Last Day At School

It feels so surreal! I got home from my last day at Gwangyang Boys HS a few hours ago and I just can't believe that I have left, and that I must leave my host family tomorrow.

3 students gave me letters as I was leaving, one of them gave me chocolate, and many came up and asked for my email (even though I wrote it on the board for all of their classes :-P ). I had to say a goodbye speech over the mic to all the students, and I definitely choked up during it. I will miss the students so much, even though I bitched about them a lot this year. I really hope some of them stay in touch with me!!!

I received a hanji hand mirror from my co-teacher Mrs. Chue and a beautiful bracelet from Mrs. Song, my old co-teacher. My gift from the school was a necklace and a set of earrings made to go with them. I really really LOVE the necklace they gave me (and it will be easy to pack, hah!).

After the "ceremony" at the school, all the teachers went to a restaurant to have a hurried lunch. I think they were all anxious to get home and enjoy their weekend and the start of their summer vacation (even though there are supplementary classes every morning all summer... yuck!). Anyway, I gave a goodbye speech in Korean to the teachers and they all started clapping so much! And so many came up to shake my hand and wish me luck as I was leaving. Even though I couldn't communicate with these people much this year, it was neat to see that they still cared about me.

I still have to do the hardest goodbye -- that with my host family. I will miss them SOOO SOOO much! I hope that they come to America someday and I hope I can visit them again in Korea in the future. But, things will never be the same as they are now. The boys will grow older and I'm sure they won't feel as comfortable around me as they do now. Waaah, don't grow up!