Back to Suji

On Saturday morning I headed back to South Korea. After 3 flights and many hours in airports I finally arrived in Korea. I was met by a driver at the airport who took me to my new apartment. Fred was waiting for me once I arrived around 11:30pm. After realizing that our apartment is missing a few essential things, such as towels and hangers, we gave up on unpacking all of our things. I had a very sleepless night, spending most of my time thinking about my time at home and my future year in Korea.

Fred and I headed to school around 9am. We were happily greeted by the Korean staff before we settled in to get organized. It turned into a very hectic morning but everything went off well. My Kinders were very excited to see me. I was greeted by smiles, hugs and a few shocked faces. My old Kinder student, Samuel, ran and leaped into my arms yelling, "I missed you!" That just about made me week. The afternoon moved at about the same speed. I am not teaching a first grade class to students who have only had a few months of English. There are ten students and they are all very sweet. Right now they are speaking a lot of Korean but I hope this will stop once they get more comfortable with me and their new books. I was happily surprised to find out that I will still be teaching my old second graders. My supervisor told me that they were upset to find out that once I got back I would not be teaching them. I guess they would not stand for this because I am now teaching them. I have been teaching them since I arrived in Korea, July 2009. I am so excited to be their teacher.

After school Fred and I headed out to go shopping. We went to two stores to stock up on apartment essentials and after many bags full of goods we are getting organized. We picked up two traditional Korean foods for dinner and relaxed in our new apartment.

Today we are heading to school to continue to organized our books and lesson plans. I have learned that I will still be teaching my VERY smart third grade class which is exciting. Their English is so good that we usually debate or just talk about things related to our lessons. I am no longer teaching a fourth grade class so on Tuesdays and Thursdays I will finish teaching an hour early, at 6pm.

I will post apartment pictures soon!