Meeting the Mins

Saturday morning I was to meet with Jason, his mother and brother. Jason was pretty much a problem child in class. I had a love/hate relationship with him. He was super smart and knew it so he pushed the limits. I was interested to see how he would be. They picked me up from the hotel at 9:30 in the morning. They have just moved back to Korea and have been here about a month. The boys only did 4 days of school before it let out for vacation. They had a brand new car and they told me many things were brand new because they moved to a new apartment. So we drove to their neighborhood. The mom wouldn’t let me see their house because they weren’t settled yet which is understandable. I learned that that moved to the Chapel Hill of Seoul to get the best schools. This means housing is super expensive and quite old. The boys told me their house cost a little more than one million dollars and was super small. I was interested to see their school since it is one of the best. They boys were excited to tell me that while they were gone a new wing was added to their school
as well as turf was put on the field. Both Jason and Harry wanted to show me their classrooms so we found one unlocked door in the building but he stairs were gated. That didn’t stop the boys. We went to another stairwell. It was open. Up we went. First I saw Harry’s third grade room. He showed me his textbooks and his artwork on the wall and his desk since his classroom was unlocked. Next we walked up another flight to Jason’s hall. At this point a terrible noise is sounding. We have set off the alarm. Jason doesn’t care and wants to show me his classroom so he does. I peek in and notice his desk is all by himself while the rest are in partners.
He said it is because he is new but I am suspicious of that. As the noise grew more irritating we started walk/running for the exit only to be stopped by security. The boys got a firm scolding, but it was such a classic experience with my troublemaker, Jason. Back in the car they showed me their middle school from the car. We didn’t want to take any more chances. Then we were off to an early lunch.
We had a typical Korean BBQ. We sat on the floor and took off our shoes. We grilled the meat on the charcoal grill in front of us like I did my first night. It was the boys’ favorite restaurant so their mom ordered so much food. It was easily a 100 dollar lunch! By the end of the meal Jason couldn't sit still and was up roaming the restaurant. Things don't change! I later found out that teachers are no longer allowed to punish like they used to so we may see more Jason type students when they come abroad. They dropped me off at the subway and it was back home to quickly stop at home before my next student meeting.