1. I teach a lot. I've adopted the philosophy that routine is GREAT. So I've set up little calendars and such for all the classes I teach and have things fairly well planned out until the end of the year (which is March). But the creative person in me refuses to stop there so I spend a lot of time researching and looking for new things to add to our routine. AND part of the five year old routine involves a new game every other week and a craft every week. So I spend lots of time planning new games and way too much time preparing crafts (I can't wait until I teach older kids who can cut things out themselves!)
2. I have joined a Bible study so that's exciting. We meet on Wednesdays and so far it's really the only weekday activity I have. It's a nice mid-week break and is something to look forward to while I spend Monday and Tuesday doing all my graduate school homework!
3. I do homework; being a full-time graduate student is the pits sometimes!
4. I don't do very many touristy things :(. It's cold here. And you can freeze you're little bum off if you go view all the touristy things, so I haven't done many YET. But I have grand plans!
5. I hang out on weekends. Weekends have been great. I've gotten to see a 4d movie, explore Suwon, discover all sorts of fun restaurants, have late night conversations during sleepovers, and more. It's nice to see people on weekends and just spend time with friend. Sadly, many of them are leaving soon as their year in Korea is over...I hate them for it ;)!
6. I'm working on volunteering at an orphanage regularly and teaching Sunday School at my church...both are in the ground stages. BUT I am heading to the orphanage Saturday.
7. I'm discovering God a bit more. It sounds trivial, but it's true. The challenges in being here, working here, living here, surviving here, ect. have all really helped me to rely on God and fully love Him. It's been good and definitely makes me happy to have come here and still be here!
Not much too it honestly, I'm pretty much a simple person and am not afraid to do nothing quite a bit and enjoy being alone and relishing in it!
My future is a little more complex in terms of my job here in Korea. The school year ends in March and my school has opened a 6 years program. I will be a partner teacher for this class and will lose all of my free time/planning time that I now enjoy at work. It's exciting because it means I'll have a class of kids to call my own (or to share as my own) and we'll get to be a part of everything instead of feeling like I'm in the way (as I often do now). It also means that I'm in charge of these kids so I can do what I want with them and not worry I'm offending their home room teacher. I will teach phonics to the 6 year olds and 5 year olds now and am slightly excited because this change for me means I get to use workbooks and teacher manuals. So I'll have a bit of assistance in teaching, finally. The 3 and 4 year olds will be the same thing as now (once a week) and our routine is down pretty well now, so I think that will be a simple adjustment. My concerns with these changes:
1. The partner teacher is a bit of a beast. She is really jealous of the kids that like me and I think she treats them worse than others because they show me love and she gets very angry at me for it. She gets extremely upset with how much Ryan and his parents adore me and it's looking like he'll still be here next year! So I'm sure that will be an issue.
2. The school is way overbooking me at this point...even taking away my lunch break! So I'm concerned about that. I know no matter what I'll work more as well and that concerns me because so much of my free time at school is used for planning and preparing and I'm scared my teaching will get worse because I have so much less time to prepare! Also, I do homework at work most afternoons...so losing that time means I'll be more swamped with it in the evenings (trust me when I say I have ALOT).
3. Unrelated to school, a lot of people are leaving in March and that makes me sad. I feel like the people I hang out with on weekends are all leaving (except for like 2 people) so I'm worried I'll get lonely again.
So keep those things in your prayers! And mostly pray that I'll be accepting of whatever challenges come way and embrace them with a good attitude!
To be honest with everyone, I'm extremely glad I came to Korea. I'm so grateful for the friendships I've made and we'll cherish the times I've shared with these people. I'm glad to have separated myself from the customs of the States and have grown in unimaginable ways...I eat seaweed by choice now! I love seeing how God is challenging me to grow in Him more each day, heck, I love reading my Bible in the subway each morning! I enjoy my job alot and am glad to have gotten the chance to be sure that teaching was something I wanted to do before spending all the money on a graduate program in teaching! The kids at the school are awesome and I like teaching them but also just playing with them and letting them be kids (or going against the Korean way). And seeing and learning about Korean culture has been fascinating, I'm glad I get to experience it for a bit.
And lastly, Ryan. Ryan. Ryan.
Because seriously, how can I not love a kid that looks like this?
Yes, Yes, I've heard you shouldn't have favorites. However, I truly believe that teachers can never connect on a heart level with every student they teach. And that's what I feel with Ryan, a heart connection. That doesn't mean that I don't give my all to other students, and there are many I adore a ton! I even make an extra effort to love on the students that annoy me a bit. But at the end of the day, Ryan has a bit of my heart.
