My first teaching job came to a close earlier today and I can't believe it's over. I had such a good time, even with the bad days mixed in. It's funny to look back to the first couple of difficult weeks and think about the kids who almost had me in tears a few times and realize that they're some of my favorites now. I'll miss all those little babies, as well as everyone else I've met here in Korea! It's been an awesome six months and I'm so happy I got this opportunity. I commend those who have taken this journey alone. I was really fortunate to have several good friends by my side from the the moment we started taking Korean class together last August!
I received more hugs today than I have possibly ever in my life. I even got an awkward handshake/bow/hug from the vice principal, so that was interesting! I also got paid on time for the first time since being here, so I can close out my bank account now!! Mark that off the very long list of things to do!
Today just further confirmed that the younger elementary children are who I want to teach. Second grade accounted for over half of my hugs. The older grades are in that "too cool to hug my teacher who's moving back to America on Wednesday" stage, so I got a few hugs, but nothing compared to the second graders.
Remember the little ladies that I've mentioned several times on here that are always across from my school and that I've become friends with? Well finally you can put a face with a story because...drum roll please.....HERE THEY ARE!!
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Aren't they adorable?! There is usually between four and six of them but today there was only two, so I was a little sad, but the one in the yellow shirt is always the most friendly so I was so glad she was there! Every time I wear the necklace that I was ironically wearing today, she makes me come really close and she grabs it and says 'beautiful' in Korean over and over and over! Today was no exception. She also always makes sure to tell me that I'm beautiful. What a sweet lady. It was also her that awkwardly made me get in her face one of the first few times we met and take off my sunglasses to see my eyes! I had my kids teach me the phrase, "I'm going to America on Wednesday" in Korean one day last week so I could say it to these little ladies. Unfortunately when I got there this afternoon, I couldn't remember the Wednesday part so I just told them the other part and they did a big heart and fake tears and said 'I love you' in Korean over and over, so I think they got the message!
I made a Goodbye PowerPoint for my kids with pictures I've taken the last couple of months, so we did that, ate cookies, and played with balloons and cards! It was a good last day!
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| 2nd graders distracted by cookies and pictures of themselves. |
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| Mom's BFF, Dana! Of course, she ran straight to me when she saw I had my camera out and made me take a picture of her! |
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| ...and then had to jump in this one as well. Oh Dana, I'll miss you, wild child! |
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| Sweet, sweet Mary! |
It was just me and the kids today, so I had to split the pictures up by boys and girls so I would have a photographer. In case you were wondering, this is what 2nd grade Korean photographers take pictures like!
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| Not too bad...except the boy in the yellow shirt who almost got in on the bottom right corner... |
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| Op! After one picture, Stia (on the far left) is already bored and on her fancy phone, plus wild boys are photo bombing us! |
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| Ah ha! There we go...a little better... haha |
Now for the wild boys....
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| Take one.... and I'm the only one paying attention! |
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| Take two....At least 4 out of 6 are looking this time. Progress! (No, he didn't really punch that kid, I promise!) |
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| And three....I give up! hahah Such wild little balls of energy! |
Now, on to what I could possibly call my favorite class! These first couple of pictures are of two boys (who used to be part of a bigger group until the others stopped coming to English class thank goodness) who used to make me want to cry almost daily. The little black haired one would mock every.single.word I said for almost the whole 40 minutes. I'm talking full on awful voice, terrible face mocking. He did this for about a week. I'm assuming he finally realized how cool of a teacher I was going to be and decided to back off he was getting a lot of English practice by mocking an English speaking person for 40 minutes straight, 4 days a week and decided it wasn't cool to practice English that much. Needless to say, they both eventually ended up really liking me, and vice versa. Some of my favorites for sure! Funny, smart, loud, wild little boys. Take a look for yourself. The pictures describe them to a T.
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| They picked up the balloons and automatically decided they wanted to put them in their shirts and be pregnant. Meet James (little mocking boy, on the left) and Zack (his partner in crime) |
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| Take two... James is, in fact, giving birth in the middle of my classroom. |
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| "Here teacher, baby!" So here we are, take three, and all three of us are having balloon babies. hahaha Such funny little boys! |
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| Sweet, sweet 4th grade girls! |
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| So calm and sweet! |
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| Little angels! |
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| Luckily, my mentor teacher accidentally came in during our photo sesh so we got one group photo! |
On to 5th/6th grade. They're all way too cool, so they weren't really feeling the picture thing today, but they totally like me when there isn't a camera around.
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| They're not too cool for balloons though! booya! |
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| "We're way too cool for this. You're embarrassing us." |
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| They also look very unimpressed. I swear they're happier in class than in this picture. This group of girls also really likes me, contrary to the vibes you're getting from these pictures. lol |
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| Oh! There we go! A little bit of emotion! I promise they like me. In fact, they're the best at English and enjoy it the most! |
Along with saying goodbye to my students and staff, I've already said goodbye to my co-teacher and her sweet family, and my bartender friends at TLC. It's becoming more and more real that I'm almost finished but it's so sad to say goodbye to all of these wonderful people! I'm so fortunate for the people God has placed in my life the last 6 months.
This could possibly be the last blog of my Korean adventure. I am going to Seoul tomorrow through Sunday, then checking more things off the to do list on Monday and Tuesday while anxiously awaiting the big day on Wednesday!!! Thank you all so much for reading and for the kind words and prayers. Being 6000 miles from almost everyone and everything you know and love can be tough at times, but thanks to you little angels, my spirits stayed high! See you all in 6 days!!!!
-Kyla
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