Snow pants...?

In my second grade class today, my question to the kids was, "What would you wear on a mountain where there is snow?" After a few of the regular answers, I tried to get them to say snow pants. I was describing them as pants that keep your legs warm. One kid shot up his hand, so excited that he had come up with the "right" answer. "Hot panties" he shouted! I busted out laughing and could not stop. The other students of course didn't get it.

It's funny to see little children's reaction to me on the subway. Everytime I ride the subway, I am the only white person. I think some of the little 2 and 3 year old children may have never seen someone like me in person before. They just stare and stare. Last weekend, this little boy's parents were trying to get him to sit in the only open seat...next to me. He refused. He turned the other way for the whole subway ride. He wouldn't even look at me. It's funny to see the parents reactions. They are speaking in Korean but we just smile, knowing what each other is thinking.

Today was the first mention of North Korea in my fourth grade class. None of my students had brought it up before, so I thought maybe their parents don't tell them what is going on. Today one girl asked me if I knew about what was going on. She proceeded to act out (because her English is not so good) what North Korea is doing. It was a little sad to see her stating the facts so bluntly as she acts out bombs blowing up. I asked her if that scares her. She got real serious and said, "A little." She said, "North and South Korea fight...but I think South can win!"

I don't really know where the status lies now. War is still lingering in the air, but hopefully things are dying down. It's weird that life is just going on like normal for me here.