In Which Lyn Reappears Again

Or A Year in Review

Hey all!

Sorry I disappeared, again, for so long! I'm very bad at this blog thing apparently. I'm working on it. Hopefully next year will be better. I'm staying in Korea for one more year, though, do to circumstances, I'm switching academies. I will be working at ELC, still in Gwangju, just another part of the city. I'm often told that where I'm moving (Suwan/Shinchang) is it's own little mini-city (or suburb). As I get ready to leave MunHwa and start my second year here I'm looking back on my year here. I can't believe it's been that long. It feels both longer and shorter at the same time. So much has happened.

When I got here I was excited but didn't know what to expect really. Everything was so new and different. There's very little Roman letters anywhere and the language is nothing like any that I know (well maybe a little like Japanese, but not enough to help). Teaching has been my dream forever, so that part of it was what I was looking forward to the most. I don't remember when I first decided I was going to be a teacher but I know it's been since at least 7th grade. I still don't really feel like a real teacher. I probably won't even in 20 years when I'm at an American High School teaching Latin. However the experience has been very rewarding. I've dealt with classes that have outright hated me and weren't shy about showing it (just said good-bye to them on Friday, YES!), I've dealt with classes that adored me and made it difficult to punish them because of them (also said good-bye to them on Friday, sad), and everything in between. There were times when I really questioned what I was doing. However, I've loved almost every minute of it.

I'm working on learning the language and I'm getting further than I have in any other language. I have a bunch of new (and old) Korean friends who are really helping with that. I've made better friends with the foreign community here and they're awesome. I found some geeky friends who I get to table-top with, and I was really missing that so I was very excited. One of them is awesome and helping me with my knitting, which I started doing again. I started volunteering at a foreign restaurant and it's great. I love helping out there. The friends I've made here are amazing and I know that I will always remember them (and hopefully the friendship will survive me coming back stateside). The whole experience has been amazing. I've had a great time and most of my doubts about my future career have gone away.

I am sad to be leaving MunHwa, but at the same time it'll be nice for a new experience. MunHwa is very open-ended about their curriculum. I got to make it up (sometimes as I went). ELC has a set curriculum that I have to follow. The difference is one I'm looking forward to because it's nice to have practice with both. As I look forward, instead of back, I'm excited.

I know this was rather short after my long absence, and not much of a review, but it suits my purposes. I'll try to keep this up better than I did last year. I will definitely be writing again shortly as I'm going to a baseball game on Tuesday and will want to talk about that, and the differences between here and home and Japan. I am going to Japan (by flying boat!) and I'll update after that too. So hopefully it'll be more often than it was! Hope you all keep reading even though it's only me here now.

~Lyn~