Adventures in a foreign country: May 2014

Since it's been quite a while since I posted anything, and since it's almost been a month since I left Korea, I thought I'd update things.

First of all - leaving Korea. It was actually a little difficult to leave. In the weeks leading up to my last days at school, and at the point where my students (or at least some of them) became aware of the fact that I was leaving, I tried to spend as much time with the students as I could. I love those kids! Once they found out I was leaving, I constantly heard things like, "Don't leave," "가지마," "Don't leave to school," "Stay here", "We're sad," "New teacher is a man? NO!!!! Don't go!" "Your family should come to Korea," (I told them that my family wanted to see me), "You have no money, so you must stay here," (one day a student asked how much it cost to go to Canada, and I jokingly said that it was so expensive that I had no money left, and that was the result), and "Let's go to Canada together". It was very sweet, and made it very difficult for me to leave.

The teachers on the other hand, for the most part had completely different reactions. The co-teacher who I was the closest with (서인순), also tried to spend time with me (even though she was crazy busy all the time) and so on my last day at school, we exchanged contact info and had a difficult farewell, (although the next day, when my flight left, she helped me get myself and my giant suitcases to a taxi, and I got to see her class, the 5-3's, one last time as they all came out of school and down to the main road where I got a taxi). I had a brief little chat with the one male co-teacher (박치훈) I had - he didn't have much to say, other than wishing me luck (but that's very typical for him). My newest co-teacher (신선주), who barely spoke to me at all, surprised me with a small going-away gift and card. The nutrition teacher (초윤히), who I spoke to every so often at lunch, (and incidently her daughter had been going to university in Calgary), also pulled me aside that last day to give me a gift, which was completely unexpected, but very kind of her. My main co-teacher, who I shared an office with, and taught the most with, didn't even bother to say good-bye - she left early that day without saying a thing or trying to look for me. I think that was really disappointing for me. After all we did spend a year together. The principal's goodbye consisted of a letter written by my co-teacher, and a small gift of money -- also unexpected. As for the rest of the teachers, most of them were surprised that I was leaving already - I guess it didn't come up in conversation... Anyway, since my final day was a Wednesday, it was of course, volleyball day for the school staff. So that afternoon after doing some running around, I headed over to the gym to say my good-byes to the rest of the teachers. The way it turned out was me giving a kind of good-bye speech as they all stared at me, and then needed the master teacher to translate for them. That was followed by hugs from some of the female teachers, and one attempted hug by one of the admin guys (which was almost immediately shot down by the other teachers...lol) He also figured that I should take the admin guys out for dinner, since they'd just paid me (too bad, should've asked earlier...had to finish packing and cleaning). Haha...those guys were so funny. I also got a few waves from some of the other teachers, as well as a "Good luck, Amanda!" from 김태운, one of the teachers who worked down the hall from my classroom.

Anyway, while the year was filled with ups and downs, for the most part my last few months in Korea were very enjoyable and memorable, especially thanks to my amazing students, who I love and have been missing even before I set foot in the airport! 사랑 해요!

And here are some pictures of my adorable students (I feel like I was not only their teacher, but kind of also a friend...I got told frequently that I was their friend more than their teacher [outside of class anyway]):