the end

Well, unless I have some time tomorrow afternoon (very unlikely), this will be my last and final transmission from Korea. My plane leaves Wednesday at 10:05am so I'm going to have to get myself to the airport VERY early, especially with all the new security procedures and whatnot. I'm not actually planning on going to sleep tomorrow night, that way I can just sleep on the plane and hopefully kick that jetlag that I am not looking forward to.

Tomorrow is my last day of classes and I am dreading it. It's going to be really tough saying goodbye to my kids, and I already know I'm going to cry like a wuss. I cried when we had graduation earlier this year so I'm definitely expecting the worst tomorrow. Already my students have started giving me going-away presents and notes, and this one elementary level girl I don't even teach gave me a sandwich (which I'm guessing was going to be her snack that evening) just because she knew it was my last day tomorrow. I actually won't be teaching my final afternoon class tomorrow since I have to go to the pension office, so I guess I will be saying goodbye right after sixth period. Tonight I'm going to go get some stickers for the kids and maybe write them up little goodbye notes if I have time.

As far as my flight information, my plane leaves here at 10:05am and then I'm flying directly from here to Chicago and then from Chicago to St. Louis. My plane will be arriving at Lambert Airport in St. Louis at 4:05pm that same afternoon (however weird that is) since my plane will be flying against the turn of the Earth...so what is actually an 18 hour flight will only really take six hours according to the clock. As of right now it looks like Josh is the only one meeting me at the airport since my both my mom and dad have to work, so I guess we'll be going out for some dinner and then he'll be dropping me off at home (?). My mom wants me to stop by her school on the way back since she said she doesn't want to wait until she gets home to see me (aww...how sweet), so I might just have to do that.

The rest of the week will be spent planning and packing for Europe, and then on Saturday Josh and I leave for Edinburgh & the Fringe Festival. I'm going to try to post something from Scottland and France if I can... do they have PC rooms in Europe? I hope so...

Anyway, to those of you who read this blog on a regular basis, thankyou for your notes and continued support. I also want to thank all of my friends from home who cared enough to check up on me here every once in a while. I want to thank my coteachers and my school too for making my experience here as comfortable and beneficial for me as possible. I know that finding a good school to teach in here is somewhat difficult and almost every day I thank my lucky stars that I ended up at Cardiff. Lastly I want to thank my family for finally coming around and supporting my decision to come to Korea. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to seeing all of you again and, like I said, my stomach does little flip flops every time I even think about it.

As for me...this has been an awesome experience and definitely something I'm going to look back on and treasure for many years to come. This may have been the best decision I have ever made, and I don't regret a single minute of my time here. For any of you out there who are even considering going abroad to teach, do it...you won't regret it. And if you need a little help or guidance along the way, I'm always here.

So...this is Jennifer signing off from Korea.
Goodbye everyone.
:)