Gun Bae Means Cheers!

The sixth grade students had their graduation ceremony at school on Thursday. You would have thought it was high school graduation or something by the amount of parents, grandparents, siblings, and flowers that were stuffed into the gym, hallways, and classrooms of the 5th floor. Each child received a 'diploma' and as they came across the stage to shake hands with the principal a large professional photo was displayed in the background. Education is extremely important to Korean parents. They will spend exuberant amounts of money on private schools, tutors, etc. to help their children achieve. I have noticed how proud Korean parents are of their children's accomplishments and it is nice to see parents who show up for school events, which unfortunately isn't always the case back home in the US.

Just when I thought spring was about to show it's face, winter staked it's claim on February and we were hit with more snow Wednesday night/Thursday morning. It wasn't the nice fluffy kind of snow, either, this was the slushy, mushy, wet kind. I trudged to school not looking forward to a long day ahead.

The vice principals planned a teacher's outing or 'field trip' as I called it for the afternoon. We were supposed to visit Muuido Island to see the beach there. All the teachers loaded two buses which took us to Incheon, about an hour and a half to the west of Seoul. The bus was stocked with food, drinks, etc. and we were served lunch on the bus too. There was even maekju (beer)! When we arrived at our destination the police flagged us down and told the bus drivers the roads were too slick to board the ferry, so we had to turn around. We ended up driving to another beach nearby. I have never seen my co-workers or any adults for that matter behave this way in the snow. It was as if they were small children playing in the first snow of the season. Everyone was goofing around in the snow, taking pictures, and throwing snow balls at unsuspecting victims. It was actually a lot of fun to let loose and even though my feet were soaking wet from running through the snow, I actually had a pretty good time.

Korean 'box' lunch

snack on the bus- rice cakes and chicken stuffed peppers wrapped in egg

don't forget your umbrella!

Grace, me, Heeson, and Ms. Kim

Uggs in sand, never thought I'd see the day

group shot on the beach

After our playtime, we boarded the buses again and headed to our dinner location. We crossed the longest bridge in Korea, 5th longest in the world, on the way to the restaurant. This bridge connects Incheon Airport to Seoul. Dinner was not exactly my first choice as far as appetizing food. We had raw seafood; fish, clams, shrimp, octopus, eel, etc. You name it, it was probably on the table in cold, gushy form. I gulped down a few bites, but mostly stuck to things I could recognize like salad and noodles. Korean meals are always accompanied by alcohol. It is like a law here, especially when you are eating meat or seafood. As soon as we were all seated the bottles of soju and beer began flowing like water. I had a few shots of soju and my co-workers were impressed that I could do 'one shot' as they like to call it. It really isn't that impressive as soju is not nearly as potent tasting as vodka or whiskey. My male vice-principal was going around to all the tables pouring shots and making everyone do one with him. When he got to our table he quickly discovered that I was a 'good drinker' and we may or may not have begun a soju challenge.... Needless to say I let him win, but told him "bali bali" (hurry up!) as we downed shots which brought on a riot of laughter from my other co-workers at the table. I proceeded to do lots of soju shots and finally stopped myself before getting drunk. We hopped back on the buses after having a great time at dinner and in true Korean fashion our bus turned into a noraebang complete with TV monitor, microphone, and song selection book. I busted out the Beatles, "Brown Eyed Girl", and some Brittany Spears. My Korean co-workers loved it and were cheering me on and telling me I had a great voice. (Which those of you who have heard me sing know is NOT the case at all!)

dinner

Grace singing on the noraebang bus

What began as a day I was kind of dreading turned into a really fun trip. I think I even earned a little respect from my vice-principal and co-workers. Can't wait for our field trip next semester!

Namaste