As many of you know I live and work in South Korea and from time to time I will just have an amazing or terrible day. It all depends on the kids that I teach and their ages normally range from 5-15. There are some good, sad, funny, and bad stories that come from working with kids and teaching them English as a second language. I think I need to get some of them on the chain before I completely forget them. I will not be using their real names but will stick to the same fake name for each of them. Stick around as there will be a few of these!
Story number #2 - Headfirst
Today will be another story about Franky. As you know by now he is a pretty big kid for his age. By far the strongest of all the kindergarten kids. This kid was absolutely fearless, not scared of anything or anyone. Even our principle could not get through to him. Not that he was always bad, he was just tough. There was only one teacher that could rattle him a little, but after some time even that failed.
Anyway, just as a quick example of how strong he was (or at least he thinks he was) normally before they go home they are lined up inside of class while the elementary kids are lined up outside. On this specific day, Franky perhaps didn't like the look of a certain kid's face. I kid you not, as I opened the door and told them to follow me I walked backward and kept an eye on them. It was at this moment Franky just full-on punched an older kid that is at least a head and a half taller than him. Right in the face, he could barely reach, but he did land a pretty solid shot. Luckily it was a pretty tough kid that took the blow and his first reaction was to look at me with surprise while I rush to Franky. I still have no idea why he punched him, perhaps the older kid provoked him previously or something, but just the pure fearlessness of Franky landing a blow on a kid that is at least 2-3 years older than him. It amazed me... Then again, I took some hits from him too in the past, nothing too bad, except that one time when he got me right in the crown jewels. I had to keep a straight face but I died a little inside. Needless to say, the other kid was fine, Franky didn't get away with it and it never happened again. Oh, how they learn from their mistakes.
Another little story about Franky the fearless was when we went on a field trip. Korea has a ton of parks and most of them are equipped with cool stuff for the kids to play on.
On this specific day, there was a rather large slide that most of the kids did not go on easily, they were hesitant and a lot of them didn't go near it. To give you an idea, it looks like a water slide, the big round tubes that make a turn or two before you see the light. I think the whole ride lasted maybe 2-3 seconds. So not really that scary, but for a 5 and 6-year-old it is still a little daunting. So one by one we helped them into the slide and one by one they screamed going down. Not Franky though, he refused our help and approached the slide. Then he did something we never saw coming, he jumped headfirst into this slide, it happened so fast that none of us could stop him. Then came the sound. Not a scream, not a cry, just that sound you get when dragging your finger down a whiteboard, flesh dragging against plastic. Franky didn't come out as fast as the other kids for this exact reason. When he did come out we could see he regretted that little dive. Both of his forearms were red and toasty after that slide down. He showed us, kind of proudly. I expected tears but his face told another story, more a look what I did! After explaining to him that if he does not sit down he will get hurt he finally got it and went down the normal way...
Tough as nails that kid.
Stick around for some more funny stories about Franky and his friends. There will be quite a few!
