varying degrees of light

At the last quiz of this week, I answered any questions before handing out the sheets. The loud students finished first, then the smart ones, then the quiet ones. I walk around trying to look like a calm professor instead of the anxious, excited recent college grad that I am. This is their first quiz with me--this week has been full of first quizzes. The ones that raise their hands for clarification gain instant ranking as my new favorite student ever and I hope that they learned when to use said instead of told. I hope that their mind processes the difference in English until they are not differences anymore, but just two words that they are fully capable of using. I hope that they have not merely thought to look for an object as an indication, to pluck the rule from their minds later. I am thankful for the ones that put themselves in their Have you ever questions, hopeful for the ones that try, and exhausted from the ones that left blank spaces.

When I returned from my office, after quietly thanking them as they filed out and wishing them a happy Chuseok, I was handed a brick of cash--our first month's pay--and instructed to count it. We had been notified of this beforehand. We had only recently applied for our resident/immigration cards, and can't apply for a bank account until we receive them. Still, it seemed odd. Not that it was in cash, but that we were getting paid at all.