Run, Richard, Run...

On Saturday, my school had it's PE Festival, referred to as sportsday from now on.

I know I'm not supposed to work on Saturdays but the staff and students really wanted me to attend so being the nice guy that I am, I agreed. And remember, they did buy me a track suit so I couldn't really say no even if I wanted to.

I showed up at the field at 8:30AM and was informed that I had to take pictures all day. This was fine with me so that's what I did.

Unlike Wednesday when we had the sportsday "rehearsal," this one was the real deal and the whole park was packed with parents and a few vender's to keep them fed. Many of these parents shyly approached me and said the typical Korean English phrase "Nice to meet you" and quickly retreated back to the comforts of their native tongue. I did appreciate their gestures, I must admit.

The whole event was well organized and went off without a hitch and I was quite impressed with it all. There are a lot of students at this school (over 40 classes in all) and all of the teachers had their classes well prepared. The field was decorated with many flags, they had a sound man with a P.A. system, but they still didn't have enough water for the kids.

They also had a wide variety of events and performances, such as races, dances, games and a tae kwon do exhibition put off by some of the students. The were breaking boards and everything!

The parents also got involved in some activities such as tug-o-war and some races.

There were also some other games that would be too difficult for me to describe here but I'll post some pictures after the holiday (oh yeah, I get Tues-Friday off this week because of the Chuseok Holiday, kinda like their Thanksgiving which is the biggest holiday of the year in Korea).

The weather was beautiful and I didn't have a cap. My head is now burnt red and I have a farmer's tan on my arms and neck. I sometimes wonder about the sacrifices I make for these little Korean learners...

After lunch the kids played a traditional Korean game that was like a scavenger hunt, but instead of finding items and objects, they had to find a person who met the criteria on the sheet of paper that they randomly drew from a box. Once the kid found an adequate person, they both had to make a lap around the field and cross the finish line. Its a pretty cool game.

Here are a few of the things that were wrote on the papers.
-person in a suit...
-a soldier...
-person wearing black dress shoes...
-etc...

They also had my name on one of these sheets of paper so I had to do a lap with a grade six kid, and I was much faster than him I must add.

I also had a camera in my hand and sunglasses, so nearly every kid who needed a person with a camera or sunglasses came running to me. I must have made about half a dozen laps by the time the game was finished. It was funny because many people complimented me saying "Richard, you run very well."

I guess I still got it, and yes, life really is like a box of chocolates...