School Field Trip

Nintendo DS
The other night I went over to the kindergarten teacher’s home and played a Nintendo DS game with her 6th grade daughter. From navigating through a man’s nostril to tickling a woman’s armpit, this game was quite memorable. As I watched in disgust, Patty (the 6th grade student) was laughing hysterically throughout the time we were playing the video game. This was such a unique experience that I had to share about it. Later that evening we were on the computer playing a design game in which you put clothes on a half-naked woman. At first, I turned away, but Patty told me that girls on the beach with bikinis look exactly like the half-naked woman so it’s ok to look. My image of innocent Korean elementary students shattered as I realized while playing the game, skimpy clothing is pretty common in popular Korea (media, etc)…and this includes guys.

School Field Trip
I had two options. First, go with grades 4-6 to a nuclear energy plant 4 hours away. Second, go with grades K-3 to a fire station, the grave of a banished Korean prince, and a planetarium high in the mountains (all within a 2 hour bus ride). Of course I chose the multi-faceted trip. At the fire station we learned about what to do in a crisis (remember to call 119…not 911) and watched firemen model what they do (the fire station and ambulance were combined into one station). The thing I began to wonder is why we had to drive 1.5 hours to get to the closest major fire station. That’s pretty far. Next, we had a picnic in the parking lot of the grave memorial site and enjoyed kimbab, fruit, and chocolate bars. Walked around the memorial site and then headed to the planetarium where I slept through every star show and lecture. By the time we made it back to school, I was wiped out. However, in an hour I’m going to go back to school to order chicken and watch Transformers 2 with the 5th grade teacher as we prepare for a long weekend ahead (tomorrow we have school and Friday-Monday is off for Chusok).

Update: This morning as I was walking up the mountain from a trip to the bank, my neighbor stopped by as I was walking and picked me up in his car to drive me home. Once we got back he then gave me permission to use his bike anytime I needed it to go to the market or anywhere down the mountain. I don’t think he even knows that I’m American because he continued to speak to me in Korean and I think I successfully convinced him that I was 100% Korean hahha. Man, so blessed by this man.