One day I hope to be a teacher like you

I’ve been in Korea now for 3 months, trying my very best to do my very best. I absolutely love my school; The staff is unbelievably considerate and thoughtful of me and I love my kids to pieces.  I do have moments where I think to myself if I can really do this. Then a students yells from across the yard “MAYSA TEACHERRRRRRR BYEEE.” Only to make me smile and wave back. I quickly realize that maybe I am getting though to these kids. Even though their English levels are all at different places and there is that one kid in every class that really doesn’t care about learning English at all. I hope that I can get though to them before my time here is up.

Being a teacher was never apart of my original game plan but nothing in my original game plan is there anymore. This experience thus far has been life changing for me, literally. My outlook in life has changed. I don’t have the same worries that I did moments before packing up my things and leaving for a foreign country.  I want to be become a teacher that my kids will look up to. Years from now I want to be one of those teachers that my kids remember and have nothing but good things to say about me.

With the time difference in Korea and California I’m not sure when everything happened. Time sometimes doesn’t make sense to me when I’m talking about home. My sister told me that John our beloved history teacher at VAS had passed away. (I think it was Friday back home?) In high school, especially my senior year everyone knew that John was sick and he would spend sometimes weeks off because he was ill, but that didn’t slow him down.

I had John for a teacher in both middle school and high school. He was that teacher that called you Mr._____ or Miss._______ even though we called all our teachers by their first names. He had to be one of the most liked teachers on campus. After graduation John was always the teacher that you had to visit on your “life after graduation” visit to VAS. I can’t remember or think of anything we didn’t like about him. He was in the same classroom, looked the same just a little older as the years went by and never closed the door on you when you came by. I only wish I visited VAS one more time before I moved to Korea.

I hope that one day my students will have nothing but good things to say about me, like how there is nothing but good memories and thoughts about you John. 

Tonight my prayers go to his family and our VAS family who are missing him right now.

Thank you for teaching us. Thanks your for putting up with us. Thank you for inspiring us. Thank for not giving up on us. 

Thank you. 

RIP John Matcham.