Decisions, Decisions

To stay or go?  It is a difficult choice to make, as my friendships here have really blossomed in the last six months, along with reaching a new level of communication and interaction with my students.  It sort of feels like everything I have been working for this whole time has finally come together, so I'm not sure if it is the right time to leave.  But my family is ready for me to come home, and I also feel really ready to be taking my niece and nephew to the park and the zoo.  I keep realizing how quickly children really grow, and I just don't have it in my heart to miss any more of that.  My sister is expecting #3 in May, and my brother and his wife are expecting #1 in March, so seems like it is time to get back to "real life."  All things equal - desire and reasons to stay or leave - but in the end, family pretty much trumps everything else, right?  So I decided that this was my last semester and I will return to the States at the end of December. I've felt some doubt about that decision on and off, but everything has kind of sorted itself out and I am feeling at peace about it now, and really looking forward to seeing everyone in the States, although the goodbyes which have started here have been very difficult.


This has been by far the busiest of my semesters here. My school schedule stayed about the same, but my evenings and weekends have been packed. I went to taekwondo class twice a week, taught a beginners English class for the Korean teachers twice a week, and coached volleyball practice twice a week, with games on most Saturdays. With the volleyball season being over (undefeated and tournament champions!), last Monday was the first time I had gotten home from school before 7:30pm since July. I really loved coaching, and spending extra time with the teachers is great, so it was all time well-spent, but I was getting pretty tired having to go go go go all the time. Now things are slowing down a little and I feel like I can put more energy into my classroom students, so I've been trying to think of some creative activities to end the semester with. I am thinking turning my classroom into a bomb raid shelter for WWII, or perhaps arranging the desks into "trenches" and having them try out a little WWI action. We'll see, but it should be fun.

I leave Korea on December 22nd. My time in between now and then is full of final teaching ideas, dinners with friends, cooking lessons, packing, event banquets, and sight seeing. Then I am off to spend Christmas in Louisiana with my brother and sister-in-law, then several days in New York with a friend, and finally back to Seattle on January 5th to see the rest of my fam!