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Interesting and somewhat distressing day on the 6th.

It was the first of three movie days – Charlotte’s Web (the Dakota Fanning version). They watch the movie then answer a quiz afterward to check their comprehension. That wasn’t so bad; mind you it was so cold in the classroom that I lost the feeling in my toes by the first “message” in the web. =] The kids did pretty well – it is a hard test, but most passed with flying colours.

What was distressing is what took place after the class. One of my favorites (a bright, although somewhat withdrawn little boy – i.e. much the way I was when I was his age) had been out of sorts all day. No amount of encouragement could bring him out of his funk. Perplexing, but it happens.

As I was heading home I came around the corner to find him wailing, sans glasses and bleeding profusely out of both nostrils. I attended to his needs (blood was every where on me; man, I had forgotten how much a nose can bleed after it is punched) and through pantomime and some half Korean, half English inquiries of the girls that surrounded us (I had the same problem when I was his age – the dark, silent, currently bleeding type always attracts ‘em I guess) determined one of his team mates had popped him in the nose. Apparently it was going to get a lot worse but the assailant scattered when he heard me coming.

It pisses me off that in the Korean way this is a simple sorting of the wheat from the chaff, the strong from the weak – like some mini-Darwinian passion play. Fighting is almost encouraged to get the pecking order established. All-in-all this level of violence is fairly common. With all the martial arts training I’m surprised someone doesn’t get seriously hurt or worse.

I’ll deal with it today. Part of me wants to kick the bully’s ass, but I know I cannot go there. That is, of course, partially driven by my sense of fair play and more than a little bit of my “seeing” me in the injured party. However, as the responsible adult here, I’ll remind them that when they are at school this is not tolerated and they risk suspension or worse. A safe, bureaucratic, politically correct response; just not totally satisfying. No doubt it’ll be the right thing to do…