FINISHY!

The camp is done! I have never been so exhausted in my life. But it was pretty amazing at the same time! The last few days of camp were crazy. I don't know how I made it, every day I was more and more tired. Time went by quicker this camp since I was always so busy teaching. I taught six classes a day, plus had my homeroom class for about 3 hours a day. Then there were all the activities on top of that.

All the other teachers said they liked the middle school camp better and the middle school kids better. I didn't really get to know the kids at that camp that well, so I don't have as much to compare with. They said the elementary school kids were too hard to control. I didn't think that at all, but it could be that I'm used to dealing with American kids of that age, who are insane. Or it could be that the kids were too busy cooking in my class to cause trouble. Either way, I absolutely adored the elementary school kids. My homeroom class was the best, a fact which all the other teachers agree to. They were fun and smart and goofy but still paid attention and did what they were told. The girls in my class put together a little message poster for me on the last day which was so sweet I almost cried. Almost. We'll get back to that. And my precious little Roger kept pretending to march and would say "this is how I arriving in Oregon." He is going to walk and swim to visit me. I'll expect to see him in about ten years, tired from swimming across the Pacific Ocean.

After teaching 144 kids how to make first ham sandwiches (running out of bread the first day, so we had to switch to banana pancakes early for some classes), then banana pancakes, then chocolate cookies, it was time for the classes to be over and other events to begin. I was shocked when asking some classes what their favorite thing to cook was, and they answered ham and cheese sandwiches. What kid in their right mind would choose a sandwich over chocolate cookes?!

The lesson plans were pretty straight forward-introduce vocabulary, do some worksheets and then make the food. But my co-teacher and I tried to make it a little more fun. So we would come up with ways to turn the vocabulary into a game. Like matching pictures to words, or charades, or putting the recipe in the right order, etc. It wasn't usually until the second day of classes (we taught each recipe for two days-6 classes each day until we taught all 12 classes) that we really had things figured out, but all the kids learned what they needed to! We played a game at the end called "Golden Bell" (apparently a game show on TV here) and we all had to submit questions. I was so proud when almost all the kids answered the cooking questions right! Made me feel like they actually understood what I was teaching them!

The last full day of camp was filled with some games: relay races (I stayed out of it this time to avoid getting injured again!), hula hooping, dodge ball, water balloon toss (where I got soaked), etc. It also included "Camp Idol." Each class had to pick a song to sing and individual kids also performed. And hour and a half each day was allotted to Song Practice. So they should have had 7 days to practice their song before performing. Except my kids couldn't agree on a song. First it was Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden (which I had never heard before but they knew it already), then it was Sk8er Boi. Then back to Lemon Tree. Then it was a medly of songs which kids would perform short parts of. Then it was back to "I don't know!!!" So I made them sing Summer Nights from Grease. Never mind that it is about a summer love affair...they didn't understand the words anyway. They decided to switch parts, and the girls would sing the boys parts and vice versa.

After a fun day of playing games (in first the hot gym and then the hot outdoors), the kids were tired. But ready for their performance! There were a lot of fun songs and performances (including some brave kids imitating the Discipline Teacher (did I fail to mention there are four people at camp with that title?), which was hilaaaarious!), and after some slight technical difficulties my kids did their song perfectly. I have a video but it will take ten years to load, so that will just have to wait to be seen!

At the end of Camp Idol, there were some speeches. I was exhausted and one little girl (who has an amazing accent and speaks English nearly perfectly) gave a short little speech which was really cute. I was willing myself not to cry. But a tear or two squeaked out. Then some teachers saw and made a fuss. Then some kids saw....and started chanting "AMY! AMY! AMY!" Which then turned into "AMY! DON'T CRY! AMY! DON'T CRY!" Which did not help matters. And then I got it under control. And then one of the Discipline Teachers, Sun Flower, showed a video of camp. And then the STUDENTS started crying. One of my girls, Anne, who never really participated much although she was always sweet, started sobbing. Literally sobbing. Shoulders heaving and noises and snot and tears and everything. And she would not stop. So I went to hold her hand. (They love hand-holding here. We all (males included) got used to having kids (or fellow teachers) come grab our hand to walk around). And willed myself not to cry. And only a few tears leaked out.

After Camp Idol, the teary-eyed kids went to bed. And the teachers had a goodbye party. Where the principal kept filling everyone's glasses with Soju. He would not give up. Then the next morning, we had a closing ceremony and the kids headed out. After giving out my email to a few kids (I already got one email, sooooo cute!) and signing my name a zillion times on their camp tshirts, it was time to go. AND I DIDN'T EVEN CRY! Until we had to say goodbye to our co-teachers. They were in the trench with us the whole time and were so amazing! I didn't bond as much with all of them as some of the other teachers did, since I wasn't working one-on-one with anyone the first camp and didn't go get wasted with them every night, but it was still sad to know I won't see them again!

I was so glad camp was over. And am so ready to come home, even though I have a few days left here in Korea. And am ready to get back to my normal life. But seeing the kids reactions to camp and how attached they were and what an impact we made on them was so touching. Teaching really is a beautiful thing. Even if it exhausts you and makes you think you are crazy, at the end of the day, someone will learn something or say something or do something that lets you know that what you are doing is important. And that's what its all about!

They asked us all if we would want to come back and teach in a real school for a year. They pay about $30,000 a year and also give you free housing. Pretty dang good deal. No master's degree or teaching certificate required. If I was five years younger, I probably would do it. But at this point there are things more important to me than adventuring around for a year. I never thought I would say that, but its true! I can still make an impact on kids at home just as much.

In the two days since camp has ended, there have been many adventures. More to come on those soon!