M.I.A. and Children's Day.

Hello friends and family,

I'm sorry I haven't updated the blog in awhile. A plague hit the school and I was one of the worst hit. I had to take all 3 of my sick days, and I am still recovering. Whatever the sickness is, it is still going around and has put many teachers and students out of commission....some even ending up in the hospital on IVs. It's been pretty scary, but luckily no one has been seriously affected by the illness. We are all trying to be very careful, and making sure there is enough soap for every to wash their hands multiple times.

A post that I was planning on writing before I got sick was about Children's Day...so here it is.

Children's Day is a huge thing in Korea. It is a national holiday. If it didn't fall on a weekend this year, we would've had the day off from school. But since it was a Saturday (May 5), we had our celebration on May 4th. The entire day was dedicated to our kids. Thursday night, all the teachers decorated the floors. We put balloons up on the ceiling, we made signs, bought gifts....we went all out. Koreans usually go out all with their kids as well. Parents buy their kids toys and presents, and take them to cool places like Everland (a giant theme park with a zoo/aquarium) or Lotte World (an indoor amusement park). It's crazy.

So the day of the event, I was in charge of the bubble station on the roof. The kids went crazy up there. This is the only place where they can be outside during the day, since we are all cooped up in a 5 story building every day. This was their chance to run around in fresh air, popping bubbles and dancing to music. They had a great time.

Joshua....He's 38 months. We all want to steal him...

And now you do too.

He became very good at making bubbles.

This is Jeff, Kyle's student. He did not like the soap that was stuck on his hands.

All the children got umbrellas from the school that they got to decorate with stickers and paint. The school gave them acrylic paint......Now, you don't have to be an art major to know that water + acrylic paint = watery paint. So we'll see how long those things last in the rain. Nevertheless, the kids loved painting the umbrellas. After the umbrellas, we got to do some face painting. I didn't get any pictures of my elementary students, but they were more adventurous with their requests. There were a few full face-painted dogs and bunny rabbits hopping around that day.

Ryan, Sarah, and Candy painting their umbrellas.

June picking out some paint.

The kids had a great time, and it was nice to put the books and the stress aside and actually have fun with the kids. I approve of Children's Day!