Awesome Autumn: Lovely Leaves and a Fireworks Festival!

First and foremost, let me say thank you to all the people who voted for me on Go Overseas' Top 10 Blogs in South Korea competition.  I placed third, which is crazy and awesome and I couldn't have done it without your (sometimes multiple) votes.  감사합니다!  Also, I am sorry that it has been so long since I updated.  Life has been crazy busy.


Autumn blew ever so quickly through Seoul this month and I did my best to enjoy it.  Last year Erich and I took a day trip out to Seoraksan to enjoy the foliage and this year Josephine and I did the same thing.  Erich and I went later in the month, but I had looked online and the Korean Meteorological Association guaranteed me that the leaves were supposed to be at their peak earlier this year.  We left our apartment building around 5:00am in order to get to the bus station in time to get tickets and take the 6:00am bus...sadly buses were sold out until 8:00am so we spent two hours killing time and sleeping fitfully in the bus station.  Not thrilled.  Theoretically the trip between Seoul and Sokcho should only take a little over three hours (thanks to a new expressway that was built), but thanks to traffic it took us over four and a half hours.  Uuugh.  Once we arrived at Sokcho and took the bus out to Seoraksan, we entered the park and went straight to the cable car ticket booth, where we got the first tickets available for 5:20pm.  


Since we had time to kill, we walked around for a while.  I was deeply disappointed to see that almost none of the leaves on the trees at ground level were changed.  Apparently when calculating the peak change they are talking about the whole mountain, most of which is at a significantly higher elevation.  The ground level was definitely MUCH prettier last year. We started over at the big Buddha, and then walked across a few bridges and checked out the temple.  

Don't get me wrong...there WERE some beautiful trees.

Snuggling up to some pretty leaves.  I'm a chameleon.

I love this temple.  Please note the woman when determining scale.  This thing is huge.

Beautiful.

Over the river and through the woods.

Pretty trees along the river.

 Good luck stones.

At the temple with Seoraksan in the background.

 The temple was quite lovely.

Loved this leafy wall.

Then we "hiked" for a bit (read: scrambled over rocks and tried not to die) along the same path Erich and I took last year.  After a little bit we decided to perch ourselves on a big rock by the river and just relax.  Josephine napped and I pulled out my Kindle.  It was really lovely- so quiet and relaxing.

Hiking!

A grove of lovely trees.

Josephine and I enjoying our rock.

By then it was time to dash back over to the cable car and take it up the mountain.  Somehow we got our time wrong and thought it was 5:40pm instead of 5:20pm, so we were late, but they still let us up the mountain.  The only downside was that the last cable car back down was at 6:20pm, so we didn't have much time.  It did get dark a lot earlier up there, though, so I don't feel like we would have wanted to stay much later anyway.

Cable car on its way up.

Looking over Seoraksan out towards the ocean.

Night was definitely falling as we headed back to get in line to take the cable car down.

Once we got back to ground level we started our journey back to the bus station.  On the way we happened to run into Shannon.  She had Jamie had gone on a hiking trip the same weekend we were at Seoraksan and had done a SIXTEEN HOUR HIKE.  That sounds exactly like torture to me...but she lived.  They were sore for sure, but got some amazing pictures.  Way braver than I.  Josephine and I caught a taxi back to the station and grabbed some dinner at GS25 before boarding the bus back to Seoul.  Thankfully the ride home was only about three hours and after taking a short taxi ride, we were home.  The next day I basically just vegetated at home.  

That week at school was fairly uneventful.  On Tuesday night I had scheduled a  dinner with Ga Young, my newest co-teacher.  We had been trying to coordinate a dinner together forever and stuff kept coming up.  That day at lunch Yeon Ah (my other main co-teacher) said "Meaghan, can I come to your English language exchange?" To which I replied "What?"  "Your English language exchange tonight with Ga Young."  "Oh...dinner?  Sure."  Apparently it wasn't JUST dinner, but also an English language exchange.  Sigh.  Anyway, the three of us went out to dinner at Kraze Burger, a Korean burger chain.  It was my first time there and it was quite tasty.  Ga Young and Yeon Ah tried their best to speak only in English and did a good job with only a few awkward and confusing pauses.

Friday night I left straight from school to head down to Busan for the Busan International Fireworks Festival.  Originally I was planning to organize this trip, but after going somewhere every weekend I was pretty exhausted and we decided to do a trip organized by William Cho over at Discover Korea.  Now, I've been on a trip with him before to Jeollanam-do and it was AMAZING: well organized, impeccably planned, etc.  This trip was...almost exactly the opposite.  No one from Discover Korea came with us on the trip, William was EXTREMELY late and almost didn't make it to the bus station to give us our hotel information, it was extremely unorganized, etc.  I was sorely disappointed, as were the people in our group who had never done a trip with him before (and probably won't ever again!).  I don't know what happened, but I have a feeling he is just trying to run too many trips at once.  Moments before the bus left we boarded and we were on our way to Busan.  This was, without a doubt, the most uncomfortable bus ride I've ever taken.  There was no leg room, the stranger next to me took up more than his designated space, it was hotter than hell, and even though I was exhausted I couldn't sleep.  Terrible.  Thankfully it was only about four and a half hours before we got there.  Upon arriving, we hopped into two taxis, one for Julia, Diana and I, and one for the people we didn't know: Dana and Alex (a couple from Canada) and Theresa and Lisa (friends from Australia).  It was only about a half an hour taxi ride to the hotel which had a fantastic location basically right on Gwangalli Beach, where the festival was being held.  After some slight confusion about where exactly the hotel was, we went in and dropped off our stuff before heading out to get something to eat.  Let me just say that this hotel was the most wanton use of clashing wallpapers I've EVER seen in my LIFE.  It was...insane.  Loud, patterned wallpaper covered not only the walls, but the ceilings.  Clashing patterns and colors were placed in big squares on the wall, and then outlined with a "frame" of a third clashing paper.  It was pretty hilarious.  In our room for three people there was one double bed and a mat for the floor, which I took.  Julia and Diana took the bed.

Julia, Dana, Alex, Theresa, Lisa and I headed down towards the beach to grab some food.  After popping into a few places we ended up at a family restaurant right on the beach where we gorged on cheese fries, beer, and quesadillas.  Here is a fun side note:  the quesadillas arrived and I hungrily bit into one after dipping it in sour cream.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was WHIPPED CREAM, not sour cream.  It was pretty terrible.  One of the other people in the group suggested that someone probably looked at a picture of a quesadilla and figured it was ReadyWhip, so they went with it.  UGH!  KOREA! That's GROSS.

View of the bridge all lit up during dinner.

After we went back to the hotel and said hi to Jamie, Shannon and Erich who had arrived on the second bus, we hit the sack.  The next morning we got up and met for a lovely breakfast at a seaside restaurant before heading off to do our thing in Busan.

Now since this was my first time in Busan you might assume that I did something especially Busan-ish or cultural.  You would only be the tiniest bit correct.  What did we do all weekend?  We hung out at a spa.  Now as I am sure you know by now, Korea is famous for their public saunas, or jjimjilbangs.  Busan, however, is home to one of the grandaddy's of all Korean saunas/spas: SpaLand.  SpaLand is located within Shinsegae Centum City Department Store, which happens to be the largest department store in the world.  

Me, Laura, Shannon, Jamie, Diana and Erich posing with the Guiness Book of World Records certificate.

After getting off the subway and weaving our way through the departments on the first floor, we entered SpaLand.  This place is huge and absolutely beautiful.  And they have spas down to a science.  You start by going to the front desk and paying your 14,000won (roughly $12) entrance fee, which buys you four hours to lounge around on the busy weekends.  You also get a number, which corresponds to a key in a shoe locker that will serve as your pass, credit card, etc for the rest of your time at SpaLand.  After dropping off your shoes and retrieving your key and uniform, genders split and go into their respective locker rooms, where you take the locker that matches your key number.  This is where you leave all your belongings, including your outside clothes after changing into your SpaLand uniform.  (Just a warning for big girls like me out there: they are definitely Korean sized.  I ended up in men's clothes, which provided some hilarious moments when I confused women in the bathroom.  There are large public baths, which I was totally not brave enough to try the first day, that are connected to the locker room.  After we had all changed, we headed out to explore the many saunas, foot baths, and other rooms that make SpaLand one of the best.  (Note: In my opinion, one of the things that makes SpaLand the best is that they don't allow anyone under the age of 13 in.  That was...amazing!)

There are 22 themed rooms, ranging from a cold room, to a Roman room, pyramid room, wave sound room, body vibration room, SEV room, and many others.  Most were VERY hot (up to 148 degrees Fahrenheit) and had you sweating within seconds.  Each promised some sort of healing benefit. There is also a large outdoor area with hot, salty, and/or cold foot baths and foot reflexology paths.  It was very cool.  All of the rooms are co-ed, so we would randomly run into others from our group as we hopped from one room to another.

No people with tattoos or...skin?...are allowed in, technically.

The all powerful key.

Diana in the salty foot bath.

Enjoying a foot soak.

Outdoor foot baths.

Looking up at the sky from inside the charcoal sauna.

Outside of the charcoal room

"Ice Room" was an extremely comfortable 64 degrees F.

Inside the SWELTERING yellow ocher room.

Diana reaping the benefits of the sea salt room.

Can't you just see the toxins melting away?

Erich and Diana in the SEV room.

There were also a ton of rooms there just for relaxation.  Lots of lounge chairs, chairs with personal TV screens, DVD rooms with big plus chairs, cheap massage chairs, etc.  There were lots of couples and families hanging out and napping, or eating some food and having drinks.  It was great.

 This whole room was equipped with chairs with speakers in the headrest, so everyone could watch their own show and relax.  I took a nap here after my massage.

Looking out over one of the common rooms.

Important sauna tools: water to stay hydrated, a towel wrapped into a festive Princess Leia hat to catch your sweat in the steam rooms, and a persimmon vinegar drink to cleanse your body.

The other thing that SpaLand has that we took full advantage of was the actual Spa there.  The first day Diana and I both got a 30 minute back and neck massage (I happened to embarrassingly be on the squeakiest massage chair ever, which screamed in protest whenever the masseuse touched me.  It also helped nothing that he was extremely attractive...I'd much rather be massaged by Quasimodo.) and a 20 minute leg massage.  It was lovely, and immediately after I took a nap, haha. Before we left we also made appointments for the next morning to fully take advantage of our spa weekend.  Before you knew it, it was time to grab some dinner to go and get back on the subway and go meet two of Shannon's friends who had camped out on the beach to save our spot for the fireworks display.  

I thought this was a cupcake when I bought it for dinner, but it was actually some sort of muffin/cupcake hybrid.  Not exactly what I was looking for...but it did have a HILARIOUS expression.

I was so thankful that Christina and her friend had gotten to the beach so early to scout out a good spot.  By the time we arrived around 5:45pm (keeping in mind the fireworks didn't start until 8:00pm) the beach was already THICK with people.  We entertained ourselves for the next few hours by taking pictures, eating, talking, and playing word games.

Look at all those people a full TWO HOURS before the festival started!  By the time the fireworks were going off it was just a solid covering of people on the beach.

Shannon, Erich, and Diana photo shoot.

Just one of the many, many, MANY pictures they took.

(Stolen from Erich's Facebook.)

The fireworks show was truly breathtaking.  I love that fireworks turn people of all ages into gasping, awed children.  There were some styles (shapes created) and colors of fireworks I had never seen before.  And the scale was just gigantic over the bridge.  Below are just a few of the best pictures I took.

Love the mixture of colors!

Super sparkly.

Such cool use of the bridge.

Huge!

Stunning.

Very cool shapes. (You can also see smaller fireworks being set off the barges.  And the water on fire.)

I love weeping willow fireworks.

So awesome.  The bridge rained fire like a waterfall.

Finale

After the show we hung out for a bit and then I went to bed fairly early.  The next morning most of the group went to a different spa while Diana and I headed back to SpaLand where I got an amazing 90-minute facial and Diana got a 90-minute European massage.  It was beyond relaxing.  So wonderful.  Then we popped into a few more sauna rooms (we spent at least 3 minutes in each!) before hitting the public baths.  Yes. I did it.  I got naked with about 50 Korean women of all ages and went in the public saunas.  It was...terrifying.  Thankfully when I take off my glasses I can't see anything but a blur of skin tone and black.  Sadly it does not work the opposite way...everyone can clearly see me.  Eek.  The first thing you do when you walk in is drop off your towel on the rack and go shower off.  Then you get into baths at will, before showering again and getting your towel.  After surviving the mortifying experience of just doing the baths I am beating a hasty retreat out the door and there is someone with their head down putting their hair in a towel right in front of where I need to grab my towel.  I pause for a moment so she can move, and I am horrified to see, as she flips her hair back up, that she is another naked foreigner and and now we are face to face.  "Oh...hey..." she says.  "Hi..." I say, shifting my eyes, grabbing my towel and fleeing the scene.  Aigh.  We just had time to throw on our clothes, check out, and head to the bus station where we met the rest of our group and boarded the bus back to Seoul.

Spa buddies.

This bus ride started out much more comfortably...better seats, a better temperature, etc.  We were cruising along and all was well until we hit HORRIBLE traffic.  Suddenly the hydration that had seemed so good while hanging out in the saunas all morning was coming back to haunt me.  I had to pee like...NOW.  I made the guy from our group who was sitting in front of us who spoke Korean go tell the driver that we had a bathroom emergency and I didn't care if he just pulled over on the side of the highway.  That is exactly what he did.  Erich, Shannon and I dashed up to the front of the bus, ran out into the grass, and as they held up my sweater I peed on the side of the road.  It was quite the day, let me tell you.  How much embarrassment can you cram into a 24-hour period?!  The bus ended up taking over SIX HOURS to get back...it was terrible.  We all hopped in taxis and went home.  What an adventure.

Sports Day!

I have had a love/hate relationship with Sports Day from the moment I learned it was happening.  The reason to love it were clear...getting to watch my kids spend a day having fun and doing group performances in awesome costumes.  The negative, however, was the hours of practicing (not exaggerating when I say HOURS spread out of WEEKS) that not only screwed up my schedule royally by moving or cancelling my classes with students in various grads, but also distracted students (and me) during the classes I did have.  All of the practicing took place out on the field in the center of the school, so every moment of repetitive music and yelled directions in Korean came right in my window any time I opened it to get some fresh air.  Trying to keep 30 fourth graders on task in English class is hard enough, but add in a room that is either too hot (windows closed) or too loud (windows open) is just about impossible.

I was all excited two Fridays ago (Oct 8) because things were finally going to get back to some semblance of normal.  However when I arrived at school earlier in the week I was informed that the date had been changed to accommodate for our new principal. I am not sure if I previously mentioned it, but my school's principal, who was supposed to retire in March, decided to just quit this month.  The school was informed that the new principal would be starting some time last week, but they weren't sure when.  They decided that Thursday seemed pretty safe, so they scheduled Sports Day for Thursday, October 14.  Tuesday, October 12 was scheduled as a practice day, so basically I didn't teach anything that day either.  Two days off in a week?  Why not.  

I must say I was a little frustrated by my co-workers on Tuesday.  It started when we all arrived early, as instructed, and were waiting in our offices.  For some reason the internet was down so I was beyond bored, and falling asleep as I was reading my Kindle.  They all got up to leave and I got up to go with them.  They told me that I could stay, but I told them I would like to help if I could, and besides, the internet was down so I had absolutely nothing to do.  They begrudgingly said okay, and we all headed outside.  As soon as we got outside they ditched me.  So basically I just stood around for a half hour, abandoned by the only English speakers (and it is not like they were DOING something, they just went to talk in a different area).  Then we were all told to go back inside for a half an hour until an announcement was made that practice was starting.  We went back in and once again I fought to stay awake with nothing to distract me.  When it was time to go back out, once again they told me I could stay inside.  At this point I was a little peeved, but I assured them I'd rather be outside.  They told JinHee, my fourth grade co-teacher that only comes once a week, to stay inside too, and she listened. I have no idea what she did all day.  We went outside and I was standing around taking pictures near where the rest of the people from my office were working/arranging things.  Then Yeon Ah came over and said the VP felt bad I was standing and he wanted me to sit.  I said I was fine, as I was up and about taking photos, but she insisted and went inside to get me a chair.  She placed this chair on the opposite side of the stage/podium thing from everyone else I work with, and told me to sit there.  So once again I was all alone.  Obnoxious.  Watching the practice was hilarious and entertaining, so I was able to let go of everything until we got back inside and there was a delivery for our office.  Apparently everyone in my office (later I learned every teacher in the WHOLE SCHOOL) got matching poloar fleece hoodies.  Everyone but me.  So that blew.  I hate feeling left out here, but it happens all the time.  It is just frustrating.

Thursday was a beautiful day- a little overcast and cool in the morning, but getting increasingly sunny and warm as the day progressed.  It was just a gorgeous fall day.  I rolled up in my new purple zip up hoodie (thanks Mom) that totally clashed with all of the other teachers' new polar fleece jackets, but whatEVER.  Not bitter at all...

After helping set a few things up I found a chair and settled down for some quality photography and cinematography.  The day started, as almost all events do, with a speech from the Principal (she showed up!) and Vice Principal, followed by a performance of the Korean equivalent of the pledge of allegiance and the Korean National Anthem.  Then everyone did the stretching program they have here.  There is a choreographed stretching routine that everyone is taught from like...preschool on.  Everyone knows it and it comes with this crazy song that sounds like Darth Vader is stretching somewhere as well.  Check it out in the video.  After everyone was all limbered up and ready to go, it was time to start the events.

Program for the day.  Lots planned!

The school all gussied up.

The podium/stage decorated by my coteachers and I.

Littlest returners goofing off before the day starts.  This picture captures each of their personalities perfectly: adorable, goofy, nerdy and mischievous. 

Try and tell me that my twins David and Grace (bottom right) are not the cutest thing ever.  You'd be lying and you know it.  I want Grace in my pocket.

Ready for the warm up.

Warm Up from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

The events for Sports Day fall into two main categories: Races/Games and Performances.  Every single class does their own performance and at least one race where everyone participates.  Then there are multi-grade races that involve student representatives from each class. The whole school is split into two teams: blue and white. 50 points are awarded each time a side wins a game, and at the end the team with the most points wins.  It was all organized really well and everything ran back to back pretty effectively.  It was easily the most organized event I've seen since coming to Korea.  There were a ton of parents, grandparents, and younger siblings that showed up to watch the events, which was really nice.  The district also sent out a handful of gentlemen and ladies that were way overdressed in their three piece suits, but it was nice that they came anyway.  

The first performance of the day was the Kindergarteners doing a a bee dance in five big circles on the field.  They were each instructed to wear yellow shirts, and then they were given wings and little head bobber things.  I was cracking up during the warm up because as I looked down rows of exercising kids I kept seeing flashes of little bees run by.  Apparently the dance itself is a folk dance, but the bee part was added for the viewers' benefit.  It was pretty adorable, even if parents kept rushing the field to take pictures/videos of their little bees, careless of blocking everyone else's view.

So little!

Doing the twist.

Someone is a liiiittle off.

Bee Dance from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

After the dances there was a generic running race for the first grade, and then a hilarious relay.  For the relay, four tumbling mats were put out on the field in two pairs.  Next to each pair was a large cardboard die with only the numbers 1 and 2 on it.  The entire fourth grade was split in half, and then lined up in rows of four.  The first row of four on each side was given a baton, and (holding hands) they ran out to the mats, rolled the dice, and the number that they landed on indicated how many somersaults that team had to do before running back to their line and passing of the baton.  It was extremely funny to watch the kids fling themselves face first on the mat in attempt to complete speedy somersaults.

First graders running.

Somersault relay.

It was so funny to watch.

Next was a fifth grade race where groups of 4-5 students at a time ran, dove through the slats in a wooden ladder than had holes about two feet tall by two feet wide, run, do a somersault, run, leap over a hurdle, and then run to the finish line.  It was like some kind of crazy army training!  By the end the ladder was almost broken from kids running into it full force!

Dive!

Roll!

Leap!

Three Part Race from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

Our second performance of the day came from the third grade.  The entire grade (roughly 150 students) participated in a choreographed routine using bedazzled hula hoops.  While they probably could have used just a tad more practice (or rhythm?), they did a great job and were very entertaining.  (Sidenote, I asked Ga Young to write down the Korean names of the dances we saw, and for this one she wrote down "훌라후프"...which literally translates to hool-la-hoo-puh...think that is the traditional name? Hahaha.)

Fourth graders on their way.

Ready for their performance.  They look like the Olympic rings.

Third Grade Dance from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

After the fourth graders were done the kindergarteners ran a very cute, very yellow little race before it was time for the first graders to take to the field for their game.  This was one of my favorites to watch.  The class was split in half and told to line up on either side of the field.  In the center, two pairs of sixth grade boys were stationed, holding two tall poles with paper mache baskets on top.  Strewn all around them were literally hundreds of hard little bean bags that were filled with rice.  When the whistle blew, the first graders all ran like hellions out to the center of the field, grabbed bean bags, and attempted to throw them into the baskets.  Now, I don't know when you last saw a first grader throw something, but their aim is hilariously bad.  On Tuesday during practice the boys holding up the baskets got the crap beaten out of them with beanbags, so on Thursday they were wearing bike helmets.  I told my coworkers that we should have been keeping track of the boys' behavior all year and sent the worst ones out to get attacked by first graders.  At the end of the allotted time the team with the most bean bags in their basket wins.

Kindergarten race...precious.

"They are like animals!" -Ga Young

Now you see why the sixth graders needed helmets!

Bean Bags Into Basket from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

The next race was for the fifth graders.  In groups of five, they ran out to a basket and chose a slip of paper from inside it.  Each piece of paper had a descriptor on it, like "wears glasses," "has stripes on their clothes," etc.  Then the student must find someone matching the description to pull into the race until the end of the lap. I had been warned this was going to occur and tried my best to hide, but to no avail.  I still don't know what the descriptor was, but at one point a boy came running up and said "MAGON TEACHER! YOU MUST RUN WITH ME!"  How could I refuse?  I just wish they hadn't announced my name (and only my name, mind you) over the loudspeaker as I ran.  Ugh.  Thankfully I was standing about 3/4 of the way to the finish line so it wasn't too embarrassingly big of a deal.

One of my coworkers got picked to run too.  What do he and the little girl have in common?  Your guess is as good as mine!

I may or may not have hidden in my office for part of the race and taken this picture.

Then it was time for the first graders to do their performance.  They did a traditional dance called "꼭두각시" or Ggokdogaksi.  Dressed in their adorable little traditional outfits their dance portrayed a couple just meeting each other on their wedding day.  It was pretty freaking cute.  The girls were supposed to act all shy and the boys just looked bored.  This time they had the kids perform it twice: once with the parents all held back to that people could actually see, and once when they were allowed to get close and photograph their child.

Adorable!

All the tiny engaged couples.

This pair was so cute.

The boy looks THRILLED to be getting married.

First Grade Dance from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

Next there was a running race for second grade, third grade, and moms.  Oh man, no kids fell while running the ENTIRE day, but you better believe at least 5 moms went down.  I think it was mostly due to inappropriate footwear.  Thankfully no one got badly hurt and most just brushed the dirt off and kept on running!

More races.

After the races it was time for another hilarious game to watch.  It was set up much like when the first graders threw their beanbags into the basket, only this time it was second graders trying use their beanbags to break open a large, oval, pinata-like thing that was being held up by those same unfortunate sixth grade boys.  They were like little bashees, screaming as they took the field and then going nuts.  You couldn't get too close or you had to dodge a stream of projectiles from tiny hands.  When the thing broke open a congratulatory message unrolled out of it and the kids went NUTS!

Boys battening down the hatches.

Chaos.

Duck and cover!

Winners!

Bean Bags at Pinata from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

There was also a tug of war competition for kids AND parents.

Tug of War from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

Parents Tug of War from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

The last performance before lunch was the absolutely precious second graders doing their "밸리단스" or Belly Dance.  I don't even have the words to describe how cute it was, you'll have to look at the video. Hundreds of tiny Korean second graders dressed in genie outfits BELLY DANCING?  Who thinks of these things?!  Whoever they are...I love them.

All lined up (those are my twins in the front)!

Love love LOOOOVE the outfits.

Where did they even find 150 tiny bellydancing costumes?!

I DIE every time I look at David's hip action.

Second Grade Belly Dancers from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

After one last relay race with representatives from kindergarten, first grade and second grade, it was time to go inside and enjoy a delicious lunch.  Kids went home for lunch so we got to take over the cafeteria and we had very tasty food and fresh fruit.  Then we had a bit of time to relax in our office before the festivities began again.

Relay hand off.

Directly after lunch it was time for the sixth grade girls to perform their "부채춤", or Traditional Fan Dance.  They looked beautiful.  Each girl came out in flowy white pants and a pink hanbok top.  They each had these large, beautiful, bright fans that they danced with.  They all looked so lovely and graceful, which can be a hard feat for a group of gangly sixth graders! My absolute favorite part was when they all snapped their fans out at the same time...it made such a satisfying sound!

A lovely sea of pink and white.

Their fans were beautiful, as were their costumes.

In formation.

Making waves.

Fifth Grade Fan Dance from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

After the girls performed it was fourth grade's turn to show their stuff in a race.  One kid literally ran out of both of his shoes!  The looks of determination on their faces was pretty funny to watch...they definitely gave it their all!

Fifth graders came out next to participate in a game that could NEVER EVER be played for American field day because it is wayyyy too dangerous.  The whole grade is split in two and forms two groups facing each other with students lined up in groups of four.  The outer members in the first group pick up a long pole made of hard, square wood that is covered with electrical tape.  On each end there is a rope and a handle.  The first pair takes the two handles and RUNS towards the back of the line, dragging the pole about four inches above the ground.  Each group of four has to jump over it in tandem...if you are just a little late the pole smashes into your ankle.  OUCH.  When they get to the back of the line, they lift the pole to shoulder level and run back towards the front of the line.  You better hope you crouched down after you jumped the pole or you'll get hit in the back of the head!  I tried to explain that this could never be played in the US because we live in fear that someone will get hurt, but I am not sure I really got it across to my co-teachers.  The whole thing made me nervous!

Jumping as it passes.

Jumping the Bar from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

After the fifth graders were done scaring the crap out of me, there was a relay where 할머니 and 할아버지 (grandmothers and grandfathers) came out and got to go "fishing" for prizes we had wrapped the previous day.  They were treated to such awesome gifts and toothpaste and ziploc containers.  Exciting!  

I think that lucky grandpa just caught some gift wrapped toothpaste!

Then it was time for the sixth grade boys to take to the field.  This was another game that made me extremely nervous!  Boys were grouped in sets of four.  One stood at the front, and two stood behind him.  The pair placed their inside arms on the shoulder of the boy in front of them, and held his hand with their outside hands.  Then the fourth boy climbed on top of them and sat on the arms of the two boys in the back, with his feet in the "saddles" made by their hands.  Two teams, made of multiple quartets of boys, ran out into the center of the field and tried to beat the other team by pulling off the boy on top's hat first.  It was just a total scramble that was asking for an injury, but everyone made it out alive.  Whew.  (This game is actually a version of that traditional harvest festival dance with the guys on the wooden floats that we saw at the Andong Mask Dance Festival!)

Saddled up and ready to go.

Sixth Grade Boys Battle from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

Fifth graders then came out to do their performance.  They performed a "탈춤", or Traditional Mask Dance.  Though they weren't wearing masks, they did each have these sleeve things that came off the ends of their hands to exaggerate their movements.  We saw people with costumes like this in ads for the Mask Dance Festival.  The song that they danced to is still stuck in my head.

Entering the stage.

Pretty well synchronized!

One of my favorite pictures from the day.

Fifth Grade Dance from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

Third graders came out for a quick tug of war in small groups, and then parents flooded the field to do a HUGE tug of war.  Again, I was nervous, but everyone survived.  I was standing there, watching and minding my own business, when my VP comes and motions me out on to the field.  Uh oh.  Apparently I was volunteered for some relay race with a bunch of other adults, including the brand new Principal, our VP, a random police officer, representatives from the district, etc.  Thankfully I was put at the end of the line because no one explained anything to me, so I just had to kind of wing it.  It was pretty simple: take the baton, use your foot to dribble the basketball (why not a soccer ball? not sure) around the cone, come back, hand off the ball and baton, you're done.  Sadly the brand new (literally just started that day) principal tripped over the ball and fell very dramatically in front of the entire school. I felt so bad for her.  The rest of us did alright but we couldn't make up for our lost time, so we came in second...out of two teams.  My consolation prize?  A tube of ginseng toothpaste.  It tastes like minty dirt.  It is exactly how I imagine it would taste if you put baking soda toothpaste on an actual dirty ginseng root and brushed your teeth with it.  Eech.

The last performance of the day was the fourth graders doing a "우산춤" or Umbrella Dance.  Dressed all in white, they came out with their little multi-colored umbrellas and did a synchronized dance.  I taped the beginning and then ran upstairs to my classroom to try and take pictures of the end, where they spelled out LOVE and a heart on the ground with their bodies.  I was pretty impressed with how quickly and clearly they spelled out the word...it was evident that they practiced a lot!

Umbrella dance.

Fourth Grade Dance from Meaghan Shanahan on Vimeo.

LOVE <3

The last race of the day was a relay for representatives from third, fourth, and fifth grade.  When it came down to it the two overall teams for the day were only 50 points (one event) away from each other, so that was great.  It was also just a lot of fun to see kids outside of their normal study mode.  They had a great time and were (I'm sure) exhausted by the end of the day.

Running as quick as they can.

Yellow/White team wins!

Throughout the day a couple of parents came up and introduced themselves.  Each one said a variation of "My daughter is Im SuMin in third grade.  Do you know her?"  Instead of saying "Well, I have about 600 students each week, many with the same name, and most who use English names in my classroom, so...no." I said "Of course! She does a great job in class."  One mom pressed me further about how she is worried her daughter is too shy when speaking English so I had to go into a whole spiel about when kids get more practice they'll feel more comfortable and she didn't need to worry.  Aigh.  I did get to meet one of my returners' parents, so that was nice.  

Speaking of the returners, I found out today that after many complaints from parents in my Hallasan (third and fourth graders) returner class, the teacher has been removed!  This is the heinous bitch that yells at the kids all the time, calls them stupid, etc.  I am so happy she is gone from their class...even if it means that she was transferred to my office because she'll be teaching science now.  She drives me nuts, and is one of the more annoying and lazy people I've had to interact with here, but I'm glad she's away from my kids.  Na Mi, one of the women who was in my office before, was transferred into the Hallasan homeroom, so I hope that works out for everyone.  I am just really proud that the parents stood up for their kids...I can tell they were trained in the ways of American school systems because that would never happen here!