Double-Take

I'm somewhat certain that some of my students experienced one of those classic "made 'ya look twice" moments tonight as I left the hagwon.

There was a smaller than average turn-out for my evening essay class tonight: only the 3 girls who usually whisper their way through our discussions, in their native language (not mine), bothered to show up. The lack of respect between myself and these girls is entirely one-sided. For my part, I think they are all intelligent and interesting individuals. Getting them to reveal such aspects of their respective personalities, IN ENGLISH, however, is EXTREMELY difficult.

Having decided to abandon our text book in favor of "free talking", our halting conversation drifted to the topic of marriage. In Korea the "ideal age" for a woman to get married is 25. In Korea, I am considered to already be 25, as one's age is calculated from one's date of conception, rather than from one's date of birth. Twittering away in Korean, the girls asked when I was getting married and whether or not I had a boyfriend, fiance, prospects, etc. (Yes, even 14 year old girls feel perfectly entitled to pose these questions and then ridicule my unfavorable replies.) I did not need to be fluent in Korean to understand that they were mocking me and perhaps implying that I would/could never get married. Fair enough. At work I'm a virtual "old school marm" who has been cautioned about appearing "too sexy" in public (bare shoulders are OUT) and who, by 10:00pm, is tired, dilapidated and annoyed. Sure I don't seem like marriage material to them. None of my middle or high school teachers seemed remotely matrimonial (I didn't have the pleasure of being taught by Mr. Day). I was not offended, merely wearily amused at their tenacious discourtesy.

All that aside, we wrapped up our class early due to their unwillingness to contribute and my eagerness to get home, and it was because this premature finish that my wonderful double-take moment occurred. After putting up the classroom chairs and ordering my materials for the following day I went to the washroom, let down my hair and brushed it, washed my face and donned my green and pink "Von Dutch" hat, ready to head home. The girls were still standing at the entrance of our academy and as I brushed down the stairs and out the door there was an audible pause in their incessant conversation. Yes, I do believe, if only for a moment, they mistook their crotchety old teacher for someone who might actually have someplace to be and people to meet every Friday night. Someone a cute older boy might actually consider dating or maybe even marrying in the future. SHOCKING, I know.

It was a vainly validating moment for Yours Truly. Even if it was just a fleeting moment in my otherwise mundane day.