My Happenings : Mission Trip part 2, Korea

With our three week session completed in the Philippines, we reached our half way point. Our final three weeks of the month and a half mission trip was to be spent in Korea teaching English. There were several mission fields to be assigned to. I was assigned to Dong Hae Sahm-Yook, a SDA middle school/high school near the beach. To my surprise, Dong Hae Sahm-Yook was a school my Grandfather on my dad's side was once a principal of. This school was hosting an English camp called Victory English Camp(i know that name is pretty corny), which started immediately after our arrival to Korea. There wasn't time for rest or recovery from our old mission sites, which was bad for our health. Well moving on... After the opening ceremonies, we were all assigned a homeroom class, which had 16-18 kids. My homeroom had the full 18. They were at an intermediate level, equivalent to a first grader's English. Besides leading out in a homeroom class, I was also assigned to teach a class. Lets just say that my class wasn't always the most fun class. Skit, something that was suppose to resemble acting, didn't go well with the age group. These kids, ranging from elementary students to middle schoolers, didn't have a knack for acting. To add to my hardships, most of my students were shy. In my opinion, acting requires one to step out of their bubble, to be something they are not. These kids didn't really do that. Classes usually started promptly at 9 am and would be postponed at 12 for lunch. It would resume at 1 pm and finish a 4 with homeroom. Homeroom was a time for bonding. That was when we had our chance to get to know the kids. We played games, partook in ice cream, and practiced our skit. When the kids left for home after the camp was finished for the day, the teachers met at 4:30 in the principles office for a short meeting. There, we'd discuss the hardships of the days and receive helpful information which could enhance our teaching. After the meeting, we, the kayamm members would have our free time. If we didn't go out with the vice principal to see the sites of Dong Hae, we would play with the high school students. That's pretty much how the week went. But as we came close towards the closing of the camp, students and teacher started to get ill. All but two teachers didn't get sick. One student was reported to have the swine flu virus. After that news was made public, our camp was immediately shut down. We were forced to end camp one day early. Though the camp ended early, as a special thank you, the principle presented us with gifts. We were each given a wallet, the school's pen and pencil, and a certificate and pictures of Dong Hae Sahm-Yook. We left back for Seoul on the Friday, the 31st of July. On the 2nd, all the Kayamm members were to meet at the SDA hospital for a short reunion and lunch.