Goodbye Wangsan Middle School
Bittersweet goodbyes.
Wangsan Middle School is my smallest school with 20 students. I only go to the school once a week to teach classes and I don’t always see my students every week. There was a two month hiatus after my coteacher was in an accident and a substitute teacher took his place. I had learned to recognize most of my students names but unfortunately with the absence of not going I forgot almost all of them. Though if I have a list of names I am more likely to pinpoint the right name to the right student.
…A Year Ago Today…
A year ago today I boarded a plane at JFK Airport and met new EPIK friends in San Francisco before boarding our plane to Incheon International Airport in South Korea. Thinking back on the past year it is interesting to see how far I have come and how much my life has changed. A year ago, I went through orientation and upon completion was ushered by bus to a city in my province. I remember meeting my co-teacher the first day and the car ride back to where I was going to live was awkward but friendly. Fast forward to now and I can say that my co-teacher, 라미, has been my biggest supporter.
…Do you wanna build a snowman?! Damn you Frozen.
For those of you who haven’t seen Disney’s new animated movie, Frozen, you are lucky. Personally while the story was cute there was way too much singing for me. Unfortunately, if you are an English teacher in Korea this movie and its songs are pretty popular. My co-teacher wanted to do a lesson on the song, “Let it go,” lucky for us most of the students didn’t show up to school because of snow on Friday, and the teacher’s also showed up late.
…Delivering Coal
Our school does a lot of community service. Now most of the time I’m not aware of the community service as it happens on days or hours I am at another school. Which is a shame because I like participating with my students.
…Winter Garden BBQ Party!
My school wanted to have a garden bbq party. My principal bought wine for the occasion and we were going to grill fish and eat cows hearts (쇠염통).
…Chocolate Waterfalls
(the remnants from the quick cleanup)
Today I have to fulfill my promise of giving a treat to the kids who did their 추석 homework. (추석 Chuseok is a Korean Holiday with similarities to Thanksgiving.) My promise was food.
So my mind thought what can I make that they haven’t seen yet???
…A Fork in the Cake
For the past few months a few of my third grade middle school girls have been asking me to cook for them. I normally go away on the weekends and they study for exams so it has been hard to organize a get together. Well, at the beginning of September we decided on September 28th, to cook. The girls requests included baked spaghetti and coconut cake.
Reflections from a hospital bed
Thought #1
Is hospital beds suck. I have never been a patient before and the fact my back, ass, hips and leg hurt for days because of a terrible bed doesn’t sit well with me. Comfier beds would be a great improvement.
Thought #2
Hospitalized grannies are very talkative and entertaining. I have been
staying with four of them, one doesn’t speak but nods her head yes or no
and smiles. One of the grannies talks a lot to the other granny ‘the
room leader'[she has been in the room the longest]. And the other granny
is soft spoken and doesn’t talk much.
One of the teacher’s at my school wheeled me to the lobby for a change
of scenery where a bunch of grannies were sitting and I felt like the
highlight of their day, they started yammering at me. Lots of
compliments, questions, and wanting to introduce me to a golf teacher.
Thanks granny, I will pass.
Back to the Village! I’m Free~
I have been officially discharged from the hospital. The unofficial explanation was snake bite and so that’s what we are going to say it was. The ordeal took 8 days at the hospital to clear up, however, I am finally at home.
The good news is I can put weight on my foot and travel the distance around my apartment, yet it still needs to be iced and receive rest. Like my ice pack from home?