Bye Suncheon!

Beautiful Korea!

This is post is very outdated, (we are now living in our new home in the States, cuddling with our new dog), but here's a brief look at the end of our time in Korea, saying goodbye to the friends we'd made there. 













First up is an afternoon we spent in Gwangju (about an hour away) where one of Jon's students lived.   He and his (VEGETARIAN) wife made us a lovely lunch, followed by a nice trip to the mountains.  Once we got there we had a nice chair ride up to the top and had some (savory) pancakes, then back down.  Nice afternoon with an interesting couple.

Next, we had our last religion class party, with some religion students that we'd taught several terms. They took us to a very traditional restaurant, and then surprised us with an awesome gift! First was a nice and thoughtfully worded letter of appreciation. And then they had a nice looking set of chopsticks and spoons for us, from the local university where one of our students is a professor.  They were a good group.





I had my last coffee with a student I'd known since my very first class, 7:00AM Level 2 way back in November. I taught her level 2 and 3, went to Busan with her, she came to Jon and my birthday parties, and we just generally bonded, so it was a hard goodbye, but she told me she's trying to talk her boyfriend into taking a trip to America to visit us :)

My friend Janice, a student I'd known since my very first class

Our last weekend, we said goodbye to the Korean church, who gave us each plaques of appreciation, and that night we had a going-away party with a few students.  We played pictionary (using the white board AND our new smart TV :) ), and then instead of ordering pizza like we planned, our ever generous students took us out to the nice buffet place.  Afterwards, the newlyweds wanted to hang out with us, (kind of a strange Korean tradition if you ask me.  You just got married and you're supposed to hang out with your friends that night...??) so we went to Audry's coffee shop and hung out there for a while before finally calling it a night.

Our last full day was a busy one. We had a combined party at 7:00AM with all the classes where we did a photo scavenger hunt and other games and of course lots of food. 

Then at 9:30, my level 4 class picked me up and we went to Suncheon Bay one last time.  I can now say I've seen it 3/4 seasons- summer, fall, and winter.  I'm not sure what I liked the best, they were all unique and different.   I did like the orange color of the reeds in the fall, and the ladies always crack me up.  They took me to a nice lunch afterwards, after which we finally had to say goodbye. 

After lunch, we had our last junior classes, and then I took my debater class to Baskin Robbins :) They were so happy.  I gave them all the spare change I was trying to get rid of, and told them to buy the biggest bowl they could get with it, which was the biggest bowl Baskin Robbins had, and we got about 6 flavors in it and split it about 6 ways.  It was awesome and I'm going to miss that class, they were like my little sisters.  Finally, I ran over to the bowling alley and bowled about a game and a half with my eevening level 4 class before meeting our old friend Grace who was staying with us for the night. We went to coffee with her, and my class and Jon's class and Audrey and a few other random students who wanted one last goodbye with us, headed home, slept, said bye to Grace in the morning, and that was it! We were on our plane to America!  It was an exhausting, challenging year in many ways, but it was also super fun and exciting and rewarding at times, and I am going to miss those awesome people and will never forget that year we spent in Suncheon, South Korea. 

Blade teaching Max to bowl :)

Baskin Robbins: Korean Style

I'll miss you Audrey!

Bye Gracie!