School Festival!

So, last week was Yeongcheon Girls' Middle School's School Festival. It's basically two days of games/contests for the students, and a way to show some school pride. Since I'm not a homeroom teacher, I didn't have to do anything other than watch the festivities, so it was nice and easy for me.

The students were really cute they way they got all into it, and the weather was perfect. Sunny, but not hot, and with a breeze. I really think fall is a gorgeous season here. Although it isn't quite as green and lush as the summer, the summer is also really, really humid and full of bugs. So, all things considered, I prefer this. I took a bunch of movies this time, so hopefully they'll all work.

The girl in the top picture with me, also shown here on the far right, is a mentally-disabled student, so I don't actually teach her. But, for some reason, she loves seeing me and talking to me, although she only knows a few words. She's also one of the only students I know who likes getting her picture taken. She had me take her picture several times during the day, but I chose these two to post. She's always friendly and cheerful, which is something I can relate to. The girl on the left is holding a sign reading, "현정님찬양."

찬양 means "praise," and 현정 (Hyun-jung) is a name, and 님 is a respectful title suffix (like Mr. or Mrs.),

so I believe it is a sign cheering for Teacher Hyun-jung.

More stuff after the cut!

At the start of the day, we all go down to the gym, where most of the festivities are held.

A candid shot of some students getting ready. It's really hard to get pictures of the students, who mostly hate having photos taken. Each class was wearing a sort of costume for their choir competition, and this was one of my favorites - so cute! They told me later it was a "kindergarten" outfit.

 In the gym, there was display of artworks made by the students. There were a ton of these paper rooms set up. They had amazing detail and effort put into them. Some were just gorgeous. It seems the idea was to design a room using a specific motif. For instance, there were Picasso and Warhol rooms, but there were also traditional-looking rooms, like the one at the center of the photo.Comics on display.

 Some students singing in the choir competition. All classes had to participate, each singing their own song. The best classes in each grade were presented with awards of money. I was told they would proably spend this money on a class pizza party.

The next morning (Friday), the students assmebled outside the gym again to have an athletics competition. The other part of Thursday was a knowledge quiz, which, being in Korean, I didn't attend.

This gave me flashbacks to 1st grade, as well as Marching Band. It actually felt pretty cool to be on the teacher side of things for once, and just watch people exercising.

The student yelling in the middle of the photo is named Lee Ji-hyun (이지현). The story of how I learned her name is a cute one, so I'll probably post it later in the blog. Suffice it to say, she's now one of my favorite students. Sadly, she's a 3rd grader and will graduate in February.

In the athletics competition, the classes were divided up into teams. Every class ending in 1, for instance, was in Team 1. That would include 1-1 (Grade 1, Class 1), 2-1 (etc.) and 3-1. Members of each team competed against other teams in various athletic activities. As students "failed out" of the activity, the eventual remaining students would be the winners. Of course, I didn't know all the details, but it was fun to watch. Here they are playing some form of Dodgeball.

Meanwhile, the rest of their team was sitting in the "stands," cheering.

Another part of the competition: limbo. Some of the kids were really good at it.

I was recruited by students from Team 4 (including Lee Ji-hyun) to cheer for their team. So, here I am holding up a sign for them. That drink in my hand is actually a bribe, since my presence was wanted by other teams as well.  However, I wanted to be fair, so although Lee Ji-hyun complained that I had sworn loyalty to her team, I departed for Team 3, as seen in the picture under this one. I'm holding a sign for Team 3 there, but you can't see it.








Yum! Lunch was my favorite lunch! Yogurt, kimchi, salad, mustard-chicken tortillas, rice with curry, and some kind of egg soup. Yay!

After lunch, Miss Doh and I went to have coffee in the nurse's office. The nurse, Mrs. Yu, is one of my friends at school. That's Miss Doh in the picture.

After lunch was the "talent show," which was listed as a "dance competition" in the program. It's really best explained in videos, so here are all the videos from the two days. I'm afraid the blog reads them in a little small, so hopefully you can see and hear it a little.

Here's a more traditional song from a 1st grade class.

And then here's something a little more creative. What the song has to do with Batman, which is the logo on their shirts, I don't know.

These kids singing "Summer Nights" were really cute. And hilarious. Their score was full of incorrect lyrics, so that I had to believe some Korean person had listened to the song and written down what he thought it said, and was mostly right, too. But there were a few problems, such as "She stood by my," instead of "She swam by me," which of course, makes getting a cramp a lot less serious. They also sang, "But oh, of the summerly night," instead of "But oh, those summer nights." And even better, "Tell me more, but you don't gotta brag," became, "Tell me more, like you don't got her preg." Probably a realistic question considering the theme of the song, but oh so hilarious coming out of these girls' mouths.

Students playing a tug-o-war game at the athletics competition.

The vice principal surprised me by singing Yesterday in the talent show. He said he didn't want to sing, but had to. Not sure I believe him, since he sure likes karaoke, as I later discovered. The vice principal has been a wonderful support and help to me. He speaks very good English and talks to me frequently. Sadly, my camera ran out of space during this. You can tell by the students cheering how popular he is, which says something.

Here's a pretty representative sampling of the talent show content. Not exactly the old St. John's talent show, eh, sisters?

Another singing entry, pretty impressive.

Here's one with a cool intro starring Team Batman

And finally, here's something I don't think would've flown in an American school. Part of a filler segment having something to do with students loving their teachers. Each chosen teacher had a student from her homeroom paired with her, and they were supposed to dance together and... well, as I said, not something likely to be seen in an American school.

After the school day was over, all the teachers went out to dinner together to get drunk and go to a "norebang," literally a "singing room," which is a type of private karaoke room that you rent out complete with a huge screen TV, couches, tables, and a dance floor. This is a pretty common way to celebrate here. It got a little out of hand, but it was an interesting experience. I also got very nice compliments about how much the teachers liked me, even though they were too shy to say so normally, and how glad everyone was that I tried to experience the culture and participate. I say the price of eating some weird food and having some weird experiences is well worth such a prize. It was especially nice to hear, since I'd had a bit of a hard time the week before. All in all, a good time!