Today was our last day with the 4th and 5th graders. Until today, I didn't think I would miss anything about teaching when I go back home. I always knew that even thought I might have the talent to work with children, I would never be able to work within the teacher's salary. I will be the first to admit that my spending habits would be too much for that position.
However, I found myself leaving school at 12:45, on the verge of tears. Our students had an English contest where they had to answer questions and if they got it wrong, they were out. We combined all 3 classes and of course, the 3 students that won were all advanced students. The winning question was spelling what state or city zach, travis, and I are from. After the contest, we went downstairs for the closing ceremony. Much to our surprise, we were asked to give a closing speech with no warning. The Korean teachers at the school always think about things in their head but never give a warning of whats going on. Since Zach can think off the top of his head, he spoke on behalf of the 3 of us and did an awesome job conveying how much we are going to miss these students.
We then went upstairs back to our classes with our homeroom kids. Even though the orange class (intermediate students) can be a handful sometimes, I saw myself getting upset when they were telling me how much they were going to miss me. The Korean teachers and all of the students make us giant thank you cards. As I read the ones from each class, my eyes definitely started to well up. I would have never expected to have this reaction. I figured it was just another group of relationships that would come in and out of my life. Once the students were dismissed, I had a crowd of girls from the green class (advanced students) come rushing in to take pictures with me and get my email address. There are two girls that Zach, Travis, and I call "the twins" because they are closer friends than sisters will ever be. With bright smiling faces they told me they would be emailing me EVERY DAY!!! They both then hugged me as another one of their friends yelled "Krista teacher... I love you!" That is when I lost it. I tried to stay strong and not show my emotion but a single tear fell down my cheek. I sucked it up and told myself I would be okay.
As Zach, Travis and I started to walk home, the same group of girls were waiting outside. "Teacher, buy me ice cream please." In America, all 3 of us would have been like "HELL NO!" because they just asked. But because we love these girls so much, we politely agreed. They walked us to a small mart and had the biggest grins on their faces while we paid for their treats.
Those smiles have made teaching all worth it. Even though we have 8 more days of teaching, I am fully satisfied with the work we have done here. I really hope that the kids do email me every day because I will glady respond with a huge smile on my face.
The one single tear told me that I will miss this place more than I know yet....
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