Kristen In Korea!: September 2013

September 19th was Chuseok in Korea. Chuseok ("Chew-sock") was celebrated at my school by the Kindy classes on the previous Tuesday since we had a long break and would not be in school Wednesday-Friday.

I LOVE THIS HOLIDAY. Days off, little Korean children in traditional Korean hanboks, I love it, I love it. There was a presentation in Korean for the kids about how to properly bow to their grandparents over the holiday. We played lots of traditional Korean games and they got to take home some red bean jellies (a traditional Chuseok snack according to my coteacher) that they had made on Monday during Cooking class. I was so tired by the time the day was over, and since it really wasn't a hard day at all, I decided the only explanation was that I was overwhelmed by how cute all of the kids were.

Below are pictures from "The cutest day of the year in Kindy".

First, a few pictures from the Cooking Class.

I remember not feeling well on this day and there being moments that I had to not smell or look at what was happening... so glad the camera was there to capture this moment lol

After making the jelly we helped the kids put the mix into molds.

After freezing over-night.

Final product.

On Tuesday I made sure to take pictures of each of my kids individually. Some of them loved their outfits more than others but they were all so adorable. Watching all the kids get off the bus that morning was definitely a highlight.

Juju

Arum

Daniel

Suyuna

Sally

Kristen Teacher

(I love Daniel in this picture. 100% done before the day even began)

First event of the day was a Bowing lesson for all of the kids. They learned proper etiquette for bowing to different people.

What I was NOT told about this little demonstration was my apparent involvement in this bowing lesson. Our kids were to bow to us and then we were supposed to "say something" to them... Don't we all just love getting put on the spot like that?

Not sure if this was before or after me & Claire's whisper conversation. Claire: "You have to say something!" Me: "Yea so I've noticed... What are you going to say?" Claire: "I don't know! Say something.. Go!" lol

I just said something like "Thank you Donkeys for being so great. I love you so much. Happy Chuseok."

Next we played a bunch of different games.

The first game was 제기 (Je-gi). It was like Korean hacky-sack. The traditional was to do it is very much like hacky-sack, but the way the kids did it was different. They had strings on theirs to be able to hold them and make it easier to kick the Jegi.

Next they played 투호 (Tuho). Tuho is played by throwing arrows into a jug/tube/something with a hole at the top.

And some of my kids were big fat cheaters.

The next game was a favorite among the older students that I have. I never understood what they were doing until Claire explained it to me during the Chuseok event. It's called 딱지 (Ddak-ji). From what I gather, Ddakji is played by putting one playing piece down on the ground and throwing the other piece at it hard enough that it will flip over. I've seen it played with actual plastic Ddak-ji toys with the older kids but from my limited internet research in attempts to explain it, it looks like paper pieces are just as popular.

After that, the kids played a hoop rolling game. I'm unaware of the term in Korean but I've definitely seen it played before this day at the Soellal event that I went to in the winter. It's played exactly how it sounds, and its freaking hard!