Field Daze

May called. She wants her sun back!

This week, my friends and I stood by for field day, or "Sports Day," at our respective elementary schools. All of the students, teachers, and even parents congregated at a local park and participated in team activities facilitated by an external organization. Not sure if all schools follow this protocol because Daebul's student body is bigger than other schools'. My school boasts 300+ students, while most other schools consist of 50 students (give or take a couple dozen).

We arrived at the park by 9am or so. Most kids wore white sweaters and sweatpants and put on red or blue jerseys to indicate which team they were on. From a distance, you'd think that they were donning America's red, white, & blue ... but Korea's national colors are also red, white, and blue (and black!)

Students lined up by grade, waiting for Sports Day to begin

1st grader

1st grader

2nd grader

3rd graders

Me: Make a funny face!
Them: *confused*

4th graders

The opening ceremony lasted almost an hour. I'm calling it an "opening ceremony" for lack of a better term.  Maybe it was a prolonged introduction. The students marched up and down the field. At some point, everyone closed their eyes and tilted their heads down. They spoke the pledge of allegiance with their right hands over their hearts. I remember doing the pledge of allegiance once upon a time. Do they still enforce that in American elementary schools?

The parents sat on plastic tarps that they brought and set up on the perimeters of the park. I randomly sat on the grass and wished I had a tarp. Where was everyone else sitting? An hour later, I realized that my school's administration was sitting together comfortably on chairs, under a tent, in front of the Sports Day procession. I nonchalantly meandered over there to find two of the office staff eating pork belly, tofu, and kimchi and drinking makoli (rice wine, 막걸리). They invited me over to join them, and I kindly obliged

VIDEO: Students marching up and down the field

VIDEO: Snippet from the Opening Ceremony

Lining up Red vs. Blue for the first activity

The guy in the yellow was our host/facilitator

Our host exuded a lot of energy and an upbeat attitude. He sported a curly perm, most commonly seen on older women and young children whose parents think that toddler perms are a cute idea. Bright yellow t-shirt. Lime green pants. And the Korean flag for a skirt. The combinations that Korean people wear in public never cease to baffle me.

The sky grew progressively darker until it started pouring. The kids gathered under two tents across the field, while the heaviest rain passed. Not everyone fit under those tents, so parents opened their umbrellas to create more coverage. The festivities ensued despite the rain.

Parachute activity

Parachute activity

Parachute activity

The host tallied up the colored red & blue pieces after the kids scrambled to flip them over during a timed period

Relay race

Everyone took a lunch break before resuming the games. The teachers and staff ate Korean food as usual. Kimchi, rice, and side dishes -- all day, e'rrryday. Sports Day ended with a raffle giving away heaps of prizes wrapped in red Lotte gift wrap or tucked away in gift bags. The kids took shelter under the tents across the field, while the facilitator read off names from the teacher's tent. Then the kids needed to run across the muddy field and through the rain to claim their prizes. It was pretty hilarious.

One of my 2nd grade students won and excitedly ran across the field. The gift required both of her arms to carry, so when she turned to run back, she folded in half because the box weighed down her entire upper body. Everyone laughed as a teacher came to her rescue and helped her back across the field.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to play nor teach English that day. Just went home early and took a nap. Pretty awesome by my standards!