Children's Day

Children's Day is a national holiday here in Korea. It's on May 5th (Monday), and it's a great day to be a kid. They get the day off from school and their parents shower them with presents and attention. It's a great day for their teachers, too, since we get a three-day weekend, which is even better than presents! Since there is no school on Monday, my hagwon (school) is celebrating Children's Day today.

So, this morning we did a huge, ambitious craft with the kindergartners: decorating umbrellas. I was gritting my teeth about it, but it actually went very smoothly, the kids enjoyed it, and I didn't have to pull any of my hair out in frustration. Cate bought clear umbrellas for them, and then made pictures of different weather (sunny, rainy, snowy, and cloudy) for them to trace onto their umbrellas and then color, using permanent marker. The finished umbrellas were adorable, and the mess was surprisingly minimal.

After the craft, the kindy kids got to have their faces painted. Then we walked them down to a playground, where we did some cute games, let them run wild for a bit, and had a tasty picnic lunch of pizza, chicken, and the Korean picnic staple, kimbap. Kimbap is to Koreans what peanut butter and jelly is to Americans. In fact, when I told my kids about PB&J sandwiches and had them taste them, they initially reacted the same way an American kid would over eating seaweed (in the end, they liked it though). I love Korean pizza. When I first got to Korea, the idea of sweet potato and corn on a pizza weirded me out a bit, but once I tried it, I discovered that it is really delicious.

This afternoon, we are going to make nachos with each of the classes. The kids are really excited! I am just thrilled that for once I don't have to rack my brain for creative, yet educational games for the kids.

Yesterday the elementary schools in Gyeongju had track and field day, so many students did not come to English World. My first class, in fact, had only one child! Wendy is a bright, likable little girl, so I was excited about spending the half hour with just her. We played Connect Four, which she is really good at (so I didn't have to deliberately lose - she beat me fair and square). Right in the middle of a game, Wendy turned to me and said, "Teacher, we are girlfriends today!"

There won't be any posts from me this weekend, as I'll be traveling with friends again. We're going to the Jindo festival, held on an island on the other side of the country. We'll also be stopping at Jirisan National Park, where we'll do some really steep hiking and spend the night in a mountain hut. We're leaving at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning, and not getting back until early Tuesday morning (at which point I'll just have time to shower, change, eat, and get over to the school). I can't wait!