So Much To Be Thankful For!
Happy Thanksgiving Day weekend to all my {USA} family and friends 🙂 I hope you all had a great time with loved ones! I had a great Thanksgiving here-my friend Marie made an amazing meal and I got to spend the holiday with a few of my friends I have made here in Chilgok. It was neat because we did the whole ‘what are you thankful for’ before we ate and I was able to put a fun puzzle together. If I hadn’t lived in Fresno I wouldn’t have had the ‘Fresno’ connection with Bill when I met him at orientation (although we still would have had the Nor-Cal bond!), and then if Bill hadn’t been placed in Chilgok I wouldn’t have taken Korean class from his teacher-which is where/how we met Marie (who, remember, lived right around the corner from me!). It is crazy to see how all the pieces of the puzzle of ‘life’ really do fit together.
So, this month I wrote down what I was thankful for every day. Sometimes they were funny things-that at that moment I was very thankful for (McDonald French Fries to help with Saturday shenanigans!), but other times there were serious things to be thankful for-like this whole experience in Korea. There have been good times, and frustrating times, but that is all part of the experience! Just knowing I finally got to do this, and teach overseas, makes me thankful. I also have realized that you probably should visit somewhere first before you decide to move there for a year 🙂
I also thought about risks. And how one must take risks to gain rewards. I thought back to 9 years ago, when I quit my job in San Diego and moved back to Nor-Cal. And, by doing that I was able to spend some great, quality time with my amazing grandparents. I am so thankful that I used that time wisely, and made wonderful memories with them. Memories are what matter-those are the things you take with you through life. I also realized that with all the risks I have taken in my life I always land on my feet. This was a good reminder to myself, because once this adventure is done in Korea I get to figure out what it is I want to do next. There are so many things going through my mind-it is overwhelming! But, I guess it is great to know there are options, and that obviously I am open to risks and change.
I just finished my final English Festival at my school this week-I taught my students all about Thanksgiving! It was fun, and put me in the holiday spirit 🙂 I brought pumpkin pie as a treat for my after-school classes and they got to try it for the first time! I have a video of them eating it-so cute! I also got to do lots of fun crafts-I swear I feel like I am an art teacher at times here! My favorite was having my little ‘Pilgrims and Indians’ (pic below!). The kids in my regular classes made Thankful Turkeys and wrote out what they were thankful for (traced their hands and then the handprint was part of the feathers for the turkey-pics below). They were thankful for some of the funniest things BUT I also had a student who wrote she was thankful for me. It made my day. It just felt so nice to have a student say that-I am sure my teacher friends understand! It made me realize that I have made an impact on these kids lives…which I seriously questioned at times because they get a new Native English Teacher (NET) nearly every year.
We got our first snow today!!! It was just flurries…but it was still pretty and made the day magical 🙂