Entry 12: Last Day of Class

A strange feeling came over me after the last group presented their demonstration lesson. I felt free from the constant stress of having to sit mindlessly in the chairs that are attached to the desk, free from listening to lecturers sing songs to me, free from the thirty minute breaks in between classes that was too short to actually do something significant and too long to wait inside for the next class to start, free from training. Also, I felt as if I had been in this place, Kyung Hee University, for months. The routine had started to take a toll on my sanity. If it wasn't for our trips to Seoul, our late night ddukbokgi raids, and Red Mango, I might have blown a fuse.

As for Korea, I cannot even believe that it has been two and half weeks. Paradoxically, it feels like I've been at Kyung Hee for far too long, but a mere days in Korea. Tomorrow, we have a field trip to a temple and lotte world (most likely, this is the second time they have changed the trip). It also marks our relative freedom from TaLK, as we embark on our journey in Korea, teaching English in the most rural areas of the motherland. Expect my posts to become more vivid, expect my adventures to be more exciting, expect something. My time here in Suwon was good to offset the honeymoon stage of going to a new place. I'm ready to taste Korea.

Not to make it sound as if training has been utterly useless, I must admit that I have found a comfort zone with people. I might not experience the loneliness that I was bracing myself for thanks to the fact that we had to brace together as the training become more and more unbearable. I feel as if, they have equipped us with relationships, with material, with confidence through this training.

Thankfully, they have kept us thoroughly entertained in all matters other than lectures. For example, today we were apart of a radio show broadcast. It was professionally done and mildly entertaining. Tomorrow we get to take cooking classes, someone said we are learning how to make authentic bulgogi, and then we go to lotte world.

Korea has been fun. I have so many stories to tell. It's only been two and a half weeks.