Goodbye T.T - Monday July 7, 2008

Ugh...today is the day that I had to say goodbye to my school...so many goodbyes. So many!

First I chose to say goodbye to all of my classes individually. I went to each class to tell them again that I'm leaving on Friday and that I won't be teaching at the school in August, and I let them ask questions. A lot of them asked me why I was leaving and I honestly couldn't answer them. Moving to Seoul is just something I'm making myself do. I know I'd be more comfortable in Wonju, but I'm forcing myself to branch out into a new city and whatnot. So, I let the teachers field that question. It usually involved, "It was a really hard decision for her." The teachers all know that I had a wicked hard time deciding about my placement.

Then I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends in Korea. YeonOhk had to leave early because she had a presentation in Chuncheon, so she couldn't come to the meeting where I was saying goodbye to all of the teachers. It was hard! I cried. I really hope she and I stay in touch!!

For lunch, I went out with the VIPs and HaeIn (my co teacher). They took me to a purely vegetarian restaurant. Haha! I was still a bit of a mess after saying goodbye to YeonOhk, but lunch was good.

After lunch, I apparently had to broadcast myself to the entire school via the tv in order to ONCE AGAIN say goodbye to the students, but this time it was for all of the students to know that I was leaving.

Finally, I had to say goodbye at the weekly teachers' meeting. I was exhausted by this point. I was the first on the agenda, which made it a little more tolerable. I thought I would be ok, meaning I didn't think I would cry, but I definitely cried. My co teacher was up there next to me to help translate. I thought I could say goodbye in Korean, but I kinda lost it a bit. I had to take intermittent breaks to pull myself together. I basically said that even though I'm moving to Seoul in August, Wonju will always be my home in Korea and that the teachers have all been amazing. Then I had my co teacher talk. I think she further explained how hard the decision had been for me and whatnot.

After that, my co teacher and I both left the meeting and we were both crying. Ugh! What a day!

I went home later than usual because I was trying to pack up my stuff in my classroom to Tek Bae it, but the Tek Bae crew can't come until Thursday. So, I do have to come back to school after all of those goodbyes.

I went home...honestly I can't remember if I ate at home or not. I went to my last guitar lesson, only to find out that he had thought that tomorrow is my last day. I'm going to Chuncheon tomorrow, so I can't come to guitar lessons. So, I agreed to come back on Wednesday so we could have a proper goodbye. I have to remember to buy guitar books for him in the states. We have talked about it a few times because I asked him if there was anything special he wanted from the states.^^

Anyway, peace out for now.