Korean Kid: Up Face

I haven't decided how I feel about this pudgy square-headed boy; he always participates but he isn't the brightest and when his weaknesses are poked fun of he loses a bit of control. For a grade 3 he is a man among boys and has the pride of a king. He has never hit one of his classmates but fake punches when they set him off probably just to watch them cower. He has every right to act this way, being above school law like every student athlete, as a member of the prized baseball team. He's been working with the throwing coach since I've been here. To be fair though, I watch baseball practice from the time it takes me to walk from the main entrance until I'm out of the parking lot. He's a good kid very vocal all the time and boisterous 50% of the time, but there's a willingness to learn another language. If you make it fun.

I call him Up-Face because of his square head reminding me of Carl Fredricksen from up. Sure he doesn't have the thick-rimmed glasses so many other Koreans do, or the hunch, but he's got same hair style under his baseball cap. He's got a grimace that's uncanny to old Mr. Fredricksen's too. Despite a rising temperature he still wears this Michelin Man coat to further flaunt his stout stature and conceal his wittle pot-belly which can still be adorable when your nine.

My first associate teacher had this habit of spilling to me and my fellow teacher-candidate what she thought her students would grow up to be; not knowing the rites of passage of Korean students nor the opportunities being laid out before them I won't take a stab at it. But I'll tell you this, like Mr. Fredrickson, any kid who gets the opportunity to meet him will enjoy his company, eventually.