Festivals, Speeches and Market Day. Oh My!

Hi!

So for our long weekend in May, we did end up going to the Butterfly Festival, but not on our road trip. One of the Koreans got pretty sick shortly before the weekend so we went to Seoul instead. The butterfly festival was great! That day kind of changed how I viewed Korea. It was nice to see so many pretty things in one day. It ended up being more of a flower festival with a few butterflies in glassed in areas. The next day (Sunday), we headed to Seoul for the Lotus Lantern Festival…..or so we thought :p It was the weekend of Buddha’s birthday and we assumed the festivities were always held on that same weekend. It wasn’t until we were roaming the streets of Seoul at night trying to find this big lantern parade that I noticed the guide book said the festival was always the weekend PREceeding Buddha’s birthday! Whoopsadaisies! It was no big deal though, the lanterns were still hung all around one of the major temples so it was not a wasted trip. Plus, it was good for me just to get a little bit acquainted with Seoul….it will probably take many trips before I am actually used to it though…it’s a tad crazy.

There were a couple of weekends in May where we just stayed in Suncheon which is fine because there is enough to do here that can entertain you for a weekend. Also, Kristina and Joanne were, cleaning, packing, and tying up any loose ends before they left. The girls left last weekend to do a bit of traveling and they are back in the UK this weekend. They are the first people to leave since I arrived and it is a very weird feeling. I’ve never had an experience where most ppl weren’t departing at the same time. You know, when you’re at school, writing exams everyone is done around the same time or on my other travels I’ve always been with a group so we came and went at the same time. I knew that this year would be like a revolving door of new ppl, but it’s just different when you’re actually experiencing it. Luckily though, the new teachers are quite pleasant. They are a couple from Scotland in their late 20’s and they have already taught in Korea for a year so they kind of know how things work in general, but they’re still adjusting to life at Wonderland specifically! Their eyes have looked soooo tired by the end of each week so far! It is a lot to take in and it’s kind of a busy time right now too. We had the monthly birthday party for the kindies last week plus a staff dinner for Teacher’s Day (Oh wow, I’ll tell you about teachers day in a little bit!). This Thursday was a kindie field trip and Friday was a speech contest and market day for the afternoon classes.

Alrighty, so Teacher’s Day is basically Christmas in May. I received home made soaps, coffee, scarves, candy, cookies, very sparkly lip gloss, and a gift certificate for a department store here. Strangely enough, one of the most common gifts that other teachers got were these large tins of powdered vitamins! I mean there are individually wrapped packets in the tin, but still….unique.

This was the first field trip I got to go on! Usually the Angels don’t go because they’re so young. We went to the Suncheon Dam where there are lookout points and little gardens plus a museum on how the water system works……at least that’s what I gathered from the short film and pictures because I still can’t read Korean L It was a good day and the kids weren’t that bad, but I was freakishly tired by the end of it. I guess it was maybe a combo of the heat and being on high alert….ya know, so none of the kids end up in the water…because then I wouldn’t be allowed on the upcoming field trips.

Friday (sigh), oh Friday….I felt so many things on this day. It was nice to not teach for the whole afternoon because all the classes went upstairs to the gym for the speech contest and market day. However, it kind of brought on a different kind of stress. The speeches were more stressful beforehand because I had to write them, ask the kids more questions to fill them out a bit and make sure they were 3 minutes, remain calm after coteachers or parents had rewrote a kids speech, and try even harder to stay calm when I saw that it wasn’t even proper English used to rewrite these speeches. Anyways, on the day of the contest it was fine because I had chosen the winners from each class and all they had to do was say it. Some of my kids even won top prizes! The Market Day part was a little more intense. The purpose of Market Day is to reward the kids who have earned the most stickers for good behaviour and what not since the last Market Day 6 months ago. The more stickers you have, the more Wonderland money you receive. There are different stations set up; one sells stationary, another one sells snacks, another sells hot food, and the last one sells sandwiches and drinks. It’s a neat idea, right?! It was just difficult because no one really gave an outline of what was happening and there never seemed to be enough $1 or $5 bills to give to the kids to spend OR when you were working at a station and had to give change. So it was a rush to find/give out money to 10 kids who have their arms stretched out, then it was a rush to get to your station and help “sell”, then do a lap of the gym to try and find change only to discover that every other station is mysteriously in the same boat…..yeah apparently those $1’s and $5’s were all wearing boots that were made for walking because they were outta sight! There was always a quick clean up time to get ready for the next session…and it started all over. Oh well, we all survived.

Last weekend I went to the Boseong green tea fields with one of the Korean teachers named Jessica. I would say that it was my favorite scenery so far. It was this steep hill covered in neat rows of deep green coloured green tea bushes with dense mixed forest leading up to the hill and all around it. I didn’t really pick up a scent from the green tea, but the air smelled like pine….mmmm, so refreshing. Another thing that is refreshing is green tea ice cream! I had tried it before from a corner store and it didn’t really taste that good. To be honest, I thought it was mint so I had my taste buds all ready for mint, only to be ultra disappointed when I bit into it. This time I knew it was green tea and it was soft ice cream that was extra gooey.

I have a new student in my Angels. Her name is Tarin and she’s very cute (actually all my kindies are pretty much gorgeous!) and smart. Sometimes she seems to have her own language because I’m not sure what she’s saying….and the Korean teacher looks puzzled too. There’s nothing wrong with a little Konglish I guess.

One of my favourite students made me feel pretty good the other week. Mark (one of the new teachers) was leaving one of my classes after observing. The students from the next class were already coming in. This girl named Eve quietly put her bag down and asked, “Teacher, who?” “Oh, that’s Mark Teacher, he’s new” I said. Her eyes widened a bit and her smile kind of faded. “Is Mark Teacher teaching ALL of Katie Teachers’ classes?” she asked. “No, no. He will take Kristina and Joanne teachers’ classes.” I said. Eve pretended to wipe her forehead and said “whew!”. It made me feel good because it took away some of my self doubt. Sometimes I wonder if I yell too much or even if I’m really helping or hindering these kids because, let’s be serious, my English is less than stellar!

Talk to you later.