It's All About The Kids

It's the end of an 9 month era. The new school year has begun here in Korea, which means I get new kids this week. I have had the same group of kids here for the entire time in Asia, and it is time for them to move on. Some students move up a level, others go down, and then others yet will come to school for the first time.

I will say it has been a pleasure knowing each and every one of the kids I have had. They are great kids and a lot of fun. This of course doesn't mean I enjoyed teaching all of them (they did have their moments, as do I), but I have priceless memories with this group that will forever remind me of Korea.

Top to Bottom:

Anthony, 6 years old, great kid, love the clip on tie.

Cherry, one might consider her a Dueck considering she brought her finger to the nose only when she saw the camera was pointed at her. Us Dueck's (mostly the kids, although often initiated by dad) have the ability to take a normal picture and and "unnormalize it" (Even got me a blog post on Andrea's page). About Cherry, she is a cute and quiet six year old, one of my favorites!

The kindergarteners are graduating! Oh, how they grow up so fast!

Robin and Brian. This picture is the most accurate way possible to describe these two kids. The two of them together are often the talk of the teachers room, not because they bring so much joy to a day. I can only laugh at it now that they are no longer mine and will luckily be split up for their next teachers.

Because Mom Asked For It

For those who have been following on a weekly or even a daily basis, I apologize for the two week update hiatus. I suspect this group is limited to my foreign teacher friends who have nothing to do on there short break, just as I do, and their mothers, who look and hope daily to hear something about their kids, even if that comes from somebody else. This of course is why we love our mothers! So I credit whatever comes through the keyboard onto this page to mom, who has grown impatient waiting for Kevy (which is fair, it's been a while) to update his blog.

I'll start with news from Brighton School.

The kids (particularly my kindergarteners) are starting to wear real thin on me. I have had the same group of 5 and 6 year olds for the past 8+ months. The new school year starts the first week in March when the kids will get new teachers and I will get new students (amazing how that works isn't it!). I suppose my kids know that their time with Kevin teacher is almost over so they will make it as difficult as they can, and to their credit they have done a great job. Let's just say that there is a heavy imbalance between discipline and encouragement in my classes of late!

In saying that, I look forward to a new start with a new group of kids. They will be 7 years olds, which will be a welcome change to the 5 year olds I have been teaching. It may not seem like much, but it will be a huge difference too me, time will tell.

We will also get a change in staff. We have been fortunate to have no turnover in staff since I have been here, but that will change. We will be loosing 3 Korean teachers and gaining 7 more, and will also gaining another foreign teacher from the states.

On a different note, I can't wait for the summer. I feel a bit like a caged bird out here physically. I want to ride my bike, play hockey, play basketball, run, etc. These sort of things just aren't the same out here, if you can find them, let alone in English. I look forward to doing them in a few months, in the heat of the summer!

Although I did go bowling the other week, it was Jamie's birthday! Had a good time, although I don't have any pictures.

For those of you following from Briercrest, you'll never believe this and it's definitely random. I ran into Richard Neville's (a proff from Briercrest) mom! She is in my Korean class, and is just a precious woman. What a blessing it was to meet her, she was excited to hear from her son's students. She too is an English teacher here in Seoul.

I will stop there, as I do feel like I've lost that writing touch that I had when I first got here, either that or the motivation to do so just isn't there like it once was, I don't know. Hopefully it will come back, or I'll have a few more entertaining stories and pictures over the upcoming weeks.

Kev

Boo Hoo

The originally intended goal of this update was to simply post a picture of the Sehawks winning the Super Bowl, holding up the trophy. Of course this has nothing to do with my travels, but I was excited about it. However, this was not too be as the Sea"turkeys" as they are referred to by a cynical colleague, are done. Sigh. So as I say to my real young kids with the hopes of getting their attention, "Kevin teacher is sad".

So the "boo" I make reference to on this title doesn't go towards a crying Kev who just wanted to see one of his teams win something....................it goes towards the new winter look! The facial scarf! It's the latest and greatest of the past week...........................................BOO!

Kev

Captions (top to bottom)
I've never felt so proud to be Canadian as I have overseas, that's the hat. The chips and salsa, well it had been about 8 months!

Me with a big temple in the background in Kyoto, Japan

Josh and I getting pictures with the samurai in Kyoto. We didn't know what we were doing.

I don't know that guy

Or him either............................