OK...I have to say this that I really think you should compile all this and send this to a publishing house. I would def read this. Also do you teach high school kids and can you explain diff btw grade levels in Korea..I thought 3rd grade meant 9yr olds?

That's an absolutely lovely thing to say. But why ship it off to a publishing house when you all can get it here for free? I think, at times, I might should be paying you all to read this drivel. And I like indulging those instances.

I teach middle school. It goes like this: Grade 1-6, elementary school. Then you jump back to grade 1-3 for middle school (includes American 7, 8 and 9) and start over again for high school. So when I say "my third graders", I'm talking about boys who are currently 14-15 years old.

If there's one thing you could change about Korean mentality, (would you?) and what would it be?

Nope. Maybe one of the functions of my personality that's made it easier for me to adjust to things here than some other people is that I generally just don't think like that. Shit is what it is. You take the good with the bad. No if onlys. If onlys only serve to make you miserable, I think. Just like with people, the same characteristic that shows up in negative ways is intrinsically tied to other characteristics that show up in positive. You can't alter a part without altering the whole. So you accept the whole. Even if you can't accept all the details of the whole. And if you can't accept too many details, then you get the fuck away from the whole. Right?

Either you can live with something or you can't. In this life, you can only control yourself. Wishing something other than yourself (a person, a place, a culture) were different is a grade a way to start frustrating yourself unnecessarily. I think.