Whenever I think of my teachers in the past, there are always two teachers that come to mind: Ms. Raneri from first grade and Ms. Nelson from fourth grade.  Although both were equally memorable, I’d like to share about Ms. Nelson.

Fourth grade was a very difficult time in my life.  I had moved to Korea to live with my mother and she had enrolled me into a “foreign school.” Foreign schools in Korea are designed for children like myself, who had parents relocate to Korea due to their jobs, but wanted an American education.  The school was built to educated from K-12 and the students take SATs and apply to colleges in the states like we do in any given city in the US. To qualify to enroll in a foreign school, you actually have to be a US citizen, therefore maintaining their mission of delivering American education to Americans outside of United States.  Because I had never left the states ’til then, this was a big transition in my life and I did not know what to expect at this new school.

Ms. Nelson was a young Korean teacher who was adopted into an American family and had returned to the states to try to find our birth mother.  Coincidentally, my first day at SFS (Seoul Foreign School) was also her first day of teaching there.  I remember feeling extremely nervous standing before my classroom door as I tried to understand all the changes that was happening around me.  A new country, new home, new school, and the most frightening of all, new friends.  She greeted me in front of the door as I let go of my mother’s hand and said the most comforting words that I could have heard: “It is my first day today too, I think we will be just fine together.” Immediately I was at ease knowing that I wasn’t the only “new girl” around here.  The rest of my fourth grade is filled with positive memories that I still look back to today.  Ms. Nelson was the most kind-hearted, passionate, and intelligent teacher I had met to date.  She was always encouraging us to read, write, and be expressive in creative ways.  “Reading Time” often meant time we can find our favorite corners and open our sleeping bags and read in comfort and quiet, “Science Expedition” would allow us to go outside and look at various aspects of the nature on school campus, and music time would be filled with sing-a-longs as she strummed away on her guitar.  In her classroom, learning was not only fun, but something that was life-changing.

Maybe that is when I started to aspire to become a teacher. Maybe that is when I built my view on what it looks like for a teacher to be invested in their students.  I can not be sure, but what I do know is this: Ms. Nelson loved being a teacher and loved teaching each and every one of us.  Sadly, I had to return to the states that summer on short notice and never go to say goodbye.  I was already in the states visiting to see my father when my mother decided to move back and told me we were not returning.  I still wonder how she is and if I will ever get to see her again.  I hope our paths cross again in the future.