This was an overall uneventful weekend, we stayed in both nights and had to work yesterday from noon to about 6:30 pm. It was "Sports Day", a huge production for all the 7-year kids at GGUM and their parents. Overall, there were about 200 kids and maybe 350 parents there. GGUM rented out another school and their yard for the event, we wouldn't have had enough room at our hogwon. The whole thing was pretty extravagent and really well-received, the kids had such a fun time and it really looked like the parents were enjoying it also. I really enjoy seeing the kids and their parents interact. For some reason, I have always had this impression that the Asian culture and the parental-child relationship is such a structured and stern one. I picture there being a lot of pressure on the kids to be excellent students, the parents being absent often for work, and just an overall strict environment. I know this is not fact it is just my impression, but I really love to see parents and their children laughing together, joking around, and letting loose to have a good time. So even though we were working on a Saturday, I had a good time at the Sports Day. It started off with a sort of "opening ceremony" with the Olympic flag and Korean flag presented at the front and a speech from the GGUM principal (Jade's mom).
Next was the torch lighting and presentation...
followed by the lighting of the fireworks! Somebody put about 15 fireworks in a dirt-filled pan that was barely supported on its stand and lit it to fire off the festivities. Fire Hazard? I think so!
Oh, and did I mention this was the MC:
haha! If you notice the guy in the red cowboy hat in the other pictures, he was the other MC. These two guys are the gym teachers at GGUM and the kids just adore them. I managed to get a few videos of some of the games before my camera died, and lets just say you probably wouldn't see these at an American "Field Day".
Let's pull a log under 250 peoples' feet and see how many we can trip!
Clearly the white-ball team won this one!
Running-start Tug-O-War
Running-start Tug-O-War MOMS ONLY! I didn't manage to catch it in this video but 2 of the moms almost got into a little scuff after this, pulling back and forth on the rope well after the whistle was blown. Stiff competition!! My camera died after this video but the Tug-O-War dads only was hilarious! They really don't like to lose here.
We had expected it to be yet another unpaid Saturday at work, but we were pleasantly surprised when the principal handed us each 30,000 won at the end and congratulated us on a job well done. It means a lot to hear that from a superior here as it happens very rarely. We were also treated to a 3-course duck galbi (galbi=bbq) dinner afterwards, DELICIOUS! It was a really fun time with us foreign teachers and all the Koreans that work at the GGUM school, there were about 25 or 30 of us in all. Jade and her brother Michael also brought their babies, 4 months and 5 months old. Jade's baby Isaac is so adorable and well-behaved, I got to hold him for a long time at dinner and he loves Auntie Tia! :) I don't think I mentioned before, but about a month ago we went to Isaac's "100 days" party at Jade's apartment. In Korea, 100 days of life for a newborn is cause for a big family gathering and celebration. In older times, most babies didn't live past 100 days so it is a big event for the family to be happy about. Koreans also don't take the baby outside for the first 100 days, so the party is kind of like presenting your baby to friends as well. It was nice to be invited into Jade's home and to spend more time with our Korean coworkers, another one of those uniquely-Korean experiences I so enjoy having here!
That's all for now! Thailand tickets are booked for Dec 25-Jan 2. I am already sad thinking about spending the holidays so far away from home and where my heart is, but thankful I have the opportunity of such an exciting trip to take my mind off it!
Until next time....
-Tia Teacher
No comments:
Post a Comment