 |
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 6th graders who
wore high school band looking uniforms. They did a great job introducing all
the important people while two 2nd graders officially started the
talent show. I am unsure why but the 2nd 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 2nd 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment