Sports Day

Ah, sports day. Classes cancelled, world flags flying over the school, and an overall feeling of festivity was putting me in a great mood.

Notable differences between here and field day when I was a kid:
1. Teams. The entire school is divided right down the middle, and students are either on the blue team or the white team (each grade is divided in half). During the day, the teams are pitted against each other for various events; whoever wins an event gains points for their team. At the end of the day, the team with the most points wins, and reigns until Sports Day the following year. I thought they were kidding, or that it was a ploy to get the kids more interested, but there was a flag presented to the principal during the opening ceremony with gloved hands. This shit was serious.

Another view of the warm up. You can see I've been spotted!

2. Structure and scheduling. Here, the entire school gathers on the soccer field, the only open space that can handle so many people. Instead of having 'game stations' that the grades would travel between (as it was in Connecticut), each grade had 3 events that would be staggered throughout the day. First, the races, with 5 students racing at the same time until the entire grade was finished. Second, the team event, where the white and blue members of the grade would compete to win points. Third, the performance. Each grade had a different routine prepared, using fans, drums, beach balls, etc. These were my favorite, since the kids had spent weeks practicing and were so focused on the choreography.

3rd grade Blue v White competition. Who can pass the ball over their heads down the line and back first?

2nd grade performance. One of my AS kids is in this group :)

6th graders preparing for war. Blue v White, trying to get plastic balls into their respective buckets

Kindergartners and their mothers performing a traditional dance wearing hanbok (formal traditional clothing).

3. Parents. So. Many. Parents. Maybe I have selective memory, but I definitely don't remember my parents being a part of field day beyond a chaperone capacity. I think every student here had at least one parent here. They were not only observers, but active participants. In fact, one of everyone's highlights of the day was a competition for fathers only. Volunteers from the crowd, on the blue or white team of course, had to wear a Shrek mask and spin 10 circles around a baseball bat with their head down. Then they had to run a straight line to a cone, navigate around, and pass the mask off to the next in line. It was absolutely hilarious to see grown men tripping over themselves to help their kid win a ribbon on Sports Day.

This is maybe 1/3 of the crowd. Do you see all those parents???

And believe me when I say these parents are competitive. I was in charge of stamping the first place winners for each race, and considering that we had a strict schedule and a lot of kids, it was a madhouse as soon as each race was over. Grab the kid, stamp the kid, and get out of the way because the next group is 2 feet from the finish line. Not only did I have parents trying to convince me that their kid was 1st and not 3rd, but when other teachers and I tried to give the kids space at the finish line so they wouldn't run into the crowd with their momentum, these mothers would not have it. Seriously, I had forty year old Korean women literally elbowing me out of the way so they can catch their kid on camera. It was insanity.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. During breaks in the schedule, I always found myself surrounded by students trying to sway me to their team, wanting me to race, or asking for another stamp. Two students even tried to introduce me to their mothers. Kind of. It was more like they dragged their mother by the hand until they were a meter away from me, pointed and said "Katherine Teacher", and walked away. Could this be the approval I strive so hard for? Even if it isn't, it'll have to do for now.

As soon as they see a camera....

My 4th graders that asked me to sit with them during the performances ^_^

안녕!

Anyeong!

Bye!

Things Korea does differently #1

Scenario: You live in Daegu, or Seoul, or any city with a ton of people in a small space. It's likely that you live in an apartment building, and even more likely that your apartment is a high rise. Let's say you live on the 20th floor.

What happens if you need a new sofa? Or a bed?

Are you going to have your friends carry furniture up 20 flights of stairs and expect to reward them with pizza and beer? Methinks no.

In Korea, they have what look to be fire trucks helping to deliver things THROUGH YOUR WINDOW.

This is an unimpressive example, only 4 floors, but it's a much better picture

Ok, so maybe 5 floors is also unimpressive

I have no idea how it works in the US or elsewhere in the world with apartment high rises, but if they aren't doing this, they need to. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks this is ingenious.

I want to ride one.

안녕!

Anyeong!

Bye!

Normal is what you make it

*This post a few weeks coming, but I wanted to make sure I was conveying what I really wanted to say. Now that I'm (mostly) satisfied, here goes.

Brandon is one of my best friends, and his girlfriend is genuinely one of the coolest people I know. When they told me months ago that they were planning a trip to Tokyo, and could swing by Seoul for a weekend once I was living in Korea, I was ecstatic. The visit was going to be nearly 2 months into my stay here, so it would be the perfect timing for a visit from home.

When the weekend finally arrived, I could barely contain my excitement. It was all I could talk about at work the two weeks before; even my kids knew that Katherine Teacher was going to Seoul to see her boyfriend (I corrected them several times, but apparently male friend is always equal to boyfriend. Sorry Beth).

Getting to Seoul wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected it to be, and within minutes of getting to my hotel room, Brandon and Beth were knocking on my door. After hugs that I refused to let them withdraw from, and maybe a little bit of tearing up on my part, we headed out.

Now, I'm not going to chronicle our entire weekend here for you. I'll visit Seoul again and will have more interesting commentary on the city and the sights. But this trip wasn't about Seoul. It was about seeing my friends, and I don't regret a single minute that we spent in the hotel room talking about nothing. Because that's normal to me, and I didn't realize how much I've been craving normalcy.


Before I left the states, everything was crazy. Every conversation I had was about Korea, about teaching, about how 'brave' I was to travel so far from home (for the record, bravery is that last thing I'd call it). Since December or January, everything in my life has been Korea-centric. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed those conversations, I wanted to talk about it with anyone and everyone. Now that I'm here, there's even less separation from Korea, even when talking to my foreign friends. We're always talking about new Korean food, or Korean men, or our Korean language abilities.

When I talk with friends and family back home, it always feels like I'm saying a million words a minute. I want to know how things are going at work or home with everyone, but their response is the same: "Nothing's new here, tell me about Korea!" Usually, I'm happy to fill them in, recounting everything I can about differences between here and the states, or what new food I tried the other day that was surprisingly delicious. But I talk all day. It's my job to talk nearly nonstop for 8 hours, and I talk in social settings when I'm with my friends. Sometimes I just want to listen.

Sitting with Beth and Brandon was the first time I felt normal, talking about new releases from EDM artists, or making up dialogue for tv shows we didn't understand (which I did back home as well). We sat on the bed, ate junk food, and they told me about their travels. And I just listened. I threw in information and my experiences here and there, but it wasn't a one sided conversation.

The weekend was over so fast, and before I knew it, I was saying goodbye. As much as I love my friends, and as much as my family would like me to come home, I didn't experience any longing to hop on the next flight back, which I was honestly expecting to feel. Why? It's the people I miss, not living in the US.

It's easy for me now to do what I did back home, meaning reddit and lots and lots of television, but there's no social interaction there. What I miss is having those conversations with Caitlin about why Benedict Cumberbatch is attractive, or playing with my cats, or me trying to convince Caroline to watch Dr Who, or being so proud of Sam and Sarah that they're getting everything they wanted in life, making them prime examples that hard work leads to success.

Maybe I need to create my own normalcy. Just haven't figured out how yet.

안녕!

Bye!