A Friday Korean Surprise Part 1: Sport's Day!

Fridays have now become my longest, and therefore most exhausting days.  Fridays are always a little tough no matter what kind of schedule you have, but with my new schedule I have six classes on Fridays, which means I pretty much don't stop teaching all day long.  Last Thursday I stayed out late with some friends, so Friday morning came way too soon and I had those remorseful thoughts we've all had when our alarm abruptly wakes us up--why did I stay out so late? Why did I stay for that one last drink?

Nonetheless. I got on the bus and was on my way to school to face my Everest of a day.  As I got off the bus I quickly realized something was different.  There were tons of things set up on the school's yard.  Yes, this could only mean one thing: SPORT'S DAY!

Sure enough, I saw some of the sixth grade students and asked them what was happening and they confirmed that is was indeed sports day.  I walked into the teacher's room and all of the teachers were dressed in their matching athletic clothes at which point they said "Oh, Sarah. Did you know today was sports day?" Well, obviously not since I was dressed in black pants with a nice top and a cardigan sweater.  TIK.  Although I did find it somewhat amusing when the other teachers scolded my CT for not telling me.

Now, Korea can throw some pretty terrible surprises in your face from time to time, but it can also throw some wonderful surprises at you at well.  Thankfully, this was one of those wonderful surprises.  Instead of teaching all day I got to sit around and watch the kids participate in various activities.

Group warm up.

The kindergartners are in green and are just TOO CUTE!

Popping the balloons. 

Karaoke session at the end of the day.  So funny. 

I experienced sports day last semester at my high school, but the elementary version was pretty different in large part because sports day is a family event at the elementary schools.  The students had their parents and sometimes their grandparents there with them at school, which was actually really awesome to see.  The parents even participated in a number of events, including the karaoke session that happened at the end of the day.  This was probably the most entertaining part of the day to watch because the students (even the 6th graders!) would get on stage with their parents and sing and dance to whichever songs they chose, I love how much Koreans love singing.

Overall, it was an entertaining day even though I wasn't really involved with any of the activities.  It was fun just to watch the kids have fun! And I guess it didn't hurt that I didn't have to teach any classes either...