Okay so it has been 2 weeks since I last updated. Sorry about that. I haven't really wanted to write this last entry because then it makes my time in Korea officially over in a way. I returned home about a week ago after a 16 hour flight. To say the least I was emotionally and physically exhausted. My last week in Korea was very emotional and tiring. I had a lot of goodbyes and a lot of loose ends to tie up. So to start I will talk about my last day at work. It was Wednesday September 25, 2013. On that day I wrote most of the people I worked with letters to say goodbye even 2 of them in Korean. Not the easiest thing to do. I luckily had a Korean friend write for me then I copied. I didn't want to make a mistake. I wrote in Korean to the 2 people that I worked with that spoke no English. That was the bus driver and the cook. They were both sad to see me leave. The cook asked me why and she even hugged me. They both told me they would miss me. It was nice to know they liked me. The cook was very picky about who she liked so I felt a little bit special. That day I only had one period with Einstein class so I bought them pizza and soda and invited Beethoven too because I taught them for the past couple of months. It was nice, but also very hard. They all had a lot of fun and enjoyed the pizza. Sadly though Matthew from Einstein was sick so he didn't get to say goodbye to me face to face. See my Korean Tr wasn't allowed to tell the parents when my last day was, so they wouldn't be able to prepare anything for me. Which is why I prepared my own goodbye party. I had to ask my Korean Tr to ask Matthew's mom if I could call him to say goodbye. Well to say the least, Matthew's mom was upset about not knowing, but she sent a gift on the bus for me which was a beautiful jewelery box. It is a traditional Korean box with mother of pearl inlay on it. It is also a music box. Matthew and her also wrote me notes in Korean. Both saying they were sad I was leaving. They both touched me and I am truly grateful for Einstein's parents. They all always supported me as their teacher and never blamed me for things even if my boss did. My jewelery box looks something like this but mine is purple.
Here are the photos from my last day. Also that night I saw my old partner teacher Lucy. It was very nice to see her. She was my best Korean friend and she always their to help me.
Leaving my goodbye party was really hard. I had to hold back tears the whole day. I had to take Joey and Melissa to the bus. Joey was ready to cry and just waved from the bus and Melissa didn't want to let me go. It was so hard. Saying goodbye was so hard for me and I wanted to cry the whole day.
That afternoon I had pizza and snack parties with my 3 elementary classes. They all said they were sad to see me leave. Also my old Einstein class also said goodbye to me. They were pretty sad and so was I.
So I had a lot of fun with my all girl class. They even tried to lock me in the bathroom so I would stay. I gave them my phone number and my kakao id so they would message me even when I was back in the states. They were really sweet and I miss them already.
So like I said on Wednesday night I saw Lucy. We had dinner and it was hard to say goodbye. On Thursday I spent the day with another one of my old partner teachers which was Marie Tr. We went to lunch and then went to the Han River Park. It was really nice. On Friday night I had dinner with Jenny to say goodbye and also I saw my old partner teacher Emma. So here are photos I took with them.
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| The Han River at sunset |
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| Lucy and I |
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| Marie and I |
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| Emma and I |
So Saturday was my last full day in Korea. I had a goodbye dinner with some of my friends, but before I went to the palaces in Anguk again because it was the start of fall and I wanted to see if the trees were changing. They didn't change too much but they were still really pretty. It was fun and Leah went with me.
On Saturday night Leah came back with me. She wanted to take me to the airport the next day. My flight was at 5pm on Sunday. To be honest it was a very surreal thing coming home. It still is. I have been home for a week and I am still numb to being home. It is hard to explain besides dealing with reverse culture shock, and having a hard time eating food I feel like Korea was a dream. Sometimes I wonder if it really happened. My life here in the States and Korea were totally different and I know it is going to take a long time for me to fully adjust to being back here. It is hard and I feel sad often. I really miss my kids and friends from there. Don't get me wrong I am happy to be home and to be with my family, but it is strange for me. Writing this blog took me 2 hours and I cried at points while I was writing. Saying goodbye to my Einstein class was very hard and it is still really hard for me to deal with. Lucky for me I still have contacts with some of my students. I talked to Aiden via Kakao today and he told me he missed me and to come back to Korea. Sunny told me that too today. It made me smile to know that my kids loved me as much as I loved them. I know I will always love and miss them, but I know I made the right decision to leave. They way I was being treated is no way anyone should be treated and although my heart aches I have to take care of myself. So for now my life in Korea is at an end, but it doesn't mean it won't start again. So for now take care... until we meet again! Besos!
