The sun is a jagged rock pounding against your head. You lift your eyelids, then immediately snap them shut again. Sluggishly, your brain begins to function. After a period of time you recall that you are in Korea and that you went out the previous night. You also deduce that you are lying, fully clothed (shoes included), on your stomach, on top of your bedspread. Rolling onto your side causes your stomach to gurgle, but other than that and the fact that your head feels like it could burst at any moment, you are intact and, unfortunately, not going to die.

Eventually, you acquire the gumption and balance to stand up. You decide to go to the fridge to get some water, absently noting the trail of bread crusts from the bed to the kitchen. The water is bliss and the ibuprofen glorious. Within a half hour, in which time you unsuccessfully attempt to figure out the reason for the bread crusts and the loaf of bread wedged into the chair, you begin to feel human again. You jam a few squished slices of bread into the toaster and spend the rest of the day rehydrating and staring at nothing in particular. You vow to never drink soju again, a vow at which the realist part of your brain chuckles.

Despite the fact that you have only been awake a few hours, when the sun sets, so do you.

You wake up the next morning feeling much better and ready to face your first day of teaching.

Teaching turns out to be you, thrown naked and defenseless to various packs of energetic or apathetic wolves. At the end of the day, you are absolutely exhausted but feel that it was a success because more kids smiled (2) than cried (1).

By Thursday, you have grown considerably more comfortable, but reach the conclusion that one child in specific is trying to anger you. So far, he is succeeding. In fact, when you teach him that day, you catch him in the act of flipping you off. You:

explode in a rage and drag this six-year-old brat outside the classroom to berate him loudly.

control your irritation, thinking that he is only six and that flipping someone off may not have the same meaning in Korea, and firmly tell him to never do that again.