Thursday, February 22, 2007

Graduation Day - Feb 14 2007

I almost forgot to blog about this day! It's the last day of school for the 6th graders. I have a favorite class that I sure will miss once they're gone. They are the loudest class but they are so much fun. It is as well Valentine's day as we know it. Korean's celebrate it differently. Here the girls are supposed to give guys chocolates. On White day which is March 14 boys give girls candy. One of the perks about being a teacher is that u get Chocolates anyway...yummy! lol.. I also got a beautiful surprise. Nem managed to get flowers delivered to my house, but the delivery guy came after I'd left so he called me and ended up delivering it to my school.
The ceremony was boring. During the ceremony, awards are given out. The kids get their certificate of achievement when they return to their homerooms where their parents are there waiting. My teachers tried to warn me about how boring the ceremony was but I wanted to at least experience it. I find the ceremonies here very interesting. Whether it be a wedding, graduation, or opening of a library, it's like people don't realize that they should be quiet. Everybody was talking while the principal was making his speech. Mind you his speech was very long and drawn out. It got so boring that I decided to stand up and take pictures. But the moment I stood up he said in the middle of his sentence Mimi blah blah blah (in Korean). I sat down immediately and everybody around me sort of giggled. Apparently he had just mentioned how I was the new Native English teacher. Very embarrassing.

When it was finally over I made my way back to the English room and tried to enjoy my time there while the halls were crowded with ppl. Some of the parents came in and asked to take a picture of me, which strikes me as funny because I look like them. I had to take pictures with the kids holding their flowers, without their flowers, in the games room, sitting on the teachers desk. LOL.. felt like a model. After the inital awkwardness it got kind of fun. I felt very well received as parents came up to me to tell me how their kids really enjoyed my classes. I had to write my email on the board because several students asked for it so that they could keep in touch with me. I admit my eyes got a bit moist...

Thank god I had chocolates to make me feel better.

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