Sports Day

This past weekend I had a blast at sports day with my schools. The whole community comes out for sports day, including Grandmas and city officials. The best part is the grandmas, and the rest of the family participate in events.

One of my schools opened with traditional Korean drumming.

Once the formalities were over my fellow foreign teachers and I watched a few games, then we went into the lunch room for snacks. Snacks included fruit and alcohol, both of which indicate a celebration.

A small hour after snacks we had a wonderful lunch, and then it was back out to the games. One of my favorites was a relay where the adults wait half way around the painted track. When a sign is shown saying something like “Pretty Aunt” “Strong Man” “Big Belly” etc, an adult fitting the description steps forward to run with the child to the finish. It is absolutely the adults’ responsibility to make sure each kid has someone to run with, because that kid will keep running. Occasionally an adult had to chase a kid across the field so that they would have someone to finish the race with. I think it is really cute to see people running and holding hands. My colleagues told me to run with at “Likes to dance” and “Beautiful teacher.” After the race “Likes to dance” the principal stopped the races and insisted I dance in front of everyone. The embarrassment was short lived.

The woman in this photo is my fellow foreign teacher Stephanie. She was told to run at “wears earrings” Her ears are gadged so that a quarter could fit through the whole in her earlobe. Gadged ears are very unusual on Jeju, which has a reputation for being more traditional and insular. One of the third graders decided to talk to me about Stephanie’s ears while we played a game using adjectives. My student looked at me with such innocence and determination to speak. She said, “Teacher, Stephanie Teacher ears big circle. Scary.” It took everything I had not to laugh. Her eyes were so big, and she was gesturing. I was very proud of her for using the words we studied. Hahahaha:)

I was asked to participate in a few relays, races, and events. As if the pleasure of participating weren’t enough, I go prizes too!!! Prizes included barley, flour, tissues, and a towel.

I’ll leave you with this final video. This is a really hard event. Cheers!