Korea for Another Year

Since pretty much day one I’ve known that I wanted to stay, so when we all meet at the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education last Wednesday to sign our new contracts, it just felt like an actualization of what I’ve known for a long time.

But I figured now is as good a time as any to say… I’ve officially signed my contract to stay in Korea, at my school, with my kids, for another year!

Like I said, there was never really a question about it, but I’m excited nonetheless.

I can’t wait for another year of my crazy first graders who I’ll get to watch transform into emotional little adults before my eyes. I’m excited for my awesome second graders to take on the role of “big kids on campus” that they are so ready for.

I’ll miss my third graders who I’ve gone through a lot with, but come to love in a unique way. Especially the good ones. As bad as the bad ones are, my good third graders are so incredibly good.

I’m excited for when they come back as high schoolers to visit the office and say hello to their favorite teachers. I’ve already been promised my one of my favorites that he’ll “come back and play often at my middle school.”

And more than anything I’m excited to continue to build upon the relationships that I was able to start with them over the past 10 months.

I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish this year but I’m even more excited about the advantage it will give me starting off next year. My first few months here were a blur. I was exhausted all the time, nervous about all of my classes, and desperately trying to the the kind of teacher I had imagined in my head instead of being the one I was best at.

It wasn’t until about 3 months in that I had started to figure out the personalities of each of my 24 different classes. It wasn’t until about 6 months in that I had some solid relationships with individual students. And it wasn’t until recently that I feel like I’ve almost lost all the novelty of being the foreigner teacher. Now I’m just a teacher they can feel comfortable with who happens to not speak their language.

Anyway, just wanted to update and say that I’m officially staying in Korea for another year! We’re getting very close to the end of the year, winter camp, and my trip back to America, all of which I am super excited for.

As always thanks for reading and I hope this finds you well!