A Tribute to friends in Korea - Part Two

During my one year stay in Seoul, Korea, I ended up becoming great friends with my Korean partner teacher at the school I was teaching at. Soo-Yeon had an interest in Canada, as she had studied English in Vancouver for six months previously.

We made fast friends, and hung out after school. She helped me learn some important Korean words and phrases. We went to eat at the great Mexican restaurant near our school. We were part of the furniture there actually.

She finished working at GDA in March and I was so sad to see her go. She had taught all the same classes as me, and it was hard to say good-bye. We vowed to stay friends and meet on a regular basis. We met about once a month after that. She bought me a few Korean things for my birthday (see pic) and we met the last week of my stay in Korea.

She is going back to Take the TESOL course in Vancouver in December of this year. I hope to meet her there at some point. She could then show me around Vancouver area since I've never been there.






Here is a picture of Soo-Yeon in the Insa-dong area that we frequented a couple of times. We had an amazing day shopping, and we went for a traditional Korean lunch. I'll really miss our times together.












Here is my other best Korean friend. When Soo-Yeon left GDA, I got another partner teacher who sat next to my desk. She ended up being the coolest person. We made instant friends. Her English was really good too, just like Soo-Yeons. Her English name is Jamie. We hung out after work sometimes. We went shopping and I ended up hanging out with her on her birthday and also on my birthday.

We made very effective partner teachers. We taught most of the same classes and often talked about our students outside of school. I hate to brag but, we were very effective teachers, and we had a basic beginner English class, and when I left, they were so advanced in their understanding of phonics and starting basic fluency.

Jamie met me on my last day in Korea. She was going to meet her students on a Saturday, (the sign of a dedicated teacher) and they never showed up. So, she came over to my house with a large potato pizza. We ended up pigging out. She bought me a going away present. It was really hard to say good-bye to her. She is going to graduate school in the U.S next year. I hope to meet her in the future again. Thanks for everything Jamie.