I saw a Korean popular science game show type progrom where they were dropping ants from toy helicopters and then looking for the ants to see if they survived the fall. The ants survived, of course. I think ants are of such low mass relative to surface area that falling through air is like falling through water for something larger… the air resistance means their terminal velocity is quite low or something like that. They ride the air down like a feather, floating and wafting about.
Today I had a lunch of delicious kong-guk-su (handmade noodles in an iced soy soup, with cucumber) – I went out with Cheor-ho.
I thought my first grade class went well today - I'm not sure why I think that, since the kids were running around like crazy monkeys. Maybe I just felt more peaceful about that fact? For a while I had them sitting in a circle on the floor with me, while we read a story. I would stop and ask them simple questions, based on the model of the story: "Do you want some milk?" "Yes." Miming, going around in the circle. Before that, the kids had gotten hyper throwing paper airplanes we made, too.
I'm trying to get my sixth graders to start buying and selling land from each other in the town we've built. But they're too respectful of each other's prerogatives… or too shy to aggressively buy and sell, even though they have no problem hurling insults at one another. It's interesting observing these cultural differences, and to reflect on what implications they may have (if any) for how Korean capitalism actually works.
