10 years ago I was settling into my new home and life in South Korea, 10 years! I was confident I would only be gone for one year, that's what I promised my family. I wanted to explore the art of teaching (knowing I had pursued the wrong degree) and experience life in a different country.  That year quickly turned into two, thanks mostly in part to the amazing students, coworkers and friends I met at school and in my community, the same people I call best friends to this day. I guess I knew years ago that Korea will always be home, but I continually found opportunities and reasons to leave: traveling SE Asia, Americorps and completing my masters to name a few, but I always found my way home...

I've been on and off living in Korea for nearly four of the last six years, which according to many of my friends means, "My Korean must be so good".  While I would love for this to be true, it's not.  I could list all of the excuses, coming and going, having waves of motivation to study, losing interest and then coming back again, but ultimately it's up to me.  The number of times I've cracked open my books, only to close them again is growing too high.  I found an awesome Korean Language Scholarship program a year in and a half ago, an answer to my problems.  Finally, after all of the "should, next time, soon" talk, I took the plunge and here I am, first week of classes at Geumgang University. 

​For the last two years people have been telling me what a great teacher I am, "one of the best foreign teachers I've ever worked with", but I often wondered how sincere these words were.   Now, as my time in Korea is coming to an all-too-soon end I'm realizing that most of those statements were, in fact, heartfelt and I am a good teacher.

I've always seen my connection and interactions with students from one side of the glass, but over the last few days, I've been able to get a glimpse of the other side.  I'm somewhat shocked by the number of students who have reached out to express their feelings towards my departure.  I came across this article last week, which discusses the real impact teachers have on students and it really hit home with me.  For those of you that don't want to click and read, here is a great excerpt from the article:

Teaching English in another country is a unique and ever-changing experience, I remember being told from day 1 that there is no real way to prepare new teachers. For every incoming teacher, their city, school, co-workers and of course students are going to vary drastically.  I strongly believe that it's a teachers attitude that is will determine how their career abroad unfolds.  Coming in with a positive outlook, ready to take on any challenges or obstacles will help prepare them for success.  There may be difficult moments full of challenging students, frustrating situations, and surprise schedule changes, ultimately making you want to throw in the towel, but the rewards are soon to follow.  After spending close to two years in the classroom I'm happy to say that I've had a positive experience and wouldn't trade it for the world. ​

After my whirlwind vacation and a few quiet weeks in Gumi I'm back at it - time for a brand new school year. To be quite honest, I feel like I haven't taught a real class since about November of last year, so getting back into the swing of things might take some time. On the plus side, I don't have to go through the "new kid" weeks again since i'm already accustomed to my school.  There are, of course, new students and teachers to meet and many changes to be had, but I think I'm ready for them all.  We had the opening ceremony this morning and I got my 15 seconds of fame as applause erupted from the student body when I was introduced. I wasn't the most popular teacher of the day, however - our PE teacher 윤종태 was easily the most popular among the students, followed closely by a few of the attractive math teachers.

Last week, while all of the grade 2 students enjoyed three days in Jeju, I was lucky enough to join grade one on a field trip to Mungyeong.  I think I might have messed up because I was supposed to be going with one of my co-teachers and her class (1-2) but I got on the bus with the Math teacher and his class (1-7).  It actually wasn't a mistake as much as it was intentional on my behalf.  Class 1-2 was just playing games all day and 1-7 was going to a coal museum, riding rail cars and theeen playing games for the rest of the day.  We started at the coal museum which I never really caught the name of. The kids basically ran through the museum part and moved on to the outdoor area where we proceeded to take pictures and play some old school games. ​