It's that time again...

On Monday, the new teachers arrived and it started to feel real. Then they were assigned their classes. Then I started to let the new teacher teach. It's starting to feel pretty real right now. Tomorrow morning I will say good morning to my 6-year olds (by Korean standards, really all but two of them are 4 years old) for the last time. This is not the last time I've said goodbye to a class (I can't count them on one hand anymore), but it seems to not be getting any easier. I've had my current group for 6 months - 121 days (not including tomorrow) according to our daily popsicle-stick count. I realize I've probably spent more time with them than anyone else in that time and they truly do feel like family. From my shy students whose infrequent smiles can change my day from a bad one to a good one, to my good-intentioned but ultra-hyper students, I will miss the whole lot of them more than I care to admit. I've tried to tell myself that they will forget me within a week and that I shouldn't worry about them (and I don't, I feel I am leaving them in capable hands), but it's still difficult to face the fact that I won't get to joke around with them, or to see them (all) reading.

Enough of the sappy stuff. To be honest, it's been a good run with Plum Class version 2.0 (as it was with 1.0 for the first 12 months), and truly I cannot complain about all of the benefits I've got on the side (a pay cheque for doing something you enjoy is never a bad thing). So I go to bed tonight, knowing that tomorrow will be a tough day. But the sun will still rise on Saturday.

A big thank you to all of my students (in alphabetical order): Aiden, Alicia, Caroline, Claire, David, Eddie, Eric, Felix, Flurrina, Henry, Jenny, Jessie, Ji You, Jodie, Jun, Kevin, Lucy, May Yoon, Sally, Seo Won, So Yeon, and Tony (all the Plums). They constantly pushed me and never let me forget how vigilant I need to be in everything I do (in a good way). Tomorrow I will say good bye to most of you. I hope we will not forget each other...

Looking for Laptops. 노트북을 찾아요.

I have recently been informed that a used laptop would be an excellent donation in Tanzania. Any old laptops can be used either for Internet access or just plain old word processing. The laptops would be used by Faraja Trust Fund (a partner organization in Morogoro that I'm sure I'll be writing about more in the future).

Basically, if I were to get ahold of a laptop, I would be able to bring it with me to Tanzania and drop it off for you. I'd also work with YCI (not sure if you can get a tax receipt for this, but I'll look into it just in case - maybe someone from YCI reads this and can comment). If there is more than one machine, I'll find a way to get them there.

If you can donate a laptop or know of someone who can, please email me at michaelwithoutborders@gmail.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can. This won't directly benefit me, but it will definitely be helping the people I am going to help.

Thanks in advance!

2주후에 캐나다에 갈거예요. Goodbye Party in Seoul

Last Friday, my school had a goodbye party for the teachers (including myself) who are going back to Canada. Since the staff knows I've been trying to learn Korean, I felt obligated to say something in Korean. Due to a busy schedule I didn't have time to memorize anything (like I had done once in the past when I met my students' parents). Here is what I read at the party, with a simplified translation.

한국에 18개월동안 있었어요.

2주후에 캐나다에 갈거예요.

벌씨 시간이 지나간 갓이 믿어지지않어요.

행복한 시간이었어요.

그리고 슬픈 시간이었어요.

그러나 전반적으로 나는 나의 시간을 여기에서 즐겼어요.

저는 유승 선생님 과 미애 선생님 과 햬진 산성님 과 정선

선상님 과 명실 선상님 그들의 도움울 감사하고 싶어요.

또한 경미 선상님이 가르치기에 관하여 많이 가르쳐주었어요.

감사하고 싶어요.

모두와 같이 그녀가 보고 싶어요.

알파뱃 스트릿에서는 나의 시간을 젛은 방범으로 저를 바꼬었어요.

여기에와서 기뻐요.

I've been in Korea for 18 months.
In two weeks I will be going to Canada.
I can't believe that the time is already over.
We've had happy times.
We've also had sad times.
But overall, I've enjoyed my time here.
I'd like to thank Teacher Heather, Teacher Miae, Teacher Jin, Teacher Claire and Teacher Myung Shil.
I'd also like to thank Teacher Betty. She taught me a lot about teaching.
Like everyone, I will miss her.
My time at Alphabet Street has changed me.
I'm happy that I came here.

And yes, if you're wondering, I can read it all, but no, I didn't write that on my own (an online translator and some help from a Korean speaking colleague did the trick).

I leave 2 weeks today and before I go, I'll write something to sum up my experiences here (since, this blog is dedicated to my working/living internationally). Just thought this would be interesting. Who knows, maybe I'll learn enough Swahili to say goodbye like this when I leave Tanzania (or at least Morogoro).

Pills, Pills, Pills! 약은 아주 비쌌어요!

After teaching today, I left school quickly so that I could get my prescriptions necessary for my trip (see here for an account of my doctor's visit). It was a fairly easy and painless process but for a few things. The pills I got were not cheap. For a total of 120 doses (1 per day) of my antimalarial medicine (doxycycline) and 56 doses (2 cycles of 2 pills 2 times a day for 7 days) of an antibiotic (ciprobay) - just in case - I paid 103,000 won (approximately $91 Canadian at the current exchange rate). I wonder what the cost would be back home. Incidentally, the majority of that cost was the ciprobay, not the antimalarials.

The second thing (and this worries me a bit, but it probably will amount to nothing) is the lack of labelling on my pills (see the picture below). My name is not on the bottle, nor is it on the prescription (well, it is in Hanguel: 마이클, but that's not likely to be understood by customs officials in Tanzania). We'll see what fun things this will lead too.

Placement: Morogoro. 모로꼬로 갈거예요.

In recent days, I was informed that I have been officially placed in Morogoro (as opposed to Zanzibar) for the bulk of my volunteer expedition. For those of you who don't know, Morogoro is a city of about 200,000 approximately 200km inland of Dar Es Salaam. Of the group of 6 that are travelling together, I will be placed with 2 others in Morogoro while the other three volunteers will be in Zanzibar. I'm looking forward to my placement there, which is coming up very quickly (about 7 weeks now).

Here is a map for reference:


View Morogoro in a larger map

In other news, I would also like to thank Nancy Martin and Chuck Conlon who donated some money to my cause, bringing to total up above $4000 raised for my trip (much more than I ever expected to raise). So thank you Nancy and Chuck. Your help is greatly appreciated.

That's all the news I have now. I will keep you posted.