Some Days Life Gives You Lemons...

Some days life gives you lemons. What are you supposed to do with it? Make lemonade you say? Well sometimes making delicious lemonade is not so easy to make without some sugar. 

Life is tough sometimes, yes. Being a teacher is tough, yes. Teaching English to ESL students is tough, yes. Living in a Country where no one speaks your language is tough, yes. But I am not alone. 

As you can tell, today was one of those days where life gave me lemons. Being a teacher in general is not always easy but living in another country where no one speaks your language and you feel all alone are the days that can be very draining. Please don't put salt in my lemonade, I would rather much prefer sugar. Before I continue on my little rant, I want to clarify that I am thankful for my job, school, students, staff, and living in Korea. Somedays are just harder than others and I want to share those experiences. 

This is my first year as an actual teacher. I remember while preparing for Korea, I had some fears and also unrealistic expectations on what teaching was going to be like. While I was still at home all I wanted to do was get out of there. Did I think that moving to another Country would be hard, of course but I also thought that my teaching experience would be like an episode of "The Magic School Bus." My students would love me, we were going to have so much fun, and I would be the best teacher ever! Maybe that was too much to ask for?  Do my students love me? Yes, when I am not teaching them. Do we have lots of fun? I try my hardest to keep English fun and interesting but when half the class time is spent on discipline there is not much room for fun. Am I the best teacher ever? No, but I am a teacher that is passionate about her kids and want to see them grow up to be creative, happy, and wonderful role models for this world. All of you who are teachers, parents, or work with kids know how difficult it can be to work with little kids. Now add to that a language barrier. I would love to be able to communicate with my students and not have to yell the few Korean words I know to get them to listen but without a co-teacher that does not always happen. Kids act up, yes but sometimes they need some discipline in their lives and how am I supposed to do that without words? You get creative, thats what. You also need patience, compassion, and a child like mind. This is what I am trying to remember. I need to put myself in their shoes. As a K-6th grader would I really want to learn a different language during my afternoon classes? No way, so why should they? 

The classroom is not the only place that can be difficult. Being the only English teacher at my school, I am always the last one to know what is going on. Oh, there is a teacher's dinner in 5 min? Oh, everyone has already left an hour ago and you forgot about me? Oh, you forgot to tell me that lunch will be served early today and I have to eat the leftovers all alone? Thanks, I really appreciate that. I understand that I do not know Korean and that maybe I should learn a bit more Korean but it would also be really nice if I was informed once in a while too. Again, please do not take this as me being mean or talking negatively about my school because I have no intentions to do that. I absolutely love my school, I have the best Principals and have really been able to establish a good relationship with all the staff. They treat me like a part of the community and I appreciate all the little things they do for me. It's just sometimes the communication between us is not always the clearest. 

So when life gives me lemons what should I do? Make lemonade and when life does not give me sugar what should I do? Remember why I am here and why I love teaching. I need to take a look at what is around me and what makes me smile. The cutie-pie  special needs student that comes into my classroom to say hi to me, seeing a child running down the hall (the way they waddle makes me laugh), hearing a child laugh, having wonderful friends and family I can rant to and receive words of wisdom and encouragement, and of course the one who made all of this possible, my Father God. 

So if you are thinking about teaching in Korea, it is gong to be tough but it is also so rewarding. If you are teacher living here struggling with the same experiences as I am. Remember why you decided to come here. Maybe it was to be a wonderful role model/ teacher to these beautiful kids. Maybe it was so you could see the World. Maybe it was to __________________. It's your life and instead of drinking sour lemonade let's drink that refreshing sweet lemonade of life together!