Teacher's Day and Sports Day (Again)

Teacher's Day

May 15th is Teacher's Day here in Korea, and unlike "Teacher Appreciation Week" in America, Teacher's Day is actually a big deal here.  Last year we still had to go to school on Teacher's Day because the country was in mourning after the Sewol Ferry accident, but this year the teachers of Mungyeong gathered at a local college for a big volleyball tournament.

Every school had a tent set up, where there was of course lots of food and alcohol. I should mention all the students had this day off, so while there was a lot of drinking, it wasn't like there were students running around.

Every school had a girls and a boys team, and since I now have four different schools, I pretty much had at least one school playing at all times, so I just did my best to watch them all at some point.  Since this is Korea, of course the schools take this competition super seriously, and most teams had been practicing after school for quite some time.

I spent most of the day walking around and watching my different schools play, and from time to time being pulled over to a tent and given beer. The girl's team at one of  my schools made it all the way to the finals, but unfortunately didn't win. At the end of the game I was with one of my friends from town when her school called us both over to come drink with them. Since I was with her school, I think this is how I managed to get out of being pulled to any kind of teacher's dinner, which was quite alright with me, because it meant that I got to go home early and enjoy Friday afternoon. Overall, not such a bad day.

Sport's Day

Most schools had their Sports Days towards the beginning of May, so when I went to my Friday school a few weeks ago, I was shocked to see that it was Sports Day--I had assumed they had already had it. I essentially had a repeat experience of what happened to me in the fall at this school--I walked in and all of the teachers were in their sports clothes and I definitely was not.  I was actually in a dress and a new pair of shoes I thought I would wear to break in (we usually change our shoes when we get to school, but since we were outside the whole day, I had to keep them on the whole time). I certainly wasn't dressed for the occasion, but I came to school expecting to teach six classes, and instead I got to sit outside and watch the kids have fun, so I definitely wasn't complaining.

Welcome to Korea, where they sell baby hamsters at Sports Day

Overall, Sports Day was good, but pretty much the same as the fall, so I won't go into much detail about it. The good thing is this time around I knew the kids much better, so I think it was more enjoyable for me.  As I watched them throughout the day, I couldn't help but think about how much they have grown in the nine months I've been teaching them. They are suddenly looking so much bigger than the kids I remember meeting in the fall, and it does make me sad to think that soon I'll be saying goodbye to them.

Of course, the day didn't end with sports day.  On days like this there are almost always teacher dinners, but I was going to try to escape without getting dragged into it.  Not that I don't like my co-workers, but on a Friday evening I'm usually ready to get home.  However, on my way to the bus that afternoon I ran into the principal and in Korean he asked me if I was coming to dinner.  I may have acted like I didn't understand (ok, I did), but he gestured to bring me to the teacher's room, where my CT told me about dinner and asked me to join.

Since you can't really get out of these things in Korea, I agreed, and I'm actually really glad I did. I got a new CT at this school this semester, and she has been really good.  It was nice to spend time with her and the rest of the teachers, especially since I'm only at this school one day a week now.  I've also never seen any of them drink so much/been forced to drink so much with them, so that was a new experience. I've also somehow made it almost two years in Korea without going to a noraebang with my co-workers (this is totally abnormal), but that finally changed. Teachers were even singing and dancing when we were in our room at the restaurant, so naturally noraebang was our next place. I was surprised, but relieved that the night ended up being so fun--after the rough first semester I had with this school, I'm happy to have it end on a better note.

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...

Sports Day!

For the past few weeks my students had telling me about their excitement for Sports Day.  My initial question of course was "what the heck is sports day?" Well, this week I got to experience it firsthand.  It turns out sports day is kind of like a field day in America, but WAY more intense.

There were three teams total, each team being made up of one girl and one boy class from each grade.  Throughout the day there were tons of events--ranging from relay races, to a soccer game, to basketball, to jump roping, to lots of other games that I had never even seen before. 

Most homeroom teachers spent the day with their classes cheering for their teams, but since I obviously don't have a homeroom class, I spent the day walking around and hanging out with all of the teams. 

One of the things I loved the most about this day was the CHEERING! This was not just ordinary cheering at a sporting event.  In America we will cheer, then wait a few minutes or wait for something important to happen before cheering again.  However, the students cheered ALL DAY long for their teams.  There were even some students who had been selected to lead the cheering. They stood in the front and danced around all day, leading cheer after cheer after cheer. I have no idea how these kids kept their enthusiasm all day long, especially since it was probably around 85 degrees all day and for the majority of the time the events were in the sun.

Leading the cheers. 

During tug of war.  Loved seeing the students come together to cheer for their team!

The cheer leaders

Another things I loved about this day was seeing the students have fun.  As you all know by now, my students pretty much never have time to escape the confines of the school walls.  This has been especially rare this semester during the mourning period following the ferry disaster.  

My first grade girls.  LOVE THEM!

More of my awesome first grade girls!

The fact that the students seldom have time to do anything besides study was evident by their unadulterated enthusiasm for EVERYTHING throughout the day.  It was a huge change from the tired, sluggish students I'm accustomed to seeing in the classroom.

I also loved seeing the students interact with each other.  One of the huge differences about the school I'm working at this year and any other American high school is that the students at this school aren't allowed to interact with members of the opposite sex.  Even though my school is co-ed, girls and boys are kept in separate classes and technically aren't supposed to even talk to each other.  Of course, there are some couples in the school, although I'm not sure when they really have time to hang out.  Dating is not really allowed by the school, but seriously....teenagers are teenagers.  The complete segregation of the sexes is one of the craziest things about teaching here for me.  

Anyway, on sports day, I actually got to see boys and girls interact on their teams.  Additionally, members of different grades actually interacted.  While in America it's totally normal for members of different grades to be friends with each other, this is definitely not the way it is in Korea.

Although many of the traditional Korea customs are becoming more relaxed these days, one way you can still see the importance of age is in the way students interact with each other.  Whenever my first grade students see a second or third grader, they have to bow to them. Many of my first graders have told me that this can really become stressful for them because if they forget to bow to a second or third grader it's considered really rude, so they always have to pay attention to who they're around.  Needless to say, students are ONLY friends with the other students in their own grade.  In fact, when I tell them that in America it's normal for students to be friends with people in other grades they're completely shocked and can't believe it.  

However, on sports day it felt like all the barriers were torn down, and the students showed tremendous support for each other, regardless of gender or grade.  For once, my students actually seemed like teenagers as I know them in America, and that quite refreshing to see....even if it was for just a day.

The only downside to Sports Day was that the events didn't end until 7 PM...and then naturally the students were expected to go to night study after.  When I entered my classes on Thursday just about every student was asleep.  Let's just say my classes on Thursday and Friday weren't productive because seriously, how could I expect them to focus on anything when they were that exhausted and sleep deprived?  It was games and movies for the win in my classes.

Overall, sports day was a great day for me to see a different side of my students.  I especially enjoyed hanging out with my favorite third grade girls who I hardly ever get to see these days.  Sports Day is a tradition in all Korean school from elementary school-high school, so I really enjoyed seeing this part of school culture and spending time with the kids I adore--especially since my time with them is winding down so quickly!