The Korean school year starts at the beginning of March. Consequently, there is some shuffling that will take place all over the orphanage. Two boys and one girl will move up from the pre-school room to the elementary house. Two 6th grade boys will move up to the middle school/high school floor. And I’m sure that some older kids who just graduated will be off to college/military service or some may be moving away.

Unfortunately, this is all going to happen when I’m in Taiwan. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics change among the elementary boys. The two new 1st graders are pretty tough, no-nonsense kind of kids. The 2 boys who are just one year older than them are not nearly as rugged. They aren’t bigger. They’ve spent the past year at the bottom rung of the social hierarchy and do it relatively willingly. For lack of a better word… they are much “wussier.”

Now, as you already know, age plays a BIG role in social relationships in Korea. Even one year can make a difference – especially for children. The current 2nd graders just LOVE to throw their little bit of weight around at the less-assertive 1st graders. It is the only authority can claim! I am expecting the new 2nd graders to try that with the two new boys. But these kids will not go so easily. They have really strong personalities. Now, they’ll probably take it from the 4th, 5th, and 6h graders, but I have my doubts about the others!