ADD Child is BACK!!

I have been living with a Korean family for coming up 4 months now. For the most part, it is a mildly pleasant experience. The apartment is big, warm, and equipped with basic Western mod-cons (oven, drum washing machine, large fridge) -- a rarity in Korea. Constant family disputes aside, the experience would be perfectly bearable were it not for one small, but terribly obnoxious thing...ADD Child. Yes, that's right. The 10-year-old boy I teach is my current bête noire.

For the past week ADD C was shipped off to stay with his grandparents because 'the old lady' has moved back to the country and he no longer has a guardian during the day. The stillness of the house was short-lived, and Peace of Mind and I had only become briefly acquainted by the time he returned home.

I should perhaps mention that the purpose of my staying with the family is purely for the benefit of ADD C. I am there to help him with his English. It seemed like a perfect deal; I teach 4 nights a week in return for free board. I should have realised that something was amiss long ago.

Four months down-the-line I find out that ADD Child has an IQ of 130 and has a tendancy bounce off the wall ALL THE TIME. For example, last night he came into my room to watch a movie and a conversation about the pencil he had thrown at my head a few months ago quickly ensued.

Conversation:

Me: 'Stop kicking me or you can go down stairs'.
ADD C: laughs
Me: 'It's not funny. Be nice'.
ADD C: 'It is funny - like the time I threw a pencil at you, and the lead stuck in your head'.
Me: 'I'll probably die of lead poisoning now...and it left a scar'.
ADD C: looks at my brow and then scratches me on the scar...'Now you will have a bigger scar'.

And so it is. I now have a new wound where the lovely chap took a chunk out of my forehead. I have covered it up with concealer to no avail.

In hindsight of last night's scrap, I can't help but think of two things:

1. If this is what parenthood is like, you can stick it
2. Grad school better be worth it