Now say you're sorry.

Of course last week was too good to be true.  I should have known it was some sort of glitch, an accident of fate.  This week's developments have left me with wrinkles on my forehead, stress aches in my back, and some serious concerns about where these kids observed this behavior.  What was once a calm, kind and pleasant environment has turned into a scene from Training Day, the kindergarten version.  Theft, gang activity and random acts of violence are taking place all over Cat Class and i'm having some trouble stopping it.  

I will start with the theft problem that's developed.  Every toy that is picked up by a student, no matter how small, no matter how insignificant, will become the most sought after object in the classroom.  Once it's in the possession of someone, everyone wants it.  One student will just walk up to another student and attempt to wrestle whatever the object is out of their hands.  I have no idea how many times I screamed "SHARE" or "look right here...there are 15 more just like it" during playtime today.  During outside play, kids were even stealing sand from one another. Sand! It was absurd.

The gang activity has become a pretty big problem.  The leader of the girls gang is none other than Heather.  I can't understand what the little villain is saying, but I can tell from her tone and the look in those crazy little eyes that it's nothing nice.  She'll walk up to the boys gang, which is lead by Ryan, steal something from him, then say something with so much attitude that you'd think she's a 15 year old with daddy issues on the Jerry Springer Show.

The problems with the boys gang are more internal.  The building block area is where they like to hang out and it's become the South Central of Cat Class.  If I stop paying attention for a second, you can bet money that something will go down.  Today I looked away for maybe 5 seconds, when I turned back around Ryan was hitting David with the tail of a toy stegosaurus.  David then screamed at the top of his lungs and close fist punched Ryan in the face.  I was so shocked that I screamed "what the fuck?!" at the top of my lungs--which subsequently threw off my anger because I started looking around to see if any adults heard. Once I realized I was in the clear, I refocused my anger and grabbed the 2 delinquents. Both of them began pleading their case in Korean.  Obviously I was on David's side, but I had to be fair so I made them apologize to each other, which feels super pointless because they don't know what it means, then they each sat in timeout for 3 minutes.  Later in the day I walked in the classroom to see Ryan choking out one of the other boys, Brian.  I don't know what caused this outburst, but I can say that seeing a 3 year old attempt to choke out another 3 year old is kinda like those dreams where you're punching underwater.  The effort to do some damage is there, but the result is pretty minuscule.  Brian didn't even seemed phased by Ryan's attempted UFC move, but I'm pretty worried about all this child's aggression.

Tomorrow is our second field trip and all the other foreign teachers are excited to have a day off from teaching.  I, however, am terrified.  We're going to a traditional Korean house and the kids are learning all about Choseok activities (Korean Thanksgiving) tea ceremonies, bowing, and other important Korean traditions.  They will also be dressed in traditional Korean clothing, or hanboks.  With the way my kids have been behaving this week I would not be at all surprised if Ryan decided to pee in a fountain or if Heather just dumped hot tea on an elder.  Here's to hoping they can curb this rebellious streak for tomorrow.  I would really hate for Cat Class to be known as the group that disgraced Korean history and tradition.