Teacher, May I go home?

Today was a pretty easy day. The only productive thing I did was work on comments for my last parent conference that I have this Saturday.

I spent most of last night looking for new music to add to my iTunes library, so I decided to start listening to it today.

There really isn't a whole lot to note. I need to so some serious cleaning. I need to do laundry so I can pack stuff. And clean my room because some of Tess' family and friends are coming in town and they'll be staying in my room while I'm gone.

I also have a million presents to wrap (or at least wrap Tess and Katie's and then shove the rest into my suitcase).

My classes were awesome tonight. My first class just went pretty well. The kids in that class have always been brilliant.

They're my babies and I'm the first foreign teacher they've had which provides us this unique bond.

So at the end of class we had this awesome emotional little exchange:

Kids: Teacher, may I go home?
Me: Yes. WAIT! No!
Kids: Why?
Me: Guys, just so you know, I won't be here for the next THREE weeks! I'm going to America to see my family.
Kids: Jimmieeeeeeee, nooooo!!!!
Me: Guys, I promise I'll be back. I'll see you next year!

Then there was this frenzy of small children trying to give me as many hugs as possible before they left. It was the most adorable thing ever!

Those are the kinds of things that make you want to stay here forever.

My next class wasn't quite as attached. They really like me and we have a lot of fun, but they have known for awhile now that I'm going to America for a couple of weeks so it wasn't so shocking.

They actually asked me if I was really coming back.

I understand that they're so skeptical though. I mean, their last teacher didn't even tell them she was leaving. She just up and moved to Kaosiung without giving them warning.

Alas, I am coming back and I know I'll give them plenty of warning before I leave for good, whenever that ends up being.