Today was Sports Day at school, which meant a field trip to a nearby park where the Centum kids competed against another school in various relay and racing games. It was hilarious, but I learned very quickly exactly what the other foreign teachers mean when they refer to school field trips as a cluster$*#%!
To start, you must understand that Korean and North American elementary schools do not provide the same experience. Children are treated very differently here, it's not uncommon to watch a Korean teacher yank a kid by their arm, or stand a foot away from their face and yell at them. It's just way things are done; the kids don't cry or take it personally, they just listen.
So today, watching Sally (the school Director and woman who hired me) run around screaming and shoving kids all day long was no shocker - it was the context that got me. She must have really wanted our kids to win Sports Day, because Sally's form of encouragement to "run faster!" and "win! win! win!" sounded eerily similar to Sally getting mad. At one point I thought she was going to give herself a heart attack.
Along with Sally, pretty much everything about today was entertaining, but my favourite was the relay race. The kids had to strap a giant plastic baby to their backs (and by 'baby' I mean an oversized, creepy-looking toddler doll whose eyes wouldn't close) pick up a basket of fruit, carry it to one end of the park, and proceed to eat a cracker off a hanging string without using their hands. Money can't buy that kind of entertainment.
Lunch was a giant picnic. Usually lunch is prepared and served at the school, but today the kids brought their own. For the teachers, lunch time is often the highlight of field trip days because the kids love to share with us. The result is a giant taste test of amazing home-cooked Korean foods, the most popular being gimbap.
Gimbap is the 'sandwich' of the Korean kids' lunchbox. Similar to sushi, it's made with a bit of rice, vegetables, and fish or other meat rolled up into a long piece of seaweed and sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Gimbap isn't typically served with soya sauce or wasabi (like Japanese sushi) and many Koreans eat it on-the-go, with the long cylinder shape wrapped in tinfoil so it's nice and portable. It's delicious, cheap and very healthy. Today was fantastic because almost every one of my kids brought home-made gimbap, and they all wanted me to sample. My only rule was that "If you really want me to try your gimbap, I have to be able to take it with my own chopsticks". Otherwise they'll try to hand a piece to you with their fingers...not happening.
That said, gift-giving is a very big deal in Korea, so the fact that the kids want so badly to share with you is a huge compliment. I felt horrible saying no them, so after my 10th piece of gimbap I eventually started taking pieces and pretending to eat them because I just couldn't fit any more in...
It's for this reason that I must now get to bed, so that I can wake up early and make my way to the gym before work tomorrow - gotta compensate for my day of feasting. I hope everyone has a good Tuesday, talk to you soon!
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