I've become a ninja. My powers of observation have tripled. I know the black spots in my apartment intimately , and if there's a new spot, I have a swath of toilet paper or my Squisher Swiffer (a repurposed floor mop) in a matter of seconds.  My "Sweet Home" fans (all two of you) know how I'm vibing. Before you go "But Shayla, there's poison for those!", I've got my passive defense too. I have two different types of roach bait, some roach spray, and a Borax/sugar mix that I keep under the sink and sprinkle in the garbage...

 It's amazing to me how somethings as basic as the toilet and restrooms can have so many different variations. I mean, thankfully they have toiles here (never anything I worried about, but am grateful for), but it's not always the same, friends.  My apartment is definitely no Hilton by any means, and T Teacher sniffs whenever I talk about it and he frequently tells me I could be doing better (considering his new apartment has an actual bedroom and no roaches, he thinks it makes him an authority on these things). Many bathrooms, especially in budget housing, are wet rooms - a toilet and shower head with a tub spout sticking out of the wall, no sink and no shower curtain. Initially this took a little bit of getting used to, and deciding between the spout to wash my hands or the kitchen sink is something I still struggle with. I hadn't realized how accustomed I was to my setup until I had a couple friends over, and one was like "Sis, you don't have a sink in your bath...

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." Ludwig Wittgenstein Today I flexed my new Korean skills and told my friends that (and I quote) the "stomach skin called me". What I meant  to say, was "I called my family", but both the friends I was messaging and google translate assured me that was not what actually happened.  Welcome to the perils of language learning.   Before coming to Korea I knew that some people would likely speak English, and that I would be spending most of my days in English due to work. I didn't realize though how much all of the other time would be in English too. I was talking with my Dad today, and he said that he was realizing how different my "immersion" experience was compared to his. Both of my parents served missions for our church in different countries, Mom in Guatemala and Dad in Argentina. When Dad was there by about 6 months in he felt he had a decent mastery of the language and could express hi...

"The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.” – William Makepeace Thackeray It's been 4 months since I've come to Korea, and like I regularly tell my friends "I've felt like I've been here for days or years, take your pick." The closest thing that I've had to this in my life was when I served a mission for my church. Each day felt it lasted a year, each week a month, the each month a week, and the year a day. Time kind of did it's own thing and I lived within it.  I think a large part of why that is is because steep learning curves have a way of sucking you into them. You become such a part of the experience that when you finally surface for air you realize days have passed in the sea of everything you've had to learn. My Grandpa "C" asked me yesterday if I felt like I had settled in or if I was still in the middle of adjusting, and while I told him I felt like I was out of the woods, I mi...

“Live your life by a compass, not a clock.” – Stephen Covey How did I end up spending my first Korean Thanksgiving in one of the most historic cities of South Korea? Well, it wasn't entirely by accident, and it wasn't entirely on purpose. It was entirely Tharek Teacher, and that's really all that can be said. My plans for the five day holiday had mostly consisted of watching dramas (Chinese or Korean was TBD), continuing with my rice and dumpling diet, and maybe possibly going out for pizza towards the end to finish it all in a style that all my previous roommates will attest to being very Shayla-esque.  So when Tharek texted me asking if I had any plans for Chuseok, I wanted to say yes. But I also knew that while Tharek would be polite about it, he'd still call me out my lameness. So I said no, and he presented me with this proposition to go traveling over the break. Immediately the part of Shayla that GETS REALLY NERVOUS ABOUT GOING PLACES jumped forward to remind me ...

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between 2020/7/26 Sometimes so much happens it's hard to know what to write about. A first week at work post? A first time at a karaoke room post? Or build on that and have a "first night on the town" post and include the samgyeupsal, the Irish Pub run by a Korean, and the broken umbrella all in one? Is it a post about the kids, how lovable and earnest they are. About teaching again after such a long break.  In the end often what gets written is what comes pouring from my fingers once I place them on the keyboard. And that is a mixed bag. It results in having 5 published posts, with 5 in progress...with only a few actually making it to becoming published drafts. It's convenient though, since it means I almost always have something in the works that I can have ready for my posting schedule. It also makes for out of order narratives, different storytelling styles, and sometimes inc...

Nearing the end of my second month here there's a little principle I'm currently internalizing that warrants sharing:  Sanity Requires Flexibility.  Sometimes that looks like buying the 30 pack of toilet paper, because bulk shopping toilet paper is apparently the only way to buy toilet paper and no waiting for a smaller pack to show up will actually make that happen.  It looks like realizing my new debit card doesn't actually work as a bus card and having to decide if I'm going back to the bank to fix it, or see if my phone is compatible with their electronic payment system. Then realizing that because my phone is "pay as you go" and not on a phone contract they may not take the phone option anyways (EVERYTHING is attached to you phone number, EVERYTHING.  Or there's when one of the boys pretends he's Legolas shooting me with an imaginary bow and arrow, and since Legolas primarily shoots orcs I have to decide if that's a point of discipline or shou...

Dating relationships are a hot topic among the kids at English school. It's a reflection of a culture where everyone needs to have someone, even if it's fairly shallow, and not necessarily founded on much of anything. That being the case, it's strange to have people who are single. But sometimes the dating situation at English school rivaled even the most dramatic of Desperate Housewives episodes.  Before R Teacher left almost two months ago, the school whirled with stories of her walking home with T Teacher (highly suspicious, not withstanding that they live in the same apartment building). They also had been seen eating out and they often arrived at work at the same time. To top it off, they both would say when asked "Of course we're dating!". So when R Teacher left to go to Seoul, there was a lot of concern for T Teacher and everyone was all ears on Monday when the youngest of the kindergarten class asked him what would happen now that R Teacher was gone.  ...

“Children make your life important.”   — Erma Bombeck, American humorist Students. They get grumpy, I try to be the bigger person. They fall asleep in class, I'm grateful there's a mask to hide my yawning. I call them the wrong name on accident, they call me by the older teacher's in retaliation. I forget to leave enough time for games at the end of class, they roll their eyes when I use sentences like "The dragon licked the knight.".  They get frustrated with in-class work, and we all feel hopeless when I don't understand the English words they're trying to use. Erasers get chucked across the room, and answers for tests get said out loud. Someone is always either taking off their mask, or chewing on it.  And all at the same time, when I come over to help the little who's dozing off during class, he leans against me and holds my hand while I walk him through the assignment. The boy chewing his mask grins at me as his mask falls down, and I can't he...

"To have another language is to possess a second soul." -Charlemagne I think every teacher or parent has that one phrase that they find themselves saying almost automatically. Like a broken record, the words and sounds wind through their heads and out their mouths almost thoughtlessly, triggered by the behavior they're meant to influence.  As a teacher with a wide variety of students ages, these sayings can vary. For my littles "find you seats" and "wash your hands" are pretty standard. For my early elementary I'm regularly caught saying "Is your name (insert name of child I had actually asked to answer)?". And for my older classes a variation of "really, dude?" is not uncommon. But the phrase most uttered in every class regardless of the situation, is "Is this Korean class?", "It's okay if you whine at me, but it has to be in English.", "Korean? What's that?", and the one to rule them all, ...