Adventures in Korea A year spend abroad in Korea...Gain wisdom..have fun..get cultured

So, 2012? How about that. Gone just like that. I will have to say looking back that it will be one of my most memorable years. I am happy to say it was the year I saw 3 countries. Ending it in Vietnam was amazing. It was however a weird Christmas. Not bad, but different to say the least. My friends certainly made it as good as could have been and we had fun. Although it might seem appropriate, this will not be the post about reflection. I mean, I could re hash all the ins and outs of 2012, but seeing as this is a “blog about my time in Korea” I’ll put that all together in the closing week. 

At first, I wasn’t sure whether I’d go anywhere for the break. I had to think about what was more important, saving money or traveling. OBVIOUSLY, traveling won. And OBVIOUSLY its a better idea. So, there ya go, but how was Vietnam? In a word, awesome. It just, didn’t start out smoothly. It was kinda like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with crunchy peanut butter but the first bite had crunched up egg shells in it. It doesn’t really ruin the sandwich, you just have to get through that unexpected bite then you can enjoy the rest. And then you take a second bite and find a finger nail. By then you’re like ‘ok, if there is one more surprise imma get real grumpy all up in here.’ It sort of began like that.

We got to the airport Saturday night early enough to exchange money, grab a bite to eat and of course get our tickets and whatnot. Well..we had a little hiccup..or I had one and my awesome and patient friends stuck around to see it through. So, we get up to the counter and wouldn’t you know it my passport number showed up ‘incorrect’ on my Visa application form to get into Nam. The airlines response, “Uhh maybe he cannot go but you three can go ahead ok.?” Here’s to empathy..So after much deliberation, contacting the Visa issuance place via email to change my number back to the correct one and waiting long enough to nix any plans of exchanging money, getting a good meal or relaxing..we were able to get me on the plane, but I had to sign a form waiving the airline of any responsibilities incase I lose something or get kidnapped etc..well it wasn’t that extreme, but that was how they viewed it. 

SOO, off we went..5 hours later, Nam. We went through security, waited an hour or so, received our VISA’s and preceded to exchange our money. Pretty soon we would be ready to enjoy the Vietnam experience. But wait, the nail in the pb…So, we get to the counter and it turns out they do not accept the 100,000 Won bill for exchange because even though you can get it from the ATM’s in Korea it is first and foremost, a check. WTF. See, when I went to the Philippines I exchanged money at the airport and it worked out just fine. But in Vietnam those bills are apparently just cool pieces of paper that can’t do anything. Just Casey and I were actually screwed at the moment though. Because she listened to me and ya, there you go. Hind sight says, bring American money…or just don’t have your VISA number screwed up…or see into the future, but that is an ability for another day. Luckily Lauren had some US cash and Casey had a little extra as well so we could make it through the first night and possibly the first day. However, the silver lining was that we could simply go to a Vietnamese Bank where we would be able to exchange (even the really lame useless bills that aren’t worth anything) and get money to spend instead of being poor for a week. Simple right? 

Well, no. The answer is it was not simple. We went out searching on Monday for the first recommended spot to exchange our money and be on our way. They looked at us like we were idiots and wrote down another place to go. That scenario happened to us at 6 different places where people assured us they would take our “money” and only took half a day. We even went to a “Korean Bank” where they said they don’t trade Korean Won. That silver lining was looking a little brown..Luckily we did find a bank that allowed Casey to use money from her home account, Rachell figured out her finances on her own and I was fortunate enough to have my Dad bail me out for the week (THANK YOU DAD!!) because every 27 year old wants to be bailed out on Christmas in Vietnam…But hey, better lucky than proud. Pride? HA! as if. There’s the pb and j I was lookin for..

Ok, now it can begin. We walked a lot..easily over 5 miles a day. It was worth it though. The thing we noticed most about Saigon was how it was bursting with culture. People were everywhere. I’ve never seen so many people or so many scooters. Thousands of them. At all times. And Christmas was insane! Music was always playing and people were out all day. A lot of the families work 360 days a year just to make it. Unbelievable. I miss my summer break as a teacher and they get 5 days off? Yikes. What a weenie..We enjoyed the shopping experience very much. Once I figured we could haggle the price quite easily, I had a lot of fun with it. The thing is, we didn’t wanna rip them off. But after the first day we found out they try to do it to us based on how low some would go compared to others. One guy tried to see us a pair of sun glasses for $10 (which is cheap) when the next day we were offered 3 pairs for the same price. So, after that it was game on. 

The night life was fun, the people were very nice and the area we stayed at was lively every night. We were out until the sun came up our first few nights. That was fun. We went from the frozen freeze your face off country to a hot and humid atmosphere. A change to say the least. Amidst all the enjoyment of the city we went to visit the National Park (the name escapes me) and the Cucchi Tunnels where part of the Vietnam war was. For me, that was the highlight. First off, our guide was awesome. He was hilarious and very informative. I really enjoyed learning about the tactics used by the guerrillas to survive with not a lot to begin with. They really were brilliant when it came to survival. From their tunneling system, to traps and even shoes with opposing tread so you wouldn’t know which way they walked in the jungle I was blown away. We even got a chance to go through one of the tunnels and shoot an AK-47. Those tunnels are made for short people. So before we go we all got a beer and I had just cracked it as he asks us if we wanna go through the tunnel “a few meters”. Well being 6’1 with a backpack on, a bum knee and a beer…it was difficult to say the least. I made it out alive but groaned like an 89 year old man every squatted down step of the way. I even stopped to finish my warm refreshment. I couldn’t imagine having to run through those tunnels fully armed in the middle of the war. I would totally have been captured. Dang it. 

Vietnam was another great experience without a doubt. The world is so big and we spend so much time worrying about ourselves and our “stuff”. When we get a chance to see how people live in countries where less is good enough it just keeps that perspective alive we all need. Before I left I was feeling like this year was missing something. I think it was because I spent 3 months rehabbing my knee after surgery. I felt maybe another year was needed to get the most of my experience. I felt maybe it was all coming to an end real soon. But, I just needed to see another place, enjoy another culture and get to know what life is like in a place like Vietnam. Well, I am not sure what the future holds I know going back home is the right choice for me at the present time. But I also know that the education one gets from seeing different parts of the world is priceless. That part of my life will forever remain a goal. To see as much as I can whether by vacation or vocation, but I know this year has been and will remain until the end a great choice and a fantastic experience. So as I close my next 7 weeks, I hope to continue to have a blast with the amazing people and friends I have made so far.

As it happens we are in the 2nd week of December and the weather outside is..well not quite frightful but getting there. It was great to see some snow. Last week we were blessed with a few snowy days. We have been left with ice here and there and the coldest winter I’ve ever felt. I’m used to 25 degrees at the very worst for like, a day. Nevertheless some will look at 5 degrees Fahrenheit as “not that bad”. Ya you’re right…when I look around and I see we are all wearing giant coats and boa constrictors disguised as scarfs it’s all because of fashion. Either way, it is cold out. Really cold out..so cold you don’t even want to take a pee in the bathroom at school…might get frost bite! :0

The kids really love the snow..and last week Heather, Laine, Ben and I took our Elementary classes up to the “Sky Garden” aka the roof of our school’s building, and had a good old fashioned snowball fight. Already quite dark out by 5:15 we basically just ran around dodging the Blitz style attack by our students. It was all well and good until Christmas came early for me this year when an ice ball came hurling at my head as most of the kids were gone and we were about to leave..I’m not going to say I dropped an f bomb, but I’m also not going to say I didn’t..It’s funny how natural it is for all of us to engage in snowball warfare. We see snow and the first thing the kids do is begin attacking each other..anyone going to build a snow angel? No? ok..just checking..chucking iceballs at our heads in abundance? Ya? great!

Well the year is winding down now isn’t it? I still cannot believe it is the end of 2012. Isn’t the world supposed to end? It better not because my leg is finally starting to feel strong again. Last week I was able to begin doing squats with decent weight..I would guess only about 4 more months until I will be fully recovered. looking forward to it…It is nearing the 10 month mark here and every time I think about it I cannot believe almost a year has passed. I was emailing a teacher I worked with back in Portland and we were both shocked to realize it was 2 years ago I worked in her classroom. Boggles the mind really..But I suppose that is the name of the game isn’t it? Each year seems to go by faster than the one before and that is why I think we all should be as fit as we can as to never feel the age coming. The kids sure do a great job to make you feel like a big kindergartner. This month we have had a lot of fun getting ready for the holiday season. You don’t really see a lot of holiday cheer or Christmas Decorations being as we are..in..Korea..and all, but it is quite fun to see it around the school. Our class is now decorated with a ton of snow flakes and wreaths made of cut out hands and the kids have requested Hillary Duff’s rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock” complete with choreographed dance only about 3 times a day. It is pretty funny and cute to see. 

So, just about a week and a half left until our winter break. When I first arrived, I thought about making a trip to Thailand for the winter but then I was bummed no one wanted to go. But then I had the good old knee bill so alas I’ll stay here. On the other hand there are still a few things I want to see while I’m here so perhaps I’ll get the opportunity to explore. Well that should do it for now. Not exactly compelling stuff right? But hey, a wise man once said, do you best and forget the rest.

Jordan

Before I get started I have to give a shout out to everyone who helped me get through the toughest part of my surgery. Special thanks goes to: Ben, Heather, Rachell, Lauren and Monica. God has truly blessed me with great friends wherever I’ve been..Even in Korea. Thanks for helping me when I was like a baby..and Ben, thanks again for dumping my pitcher of pee…at the hospital of course.

Well throughout this process of being away from home and living in another country I have to say I’ve come to the conclusion that keeping up a blog gets difficult when you spend most of your time working and rehabbing your knee. BUT… now that it has been 3 months since my surgery I can be return to the everyday life. In truth, I’ve been able to be back to normal for a month now, but haven’t had much to report. I suppose the everyday grind isn’t that exciting. Unless, you happen to walk down the street and spot a Korean with green hair. At any rate…What has happened that is worth noting? 

We celebrated Chuseok in the beginning of October. That is the Korean Thanksgiving. We had some very fun celebrations at the school. All the students showed up in the traditional dress called Hanbok. To the untrained eye, it looked like the boys were in fancy ninja drab and the girls in puffy dresses. Any way you slice it, they were all in baggy pants. Where was I? Oh yes Chuseok. I was able to have a rare experience for a foreigner. My girl friend Kaitlin flew in to visit her family for the 2nd time since I’ve been here and I was able to tag along for the weekend celebration. At that time, I had been removed from surgery for about  weeks. I still had a brace but not really on crutches. But the good thing about not speaking the language, I didn’t have to explain a hundred times what happened to my leg and why I was walking with a gangster lean. We traveled a few hours south to Daejeon which is supposedly 3 hours away. Well when 10 million people are located in Seoul, and many travel south for the holiday it gets rather busy. So busy at the rest stop that when I went inside to (PEEE) I found it packed with women..I looked around confused, walked backwards with my hands up and double checked which bathroom I was in. It turns out it was the men’s room. I just found it a little odd to lets just say, “drain the bladder” with such a co ed audience. But when in Rome..The experience with Kaitlin’s family was fun and interesting. The tradition is for the family to spend time with the father’s side. The other part of their holiday that reminds me of American tradition is they do nothing but eat and drink. Period. So we did..that. Not a lot of English speaking going on I have found. But, they did their best which I was happy about. So, when you don’t speak the language the trick is to smile when they look at you and pretend you know what is going on. The reality of the situation is you are re playing your favorite episodes of “Home Improvement” in your head. Her family was great to welcome me into their homes and cooked some great food as well. In addition, they said I had a nice face, so that’s always good..I guess. 

After that, I got to spend another week with Kaitlin here and there and enjoyed that time while it lasted. Then October came and went and was not particularly interesting. Except for Halloween. The school had a celebration where the kids were all able to dress up and go around to each class where we trick or treated. It was so much fun. Some of the other teachers and I dressed up as characters from “Adventure Time” on Cartoon Network. A ridiculously awesome show. Anna, I know you would have loved our ensemble. What were the kids you ask? Well, there were a lot of Ninjas, Princesses and Spidermen. No scientists or substitute teachers? Ya i know!..whatever..

The day to day grind has been fun but going by so fast. I can’t even believe its been 9 months. Wow..Ben, Heather and I have been at it diligently every morning at 6 am in the gym. They have helped me rehab my knee and also get back into shape. We are all doing quite well I’d say. I think it takes a lot of effort to be able to get up and work as hard as they do each morning. Ok, myself too, but it just sounds weird to toot my own horn, but toot I shall. We found a pretty modern gym to get to and it is only about a 15 min walk or 6 min jog in the ice cold AM. Now that I can sort of putter around I like the warm up. What we have found is, if you want to stay in shape in Korea, it is wayy easier than back at home in the real world. Why? Because the fast food is not in abundance and when you don’t have a lot to do during the week, the gym just sounds good. We all know it is a perfect way to de stress as well. So that has been real good. The only bummer is the music is pretty much from the Mickey Mouse Club…not really pump it up stuff..I guess that is just what you get in Korea some times…

We just celebrated our American Thanksgiving last week! That was a lot of fun. about 15 of us gathered in one of our rooms to celebrate. We all made some contribution to the meal and really enjoyed the company. We had a chance to give thanks and really remember the point of the great holiday. It was not better than being home, but with all the awesome co workers I am blessed to have, it was a close 2nd. Well thats it for now, so Let’s see if I can do better at writing for the last 3 months…

Jordan

A week back from my trip to the Philippines and I thought it was about time for an MRI on my knee. Sounds random? Well, that’s because it is. I hurt my knee last year playing basketball. No there wasn’t any contact. I simply bent my knee, and when I came up, my went left. At the time I had no insurance and it didn’t seem like a drastic injury. So, I took it easy for a few months, let it heal until there was no pain and I could run around just fine. I came to Korea and thought I might get an MRI while I’m here because I have insurance. So what the heck. Well I come to find out I have a ruptured ACL and a torn medial meniscus. So as the doctor is explaining the MRI to me he had a smile on his face so I figured it wasn’t be worst news. Well, apparently he just smiles all the time. Because the next word that came out of his mouth was “soojaree” or “sugary”. But I knew..so after a week of deliberation about cost and what would happen if I didn’t operate ( arthritis) I decided to go with it. Even though it would cost over one months salary. I went ahead and made the nearest date which was the 24th. I came in at 9 am. We found I had to do a blood test because they wanted to check out my organs. Like a pregnant lady, I had an ultrasound. They found I have an overly large spleen and a kidney issue. My creatinine level is barely too high in the kidneys. He said its because i have more muscle than the average man. I didn’t know whether to blush or be concerned. Basically, I need to drink more water. As for the spleen, it’s just big I guess. Lastly, I found my immune system is weak and to top it off I have an “irregular” heartbeat. But nothing to worry about now (they say) I’ll worry when I’m old and have skin problems.

I had to get injected with an IV. I had an injection in my hip, a skin test and the crowning moment in my injections was the epidural. Or spine shot if you prefer. Ouch!! I was to be numb from the waste down and gassed to fall asleep. Well I’m glad the spinal shot worked because I woke up almost all the way through. I couldn’t feel anything except knew
my leg was jerking about. The anesthesiologist said “gas?” and I was like “ya, gas!”. I woke up later in a room full of old Korean dudes. So I’ve been here for 4 days now, I will say they are the loudest speakers I’ve ever heard. And we’re talking about all day. From 4 am to 11 pm. The TV is even louder. Sometimes. What that means is every time you think you would sleep just a little, you will immediately wake up to a “ahhh!!” or “wha!!” I’m really not sure if I’m surrounded by aliens or not. Where is Tommy Lee Jones when you need him? And I’m pretty sure one of the guys in the room isn’t even being operated on. He just walks around talking to everyone…even me when I just shake my head and say “I don’t understand what you is saying.” I’m pretty sure he takes off his scrubs, puts on his slacks and just gets drunk during the day. He then slips back into the fashionable clothes, eats the (terrible) meal and does it all over again. Its an interesting group. One of the wives keeps trying to feed me at all costs. I didn’t want the Korean food because I had soup coming but she came over, put it on my lap and hand gestures, “eat”. At one point, as I was half asleep he came over and shoved a piece
of what I’m gonna call candy in my mouth. It’s been weird.

I’ll be able to get back home today. On crutches. I’ll have a brace and crutches for the foreseeable future. With all this pain, language barrier and odd upcoming work conditions, it will all be worth it in the end.

Thanks for tuning in

Jordan

We made it here successfully (kind of) we flew in Friday night and made it to Cebu by 2:30 am. Then we had to wait until 6 am for the first boat to take us from Cebu to Panglao island where we stay at alona beach. We took a taxi with a driver by the name Tutong or as his friends call him, “Jackie Chan”. He was very funny he actually looked more like Lu Kang from Mortal Kombat. He was definitely a nice man and represented the culture well. Very welcoming and happy too. So, when we got to the boat the 6 o’clock was sold out..so we rushed back to the taxi and drove off to see if we could catch the 8:30. It was apparently closed because it was “dried up” (whatever that means..) so we rushed out to one more pier to find the 9 o’clock boat was still taking passengers. This was at about 5:45 still and we waited in a short line of about 5 people only to find at about 6:06 or so that the 9 o’clock was sold out…the next boat would be leaving at 2pm. (ugh…haven’t I been awake or 24 hours by now?) however we did come to find out they offer a “50/50” chance ticket. So, if we were to wait around for 3 hours and then hope someone doesn’t show up, we could by a ticket. Well at that point, I was willing to gamble. So three hours and a lot of drooling on my luggage later while trying to sleep but not able to because there were flies all around me and many sketchy looking people staring at us, 9 o’clock came. Like a child on Christmas morning (or me still) we jumped up for joy as our numbers were called. Then we took the boat to Panglao. It was an interesting sight getting in. There were PDEA agents waiting with machine guns to check the luggage for drugs as we entered. But since we got our tickets last we were stuck out in the viewing deck or “VD” as the signs read. Two hours of splashing waves coming at us and quite of a bumpy ride and we made it in. As soon as we landed, we were bombarded with short Philippine men wanting to drive us to our destination. We chose this sweet old man named Eddy. As we rode in I noticed that this place did not look like the paradise the Internet shows it to be lol. It is a bit of a third world. Shanty homes and broken down buildings everywhere. And somehow, a McDonalds. Apparently the place we are staying is new because we drove around for the longest 20 min drive I’ve been on. Actually it was about an hour when we finally arrived. We were happy to get in at about noon and enjoyed our first day even though we were dead tired and didn’t see any sun.

I am enjoying the Philippines so far. They don’t have much, but they certainly are content with what they do have. I admire that. In a strange way it affirms the want to teach. Let’s me know that it’s not important what we make, but that we are happy and love life. They kids run around with smiles on their faces and the families are really content with with what they need. I’ll post the rest of the details I the trip when I get back. But for now it’s been a good time. I think it’s important to see how the rest of the world does it. Maybe it is what makes us remember what we actually need and what actually makes us happy.

Until next time…

Jordan

barrymassinget asked: I heard you decided to stay there for five more years? Is that a rumor?(just kidding) seriously..have you been checking out whats going on here for 2013?.

I have not except I think I’ll be able to substitute teach.

Over the past few weeks I have been able to do a few things I heard about since my arrival. two weeks ago, a few of us went out to a “Temple Stay” in Inchon. When I first heard about it I didn’t get a lot of information, but still said yes anyway because it felt like an interesting experience. It was interesting, but not as informative as you would hope. That could have been because our Monk was from Russia. Or perhaps it was because by the time we were all supposed to ask questions we were too tired to think of anything inspiring.  We were there with people from Germany, Australia, Ireland and Finland. That was cool to meet people from all over. So what was this all about? Essentially, we shadowed the routine of the monks who lived at the temple. The first day, we learned the correct way to bow. I could have sworn we were doing the Macarena on our knees. Then we learned about meditation. Well the gist of that is, sit criss cross apple sauce and don’t think about anything. It seemed like doing an uncomfortable high school kid impression. We were supposed to “meditate” while sitting indian style and count our breathes. The monk said in his British/Russian accent that some monks will do this for up to 21 hours a day during training. We went for about 15 minutes. I was able to count my breath up to about 4 seconds before I was distracted by my thoughts. Imagine that…21 hours of this? No thanks. I was hungry. We were able to see a drum ceremony a few hours later where all the participants got to hit a giant gong. That was fun, but I think I smacked it too hard because when I hit it, the little monk man jumped a bit. Then it was more bowing practice and off to bed by 9 (because we had to get up at 4am the next day). Usually no easy task except for the fact someone in our cabin was snoring the whole time..Then 4am came around…more Macarena bowing, some cleaning and 108 prostrations. Apparently they bow 108 times as to apologize for the “bad” things they have done in their lives. Like not separating their recycling or something. Just Kidding…kinda. I really felt they could have consolidated some of the prostrations to about 75 or so. Some were really repetitive. lol. Next was breakfast (finally). At 6:30am. We learned the traditional way of eating. There were 4 bowls, chopsticks some water…yadayadayada..im hungry..all the while sitting like a pretzel (I could really have gone for one at that time). We were presented with rice some interesting looking vegetables and kimchi. I looked around the room to see if anyone else noticed that the food I was about to eat was not breakfast. Where are my biscuits and gravy and my coffee? An hour and a half later…we finished. We went on a nature walk for an hour or had our Q and A time, said our goodbyes and headed home. It was cool to see how a Monk lives, but to me it seems like they have to give up too much. All they really get to do is bow, sit still and not think and eat veggies…nope, not for me. Although, I guess everyone and a while they do watch movies. And I’m not entirely sure, but I think I saw one of the Monks texting on an iPhone as I was leaving. 

Now we are on to what I would normally be calling summer break. Actually, come to think of it, I have had a summer break every year of my life until now. I was always going to school or teaching. Sure I’ve had summer jobs, but teaching in the summer seems funny. Not really anything different. It is just a lot hotter. People keep saying the monsoon season is coming but I haven’t seen it yet. 

Last week we took our kids to the zoo. That was a pretty fun day. I didn’t have to do a whole heck of a lot except look at animals and make up answers to their questions. Uhhh ya..that monkey is just hugging the other monkey. First off, I have never seen animals look so depressed in my life. Maybe it was because it was a hot day or maybe it was Korea. Whatever it was, they all seemed like they were stuck in an animal retirement home. We did get to see many animals and the kids had a great time. Other than the fact they looked like the animals by the end of the trip (exhausted). The highlight was a monkey who lets just say, established dominance in front of a large crowd of 6 year olds, jumped up on a rock and pulled his peepee out as if to say, “yep..that’s my peepee.” I was like ok..lets move on to the birds…

The rest has been the same drill. I started reading a new book called Born to Run. I am only a quarter of the way through, but so far its very interesting. Hanging with the awesome people I get to have the pleasure of working with after school, exercising in the morning and even sneaking in some NBA basketball at night. The Miami Heat won which is great because now the media can move one and stop whining about LeBron James. Now the Blazers can win…..not. June is flying by and in 3 days, it will have been 4 months for me..crazy…I just hope July flies by too because I’ll be off to the Philippines for a week. Looking forward to that.

Until next time,

Jordan

14 weeks gone. Open house, check. Glad that’s over. This last week went by very fast. we didn’t have school on Monday because it was Buddha’s birthday. So, being a 4 day work week, it went by lightening quick. We practiced a lot for our open house and sure enough were ready for the challenge on Friday. I decorated my room and made sure the kids were primed for a good performance. They answered the questions well, sang the song “in the jungle” and even danced. They didn’t really want to dance in front of their parents, but did. They were super cute. I wish I could have taped it or something, but I was busy running the show. It was about 81 degrees on Friday and humid to the max. That’s right I said to the max. We had to dress up in a tie and slacks for the open house and let me tell you I was sweating pretty good. I am just glad I wore an undershirt lol. By lunch time we were through it and on our way to the weekend as the rest of the day seemed care free. It was interesting meeting the parents because there is no real interaction. One mom said I was handsome and then handed me a cake in a bag. It was green tea cake…tasted like well, green tea cake? I fed it to the kids for a job well done and they liked it better than I. The other parents didn’t really speak English. I told one mom her son was improving and getting smarter all the time. She laughed and said, “Oh..no…dumb.” lol I just laughed and thought, “Well, kinda.” But he works hard. I wanted to write earlier on this week, but my computer stopped working on Tuesday. It turned out to only be a software issue. (THANK GOD!!!) But still lame to have to take it in. They replaced the software and fixed it for free. The only bummer was finding out all my files were erased. Oh well. I only had it for a few months. So that really cut into my NBA watching time and luckily I already watched game of thrones for that week, so I was ok. I was forced to watch Korean TV again! The only thing playing for a few nights was Swordfish, Steven Sagal Movies and the typical Korean shows. So, I just read lol 

This week was also about saying goodbye to 3 teachers. Grant, Tara and Lyndsey teachers are all leaving. It was great getting to know them over the passed 3 months and seems crazy to think so many teachers come in and out of this place over the course of just one year. It is because at some point teachers were hired mid year. In July, 2 more teachers will be going home and 2 more in August. Also, they are opening a new 5 year old class which will take a new teacher as well. So by the end of summer we will have 8 new teachers. Let’s double check that math. 3 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 8. Fhew…just wanted to make sure.

I find it interesting to see such turn over when I am used to teachers being there for the whole year, unless they get fired. I wish them well on their next endeavors. They helped me out getting started here and were great teachers for the school. They surely made the transition easier. To say goodbye and enjoy everyone’s company together one last time, we had a brunch this Sunday morning. It was a great time to say the least. We ate pancakes, french toast, eggs, sweet potatoes, hash browns, bananas, strawberries and toast. We drank mimosas and really enjoyed the time together. I really enjoy gatherings such as that. Those are the things I always look back on and remember as a really good time. I was glad to get together because I am missing the great family parties and this one just hit the spot. 

I’ll raise the proverbial glass to Tara, Grant and Lyndsey and say, ‘Good Luck and I know you will be great at whatever it is you do.’ Saying goodbye sort of reminds me what life is all about. I think it is all about meeting new people and forging new relationships. It makes me look back at all the new people I have met just in the short time I’ve been teaching. So, I suppose we should cherish our friendships and enjoy the time we have with the ones we love. You never know how long they last or when you have to say goodbye and you never know when new friendships come your way. 

Smell ya later

Jordan