Korea: Final Days and Misc. Pictures

The last few days of any extended stay trip always make me feel bittersweet and a little anxious.  Bittersweet for having to leave, yet anxious to get home.  However this time I will not be going home quite yet - off to Mongolia first!  While part of me yearns to be back home with family and friends, I did not think that I would ever have the opportunity to visit Mongolia again, so this is a special trip for me. 

The latter half of this week has been filled with farewells.  On Wednesday, we had a farewell lunch with the prinicipal and vice principal.  On Thursday, we met Lee and Minju for dinner in Changwon.  On Friday at school, some of the students pitched in to get me a cake - candles and all.  With the candles added to the cake the students felt like they should sing something.  The only song that all of them knew in English was Happy Birthday.  But seeing that is wasn't my birthday, they decided on a Korean song that is normally sung to teachers on Teacher Appreciation Day instead.  It was cute. :) Then later that evening we had a farewell dinner with Yeji's family and then exchanged gifts. 

The cake!



Farewell dinner with Yeji's family

 

I thought the restaurant's logo was amusing :)


What I will miss most about Korea:  dinners at Yeji's house in the evenings and the conversations with her family in broken English and Korean - Konglish; the food of course!; family-style eating at every meal with everyone sharing all of the dishes; the mountains and greenery; the extreme generosity and kindness of the people.  What I will NOT miss:  the humidity.  Farewell, Korea.  You have a very special place in my heart.

I am currently at Incheon International Airport near Seoul.  Lee and I had a 7:00am flight out of Gimhae this morning.  Lee's flight back to the States left around 10:30am.  My flight to Mongolia doesn't leave until about 8:00pm so I will be here allllll day...  Thank goodness for free wifi!  So with all of this time on my hands I thought it would be a good chance to go through all of the pictures I just got from Yeji and add some more here for your viewing pleasure.  :)  Stay tuned for updates from Mongolia!


Here are some pictures from my time at Gyeongwon High School:

While giving my presentations-

Meeting the principal and vice principal -

The small group conversation class students -

Observing Young-mi's class -

Co-teaching with Young-joo -

Student presentations -

Here are some more pictures from the school visits:

Seong-joo Elementary School -

Bong-myeong Middle School -

Masan Girls High School -

Myoungseo Elementary School -

Gimhae Foreign Language High School -

Changwon Science High School -

Each student is provided with their own study space

And here are some more random weekend fun picures!

Busan -


Yay for Korean snacks!

 Geoje (Oedo Island) -

Me, Yeji's mom, Yeji

Tongyeong -


The fish market

Our dinner!

Yum!  Fresh sashimi!

 

The drum show we caught on the street