1. My wonderful (former) head teacher, Esther on her last day. She made the very brave decision – after four years at my hagwon – to set out on her own and blaze a new trail. I am wishing Esther all the best in her new adventures – school will not be the same without her!
2. Celebrating Children’s Day and Teacher’s Day at school was so perfect. Pictured above is the whole of my school’s kindergarten program after a riveting game of Corn Hole. I was absolutely soaked with sweat after running around to set up this game, subsequently garnering the new nickname “Wet Teacher”. You’ve got to love these children’s imaginations.
3. I began a new weekend routine in May: spending the entire weekend with my lovely ladies, enjoying the Busan nightlife on Saturday evenings, waking up, heading to the beach, eating Quiznos, getting a killer tan, doing headstands, going to Vesta Spa, and then finishing the weekend with some kimchi fried rice at my favourite local diner. It is a scientifically proven way to brighten life, and I feel so grateful that my last few months spent in Busan will be during the summer.
4. It’s back! Beach yoga began at Gwangalli during the first weekend in May. The last time I did beach yoga was in mid-October with Jess, Maddie, and our former teacher Amanda. Much like the seasons, my beach yoga crew has changed, but I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by the bendy and the zen. Even if I weren’t though, the view would more than make up for it.
5. You’ve got to love school field trip day. My school recycled the Daeyeon Arboretum (we already visited in September) as the location for this month’s field trip, but I still managed to have a lovely time in the great outdoors with my munchkins! I taught the kids to play classic childhood games including “What Time Is It Mr. Wolf?”, “Red Rover”, and “Duck, Duck, Goose”, and somehow, only one child managed to fall and scrape their knee. If you’ve ever worked in a school, you know that’s a small victory.
6. I spent a Sunday afternoon with a trio of my former middle school students in Jangsan, and it was a lot of fun. They recently left my school in favour of private tutoring and were very eager to meet up for lunch. They were initially so jarred to see me outside of a classroom setting! We enjoyed a nice meal at the Korean diner and played some arcade games before calling it an afternoon. God love these derps – middle school is a hard time, but they all have such good heads on their shoulders!
7. Life is nothing if you don’t fill it with the special ones. Pictured here is my “Bu Crew”: Mary, Katie, Steph, and Brandi, just missing our lovely Nina. There is certainly not a lot of time where I’m without at least one of them: Steph and I are basically attached to the hip every night after school; Mary and Nina make the long trek from Hwamyeong to Jangsan every weekend; I meet with Katie through the week to jog at Daecheon Park and have a nightcap at Thursday Party, and I’m so lucky to have sweet old Brandi as a co-worker. I’m truly #blessed.
8. It feels like I’m always saying goodbye! After ten months of shaping Korea’s next generation together, I bid farewell to my co-worker and friend, Brittany Teacher. My boss took all of the foreign teachers at my school to a dessert bar early last week as a thank you to Brittany for all of her hard work. She’s currently travelling around Southeast Asia for the next two months before plotting her next move. Best of luck, Britt!
9. Since I’m nearing the end of my contract and want to spend my last few weekends soaking up the sun, I was quite aggressive with my Bucket List (very typical). Amongst those that I was able to check off were Samgwangsa Temple, a Lotte Giants Baseball Game, the Oryukdo Island Cruise, and Bujeon Market. I’m so excited that I’ve nearly checked everything off of my Korean Bucket List!
10. I always love a good birthday party. Each month at my school, a birthday party is held for all the students celebrating that month. May has a solid line-up – five of my favourite students were turning a year older, and choosing which one to stand with in this photo caused me some serious anxiety. As per usual, Nina was the winner.
May was just as busy as its predecessor, April. It had long catch-ups on Skype with my friends back in Canada, lots of beach yoga and beers, meeting lots of new people – basically everything I could want as I usher in the summer season. I booked my flight to Thailand for summer vacation, my school booked me a flight back to Canada in early August, and one of my best friends, Yusra, booked a flight to South Korea for a visit in June! May had many hits and only a few misses and I’m happy that my sun kissed face broke into laughing fits easily and often. Au revoir, May!
Millennial Abroad 