Rainy Days and Mondays...

It's only 10 AM (and Tuesday, but appropriately, it is raining) and I am already dangerously close to dehydration from non-stop crying for the last 2 days.  Out of all of this I am impressed with my ability to be heartbreakingly sad and still laugh.  It's strange.

Today is my last day at my current school, Jincheon High School, and starting tomorrow I will be splitting my time between 3 middle schools in the area.  This is the big reason for my "blogger's block" lately.  For the longest time I knew I HAD to leave and would have to take on multiple schools (and honestly, I am not complaining about the workload), but it was constantly held over my head that I might even be sent out of my current area...which would be ridiculous, since I only have 6 months left on the contract.  This has been a huge source of stress for me and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop before I committed to anything else.

And let's be clear: I DON'T want to leave my current school...I feel like I am leaving the job unfinished.  I feel like I am leaving right when students (particularly Grade 3 students preparing for university interviews, many which are English only...yep, even in Korea) will need me the most.  I am trying to make arrangements to still be available to students who want help interviewing, so we'll have to see how that pans out.  I have worked really hard here...objectively harder than a lot of foreign English teachers do (many on the ones here make comments about me making the job harder that I have to).  Yes, I could take the easy way out, but there is something special about the students here (and shouldn't all teachers feel that way?) and I feel like I owe them my best to help them become their best.

But mostly my issue with leaving this school is that I didn't get a vote.  I feel like I am being forced to leave my home and family.  Because more that the desire to not only be "good" at my job, but the "best" at my job (ok, I'm a little competitive), but I have worked really hard to build a life here with these people as friends and (created) family.

None of this is meant to say that I won't love my new schools, co-workers, or students...hopefully I will come to love them just as much.  It is simply the fact I (and not even my school) was not given a choice...it was simply decided by the higher ups and I am being sent away....and I borderline resent that.  I understand issues about budget and staffing...you come to understand that after a few months in food service...but I just feel like a compromise could have been reached to reasonably satisfy everyone.

As it is, I am getting ready for the next stage in my journey and, with any luck, it will be a good one.

Perception

This is a long one, so get comfortable.

I haven't exploited my students' work in a long time.  Not because they haven't done anything noteworthy (because I really am consistently impressed by their work), but because if I did that would be all I posted.

I just wrapped up summer camp...and this time, we learned about different concepts that effect our worldviews (like privilege and perception).  Basically, we were trying out basic cultural relativism.  We also tried applying these by watching The Outsiders movie and then taking a different perspective of the story.  Teaching some things (like privilege) were like beating my head against the wall, but they took to perception fairly well.

After talking about what perception is, each student has one picture by MC Escher (look him up, if you don't know) and to tell me their perception of the drawing.  So, here's what they told me.  I am leaving all their words exactly as they told me.