People Stop and Stare...

"...they don't bother me. For there's nowhere else on Earth that I would rather be."
 -My Fair Lady

I'm making this blog post just so I can look back on it a few months from now, when I will probably be burnt out and disillusioned, and remember exactly what it is I'm doing here and why I'm doing it.

Basically, two weeks ago was one of the happiest weeks of my life. Why? Nothing particular happened in it. I didn't go anywhere, and I wans't on vacation. I was just in a good mood the whole time. My classes went well, my kids were great, my fellow teachers were friendly and generous, and I finally feel settled in here and at home. In fact, now that I'm teaching, I feel like a contributing member of our school's little family and no longer just a burden on my co-teachers. Students yell out "I love you!" and "You're beautiful!" when they see me in the hall. Other teachers invite me to their offices or desks for coffee, grapes, pumpkin, apples, honey tea, or chocolate two or three times a day. Miss Doh found out I liked the school lunch's chicken and rice soup, so she had the nutritionist pack me up a whole big pitcher of it to take home. Speaking of the nutritionist, Jung Mi Gyung, she is super nice and invites me to her office all the time. So does the school nurse. Kids come to talk to me in the teachers' office, clustering around my desk and giggling.

Yeah, I know it won't always be like this. Pretty soon, students will probably see me coming and think, "Ugh. English class again..." And the other teachers will get tired of giving me free food. When I'm no longer a novelty and my friendships have been built and settled. But I always want to look back on that week and think about how happy it made me, and how lucky I am to have such a great school with so many supportive people who have made a real effort to reach out to me and make me feel at home in this country.