i'm really not good at this whole "keeping things up to date" on here... guess i should probably work on that. though i'm not making any promises cause i seem to get distracted pretty easily.
since today is midterms day, this means i am not teaching today. which equates to desk-warming. ah... a term i, along with any other public school foreign teacher, am very familiar with. this is actually my first time desk-warming since starting at my new school. wait... i lied, i desk-warmed the first couple days cause students were getting settled into a routine before they started english class. it's weird to not be teaching and while it is nice to get somewhat of a break from teaching 4-6 different classes a day, i happen to really enjoy teaching my students this year and miss it when i don't. though since it is friday, it's nice not to have a break!
this month marks my 13th and the beginning of my 14th month in korea... it's crazy to think that i have been living abroad for more than a year. and without seeing america either... which is something that is going to change come august... yep you read that right,
I WILL BE STATESIDE ON AUGUST 10th UNTIL THE 25th!!!
if you couldn't tell i'm a bit excited about this! by this time i won't have been home for 18 months, which is the longest i have ever been away from home. considering i hadn't lived anywhere outside of oregon (unless you count me living at my aunt's in vancouver, washington for 2 months before moving to korea) living outside of the states is a big deal for me. so i'm rather excited to be heading back in august for a nice little vacation away from my life in korea. i only have 14 solid days in america, so if any of you reading this want to see me, shoot me a message somehow and we can make it happen. those 14 days are going to be filled with little sleep and jamming everything and everyone i can into it! not going to lie... i have already started making a list of the things i want to do, places i want to go, and foods i want to eat! i guess i should start saving my money now....
since i haven't been home in almost 14 months now i knew starting my second year was also going to bring a second wave of homesickness and it kicked in few weeks ago. i woke up one saturday morning and felt like i had been kicked in the chest. i didn't want to be here, hated that i decided to stay, just wanted to be home with my family and friends, and really wanted nothing to do with anyone here or with korea in general. i spent a good portion of the day upset inside my apartment. which i know isn't good, but sometimes you just have to embrace the homesickness, deal with it and get it over with. which is what i have slowly been doing. it also didn't help that i wasn't on speaking terms with a "friend" for a solid month. which took a toll on me as well.
speaking of the silent treatment... which is now over. sort of. i have now heard from this friend after an entire month of nothing but silence. and while we are back on speaking terms, i never did get the answers i was looking for, which just makes me feel unresolved about the whole situation. i am left feeling hurt, sort of betrayed, and still questioning things. i'm just not entirely sure how i can trust them again. and after a specific comment was said, i just feel weird and uncomfortable even messaging them. so for now, we are on speaking terms, but not really speaking. and for now this is the way things have to be, and potentially how they will stay. because i just can't do it anymore.
on a brighter note... i am almost two months into my new job and i still love it. and my co-workers and my kids. while my after school kids stress me out sometimes because they can be crazy monsters, all my kids are great. my 5th graders, who i see the most (3 times a week) are great. even my "trouble makers" are good kids. my 6th and 3rd graders who i only see one a week are great as well. my 3rd graders, who barely speak english are just cute. and my 6th graders, while they talk a lot are overall good kids. plus i get to play the good fun teacher since they only see me once. and then there are my kindergartners... who are seriously the cutest thing ever. it doesn't matter the mood i am in... they always make it better. a perfect example would be yesterday when jungwha and i were walking down to lunch and we ran into some of my kindergartners coming out of the bathroom and they literally freaked out when they saw me. ran up to me hugging me, giggling and just overall being adorable. i was talking to a friend last night at dinner and we both said that even though we are both way busier this year with teaching and such, we are way less stressed than we were last year. and i really think a lot of that has to do with the kids and the environment i am in. i just feel better about things and my situation.
grad school is still going well... even though i still continually procrastinate on all my homework. it's a trait about myself that i've embraced. it doesn't matter the assignment, i am going to wait till the last minute to do it. it will get done eventually. i am officially half way through my current class. which has been going pretty well. i've enjoyed it so far. i have 2 individual assigments left, a group project and my final project and then i will be done with this class. as of now i have 5 classes after this one till i am done with my program. if i stay on the schedule i am on now, i should be done by the beginning of april. though i have a feeling i will be taking another two week break come january for my winter vacation like i did this last winter.
speaking of winter vacation... yes i have already started thinking about it. steph and i had dinner last night and started talking about what we wanted to do... we are thinking of going to visit clara in australia with maybe a stop over somewhere else beforehand. that means two countries during vacation... i could be perfectly okay with that! we will see.
so a few weeks ago i wrote a blogpost for my alma mater's alumni blog about my time abroad. i posted the link to facebook, but if you haven't checked it out, you should:
http://pacificalumni.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-perspective-on-education.html
spring is finally here in korea... which also means my allergies are in full swing. this week they hit not only me but a lot of my friends as well. i wake up completely congested, have a continuous running nose, and sneeze constantly. i guess this is all worth it though because it is no longer freezing cold! and speaking of the doctors... i went back in to get my blood drawn to check on my anemia on wednesday... here's hoping i get good results next week. that means i won't have to deal with anymore needles or nurses who can't draw blood without bruising me.
i guess this is a long enough update on my current life situation, plus i should probably get to lesson planning for next week. and my homework. and my to-do list.
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