On Holiday

The time has come for Markus and I to leave South Korea. It's kind of overwhelming and a bit sad. I can't believe that two years has already passed. Now, we're headed to Japan for an 18 day holiday. After that, we'll be heading back to the States to try and re-assimilate. As much as I would like to continue blogging during this time, I think I should take a break. You can still follow my adventures in Japan and Chicago on Twitter and Instagram.

Although, when I do come back, there will be some changes to Ganda-Ganda! I've been working on a site re-design and I'm really excited to finally share it. So dear readers, please bear with me and please look forward to reading about my new adventures and the new Ganda-Ganda!

Goodbye Korea Series | Sandra, my favorite student

Often people ask me what I will the most about Korea and without a doubt it's going to be my students. They were the best part about my whole experience here. I will never forget their smiling and happy faces. Korean kids really are unlike any kids I've ever met. I try not to play favorites, but it was kind of inevitable that I would have one. It's hard to choose a favorite, but one student really stands out in my mind. Her name is Sandra and she is one of the coolest kids I know. She's really amazing and I'm going to miss her a lot.

The balloon says, "I'll remember you always Noel. Mark too!"

Sandra's beautiful mom!

Sandra has been coming to the library for about two years, the same as me. She's my favorite because she is the most talkative of my students. She speaks English really well and her comprehension level is ridiculous. She's only in fifth grade, but I've never had to use Korean with her. I thought she must've lived in a western country because she almost has no accent, but she hasn't. She's just incredible!

The reason why Sandra is my favorite is because she is kind, helpful and funny. There is so much to love about her. In class, she often translates for me because the other kids don't speak English as well as her. She's always helping other students whether it's pronunciation when they read out loud or with worksheets that they don't understand. She's never cocky about her English ability and tries to help those around her. To me, that's simply amazing. Another thing that I love about her, is that she really knows me and the things I like! We met the other day and she painted her nails to look like pandas. She knew I was going to freak out, so she was prepared. She even brought her nail polish so she could paint my nails like pandas!

We spent our last afternoon together with her mom at a cafe near the library. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to see her, but they made it! She painted my nails, we talked about school, and ate patbingsu. It was a great afternoon and I was really sad to say goodbye. I will always remember this sweet and beautiful girl!

Goodbye Korea Series | Beomil Elementary School

Markus's Beauty and the Beast illustration for class

After teaching and working Korea for two years, I realized that I didn't know what Korean school life was really like. I've always been really curious what life is like in the schools and I begged Markus to let me visit his school. Thankfully, he and his teachers were willing to let me visit. Back in early July, I had the opportunity to spend the day at Beomil Elementary School.

Just hanging out.

School life is drastically different than what I'm used to. Markus takes more of a backseat and assists his Korean co-teacher. I think it's really amazing and I wish that I had a co-teacher in my classes. Most of the time, I have to gesture and speak in broken Korean so the students can sort of understand me. The class size is also much larger than what I'm used to. His classes are around 35 students, but mine never reach more than 15 students. It's such a stark contrast to what I'm used to! Also, there was a old guy climbing into one of the windows during class and no one blinked an eye. Apparently he was trimming the trees and needed to hang on the window. Oh Korea...

Markus and his fan club

I'm also a fan!

While I was at Beomil, there was one thing that was obviously clear, Markus's students love him. Markus always tells me funny and amusing stories about them. He really loves them and they definitely love him back. He often talks about how funny and sweet his kids are and I desperately wanted to meet them. I mean, he has a freaking fan club. What English teacher has a fan club? I really had a great time taking a backseat and seeing Markus at work and in his element. I was actually really touched that these kids would love him so much. I know why I love him, but seeing these kids looking at him with so much awe and respect was incredible.
 

Markus not only has good relationships with his students, but he also has a great relationship with his co-teachers and a few other teachers as well. Everyday after lunch, they meet for coffee and even have a little club. I don't know what it is, but Markus has so many clubs all of a sudden. When the school day was over, we went out to dinner with the coffee club. They were really sweet and for some reason they knew a lot about me! It was really cool to be able to hear what they had to say about Markus, which was all nice things of course!

I have to say that I was really impressed with Beomil. It really was everything Markus boasted about. I can definitely understand why he constantly talks about his kids. They really are ridiculously cute and really funny. As much as I love working at the library, experiencing a Korean elementary school made me a little envious. It's okay though, I'm just glad I was able to see what life is like at a Korean school. Thank you Beomil Elementary School and Markus for letting me spend the day with you!

Angkor Thom, Cambodia | 1 of 3

While planning our Cambodia trip, there was one place I was determined to visit, Angkor Thom. This temple is famous for being featured in the first Lara Croft movie. I've seen so many pictures of the temple that was taken over by nature. I was so intrigued that I even put it on the Wandering Wishlist. I was so excited to run around pretending to be Lara Croft in Temple Run.

On our last say at Angkor Wat, we finally made it to Angkor Thom. Since it's one of the most popular temples, it was filled with tourists. It was more than overwhelming; it was annoying. I've seen so many pictures that highlight the natural beauty of the place, but they must've been taken years ago, because I didn't see any of that. There were just too many people and I really didn't enjoy Angkor Thom. Despite that, we were still able to get some amazing photos and I'm glad that I was able to cross another thing off the wishlist!

Goodbye Korea Series | Junnie

Junnie has been our greatest and closest dongsaeng (little brother) in Korea. We met him through another dongsaeng, Daehwannie. The first year that we were here, Markus and I put ourselves out there and tried to meet a lot of Korean people. We wanted to have the full Korean experience. Through these past two years, friends have come and gone and Junnie stayed with us through it all. There really is no one like him and I'm so thankful that he's our dongsaeng.

For our final dinner together, we decided to eat chicken. The first night we met Junnie was at a chicken and beer place. We were meeting with another dongsaeng and Junnie was a close friend of his. Markus and I almost cancelled, but I'm glad we didn't because we could've missed out on meeting him. He's probably one of the nicest and kindest people I've ever met. Junnie always thinks about other people. He's so thoughtful and always puts others before himself. There aren't many people in the world like him and he's become so important to us.

We spent our last dinner together doing what we always do, just hanging out. Even though Junnie isn't fluent in English and we aren't fluent in Korean, we're really close. We always have a great time talking and laughing. We spent around three hours at a cafe playing Pictionary and talking about our hopes, dreams and the future. We ended the evening listening to Markus and I on the radio with Midnight Rider. It was a great evening and I'm really sad to say goodbye to Junnie. I wish I could pack him in our suitcase and bring him back with us. I'm so thankful for his friendship these past two years!