Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Going Home

Easter Sunday has come and gone and Spring is officially here in South Korea. It's warmer than some parts of the United States mainly Washington State & Alaska. I love Spring with life re-inserting itself on the Earth. I love the life it awakens in humanity. We swarm to parks and places we normally stray away from during the colder months. The warmth brings out the adventure in our souls. I feel awakened from my winters slumber.
This feeling of morning sun shining on me for the day to come prefaces my journey home in June. There is just a little over 7 weeks left before my contract with the Kindergarten is complete. It's exciting to accomplish another year of teaching. The bonus pay for completing the contract is also a great incentive to complete what I began 10 months earlier.
I've had my struggles working with my present employer. It isn't always easy for westerners to work in a Eastern cultural work environment. The lasting impression that I did leave is the children are important to me. This is probably not the reasons for their request for me to return but must have something to add to whatever problems the kindergarten faces at the moment.
Not to get to much into details about the Kindergarten's difficulty with hiring a replacement teacher, I will keep it simple. The present economic state of the world does not allow the present pay scale offered in Korea to be worth the hardships of work and transition unless... that is your goal and purpose in life. Travel and cultural experience is always a great reason for teaching in a foreign country.
The past 10 months have been an interesting experience for me. I haven't taught children this young before. It opened my world to a whole new experience. Kindergarten students are like the Muppet Babies. They literally live in a miniature world imagined right before their eyes. Your voice is sometimes a voice of a world entering their created world. It's exciting and fun with a little bit of adventure always around the bend.
The end of Spring will bring one chapter of life to an end. With the beginning of Summer so too a new chapter in the life of... B. Luis Grey. Until then the story builds up for what can be the perfect cliff hanger for a chapter to end.

5 comments:

Sandi said...

B Luis Grey!!!
So good to hear from you! I hope you will continue to blog. You are fabulous writer!

me said...

Wow! So exciting to hear of your journey to teach kindergarden. I BET it was and is life changing. Would LOVE to hear more about your journey with them these past 10 months!

*hugs*

CJ said...

I always enjoyed your posts from Korea.

I was a teacher for 32 years. Sometimes the administration got in the way of making it an enjoyable experience. The pay wasn't great, but it was rewarding in other ways. Now that I am retired, I often find that when I am alone, I think about how to teach something I have recently learned to a class of students. I guess I just can't stop teaching. I wonder if you will feel like that, too.

This looks like the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in your life. I wish you the best and look forward to a few more posts from Korea and more to come wherever you find yourself in the future. You're taking your Mac home with you, aren't you?

b. luis grey said...

The Mac is a fixture in my life. It will go where ever I go.
Thank you for the compliments everybody.
Although the end of the contract takes me home to Washington it isn't the end of Korea. I'll be coming back to Korea Mid to Late Summer.

Anonymous said...

Kindergarten age kids are sooooooo much fun! You are a really wonderful person for doing what you do Luis, I really admire you. I'm glad to know you will be returning to Korea, I bet the children would really miss you. Hope you have a wonderful time back home in Washington, I'm sure you have friends and family that will be happy to see you too!
take care my dear friend,
Julian :)