Lunchtime Baseball

Every day, the students at my High School get a 50 minute lunch break, where they can eat and then have some free time. This is also my favorite time of day, as I often get the opportunity to play Ping Pong, Basketball, or simply carry on absurd conversations in Konglish with a mob of giggling girls. Today I was sitting outside with another teacher, watching some guys play Baseball. The best part was, these guys were pretty awful. In America, I feel like every guy has at least a basic knowledge in how to hit, throw, and use a glove. These kids had no idea what to do with the glove, and often threw it on the ground, opting to catch bare-handed instead. Plus the pitchers were out of control, hitting innocent bystanders more often than the catcher's glove. Obviously, this made for quite an entertaining scene, and I was thoroughly enjoying the game, the fall weather, and a general sense of relaxation. That is, until I was called upon to step up to the plate. 

One student whose turn it was to hit decided to give me his place, much like a celebrity shot in Beer Pong. At first, I declined. I did not want to deprive anyone of their chance at Sports Stardom, but once the offer was on the table, there was no turning back. Everyone starting cheering, "YES COOPAH...YOU PLAY." So, I took off my sweater, rolled up my sleeves, and got into position. The pitcher threw about 8 pitches that either went way over my head or behind me. Finally, he throws one straight down the middle, a little higher than I anticipated, and I took a BIG swing, missing completely. "OOOOOOOOO," is all I heard, coming from all sides. I look around and notice about 75 people now watching the scene. 

Heres a mental picture for you: The shape of my school is basically a T, and there is a field (read: dirt patch) on either side of the T. We were playing on one of those dirt patches. As I look around me, I notice kids hanging out of almost every window, lined up at the doors, and crowding the steps. Essentially, all eyes were on Coopah Teachah to see what he would do. At first I found this kind of amusing, but then I thought, "What if I strike out? They're probably expecting me to slam this thing into the street. They don't realize that I SUCK at Baseball." Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it now. So I took a deep breath and pointed the bat into the far reaches of the outfield, much to the delight of the ever-growing crowd. The pitcher threw three more wild balls, one of which almost took my head off, another slamming into the catcher's ribs. The next one comes at me, a little low, and straight down the middle - right where I wanted it. I take a big swing...WHIFF. Everyone starts going wild. I hear "STRIKE-EH" and "OOOO COOPAH" coming from all sides. Now I really start to get nervous. What if I miss? These kids will never respect me again. I still have to see them for 11 more months. I can't take that kind of humiliation. 

I look up at the pitcher and he is smiling, like he knows I'm going to strike out. I take a few practice swings, step back up to the plate, and prepare for the worst. As expected, a few more wild throws fly past me. Then the pitcher tosses one a little slower than usual, down the middle. The ball was a little higher than I would have liked, but I didn't care. I just went for it. I can't even remember if I looked at the ball, but I felt the connection. I sort of swatted at it, hitting a fast grounder straight down the third base line. Luckily, the closest infielder was covering second, so no one was around to get it. The ball quickly rolled into the outfield as I rounded first, with a stupid grin on my face. I made it to third base before the ball made its way to the infield. As I was catching my breath, I finally noticed all of the cheers coming from the building and the surrounding steps. I started to feel this great sense of pride and accomplishment as I listened to all the students shout from the windows. I've never received such an enthusiastic applause before, and I couldn't help but feel fantastic. Even though all I did was BARELY not strike out, I felt like I had accomplished something monumental, if even for a brief moment. I saved my reputation this time, but who knows what sort of challenges will be thrown my way in the next few months.

On a different note, I teach an extra conversation class twice a week for kids that are interested in more English practice, easily the best classes of the week. Since I teach this class alone, I can pretty much do whatever I want. So I rarely even plan a lesson, and we usually just end up playing games or talking. I also do "Slang of the day" which is probably the reason why most of them show up every week. At one point I was asking the kids if any of them had nicknames. Often times when I ask questions, the students giggle with each other and start jabbering away in Korean. So the same thing happens today with two of the guys who are in the class. I ask them what they are talking about and one of them points to his friend and says, "His nickname...Porno Psycho Fest."