Dongcheem... yea whatever.

I've written before about my male students' proclivity for poking each other, and me, in the buttcrack. It's a ritual that seems as old as time here. It's officially called dongcheem (pronounced dthong-cheem)and it's everywhere. Like I said, I've written about it before so I'll spare you the details.

One boy has risen to the top of the dongcheem ranks, at least when it comes to attacks on me. His name is Taek Hyun. He is merciless. But the thing you need to understand about him is that he's totally harmless. He's somehow figured out a way to ass-poke me without me even minding. He even has me laughing at him by now.

Yesterday I had his afterschool class working on constructing their family trees. He was a little confused about the idea of cousins, so I dutifully went over to clear up the issue. I slowly explained the breakdown to him using clear examples and animated body language. He simply looked at me for a second, nodded, and poked two fingers into my ass. Dongcheem! And then he got back to work. No celebratory laugh, chortle, or fist pump. Nothing. Just a check of my oil and back to business. He's a good man.