11/13: November School Talent Show

At the base of Seoul Tower

In the observatory of Namsan Tower

View from Namsan Tower

First Grade at the Talent Show

2nd grade Welcoming the elderly

6th graders Evan and Melanie as the MCs

Bathroom of Seoul Tower

Kindergarten at the talent show

Kindergarten at the talent show

3rd grade performing Cinderella at the talent show

5th grade at the talent show

Kindergarten at the talent show

Kindergarten at the talent show

This was the first week in a long time that I was actually excited to go to school. This week was going to be the talent show and all the classes had been spending weeks and weeks preparing. On Monday afternoon classes were cancelled just so we could have a dress rehearsal (this stunk for me because I don’t have Monday afternoon classes anyways). Anyways, I was kind of just in the way for most of the rehearsal so the teachers just told me to go watch. Juny was busy managing all the students and all the other teachers were busy preparing their classes. Although I felt really useless it was really fun just to see what all the classes had prepared and made me even more excited for the actual show on Wednesday.

       It was also awesome because Tuesday was Peppero Day! November 11 (11-11) is pepperoes day which is kind of like Valentine's Day in a way. Pepperoes are candies that are basically a wafer stick that is dipped in chocolate and kind of look like a number one. Since November eleventh is 11-11 it looks like four sticks of peppero and the students give peppero candies to the teachers. I got so many boxes, it was fantastic! I even got some handmade ones from 5th grade Grace, HeeJin and GinAh. What was even funnier was that I posted the pictures of what I got on facebook and this other EPIK teacher I know posted what he got too. His picture was just of his empty desk! He didn't get any peppero sticks which I feel bad about but also made me feel pretty good at the same time. 

Finally Wednesday rolled around and the whole school was alive and busy. In the morning Juny and I worked with the fifth graders who were going to perform an English song. We had been practicing for weeks! They were going to dance and sing to “Monster Dance” which isn’t a very popular song but the kids really liked it. There was even a little rap portion for them. Because there was this rap part all the boys in the class got to wear their baseball hats sideways and got all “gangsta” during that verse. It was so cute. Luckily we got most of the class to participate except for two kids who really hated dancing and instead they were our stage managers. One of the stage managers, Anna, really got into her role and worked hard to pass out and collect the hates and was so proud of herself for turning on the music at the right time. It was pretty cute to watch!

Anyways, lunch was early on Wednesday because the school had invited the elders of the community to come have lunch and watch the talent show. At lunch a lot of the school moms showed up to prepare lunch for the elderly which included multiple bottles of soju (rice liquor). I should have gotten used to seeing alcohol at school but it was still shocking to see that at the same seat where a kindergartener was 10 minutes ago there was now bottles of beer and soju. This was also the first time I saw many of the moms and it reminded me of the PTA at home.

Finally the talent show start time rolled around and I was just as excited as the kids. The teachers had decorated the whole gymnasium with beautiful flowers and all the children wore the most extreme outfits. The two MCs were the two loudest 6^th graders who wore high school band looking uniforms. They did a great job introducing all the important people while two 2^nd graders officially started the talent show. I am unsure why but the 2^nd graders came out wearing a tuxedo and wedding dress, random but ridiculously cute. Each grade had between one and two acts. The kindergarteners were amazing! They wore these blue, velvet outfits and came on stage marching and beating drums while other ones carried flags and waved them back and forth to the music. I couldn’t believe the outfits and the fact that they even put make-up on all the kids. The first graders wore these really ugly lime green capes and hates and sang a song while a couple of them beat a large drum. Then there was 2^nd grade which did an amazing umbrella dance to this famous Korean song. It reminded of me “Singing in the Rain.” They also did a second routine where they played the xylophones. Third grade did a Cinderella Play as well as played edelweiss using bells which was beautiful. Fourth grade did a dramatic drum performance while fifth grade played the flute as well as did a cheerleading performance. I loved the cheerleading because they wore these sparkly blue and white uniforms that were too short on some of the boys so every time the boys lifted their arms it would lift up and you could see their little bellies. And finally sixth grade performance an old well-known Korean song on the guitar as well as performing a play about a court drama. I loved everything but my favorites were two performance by the dance club to popular Korean-pop songs. They had all the kids wear these bedazzled, sparkly uniforms and perform the dance similar to the music video. I was also shocked at one of my boy sixth graders (Luis) who performed one of the dances. Not only were his dance moves amazing but he was wearing a tank top and his arms were jacked! I was shocked and not the only ones who noticed it. Juny and I talked about it for weeks afterwards. And of course my other favorite was when the fifth grade performed the English Monster Dance! The show was fantastic! Everyone really had a great time and I was able just to sit back and watch! (**I'm not able to upload the videos here but if you go to YouTube.Com and search Juny513, you can see all the videos on that channel**)

Afterwards all the teachers cleaned up and we ended up all going out to eat together to celebrate. The dinner was at this really great smoked duck restaurant but it was a little bizarre. Some of the parents came and started heavily drinking. One mom in particular really let loose and made many people uncomfortable. Juny even left early and left me alone to fend off the mother and other parents. Luckily one of the teachers who stayed speaks pretty good English and she and I stuck together and she even gave me a ride all the way home. FANTASTIC DAY!!

That upcoming weekend we were supposed to go on a teacher’s retreat but because of drama between different staff members, the principal got upset and cancelled the whole thing. Juny and I were both really disappointed so instead she invited me to go to dinner with her and her family. It was a fantastic dinner too! She took me to this all you can eat buffet where they had everything from Korean traditional porridge to pizza! I really stocked up and had a whole bunch of new and familiar stuff to eat. I think the weirdest thing I had was LIVE octopus. They take the octopus and cut its head off so just the tentacles are left. Then they chop up the tentacles which keep moving and squirming around for about an hour!!! The hardest part of the whole experience wasn’t even eating the octopus but was picking up the moving octopus with my chopsticks. It kept using its tentacles and getting stuck to the plate. I liked it actually except that it was really chewy. It had a nice flavor just chewy! The other funny part of the night was when Young Woong (Juny’s son) took this fruit, ate the inside and put the shell of the fruit back on the pile of the buffet. He was so cute and was so proud of himself for doing it until Juny said they have cameras watching. He went back to take it off the pile but by that point someone had already snatched it up! He got so nervous and wanted to leave right away! So awesome!! It was a fantastic night!

The weekend kept getting better as on Saturday I had tickets to see a performance in Seoul called Nanta. Nanta is a really tourist-y but well known performance where they use kitchen instruments to create different sounds and music. It’s really interesting and quite funny. They use utensils like kitchen knives and cutting boards and graters, etc. Although it was all tourists it was really a great performance and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards we went out to dinner before heading back to Jochiwon.

Oh, I forgot to mention an experience I had a couple of weeks ago in Seoul. My friend and I wanted to do something different so we went to Namsan Tower. Namsan/Seoul Tower is the huge tower in Seoul that looks over the entire city. It offers amazing views but it is all the way on the top of this hill. You have the option to hike up the mountain but then I read that you can take a cable car up to the top. The cable car itself was awesome and allowed for great views as we made our way up to the top. The tower and the views were great but, just like many things in Korea, it was aimed for couples so they have a multitude of love lock trees and a love lock patio as well as benches that are angles inwards so if someone sits on it they slide into the middle of the bench. But what I did like about the top of the tower is that in the observatory, painted on the glass they have the direction and distance of major cities so I was able to look out and know that Washington, DC was X many miles away. And the bathrooms of the observatory have completely clear glass so as you wash your hands you get to look out over the entire city. It really is a great view and shows you just how huge Seoul is. I know that Korea is a small country but when you are up there it feels like the biggest, most developed place in the world.

Anyways, this was my week! An amazing and spectacular talent show and then a weekend full of eating with Koreans and watching a ridiculously hilarious and well-performed tourist attraction.