A week of goodbyes.

I've finally started my last week of teaching.  I see every one of my classes once a week, so that means that every class I have this week will be the last time I spend time with those students.  I knew it would be bittersweet saying goodbye to the students and that some students I would really miss, but I didn't expect to be hit with the wave of emotions that hit me yesterday.  All of a sudden I had the urge to cry and had to fight it back when I was saying goodbye to them at the end of class.  And I wasn't even saying goodbye to a class that I liked that much!  The students have been so sweet, saying the kindest things to me that I will remember forever.

Below are some pictures of a surprise farewell party that my co-teacher, Mrs. Kang, planned for me.  She even made a cake out of cheese bread and had the students bring it out to me!  I think the kids were pretty excited to have a party :)

Here are all the boys hovered over a plate of snacks.

This is Christina.  Whenever I see her in the hallways she always quizzes me by asking "Teacher, my name?"  Now, I'll never be able to forget her name!

From left to right: Villa, Smith Lee, and Cheetos.  Just from the English names they've picked, you can tell that they are major class clowns!  These guys are so fun to have in class. 

This is Castle.  She's really shy but tries so hard in class and is always so focused.  She's such a great student.

Beginning of the end.

Today was the first day that it really hit me how little time we have left here.  Roughly, we only have about seven weeks left.  Overall, we have been really excited and anxious about coming home.  But today, we felt a little sad to be leaving so soon.  Today was the last day of the ten week Saturday class that we have been teaching.  Doug has been teaching two elementary classes and I taught an elementary and adult class.  Even though it can be tough getting up on a Saturday morning and going to work, my Saturday classes have actually been my favorite classes all week.  Being with the little kids is so refreshing after teaching hormonal, awkward, and sleep deprived middle school students all week.  The children in this class were absolutely precious and were so excited to be learning English.  It was really hard saying goodbye to them today, knowing that I probably won't see their little faces again.  

It was also bittersweet saying goodbye to the women that I have gotten to know in my class for adults.  Each week, between five to six women would show up, so we became really close.  We had the best conversations and I learned so much about the joys, struggles, and everyday lives of Korean women. We talked about everything from celebrities, to their experiences with childbirth, to hopes of the North and South reunification of Korea.  I know sometimes I can get frustrated living here when you feel so much like an outsider, but getting to know these women has reminded how beautiful and community oriented Korean culture is.  I certainly feel like I have eye-opening experiences here all the time, and I am so grateful for what I have learned this past year.

Sandy, Kelly, Bunny, Sally, and Judy.  

Sally.

As promised...

Finally, here are our pictures from our Suwon trip.  I hope you enjoy!

 Here we are at the start of the day.  We still have energy and we are completely oblivious to the fact that we are about to walk the length of the city...like three times.

 First stop, lunch!  We ate at a little restaurant that is famous for it's mandu-aka dumplings.  Even though there is meat in the dumplings, I gave them a try.  I must say they were pretty delicious.  And I got to sit across from this handsome guy.. I'm a lucky girl :)

 

Here is our lunch.  I pretty much always order bibimbap when we eat Korean food (if I have the option).  It is easily made vegetarian if it isn't already vegetarian, it's filling, and it's fresh and healthy.  It never disappoints.  

 After lunch we headed towards the entrance of the fortress to start our tour.  Here, the boys, have already bought ice cream.  It seemed like these three bought some sort of snack every time we stopped.  Il Joon (left) and Yumin (right) are two of my very favorite students.  They're best friends and are precious. 

Here is a typical scene in any Korean park on a beautiful day.  A group of older men, called ajeoshis, or women, called ajummas, sitting around playing games, eating, drinking, and talking.  

 One view of the lovely fortress wall.  

 Typical temple and fortress paintings.

 Fortress flags that marked the defensive look-out places along the wall. 

Four of my third grade girls: Jenny, Lucy, Alice and Emma.  I love these girls.

 Here we are walking up to the highest point along the wall.  This was just the start of it. After this picture, some of the students seriously started to lag behind. 

 Isn't Korea beautiful?

 One of the offensive towers looking over Suwon.

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 The dragon train.  I was praying that we would take this train down the mountain after we walked to the top.  I was wrong.

We made it!  It was such a beautiful day spent with the great company of my students, my co-teacher, and Doug.

Sunday in Suwon.

This Sunday, Doug and I went on a trip to Suwon with one of my co-teachers and 13 of my students.  Normally, I wouldn't be too excited about going on a field trip over the weekend.  Come Friday I am in dire need to not see an energetic, hormone-ridden teenager for at least 48 hours.  But, these students are pretty much my all time favorites, so I was pretty excited to get to spend the day with them.

I was also really looking forward to it because the students researched different parts of Suwon and acted as our travel guides throughout the trip.  They were the cutest travel guides ever. Period.  My co-teacher, Jasmine, even brought a little clip-on mic for them to wear as they acted as the travel guide.  Also, Doug was invited to go! So, instead of spending our Sundays apart, he got to come and spend the day with me and get to know my favorite students.  And of course, I love seeing how middle school girls act around Doug.  They get really excited and nervous to talk to him and it's so funny to watch.  I'm almost positive that my students were more excited for Doug to come on the trip than they were for me.

So, we went to Suwon, which is about forty-five minutes north of Cheonan by train.  Both Doug and I were really surprised to see how beautiful it was.  Since Korea is such a small country, a lot of the cities and provinces look similar and have the same attractions (lots of temples, mountains, street food and shopping).  But, Suwon is unique because it has the Hwaseong fortress with a 5km wall around it.  We ate a Korean lunch together of bibimbap, noodles, and dumplings and then walked along the wall stopping at different points to listen to our adorable tour guides.

What I didn't realize was that we would be walking the whole wall, which included going to the top of a small mountain.  I wore flats that day.  The flats aren't uncomfortable or anything, but they definitely are not Hwaseong fortress wall walking shoes.  Bad decision on my part.  At one point, one student said to, "Miss Kaitlin, your shoes, so hard."  My interpretation of that was "Miss Kaitlin, why are you wearing those shoes? You must be in pain." And yes, it was slightly painful.  But, even the lack of support from my flats couldn't ruin the day for me.

The weather couldn't have been better that day and we were able to get some amazing views of the city by walking to the highest fortress.  Doug and I want to go back soon to do some exploring of our own.  We got some really good pictures of the day, too.  Stay posted, I'll share them soon!