Part Three and a Half
Remember when I said that Maeng Juno, one of my students who graduated elementary school last year, promised he'd come back to visit me in a previous post? Well, the world has come full circle and I am now teaching at his middle school this year! This year, I'm still, sOo0 fortunately, teaching at four different schools, two being schools I've taught at since the beginning, Namwon and Kyoryong Elementary, and two new middle schools—one private; Yongbuk Middle, and one in the mountains; Ayoung Middle. As always, the first day at a new school is always the most nerve-wracking for me, but everyone was so kind and welcoming and made me feel like I belonged. Coincidentally, the principal's son at Yongbuk is heading to UW in the fall so that's very exciting for him! But now I definitely feel special treatment from the principal because his son's soon-to-be university is my alma mater. He had me talk to his son on the phone and it was the funniest and most, kind of, awkward encounter of all time. The math teacher, Younghu, who sits next to me in the office at Ayoung, and I have become quite close coworkers! His English has improved a lot just by talking to me all the time at work. Ayoung is quite far from the city so my coteacher, Hwaryeong, drives me to and from work every Friday and we always have really nice conversations together!
Korea finally became maskless at the beginning of the year! On the first day back at Kyoryong, my fifth grader, Hangyul, did not recognize me without my mask and looked at me with the most confused face. So, I covered my nose and mouth to which he exclaimed, "OH THAOVI TEACHER!!!!!!!! 안녕하세요!!!!!!" and gave me the biggest and tightest hug. This year I teach five periods at Kyoryong, 4 periods, lunch, and then fifth period. My fifth-period kids didn't know I'd be teaching them again so when I saw them lining up for lunch, their cute faces lit up and they were ecstatic to see me again. They were jumping up and down saying hello and that they love me. It was adorable. One of my fourth graders this year, Minsung, genuinely and innocently asked me if I fly to Korea every day from America to get to work. To which I answered, "Yes, I love you that much so I fly here every day to see you" HAHA.
Every day this year has felt a bit bittersweet since the school year started because I know my time in Korea will end someday. I know marriage is far, far away for me, but I already know which coworkers of mine I'll invite so I can hopefully see them again in America. The coworkers I'm closest to have told me they'll save money to visit me! My fourth grader, Minkyung, made me promise her that one day when she comes to The US I need to be there to welcome her. Sol, another fourth grader of mine, told me that there's no need for me to go back to The US. I told her my family lives there, then her response was, "But you know...I live here. In Korea." Thinking about leaving my home away from home has made me tear up several times already, but I know that is because my time in Korea has been quite the experience; one that I will cherish forever.
A friend told me that there was no way my coworkers wouldn't throw me a big goodbye party before I head back to the US and they were right. I was talking to an old coworker the other day and she said, "We have to do the party for you to say goodbye and also celebrate you going back home" when we were talking about me leaving one day. All I know is that I'll be crying the whole time when that happens.
It's that time of year again (June - in case I post this in December) when all the Namwon schools get together for the annual Namwon schools volleyball tournament. I learned that when Koreans are studying to become teachers, they're required to take volleyball as an elective because it's a sport that they can bond in during school hours. So, volleyball tournaments within schools in cities across Korea are quite common. This year, I chose to play for my main school's team; Namwon Elementary. A great decision because, unlike last year, the team I played with had great players but terrible teamwork. My team this year trusted each other which resulted in us playing extremely well together. And because of that, it was the best time. I played against some former coworkers who moved to different schools and it was so fun to see each other again and play against them. I thought I would not like playing against schools I work at (meaning people I work/worked with), but it was so much fun!
After the volleyball tournament, my team and everyone who came to cheer us on—yes, we had fans—went to lunch to eat and, of course, drink. Last year, I drank with my coworkers after the tournament for eight hours. I thought that was a lot, but this year? Eleven hours... one of the lunch ladies came up to me during lunch and told me that she loves me a lot and hopes that I don't feel lonely while living in Korea by myself. She continued and said that every week when she serves me food she can feel how big my heart is just by making eye contact with me. And boy did I start sobbing. I was already trying my best not to cry that day as I knew it was my last time playing in a tournament with them and that I would be leaving Korea in about nine months and she had the audacity to talk to me that sweetly. The waterworks were uncontrollable. Someone had mentioned that I consistently create these warm interactions with random people in Korea and honestly, I wasn't truly aware of it until I was told by them and then I more deeply understood that when the lunch lady said those words to me. Earlier that week, the owner of the mart I grocery shop at, Kim Kyung Mi, hugged me over the conveyor belt saying that it's always, and big emphasis SO nice to see me after not seeing me for so long. I left the mart wanting to cry. Leaving is going to be difficult, to say the least.
As it is my third year in Korea, I keep denying that my Korean isn't any good, but I've continuously shocked myself with how much better my listening has become. There have been countless times when I haven't needed to process what was being said to translate in my head, but just immediately understood what was said or asked. It's funny when my kids ask me questions in Korean and when I respond they take about three seconds to realize I actually understood them. Hangyul, my fifth grader, is convinced that I speak fluently so if I ever throw in a Korean word he yells out, "OH *insert Korean word* is Korean!!!!" and actually says this in Engish. There was a time when my coworkers, Park Jieun and Kim Seunggi, were talking and I started laughing because of something they said and Jieun just went, "NO! Thaovi you're not supposed to understand Korean right now!" Recently, there was an issue happening at school so when the admin was getting statements from students, I started listening and when I asked Jieun about it later she said, "WOW Thaovi! You understood very well, that's exactly what is going on." Putting Korean listening on my resume for my next job *insert sunglass emoji*. Totally kidding.
A slight shift in topic, but this year I have injured myself twice. I learned that I have a herniated disk and had to lay on the floor for seven straight days because my bed was too soft for my back. Of any week to injure myself, that was the best week to do so because I had a five-day weekend that week. I'm okay now, eastern medicine is truly magical. But I'm trying to continue to do strengthening and conditioning exercises to ease the pain. I hurt my back when I started playing volleyball again this year when I landed on my right foot weirdly and it was game over from then on. The next week when I saw my coworkers from the school I broke my back at (because remember, ya girl works at four different schools), everyone was very sweet and concerned for my health. Every single staff member asked how my back was. It took about a month to recover.
The subsequent injury was because of soccer. I play soccer with seven of my fifth-grade boys after class every Wednesday; Juwon, Seungjoon, Byeonggwon, Hyunho, Younghwan, Juyoung, and Chan. Sometimes Hangyul, the boy who didn't recognize me when he saw me without my mask for the first time, joins too. This injury is because I'm just dumb; I played soccer with my slides on that day and stubbed my toe so hard that the top of my big toe nail split from the bed of my toe and immediately started bleeding. (Graphic sorry). But when I tell you I know my kids love me, this is when I truly knew they CARE about me. Seungjoon was next to me when my toe started bleeding and called everyone to stop because "TEACHER. BLOOD. STOP."
My kids, who all are obsessed with playing soccer, dropped everything in an instant just to make sure I was okay. Juyoung told me to stay put because he was going to go get the nurse. Juwon was pulling out his Hello Kitty bandaids for me. Younghwan was so gently holding onto my foot as Seungjoon poured water over my toe to wash away the blood. Chan was spraying disinfectant on my toe. Byeonggwon was getting more water for Seungjoon to pour over my toe. And Hyunho had barged into a staff meeting (I don't have to go to these because it's pointless for a non-Korean speaker to go) to tell them I was hurt. I had way too many people seeing my toes that week but it's all healed now so don't worry. Talk about WORRY, my goodness. I love them so much.
To continue my injury streak this year, I joined a volleyball and soccer club in Namwon. Knock on wood that I don't actually injure myself by joining these clubs. Volleyball is fun because I play with a couple of my coworkers and an old coworker! I'm learning new skills that I would otherwise not learn if I didn't join. It's super technical and learning in Korean is a bit difficult, but the coach says I've been improving! Volleyball club consists of two high school students to middle age adults and is coed. It's been 7 or 8 years since I've played soccer competitively, but my body went right back into it on the first day. I scored two goals!! The soccer club is a woman's club in Namwon, but sometimes some of the girls' boyfriends come to play with us. I was so nervous to join because I didn't know anyone and better yet, I can't speak Korean fluently. But from day one, everyone was so kind and welcoming towards me and made me feel so included. You might be wondering, then how do we communicate? We just speak to each other in our languages with as much English/Korean as we know and we end up understanding each other because our listening is decent enough.
We took a picture together on the first day and they made me be in the middle because I was new. I clicked with all the women immediately and felt genuinely happy for the first time in what seemed like a long time, but was maybe just a month. I'm the youngest of all my friends in Korea, and I became friends with one of the younger girls on the team, Woohee, and she calls me 언니/unnie, which has a similar meaning to "older sister" and it was heartwarming to be called that honestly. Woohee is now extra special to me too because I later found out that her mom is the sweetest woman in Namwon, Kim Kyung Mi—the mart worker, the one that I mentioned in one of the above paragraphs. One of the other girls on the team and I learned we were born the same year, also only 11 days apart! Her face lit up when she found out because all her friends were born a year earlier so I'm the first, and I quote, "real friend" she's made born the same year as her. Her name is Haein. I'm not sure why, but age and the year you're born really matters in this country.
Update (I wrote the above paragraph a week before this one); I spoke an injury into existence. I've injured myself once again. Third time's a charm though, right? I pulled a quad muscle from soccer so I'm out for two weeks. I guess I am no longer young. The physical therapist I saw said REST AND STRETCH. One of my students, Eunsung, finishes practices before my practices start and noticed I wasn't at practice last week and asked me where I was. I had to tell him I got injured and I just think it's cute he was looking for me after his practice was over.
Every week my kids, Taeyeon, Chae-a, Sowon, and Woo-i, bring me a napkin during lunch and that's such a random act of kindness, but such a consistent act done towards me that I want to remember. A couple of my fifth graders, Seoyeon and Kyumi, come to talk to me while I eat my food, and as distracting as that is, it's a very consistent and sweet gesture. And since we're on the topic of lunch, one of the lunch ladies was PACKING rice onto my tray one day and said, "More love more rice" and it was so cute. Every week, I feel as if the lunch ladies are playing the game, "How Much Food Can Thaovi Eat Today?" because even other teachers see my plate and their eyes widen and go "whaaaaat." I was told that many of the lunch ladies have kids my age so they think of me the same and want to make sure I am well-fed while in Korea; this is the purest form of love I can receive from them and it does not go unnoticed.
The year is already halfway over and I've done a lot of reflection these last several months. I write mostly about my good times because that's what I want to remember most from my time here, but thinking back on my time I've dealt with more hardship than I expected to. However, I want to remember how much I have also grown through these last few years too. It's kind of crazy how much I've changed in two and a half years. Even my coworker, Suhyun, was like, "Thaovi remember when you'd ask me all these questions like xyz when you first moved?" and I had no recollection of it. It's sort of comforting knowing that my growth has not gone unnoticed, even by my colleagues. Each year, I feel like there's some major hurdle I have to face and this year in particular is about friendships. I've had a realization that my time in Korea in relation to friendships is like a condensed version of my whole life where you start with a lot of friends and slowly, as you get older, those friendship circles decrease. Some people aren't meant to be in our lives forever and that's okay! People come and go (literally in this country). And friendship breakups are more common than not and oftentimes not talked about enough. Reminding myself that I can't control how someone responds or acts towards me no matter what I do has given me a lot of peace this year. This year, I'm focusing on myself (a continual journey) and building on the relationships that I know I want in my life. I also am focusing on making the most of my last year and living out my last several months in Korea to its fullest without regret!
This summer, I'm heading to Thailand! Stay tuned...