[FIRST NAME REDACTED] Kim's mom just gave me cologne and aftershave

That's the kind of gift that says, "[FIRST NAME REDACTED] told me you smell bad, so I thought I would do something to help you out."

It's parent-teacher conference time here at APIS. We had a half-day today (with 25-minute long periods). Then we spent the afternoon into the evening talking with parents. We'll spend the whole day tomorrow in conferences. Yay.

The mom who gave me cologne was the first one to come in. (The students all came with their parents, so [FIRST NAME REDACTED] was there too.) Her son is in my homeroom, so I gave them his report card. Most of the rest of the conference was taken up by the mother yelling at her son in Korean, pointing to his religion grade and saying "F!" and pointing to his GPA and saying "2.58!" It was not a very productive discussion.

My final conference of the day was with a kid whose father is the CEO of a huge company in Korea. The mother spoke no English. The father thought he spoke better English than he did. I asked him after we had talked for a while if he had any further concerns. He proceeded to talk for about five minutes about his concern that his son have enough time to study and also play sports so he would stay healthy. I was not sure how to respond to it. He seemed to expect a response, but there didn't seem to be an appropriate response besides, "Well, in my expert opinion, [FIRST NAME REDACTED] should be studying for three hours every night, so that would probably leave him time for about an hour and a half of sports every day." And I wasn't going to say that. Then he talked for another five minutes--I really don't know what he was trying to get at, but it had something to do with prestigious high schools and colleges. Again, he seemed to expect an answer but did not provide me with anything to respond to, so I was a little baffled.

Now I'm really tired. That was oddly taxing, just like everyone said it would be. Just one more day of it: they can hurt you, but they can't stop the clock.


Leslie's Addendum:

I didn't get cologne, but I did get chocolates, tea, an umbrella, Burt's Bees lip balm, and sweet Korean dumplings. One more thing--we got to see the awesome Clara Kim on Saturday!! This was her house-warming present--delicious tira misu:



I can't wait until conferences are over! I saw seven homeroom kids and twelve other kids that I teach this afternoon and evening. Some conferences were very pleasant, while others were very awkward. During one conference, the 10th grader looked like he was about to cry the entire time. I felt really bad, but he got a 91% in my class. I think he was mostly upset about his other grades. Oh well! A few parents wanted to talk to me about college and AP classes. One 6th grade mother is already very worried about her son getting into a great college, and he's an amazing kid! He has a 98 in my class and has almost perfect grades in every other class. I told her she shouldn't start worrying for another few years... :)

Daniel's addendum:

Not only did Leslie get chocolates, tea, an umbrella, Burt's Bees lip balm, and sweet Korean dumplings, but she also got four Halloween candygrams from her students.  I didn't get any.  It's pretty obvious whose students love their teacher more.  Not that I'm jealous or anything.  (He wrote, and resolutely blinked back his tears.)