Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, December 20

1. Last day at Wollang Elementary School… unless I renew my contract that is. The principle picked me up, as usual, but this time you could tell things were totally different. I felt so sad. He is such an amazingly sweet man and, despite his limited English, we always our short drive to school together.
2. Well, my students loved the Christmas party I held for them. We played games, sang songs, danced, exchanged gifts, ate snacks and then watched a clip from an English Christmas movie.
3. For the secret Santa gift exchange activity I had planned, in my grade 5 class Kristen was my secret Santa. She had given me two gifts but my favourite was the second gift. She had bought a super tiny glass bottle, placed a little bit of sand in it, along with two shells and a letter. What she wrote in her letter was very touching, simple but so sweet. It’s times like this that make me so proud to be a teacher!
4. Lunchtime was kind of sad. Like every week, there’s a little girl who visits me at my lunch table and tries to practice her English. She can’t be any older than 8 or 9. Today her class came late to the cafeteria and so I was leaving when she was entering. We caught glimpse of each other and she looked so disappointed that I was leaving. I walked out but then turned around only to be surprised to see her running towards me. She had started crying. I picked her up in my arms like a mother does to their child and she squeezed me so tight. Stuck around the cafeteria to sit with her and then we said good-bye.
5. After lunch I joined up with my co-teacher Emily and two of the other female teachers for coffee. They were all so curious as to whether or not I’ll be returning next year. I don’t know though. I promised Emily that if I did change jobs, that we’d still remain friends and do things together.
6. Had my last run on the Wollang “Fun Bus”…ㅋㅋㅋ. Sat with my favourite little bus partner. She always loves sifting through my bag and putting on my lip gloss and so today I had brought a new lip gloss for her, a gift. She loved it. She bathed her lips in the ultra pink gloss and then kissed my cheek… ㅋㅋㅋ.
7. Looks like I’m double-booked for Friday. I’m supposed to have my Dankook University on Friday but I’m also supposed to go on a two-day trip with the Asan teachers. I called the university and tried to switch my interview to another day but they said they are only do interviews one day… Friday. Oh my gosh!!!
8. Mrs. Jeoung had left for the afternoon and so we played phone tag for about 2 hours. She’s such a helpful partner but I felt bad for bringing her into this mess. I had called her and asked her to explain the situation to my Asan supervisor. He had refused to let me miss the Asan trip and so I ended up calling him myself. I wanted to avoid talking to him. His English is good but he’s mastered the art of circling around the issue and testing my patience.
9. No, no, no sweety… I’m not the bad guy here! Supervisor tried to play it off as if I was deceiving him or breaking a promise… what promise?! Yes, I had submitted my contract renewal form saying I wanted a contract renewal but listen, I also know I waited almost three weeks for him to respond to my request. I can’t base my next year on the assumption that he’ll accept my new terms and will place me at the same school. Well, you can imagine how frustrating this argument was. Finally after what seemed like hours, he agreed to let me go to my interview and thus miss the trip.
10. Was pleasantly surprised to get a phone call from my old boss. When I first came to Korea I taught kindergarten at his hagwon. He was curious as to if I’d consider working for him again. I told him I’d think about it but personally, and this is between you and me, I don’t think he can afford me…ㅋㅋㅋ.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do I want?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
No guy is worth your tears and when you find the one that is, he won't make you cry.
-- Author Unknown