One Year in Korea

My official one year mark in Korea has passed - while I knew, and was told by many that it would go by fast, I'm still shocked by how it really did. To celebrate, my co-workers and I went out for dinner at the same restaurant I went to on my first night here, which has become one of my favourite spots to eat at. I am happy to still be in Korea despite the fact that I think it would be more fulfilling to be at a different school. I continually feel amazed at how I got myself to this point and feel blessed for all of the things I have been able to do and experience. On a less sentimental note, I am impressed with myself for how well I packed for one year! Some questioned my choices of certain items, like my favourite bottle of lotion which I am still using! I have only recently run out of my favourite toothpaste, but teaser, I found some in Malaysia! I now have six and a half months left on my contract. I am still not sure of what my plan is, where I will go from here, what I will do ... or if I'll stay. This is something that I will (have to) explore in the upcoming months. While I do have some ideas, my logic and my passion are colliding.

One picture from MudFest that wasn't around for my last post! This was at the beginning of the day, we were covered head to toe later on. L-R: Noelia, me, Scott, Maynah, Tatiana, Mel & Chris

There has been a few changes this last month with my class. I got a new student - Joe! Then I got another "new" student. She actually went to LCI last year, but did not return for the new school year. But she has returned - Zooey! After having her in my class for about a month, she was moved to another class because the two girls in my class currently are very close and Zooey was feeling lonely. That doesn't interrupt class dynamics at all .... Then just before summer vacation I had to change classrooms as the parents of the six year old class felt that their kids were in a classroom that was too far away from the teacher's room. So alas, I had to change classrooms with that class. This meant taking everything off the walls, moving everything out of the class and then reorganizing in the new room. More recently, this past week, I got another new student - Sungmin! Changes, changes, changes. Last year my class consisted of mostly girls (aside from one boy) and this year my class is mostly boys (aside from two girls) which has definitely had it's own set of challenges but it's been great experiencing both.  

Meet Joe, Zooey and Sungmin! 

 

We have also had two field trips in this past bit. The first one was to the fire station as safety has been a huge focus since the ferry accident. It was actually a bit awful. The morning of the field trip we were told that along with the trip to the fire station, we would be having a fire drill. Our supervisor proceeds to tell us that when we hear the bell, we will line up and go to the roof of the school. I immediately questioned this as if your building is on fire that is the last place you would want to be as the building could collapse. She did not realize/consider/think of that and her response was that we would go to the roof because "the helicopters would save us." WHAT?! As if there are going to be a bunch of helicopters to get take people off the roof! Why would you not go down and out of the building!? This completely blew all of our minds. They also admitted to not knowing how to use the fire extinguisher nor did they know where it was located in the school!!!??? HOW ARE YOU IN CHARGE OF A SCHOOL OF CHILDREN! We were also asked if you are supposed to cover your mouth while getting out of the building. So bizarre. The children really enjoyed the fire station though. They had a chance to use the fire hose and see the fire truck.

Roy using the fire hose

L-R: Jae-Hun, Isla, Jenny, Jaden, Roy and the firefighter.. chief?

This past week we went to a place nearby called Artpia. This is the first field trip ever where the children just got to play and have fun, it was amazing. They cut out shapes from glow-in-the-dark clay, played in a bean pit, played in a ball pit, had a picnic outside and got to see a view of the city. FUN! 

Jenny, Isla and Sungmin with their shapes

Everyone working away

Bean pit!

Jae-Hun looking mischievous 

My girls <3

Joe collected every leaf he could find in the pit

Ball pit!

Roy did not like the ball pit for some reason and wouldn't go in, so instead we took pictures and played rock, paper, scissors. 

  

The view from the 4th floor - my neighbourhood! 

Class picture in front of a ... Christmas display?? Sungmin, Joe, Jae-Hun, Roy, Jaden, Jenny, Isla and me! I feel like this picture depicts their personalities well. 

Other tidbits: I sincerely appreciate how the honour system is still used and possible in this country. For example, at the post office if you need to purchase an envelope for instance there is a table where you take one and leave money in a jar for the amount it costs. No till or real transaction, it's so great. 

I was also listening to JRFM as I often do through their online live stream. I thought it would be funny to tweet them to get them to play a song and see if they would give me a shout out on air - and they did!!! He not only responded to my tweet, and wrote back in Korean, they made a shout out to me on air. It absolutely made my day. 

Lastly, this past weekend, I went to the JYP One Mic Concert. I figured I would go see a Kpop (Korean pop) concert while I am here. It was a lot of fun, though probably would have been even more fun had I known more of the songs. It was still great though and the fan girls constant screaming was hilarious.

Stay tuned for my posts about Malaysia!! <3