The Parks - My adopted Korean family

A couple of weeks after I started working at Cheonbuk Elementary, one of the student's mothers came up to my classroom and asked if I was interested in tutoring her son, Jeong-min. Being the kind person that I am, I agreed. From then on, my time here in the village has been nothing but a blessing! Mr. Park and Mrs. Kim [not sure why their lasts names are different if they're married] only have one child, Jeong-min. He is in the 3rd grade. He's actually pretty cool and a good student.

So this tutoring 'job' did not go the traditional way. In fact, it's anything but a job. I find myself spending about 4 days a week with the Parks. We do anything from going out to dinner to shopping at HomePlus to hiking on the weekends. This family has welcomed me and now takes great care of me. I love home cooked Korean meals at their house. Mrs. Kim is always sending me home with tubs of kimchi, roasted seaweed, myulchi [fried dried anchovies], and other Korean side dishes. We also tend to eat out about 2 or 3 times per week. Whenever we go to the store, they'll pay for any item I place in the shopping cart. It's pretty crazy. Mrs. Kim works part time at Cheonbuk school. I'm not too sure what exactly she does, because she only works like 2 or 3 hours three days per week. She usually just comes to my classroom and sits there and then chit-chats with me when my classes are over. She brings Jeong-min and I snack all the time. When I work at Nakdong school, she goes and picks me up that way I don't have to ride the bus.

It's gone as far as me going with them to visit other family; aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents... everyone! Sometimes when we're riding in the car, I stop and take a minute to think about what's actually happening.... Mr. Park is driving, Mrs. Kim is singing and doing her make up in the front seat, and Jeong-min and I are in the back seat playing on the DS or watching a movie. That's when I'm like, DAMNNN.... I do feel like I'm part of this family LOL! Mrs. Kim calls me her adopted son. I really enjoy spending time with the Parks. I have a feeling I'm going to grow very attached to them, which will make my departure from Korea a bit harder than I ever imagined.