Time to Say Goodbye

My last few weeks at HBMHS were underwhelming to say the least. A heat wave hit central Korea and with temperatures in the 90's and the humidity close to 100% classes were cancelled for the first couple of days. The school was also under construction so the hallways were filled with dust, wood and power tools. By the time school resumed I had just a week left before I left the country and 2 or 3 days remaining at school.

By this point I was very ready to leave Korea. I hadn't taught my high school classes in over 6 weeks and on one of the last days of school in July a couple of middle schoolers thought it'd be hilarious to yell "Mindy, go home mother F@#$%r!" After reporting it to one of the English teachers she contacted me later that day to tell me that their homeroom teacher didn't think it was a serious infraction and he wouldn't punish them. My co-teacher made them apologize to me but by then I was over it - I was tired of the blase and frequently disrespectful attitudes of students and co-workers towards the native English teacher.

I left HBMHS with little acknowledgement  - I brought banana bread which I had baked to school for all the teachers and said goodbye to students as I saw them in the halls. However I saw very few of them since I was moved to separate building due to construction and they were confined to their classrooms to take yet another practice SAT. I doubt most students even realized I was gone until the new teacher showed up the following week. My co-teachers did give me a gift as I departed from school on Friday afternoon - a set of expensive Korean lotions which I thought was a kind gesture. I was disappointed though that I wasn't able to say goodbye to most of my students - especially those who I had gotten to know relatively well over the past year. Thankfully I am friends with most of them on Facebook and occasionally I'll chat briefly with one or two on our Facebook pages.

Looking back I'm still not sure what to make of my time in Korea. The experience gave me the opportunity to work with some great students, the ability to share my passion for learning about other cultures and of course the ability to travel a lot. However, after 2 years there I can confidently say Korea is not the country for me - while there were aspects of my life in Korea I liked, I wouldn't say I enjoyed living in Korea. Out of all the countries in which I've lived and traveled I would say that Korea is one of the worst fits for me but it was an experience from which I learned a lot.