School in Songhwan

 Text: In December Helena started teaching at a new hagwon (called MIT, though we never could figure out why) which Mr. Yoon opened up in a tiny town called Song Hwan, about twenty minutes north by bus. The school offered English classes for children and adults, and also "soksem" (general tutoring) for elementary students. Song Eun was in a class by herself. Her very cute sister, Eun Young, came for sok sem. The school was run by two of Mr. Yoon's sisters-in-law, Mrs. Oh and Mrs. Choi. Mrs. Oh was the sok sem teacher. Originally the plan was to have both of us teach there (and eventually move to an apartment in Song Hwan) but business was not booming. There were never more than eight English students at a time, in as many as five different classes. The school closed in April and Helena moved back to BCM when David went home.

(Page 2) Kim Ji Won, a university student, was in an advanced class (at first with another girl, and later by herself). She and Helena kept in touch after the hagwon closed. Kim Ki Bom and Nari (brother and sister) and Hyo Sup were in a beginning class together. They learned the alphabet well, in spite of the amount of time spent kicking each other under the table and exchanging creative insults.

 

Pens: Zig Writer blue, Micron black (01)

Scissors: Fiskars Aztec, seagull

I figured it was a pretty good bet that the stickers the kids gave me were not acid-free, so I planned a layout where they could be placed directly on the buffered page. I cut a window out of the mat, mirroring the one rounded corner on the surrounding photos.

The faces by the title were salvaged from an otherwise uninspiring photo.

I've discovered that you can do interesting things with seagull scissors on corners.