Finding Things to Smile About

There’s no doubt about it… 2020 has been put through the ringer. Globally, we have experienced more drama than any quality Telenovela could ever dream of providing us.

We all need something to help us smile, and I hope this post will help you do just that.

A day in the life of an EPIK teacher…

My working mornings start around 6:45am, when I get out of bed and begin preparing for the day. I do the regular morning routine, brush teeth, shower, open windows to get some fresh (humid) air into my air conditioned apartment, and get dressed. I grab my bookbag and mask, put on my shoes, and walk out the door. About 50% of the time, I have forgotten my mask, and realize as soon as I set foot on the very bottom step of the very bottom floor. In these situations, I do a very dramatic twirl, throwing my hands in the air, and run back upstairs to grab that darn mask.

I arrive at school by 8:10, whether walking to the one school, or taking the 15 minute bus ride to the other school. At either school, I am greeted by friendly waves and “Hello Kate Teacher”s from both students and teachers. At the elementary school, there are elderly neighbors who wear neon yellow traffic vests to be crosswalk guards for students. The vice principal is always standing at the gate to ensure students cross the streets carefully.

I then climb the stairs (yes, more stairs) up to my respective teacher’s office. Here, I take my shoes off, and put on my school-specific shoes. I still feel extremely casual regarding my footwear, but almost everyone has the same style of shoe as I do.

I generally have at least 30 minutes before my first class will start. I use this time to review emails (I translate all the Korean emails just to see what is going on), and confirm any schedule changes with my respective co-teachers.

We usually finish all of our classes before lunch time. I enjoy lunch with my co-teachers, or in the cafeteria, receiving more happy greetings from students: “Enjoy your meal, teacher!”

After lunch, everyone (yes, EVERYONE) brushes their teeth. After a week or two of being the only person not doing this in April, I bought a cute travel toothbrush and toothpaste so I could join in on this very positive trend. *Side note, this also was the common practice in the Costa Rican office I visited last year.

My day tends to end by 4:10, even including the afterschool classes I run at my middle school. With Coronavirus still rearing it’s head here in South Korea, schools are constantly making updates to their procedures for fighting COVID19 within the school setting. Schedules have been updated 2+ times in each of my schools, thus far. These temporary schedules shorten classes (each class is 5 minutes less), and between-class-breaks. Both kids and teachers feel the stress of condensed classes, but I think we all appreciate the additional “free” time after school has ended for the day.

I get home from work, and tend to decompress by watching a K-Drama, or cooking something simple. If I am good, I will be in bed by 8:30. My co-teachers were shocked that I am in bed that early. They say that if they are in bed by 11pm, they are doing good.

Speaking of bed times… I found out that students here tend to not go to bed until around midnight. I was aware of middle schoolers and high schoolers going to private academies for additional studying and music lessons as afterschool programs, but this apparently applies to elementary students as well. Are bedtimes for your children getting later (considering a world without COVID19, of course)? I think I remember bedtime being 8pm or something around that time during my elementary school days.

Celebrating Grandma

This past Saturday, July 11th, my grandmother passed away. She was truly loved by many and was a blessing to have in my life. She was nearing her 94th birthday. She had been diagnosed with Coronavirus 3 weeks before, and had fought very hard to stay alive. I am relieved that my mom and my aunts were all able to be there by her side as she kept up the fight. After 2 weeks of quarantine, and an additional week of her body still trying to recover from the virus, she finally was reunited with my grandpa, her husband of nearly 70 years.

I used my Sunday to celebrate her life by going to my favorite spot (Gachang Lake), eating good Korean food, drinking coffees, and watching the rain fall on the lake. As I know she would prefer we celebrate her strength, happiness, and love, rather than mourn her passing, I am going to end this post with some photos from the past few days that make me smile.

Sending each of you love and peace.