So it's time to divulge the story of the crying kid... here it goes (the names and identities of the fore-mentioned children have been kept the same so if they read this, they know they were wrong and should always do your homework):

Everyday, each class, and every kid has homework. It's a very simple assignment. I put up a question on the white board and they answer it for homework. Each age group also has a different amount they need to write, and for this particular class it was 15 lines. They do this everyday and they know that they need it to be done by the time class starts. There are 5 kids in this class and when the bell rings, they all put their homework notebooks in front of me... except for today, only 2 of the kids put a notebook down.

I was amazed. That's only 40% of the class. Failure (and not on me, they are the ones that didn't do their homework). I looked at thee three that didn't do homework with that teacher look, "you are in big trouble kid." They saw and recognized the look as well. I checked the two notebooks and gave them the appropriate grades. For class that day, I wanted to do a project. But without the homework done, I could not begin, nor did I want to. No homework, no reward. However, the project could be worked on by those who did their work. So I set the two up with the supplies and told them to work on the project.

I then turned to the other three and asked them, "why do we do homework." I got no response. I asked again, and received the same. I then said, "ok, here is some paper. You will write the sentence, 'I do my homework so I am ready for class,' over and over until I say you are done." They were not too pleased with the assignment, but it needed to be done. I had no intention of having them stop... until Alex looked up at me and changed my mind.

With tears in his eyes, he did the inhale thing that happens when you are crying, and said, "I wanna do my homework." I held back my laughter and said, "that's a great idea." No sooner did I say that and the other two boys agreed with Alex. So I had them do their homework, which they rushed through and did wrong. So I had to correct the work and this resulted in leaving no time for them to work on the project. I explained that my expectations were that they do their homework at home, so they are prepared for class. They all understood.

The next day, even with a combined class, I had 100% of all homework completed.

So I went for a drive on my bike the other night. It was a clear night and I thought I could snag a few good sunset pictures. However, by the time I left work and got to an open field, the sun had gone down behind a mountain. Even though there was no sunset to be seen, I turned around and saw the moon rising behind me. I did not miss the opportunity. The moon was full and the sky was clear. It was fabulous. And a great time just walking around... until I saw the spiders! I have never seen spiders this big. I wish I could have gotten closer to take a bigger or better picture, but I was not going to get any closer to those things. I was completely freaked out. And I am not ashamed to admit that I am afraid of spiders.

Please see through my fears and enjoy the pics:

There was this lone church church next to the river. A great photo-op. It was a very great landscape... very peaceful.

And my city, Suncheon. I'm loving the rice fields with the city in the background.