The first last

One thing I've learnt in my ten months as an English teacher is that, despite my misgivings before I came away, I actually like kids - well some of them!

Last Friday was my last kindy trip and was a day of both joy and sorrow. I'm excited about leaving but, spending time with the kids for the last time outside of the school, I was sad about leaving the kids behind.

I remember on my first kindy trip being nervous and blending into the background as much as possible not sure whether to discipline the kids or leave it to the Korean teachers, unsure of how to act around the kids and nervous of taking photos of them.

That trepidation had now gone, the kids and I have both got used to each other and I think they actually quite like me.

As I got on the bus on Friday morning I was greeted by piercing screams of: "Jennnnaaaaaa Teeeacchhherrrrrr," as the kids hollered my name begging me to say something in Korean. As soon as we disembarked the bus and began walking through the park I had one kid hanging off each arm and others chattering at me in a language I still don't understand!

Gone was my apprehension over taking photos as I produced my camera at every opportunity wanting to capture as many little smiling Korean faces as possible before I left them behind forever.

The hardest thing about leaving Korea will be saying goodbye to the kindy kids. I'm dreading having to keep my emotions in check as I walk out of the classroom on my last day. No more cuddles from my kindy babies, no more kids fighting over my lap as we watch the story book on computer and no more little faces looking up at me calling me lemo (meaning aunt (mothers sister) in Korean) as they jostle for position hugging my legs.

I've gone from a petrified, nervous girl with no clue what I was doing in a classroom or with the kids to a relaxed, silly English teacher who isn't scared of looking stupid to get a laugh out of the kids - and I've even managed to teach them something in the process.

I'm glad this experience has taught me to love kids. They are always so filled with joy and happiness and no matter how down I've felt one of them has always managed to say something (usually completely random) to cheer me up.

Who knows maybe one day I'll even decide I want one of my own! ;-o

Here are some pictures of my kindy babies on the trip.

Blue class (Western age five, Korean age six)

Irene rolling around on the floor. Anyone who reads this regually will know she has been my favourite kid since the beginning.

Tina on the play equipment. She is one of my favourite kids. I love the way she has a squeeky little voice, so much so I have taken to calling her squeeky!

Tiffany on the swing.

Lucy on the monkey bars, she is such a cute kid one one of the ones who has started vying for my lap during the story book.

Jinny. Another cute kid who looks to me for cuddles and attention.

Brian on the slide. I love his facial expression in this photo.

Eric. He is one of the kids that drives me to distraction because I swear he is never actually in the room during my lessons!

Pink Class (Western age six, Korean age seven)

Josh pretending to be a witch!

Amanda and Amy!

Sabrina. Another cute kid who gets more likable every day.

Steven. I don't wanna say bad things about him but he is really annoying mainly becase he's one of the worst in the class!

Cindy. This is the kid that irritates me the most. She is on another planet, I swear her parents only send her to school to get her out of the house cause I've been teaching her for 10 months and she still doesn't know what the letter A is!