I said goodbye to everyone at Seoul Global High School yesterday.  It was our last day of student teaching and it was a sad, sad day.  I had an inkling of how difficult it would be to leave the school, the staff and the kids but I had not fully prepared myself for overwhelming, hard-core emotions.  Simple things like turning my books back into the librarian or walking out of my classes when they were over were ridiculously hard things to do!

The day started off with my Home Room teacher asking both Bonnie and me to come to his office where he presented us with a delicious, white cake with whipped cream frosting we ate with chopsticks.  Cake for breakfast?  Never a bad idea.

CAKE!

My cooperating teacher and Bonnie's cooperating teacher took us both out to lunch for a traditional Jeju island seafood soup.  It was beautiful and delicious.  It was relaxing to have a moment away from the school and served as an opportunity to tell our CTs about our appreciation for everything they had done for us.  Mine in particular, I am so grateful for her allowing me to make changes in class and her expressing confidence in my teaching through the last couple of months.  She is always encouraging, but as a very experienced teacher, gave me great suggestions--and I always used all of them.

The students were so wonderful, sincere and kind.  Students I did not think would notice my absence even gave me individual send-offs that made my chest tighten as I tried not to cry.  (There was a whole lot of trying not to cry yesterday.)  I can still see their sad faces in my mind.  In my Home Room class, in the afternoon, I gave the students little send off packages and told them how much I appreciated everything--their explanations of school events, how sweet they are, coming to talk to me during their lunch breaks, etc.  Then they gave me more gifts...some for my birthday that had passed and some for leaving. I have included pictures of the gifts and explanations in the blog.

After school at the faculty meeting, Bonnie and I were given a nice goodbye from the principal and given gifts.  We were asked to speak (Bonnie and I are having to become very good at public speaking on the fly:) so we able to tell everyone how this experience had been very beneficial to us, how much we enjoyed our time and how heartbreaking a day it was for us.

It's still strange to think we will not be going back there.  I know I am ready to go home, but, I loved my time at this school unlike any job I have ever had.  Yesterday was one of the longest, hardest goodbyes I have ever gone through.  Even so, I am so grateful for the opportunity and the saturated kindnesses paid to us by everyone.  Coming to Korea was certainly one of the best decisions I have ever made and I have no regrets about my time spent here.

One of my classes had this for me when I walked in. ...And I got an ovation...hah

Okay, Philip.

That's me at the bottom holding the textbook for the class :)

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My other wonderful class wrote me out messages saying goodbye! Many of them wrote they were "sorry for sleeping..." I got such a good laugh out of these.  So sweet!!!

Lunch!

One of my gifts.  I think they are actually Christmas stockings. But they make great horns!

I thought the students in my Home Room class bought me an album and I thought that was so thoughtful.  When I got back to our little "office" I opened it and saw they actually made me an album with pictures of themselves and personal messages. This was pretty much the time that I couldn't handle it anymore!!

More messages from the students...

The pen is from the principal.  The pin is from my Home Room teacher.

Our wonderful, beautiful librarian gave us snacks and kiwis from her grandmother's kiwi tree.  She was so awesome the entire time we overtook her library!

Gifts from the students!  So thoughtful!!