When I first signed up for this gift exchange, I wasn't sure if anyone would be willing to send a gift all the way to South Korea to help my students. So, when I found out I was paired with tiger-dragon and I was ecstatic! I was so excited to hear that he knew of the Korean Hagwon system and how intense the schooling is for the kids.

SMALL SIDE NOTE FOR UNDERSTANDING: Hagwons are after school academies. I teach English at an English Hagwon, but some of my students go to 6 or 7 different Hagwans (piano, karate, math, science, etc.), on top of school and homework, and are extremely stressed. I absolutely adore my students and I want to provide them with the best education, while alleviating some of the weight from the classroom. I want to make my classroom fun, but it is difficult when it is all put on myself and my pocketbook to make that difference.

This is my first RedditGifts exchange and I was absolutely floored by the generosity of tiger-dragon. He sent almost 1000 stickers, 500 erasers, 100 pens, 100 mystery prizes, 10 boxes of crayons, and 8 colorful whiteboard markers. Things to help out around the office, like Lysol disinfectant wipes, Kleenex, electric pencil sharpener, and grading crayons. American candy the Korean kids have never tried, like WarHeads and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Games to make the classroom more fun, like a basketball hoop, Mad Libs, Scrabble Sentence Maker, Answer Buzzers, sentence making cards, conversation starting cards, Raffi CD collection, and playing cards. Finally, he looked into my Reddit profile and found that I am a Christian, as is he, so he sent me his favorite book by CS Lewis. Inside the book, Weight of Glory, was a little thank you note with $100 cash inside! I couldn't even BELIEVE it all when I was opening the gift. I completely teared up as I was opening the presents and have had the best week of my teaching career since. It has been absolutely amazing getting to pass out all of these presents. When the students answer a question, they get to shoot a basket or draw a card. When they get 100% on their vocabulary test ("Vitamin Test", we call them), then they get a cute little Vitamin Pen. If they do something special or do extra work, then they get to draw from the prize bucket. Class has turned into something completely different; the kids are studying harder than they ever had and are having way more fun while doing so.

Thank you SO much tiger-dragon! On behalf of my 90 some students and myself - thank you, thank you, thank you!!