Goodbye Korea Series | Beomil Elementary School

Markus's Beauty and the Beast illustration for class

After teaching and working Korea for two years, I realized that I didn't know what Korean school life was really like. I've always been really curious what life is like in the schools and I begged Markus to let me visit his school. Thankfully, he and his teachers were willing to let me visit. Back in early July, I had the opportunity to spend the day at Beomil Elementary School.

Just hanging out.

School life is drastically different than what I'm used to. Markus takes more of a backseat and assists his Korean co-teacher. I think it's really amazing and I wish that I had a co-teacher in my classes. Most of the time, I have to gesture and speak in broken Korean so the students can sort of understand me. The class size is also much larger than what I'm used to. His classes are around 35 students, but mine never reach more than 15 students. It's such a stark contrast to what I'm used to! Also, there was a old guy climbing into one of the windows during class and no one blinked an eye. Apparently he was trimming the trees and needed to hang on the window. Oh Korea...

Markus and his fan club

I'm also a fan!

While I was at Beomil, there was one thing that was obviously clear, Markus's students love him. Markus always tells me funny and amusing stories about them. He really loves them and they definitely love him back. He often talks about how funny and sweet his kids are and I desperately wanted to meet them. I mean, he has a freaking fan club. What English teacher has a fan club? I really had a great time taking a backseat and seeing Markus at work and in his element. I was actually really touched that these kids would love him so much. I know why I love him, but seeing these kids looking at him with so much awe and respect was incredible.
 

Markus not only has good relationships with his students, but he also has a great relationship with his co-teachers and a few other teachers as well. Everyday after lunch, they meet for coffee and even have a little club. I don't know what it is, but Markus has so many clubs all of a sudden. When the school day was over, we went out to dinner with the coffee club. They were really sweet and for some reason they knew a lot about me! It was really cool to be able to hear what they had to say about Markus, which was all nice things of course!

I have to say that I was really impressed with Beomil. It really was everything Markus boasted about. I can definitely understand why he constantly talks about his kids. They really are ridiculously cute and really funny. As much as I love working at the library, experiencing a Korean elementary school made me a little envious. It's okay though, I'm just glad I was able to see what life is like at a Korean school. Thank you Beomil Elementary School and Markus for letting me spend the day with you!

May Volunteering | 1 of 2

After a bit of a break, Markus and I were able to volunteer at the woman's shelter again. The families that are at the shelter stay for around six months and then they are phased out. All of the students that I used to teach are all gone. This time around, all the kids were new. At first I was a bit nervous, but it wasn't too long til I grabbed one of the girls hands and we skipped into a new friendship. 

One thing that fascinates me about Korea is the amount of children with dyed or permed hair. It's pretty crazy seeing little kids with blue or red hair. While we were at the shelter, I spied the little boy with red hair and said that he was going to be my new bff. I'm happy to say that I was pretty successful because his mom later told me that he liked me. The blue haired kid wasn't part of our group, but I had to get a picture. These crazy haired kids are like Pokemon and I gotta catch em all. 

We walked about 15 minutes to a nearby park and practically took over. There was the perfect amount of volunteers to kids. There was face painting, manicuring, see-sawing, climbing and chasing. As much as I loved my old students, these kids really won me over. They were so much fun and really sweet. I spent most of my time playing and talking with them because I couldn't help myself. 

Usually, the moms and older siblings don't come with us, but this time they decided to join. Throughout the afternoon, the mom of the little girl in the awesome purple sweater kept looking at me curiously. I couldn't tell if she wanted to talk to me or was just confused. When we were walking back to the shelter, she finally started talking to me. She spoke in really broken English, but she was trying really hard. It was actually a really good conversation. I told her that we were going to try and have a baby soon and she proceeded to tell me what vitamins I needed to take. I think she kept looking at me because she was building up her courage to talk to me. It was the sweetest and cutest thing. It's moments like that that make me feel completely humbled and thankful to be in Korea.

Instagrammin' | September 2012

In September, we spent the beginning of the month re-adjusting to school life and officially beginning our second year in Korea. 

1. Teaching at the Jeonpo Welfare Center. These kids are always so happy and give their best effort in class. I love teaching them. 
2. Chuseok gift sets. Korea's equivalent of Thanksgiving is Chuseok. For gifts, they give presents like spam or canned tuna.
3. Soul Food. I was having a bad day and Markus prepared a delicious dinner of BBQ ribs, and corn bread. I'm a lucky girl.
4. Reunited. Markus and I were finally able to meet with our original little brother, Dae-hwannie.

5. Brainstorming. Markus and I are currently working on a children's book and we spend many nights at cafes brainstorming. Although, most of the time it's Markus creating beautiful sketches and me being amazed.
6. My old college roommate, Angela, visited Korea, but we were unable to meet. Although, she was still able to send me some goodies from home via her cousin. Oh how I've missed the yummy taste of Aunt Jemima's.
7. New Sunday Tradition. Markus and I started a Sunday tradition of pancakes and Are You Afraid of the Dark? How awesome is that? 
8. New shoes. While in the UK, I was finally able to find shoes that fit me and these ones were adorable. So happy to finally buy a new pair of shoes! 

November Volunteering

This month's volunteering event was a Thanksgiving extravaganza. The kids created Native American headbands, hand turkeys, Pilgrim hats and sat down for a bit of face painting. It was one of the best experiences I've had in Korea so far. 

Every time I go to the women's shelter, I'm overwhelmed at how amazing and funny these kids are. They are the sweetest and cutest kids. I could go on about how adorable they are, but I think the pictures will do better.

Seriously, how adorable are these faces? I just want to pinch all of their cheeks, which I did for most of the day. To be fair, it didn't seem like they minded the attention.

This time around there were more volunteers than kids. The turnout was incredible and it was awesome to see so many people sacrificing their afternoons. Although, after spending 20 minutes with them, it's easy to see why it's not a hard sacrifice. Even though many of the kids don't speak English, their actions and faces show all of their emotion.

Kasim, Markus, Steven and Bathroom

Again, Kasim and Markus used their artistic talents to paint and sketch whatever the kids wanted. One of our favorite students, told Markus, Kasim and Steven that he wanted all of their faces on his face. After he was done having the boys painted on his face, he asked Markus to draw me and "tall teacher" on his hands. Words cannot express how much I love him. He's such a witty kid and is always joking around. 

While volunteering I met Jeff, who is the spitting image of a younger version of my brother, Chris. Every time I see him, it's hard not to feel an instant connection since he resembles family. It's actually quite nice to see a "familiar" face.

Me and Min-Gyeongie

I had such a great time with these. There was one girl, Min-Gyeongie, who wouldn't let me go. She kept coming back and hugging me. I think these kids lack a lot of physical affection and when the volunteers come, they see it as a way to fulfill that need. It's a heartbreaking truth, but it's a reality that these kids have to face. 

When I think about what these kids have gone through at such a young age, I get so angry. I look at their faces and ask myself, "why would anyone lay a hand on these children?" I'm so thankful that I can spend time with them. It's humbling to know that these kids look forward to just a few hours with a volunteer.  Although, spending time with them is also a blessing to me. I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to do something like this while I'm in Korea.

Halloween at the Busan English Library

I love Halloween. It's one of the greatest holidays. What other days can you pretend to be someone else and get free candy? It's amazing. When we first came to Korea, I was so shocked to learn that they do not celebrate Halloween. It makes sense why they don't, but it's still so sad that the kids don't have an opportunity to enjoy the festivities.

My co-teacher asked me to plan a Halloween Day Event for our students and I didn't hold back. I went all out. I wanted the kids to have a good time, but I also wanted to be able to enjoy Halloween too. If I can't drink pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin ale, I'm gonna plan an awesome event. 

We couldn't decorate the entire library, even though that would've been awesome. They gave us this little section in the front, but hey, it's still something. I loved walking in the morning and seeing the Little Halloween corner.

There are three native English teachers at the library including me. Kelly and Doug are also from America. It's nice to have my fellow countrymen working in such close proximity. We decided to dress up as literary characters, since we work at a library. So you see before you, Max from Where the Wild Things Are, Mr. Fox from Fantastic Mr. Fox and D'artagnan from The Three Musketeers. Even though we thought they were well-known characters,  the kids had no idea who we were.

A few students came in costumes and the overall theme was witches and wizards. I think that's the only costume that they sold, to be honest. If they didn't come in costume, we set up three stations to help them get in the Halloween spirit. At the first station, they created their own paper plate mask. At the second station they made spider hats. Finally, at the third station, they had their faces painted by Kelly and Markus. They also colored and created Halloween bags for trick or treating.

I had a great time and I think the kids did too. They were so cute with their little masks and spider hats. They were also surprisingly well behaved. Maybe they were overwhelmed with all the fun that they were having that they held it all inside. Either way, it was a Halloween to remember.