Graduation

Today was officially the end of the school year for our kindergarten students.  We have been with them for a whole year now and it's hard to believe how much they have learned and grown in a year.  Tonight was the graduation performance for the kindergartners who will start elementary school on Monday.  All of Eric's seven students graduated along with two other classes of students as well.  They had been practicing so hard for their graduation performance.  They sang a couple songs and even performed a Snow White play.  I was the emcee, a bit interesting when your audience doesn't understand much or any English!  Fortunately, one of the Korean teachers was also an emcee so I just had to wait for my questions or jokes to be translated before the audience responded.  Overall it was a fun event and everyone seemed to think it went pretty well.  It's just so hard to believe we have been teaching the kids for a whole year already!! And to try and remember what they were like a year ago and how much they have grown since then is amazing!

Update:  As I mentioned before, we made the difficult decision to leave the private academy we have worked at for our first year, and look for other positions.  It was a hard decision to make when thinking about the kids that we have built relationships with over the last year, but due to the management we felt like we had no choice.  However, it has been quite a difficult process of trying to have our visas transferred to new jobs.  The last two weeks have probably been the most exhausting and challenging we have had in the last year.  As foreigners who are here on a working visa, we cannot just quit our jobs and start a new one the next day.  Our visa is only valid if we are working for the place that is sponsoring it and you can only get a new sponsor for your visa if your current workplace allows it by giving you the necessary legal documents.  Needless to say, it was a long and exhausting process but we think the end may be in sight!  In fact, Eric will be starting a new job on Monday!  He took a position as a part time kindergarten English teacher and will also be doing some private lessons on the side (legally).  My situation is a bit more difficult (more details to come later once everything is resolved).  I have been told I need to work one more week at my current job and then will be given the paperwork I need to start a new job.  I have accepted a position at a public elementary school where I will teach third and fourth grade English.  The plan is for me to start there the second week of March.

So in the end, it looks like our second year here in Korea will be a bit different than the first but we are very excited to see everything that comes during our last twelve months abroad.  We promise to keep the news and pictures coming!

Since I was the emcee and Eric was busy helping the kids backstage we weren't able to get a lot of pictures during the graduation performance.  We do have several from the Snow White play though so here a few...

And here's us before graduation.  Eric ordered a couple suits recently and wanted to show them off for graduation :)