Kindergartners at the Rice Cake Festival

When I got to school this morning, Cate informed me that we were going to take the kindergartners to the Rice Cake Festival instead of having lessons today. This was fine by me, as it is a particularly lovely day, of the sort that makes one loathe to go inside. Plus, it saves me the trouble of making a lesson plan for tomorrow, as I can just use the one I had prepared for today!
So, we gathered together ten little cuties (Lynn came later) and headed off to the park. It was a very pleasant fifteen minute walk, during which I questioned the kids in English about what things they could see ("Harry, what color are those flowers?" "Amber, do you see a truck?"). The kids are always eager to show off how smart they are, so they chattered happily away in answer to my questions, each trying to outdo the others by telling me more things in English. I especially love it when the kids do this in front of my boss!

Once we got to the festival, we watched another rice cake demonstration. The kids were given the opportunity to pound rice with the huge hammer, which was very fun to watch. Especially as the hammer is about the same size as the kids! After that, we walked through an exhibit on homemade paper, which was rather neat, and one on rice cakes, in which hundreds of different varieties were on display. Unfortunately I was so busy keeping an eye on the kids that I forgot to take any pictures! We next walked through another exhibit in which they were spinning silk from silkworms. At that exhibit, I took a video:


The kids also had the chance to play on a traditional Korean seesaw. It differs from the type I played on as a child in that on this type, you stand rather than sit. My friend Claire and I tried out one of these at Yangdong, and I got launched into the air a bit further than expected, almost resulting in a painful landing. Thus, I was a bit nervous watching the kids doing it, but, as they are more coordinated than I am, there were no unfortunate incidents.

Below is a video I took of the kids playing on the seesaw. The woman in the blue bubble top is Cate, my boss, and the woman in the white blouse is Angel, the Korean kindergarten teacher. Tagged onto the end of the video is a clip of Lynn and Issac playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors," which I just thought was cute.