Changes & Good-byes

Things change constantly in Korea - our work schedule changes a few weeks in advance, our favorite galbi (Korean barbeque) restaurant closes, a new galbi restaurant opens, we change classes and students at school, old teachers leave and new teachers come. Sometimes these changes are good, like when I get to trade a difficult class of students for a new class that turns out to be lots of fun. Sometimes these changes take longer to get used to, like when all the friends I first made when I got to Korea have left. After almost 8 months of teaching, I should be used to all these changes and the good-byes that usually accompany them, but lately I have had a harder time adjusting. Maybe because I don't personally like all these recent changes, maybe it's because I feel like there's too many changes all happening at once, maybe it's knowing that even more and even bigger changes will be happening in a few months when I finish my contract. Either way, here's a short trip down memory lane back to some great students I had in August and a great friend I had in August who I both had to say good-bye to.
The students in my Special Grade 5 & 6 Intensive class: (back row from left to right) Bill, Samsung, Diana, Katherine; (front row from left to right) Se Ra, Jenny, Lisa, me. The whole class was great and actually made me excited to teach at 9 in the morning for a month. Messages two of my best students left on my whiteboard on the last day of classes
Sharon & I hanging up on my rooftop at another teacher's going away party. She was a great friend to talk to at school and to go dancing with on the weekends. I miss her laughter and complaining and how cool she was in general. Without her, my first 7 months in Korea would have been completely different.