So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu

Keeping with my "Sound of Music" theme, I must inform you that I have reached the end of my 2nd year of teaching! The end of the year is always bittersweet, but especially so this year. There are tons of students and staff not returning next year; which made for a pretty somber mood around TCIS. There was plenty to do and plenty of fun in the last week, however, to help us forget.

On Monday we met with each of our classes one last time. 3 whole classes of students I will not teach again. :( On Tuesday, I had a workday so I got caught up on my grades while the students cleaned out their lockers, took surveys, etc. In the afternoon was a Creative Arts Show where the students perform the plays they have been doing in Drama class and show off their artwork. Wednesday, we had field day. I led some water games; we even made a slip 'n' slide on the main lawn. We also did some service activities. I had a group of about 20 students who picked up trash around the neighborhood. Those of you that have been here know how dirty the O-jung dong is outside of our campus. On Thursday we took an End-of-Year whirlwind trip to GSIS, our sister school. We had chapel together and then spent the day...well a couple hours at least...doing a variety of activities from scrapbooking to swimming. It was a fast, but fun day.

Which brings us to Friday! On Friday morning the students had another time of service. I took a different group of 20 kids to the train station where we passed out ramen and water to homeless people. It was really cool, and the kids did such a good job in what could be an uncomfortable situation. It was great! When we arrived back at school, the mentally handicapped kids from Nuri Rehabilitation Center (who we have been visiting throughout the school year) came to TCIS to watch our talent show. The talent show was over 2 hours long and gave the students a chance to display a whole lot of talent. The Nuri kids performed an act, too. It was nice.

In the afternoon we had the awards ceremony and then final goodbye parties. There were lots of tears, but I managed to hold off. I am really sad to see some of my students going though. We are losing some really good ones! Their leadership will definitely be missed next year. I think all of them did come find me and give me an appropriate goodbye though. :)

Besides students leaving, many teachers and friends are leaving this year. I've already said many goodbyes and many more are coming. On Tuesday my friend Anna and I had a goodbye party for our friends Jenn and Lyndsey. In true TCIS fashion we had a banner made with their names on it. haha. We had a goodbye barbecue for another friend that night. This week I have been trying to spend as much time with departing staff as possible, which means I have been doing lots of fun Korean things that they want to do before they leave: Manna house, jimjilbang, noraebang, etc. It has been fun, but it is always hard to say goodbye. Especially to such good friends; luckily we have lots of great memories. 

Saturday teachers had to work, but I managed to get all my stuff cleaned up by lunchtime (which is a miracle since it was so dirty with so many papers I thought I would never see the desktop). When work was finished I began the daunting task of packing and cleaning up my apartment. I now have everything packed up ready to be moved to my new place. There is still some cleaning to do for tomorrow, but it will definitely all get done. I may even be able to squeeze a bike ride in before I leave.

I can't wait to see all you Iowans! I will be leaving my place at 6:30 AM Tuesday and arriving in Cedar Rapids at 6:30 PM. With the time change that means that I have a good 26 hours of travel ahead of me. Ick! But it will be worth when I get home and see all of you! 2 more days!!