Adventures By Design

So today was the end of our first year teaching in China.  I’m exhausted after getting my kids out the door with all their stuff, and then packing up all of my stuff.  I wanted to write about the day though, to remember how it feels.

Finishing a school year when you will be coming back the next year is sad but exciting.  Summer is waiting and you’ll see everyone in a couple of months anyway. Finishing when you will never be coming back can be heartwrenching. Our last school day in Korea was really rough; I had a wonderful class that year and they sang me the sappiest song ever before I said goodbye.  By the time I was handing out report cards I was bawling.  The last day of school this year was somewhere in between those two feelings.  I won’t be teaching next year, and that feels really strange.  However, I’ll still be around and I plan to be in the school pretty often (especially before Sea Monkey makes her appearance).  I’ll still get to see my students and may even get to teach them sometimes since I’ll probably do some substitute teaching.  I guess I just have to look forward to a new role and new challenges for next year (and to being a kept woman).

It was weird looking around  my class for the last time before leaving.  Seeing a room where so much has happened over the last year reduced to bare walls and a stack of boxes is bizarre.  Classrooms are so soulless without the posters, books, games, student work, and students and teachers.  I didn’t take any pictures, it was too sad.

On the bright side we have only 6 more days before we fly home to Canada for the vacation.  It will be great to see everyone (and to go shopping for maternity clothes… my wardrobe is unbelievably limited right now!).