Crazy Talk

This weekend has been really chill. I got sick somehow and have been inside almost the whole weekend. Not fun, but I think I'm long overdue for some r&r. I teach an International class 3x a week, which is designed for students wanting to study in other countries. English is a huge part of their testing and without a good score, they won't be able to study abroad. The kids in this class are pretty great. I especially love these 2 girls that giggle and crack jokes like I would with my girlfriends. They're obsessed with the K pop boy bands and they always know the hot gossip. They keep me in the loop :)

I took home a stack of essays to grade over the weekend. I gave all the students a list of writing prompts to chose from. So far I've read about what Peter would do with 1 billion Won(korean currency), what animal Jim would be, and where Cindy would go if she had a time machine. There's some pretty funny stuff.

I started to read through an essay by one of my favorite giggle-girls and I was shocked at what I read. She told me about a secret she was afraid to tell her friends. Her secret? She was in ballet class for 5 years. I didn't really understand why this was a secret until I read further. She said that if her friends knew they would pick on her, just like the girls in the class. It wasn't because she was a bad dancer, she said she was top in the class. She said she dropped out because she was always being told she was fat. Reading that just ripped my heart in 2.

It's hard to convince a teenager of anything. And trust me, she's no where near fat. Not that it matters. I just wish she knew that what these girls are saying means nothing. High school is full of snobby, bratty, self righteous girls. I hope she sees that. It doesn't help that Koreans are so stuck on appearance. My friend Gina isn't allowed to go to family parties for the holidays, because her parents are too embarrassed of her. They think she needs to lose 20 some pounds.

Ugh...just can't believe how easily people can open their mouths and break a person's spirit. I've put all my faith into the phrase "what goes around comes around".

Now to convince my student to get back into ballet...

-C