The school threw me a birthday party...

Well, not really, it was a School Festival. But it was still fun, and a great way to spend my birthday!

Every year the school has a 2 day long festival. The school clubs perform, there is a talent show, they set up things for sale and artwork done by students in art class throughout the year. Students began preparing weeks in advance, dancing in the halls, singing in huddles before class. It was fun to see everyone so excited (especially since, generally speaking, I only get to see my students study). They canceled classes and pulled students out of others for rehearsals and preparations, they even hired a professional MC! So when the big day was upon us, I was really excited. Yes, it was after school, and yes it was on my birthday, but I didn't care. This was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday, with my amazing students (and friends that came along for the ride).

The first day of the festival, there were several classrooms that were set up selling food, taking pictures and doing other various things, all for a small price. But the main event was the talent show. Students could put together their own groups and work together for the auditions, singing, dancing, some playing instruments, but not really anything other than that (not like back home where someone might twirl a baton or do a poetry reading). Adrienne joined me after school was finished to walk around and enjoy the different attractions. We took the traditional Korean Polaroid photos (and I got a few done with co-teachers) and took a look at the different food items for sale. Fortunately, or possibly unfortunately, a group of girls had run up to me almost immediately after school, shoved a cup full of smiley-face french fries into my hands before screaming "Happy Birthday Teacha!", so I was pretty full for the rest of the night and therefore didn't buy any of the other goodies. We were stopped by a few students to practice their magic tricks on us (Adrienne and I have great theatrical skills, 'OMG so amazing! How did you do that?!'), then we headed to the main event, the talent show.

These people weren't joking around with this talent show either. There was fog, there were lights, they had outfit changes, there was even a professional announcer. And these students were good! They sang and danced so well. I was so surprised and really enjoyed seeing my students have fun. Half way through, Kaleena joined us and Adrienne had to leave and a little later, a student of mine joined us and stood with us for a while. It was so cute. A few times I noticed the principal looking my way, even pointing once, later I was told that he was really surprised that I was there, and even happier that I had brought friends. Brownie points for Allie Teacha.

The next day Adrienne came back to my school to enjoy yet another round of performances, this time done by the students that were in dancing and singing clubs (they weren't eligible to enter the talent contest). It was so cute, multiple students had told me they were performing and that I just HAD to watch them. So every time another group came onto the stage, I was like 'oh, I have to watch this one too'. Some of my favorite boys performed a mash-up of some of my favorite KPOP group dances that they had been going on an on about, and it ended up pretty awesome!

After watching many of the performances, Adrienne and I headed to the "Scare House". They had transformed the 4th floor (including the area right outside of my classroom) into a haunted house walk through. Fortunately for us, we got teacher treatment and were taken straight to the front of the line (otherwise we would've been waiting for an hour or so, and at that point we would've just left) then got grouped in with some other teachers from my school. So we were walked around the 4th floor, students jumping out of lockers, hiding on top of them, and standing creepily in the corner. Then the first room came and Adrienne and I were shoved in by ourselves. Problem was, we had to complete a task, and the task directions were written in Korean. So we stood in the middle of the room, not having a clue what to do, finally realized that we had to walk to the back in order to be scared out of our whits, then were allowed to leave the room. The rest of the haunted rooms we walked in with other teachers, explaining that we needed people with us because there were Korean instructions. I have to admit, some of these rooms were actually scary. My favorite was when we were outside waiting to go into the next room and the female gym teacher decided to grab my ankle and scare me to death. And one room, while we were walking around in the dark, someone scared us and I went tumbling backwards, flinging my shoe across the room. All in all, it was actually pretty entertaining.

A popular girl group dance

The winners of the contest

The entire festival was incredibly fun. I will know for next time that I need to ask a few more questions, go to a few more rooms, and save room for the goodies.

PS Here are some videos I found on YouTube of my students' performances...

Some of these boys totally surprised me

The 3rd grade girls that apparently are going to go into dancing

At the 2:00 mark they start dancing to the most popular song/group in Korea right now... well done

The KPOP compilation from some of the boys (the ones that kept telling me I HAD to see their dance, they know I like these groups)

Happy Birthday to me... But I'm not any older

Here in Korea, though everyone (obviously) has their own birthdays, they don't "age" on the day of their birth. Koreans all add another year to their age on New Year's Day. Therefore, even though it was my birthday, I'm still the same age here as I was before my birthday. Now that's a birthday I can celebrate. If I leave Korea before New Year's then return to Korea after, does that mean I'll never age again? Sounds like it is worth a try.

We celebrated my birthday over several days. Wednesday, the day before my birthday, I was swept away by my friends without knowing where I was going. They took me to a bakery where you buy a cake and decorate it yourself. It was super fun. It started out looking quite professional if I do say so myself, but then we got a little excited with the goodies and it ended up looking... GREAT! Just maybe not so professional. We then headed out to the new Mexican restaurant and they treated me to dinner. After dinner, they sang happy birthday and I made a wish. I wasn't planning on sharing my wonderful looking cake, but since they DID buy it for me and DID help me decorate it, I supposed I had to so we demolished our beautiful artpiece and chowed down.

Thursday was the day of my birthday, and I had to work. BOO. I woke up and opened my huge stack of cards from my family before getting ready and going to school. Not many students knew about it at first, but word spread quickly. Miss Jane brought me a small gift and I had a few students come in to say 'Happy Birthday'. My sweet newspaper students brought me a tower of choco pies after lunch with a candle on top and sang to me (though there were a few 'da da DA da blah blah blah blah's because they forgot a few of the words in the middle- which made it even cuter) and enjoyed choco pies with me before they had to return to classes. Except one second grade boy, he forgot and came running in right after the others started leaving, brushing his teeth and saying "Sorry teacha! I forgot! Happy Birthday! So sorry!" all the while toothpaste spitting from his mouth. Needless to say, the newspaper president yelled at him for forgetting, made him go spit out his toothpaste and come back to wish me a proper 'Happy Birthday'. It was so darn cute. That evening was the first day of my school festival and Kaleena and Adrienne joined me for part of it, then Kaleena and I went to grab a simple dinner.

Friday just absolutely made my day. Miss Yang's 1st grade girls class came in after lunch with a cake, candles and a poster with little heart post its with messages on them. They sang to me and wished me happy birthday, I cried, they recorded it. It was so touching, I gave them all hugs and have read their cute little messages over and over. One girl's was in Korean, she came to me and pointed to it. "Teacha, I did Korean. You are learning, right? Can you read?" When I read the characters for the first sentence then said in English "Happy Birthday", then read the second sentence in Korean, then in English said something along the lines of "study Korean" they all broke out in applause. They were quite impressed. I also had a few other classes sing to me (in English and Korean) throughout the day. One student brought me the card that Kaleena made for me (it had pictures of us on it, so it was obviously mine) that I had left in the gym during the festival the night before, and when she went to give it to me she acted like she couldn't speak English (I know she can) and ran out the door. I followed her, asking for her to give it to me, and when I rounded a corner, she, another girl and one of my favorite boys sang to me. So cute, nice trick. That night was the festival again, which Adrienne came to, then we headed to her school's festival after.

Saturday we had decided to go to Hotel Ariana, which is a nice buffet style restaurant with a live band (that is quite good!) and unlimited beer (good, craft beer) and wine (not so good, sweet wine). We ate then headed downtown where we had a few more drinks with some of our other friends (there were several birthday people that night), then a small group of us headed to a noraebang (karaoke room) to finish off the night. The festivities even stretched to Monday, when another envelope full of more cards from family arrived.

I really have to say, this birthday was STELLAR. It will be very difficult to beat. I got to spend it with great friends and my students made me feel so loved. I already have my birthday poster hanging in my classroom. And yes, both cakes were completely eaten (oops).

Exam(in)Nation

When I first arrived in Korea I noticed one HUGE difference between Korea and America. No it wasn't the language. No it wasn't the food. No it wasn't the difference in looks. Those were too obvious. Those were things I knew about. The biggest difference that hit me immediately was their education system, or rather the stigma that surrounded education.

It amazed me that, when I walked into school at 8:20 every morning, the school was already full, students were already studying. Heck, some students were already in the hallway being punished. What amazed me even more was the day when I exclaimed to one of my 1st grade (freshmen) classes "Well at least its 7th period! You get to go home soon!"... if only looks could kill. "Teacha, we have class." I quickly moved on from the subject but approached my Korean co-teacher after class.

High school students, at least my high school students, have 8th and 9th class from 4:30 to 6:30. At this time, some students leave for "academy" (aka private tutoring schools where classes are small groups), but they can only leave if their homeroom teacher has confirmed with the parents and the academy that they do, in fact, have academy classes. If not, the students stay. We serve dinner at my school from 6:30 to 7:30, then they have "night study", where the students do supervised self study from 7:30-9:30. At 9:30, most students go home. I realized this one night when I was walking home from the store at 9:45, 2 huge bags in hand, and was met by a swarm of uniform-clad students. WTF are they doing out so late?! Oh right, they are just getting out of school. Notice I said "most" students go home at 9:30. If you are one of the lucky, smart students, you get to stay until 11:30. Yeah, you heard me. Its like you are punished for being smart, being held captive at school until nearly midnight. And even after that, many students go home, to only continue to study. Oh, and did I mention that they go to school on Saturdays and study on Sundays as well? Families spend THOUSANDS of dollars a year on private academies (not even one on one tutoring, but small group study).

So I quickly realized that school here is treated a LOT different than back home. Students are allowed to sleep during class, because teachers know they don't get much sleep anyway. It seems like students can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, in between classes during their 10 minute breaks, on the bus, I've even had a student fall asleep standing up in my class (though students sleeping in my class is rare).

But it isn't just students that study. When I walk into the teachers' office or when we are having a "self study" class in my room, often I find my coteachers watching online lectures. Crazy. Its like this country never stops studying.

But this week I saw what all of the fuss was about. All the teachers in Korea know that the biggest day of any Korean student's life is the day of the Korean SAT. The big test that determines their entire future. And I don't say that lightly. Yeah, the SAT (or ACT) was important in America, but remember, we can take it more than once. We can choose when we take it. And it SURELY isn't as crazy stressful as it is here. Students literally spend years of their lives studying for this one test that is finished in (a mere) 9 hours. Students take the test so seriously that many study until 1-2 am, the stress is so bad that it drives many to have health problems, and some even to suicide. Its a very unfortunate situation (and that's the nicest way I can put it otherwise I'd be here for a while expressing how I really feel).

On a day that the world seems to stop, Korean 3rd grade students (seniors) AND teachers are a wreck. Businesses open late, subways and buses increase frequency and police patrol the streets to avoid any traffic issues. I've even heard you aren't allowed to drive your car during certain hours unless you have a student with you (or are returning home) and it is illegal to honk your horn during testing hours. The country even shuts down ALL AIR TRAFFIC during the listening portion of the test. Yes, military drills and international flights are all postponed until after the listening test is finished. Police stand outside each school, and sometimes even escort students running late. Younger students and parents stand outside the school cheering the students on as they arrive, giving them tissues and beverages (on this stressful of a day, I'd hope that beverage is some sort of strong alcohol, however I'm sure it was something more along the lines of hot tea or orange juice). Adrienne and I decided to wake up and go gawk at the chaos, but where we were there wasn't much to see, only parents escorting their children to school (laced fingers and all) and a few students with encouraging posters.

Entrance to my school on the day of Suneung

The Korean SAT, or Suneung (soo-nung), is comprised of 5 subjects: Korean, math, English, Social Science/Science/Vocational Studies and Foreign Language (usually Chinese or Japanese, but can be others) or Hanja (traditional Korean writing/language, which is different than what they commonly use today). It lasts from 8am to after 5pm. Teachers are afraid that they will do something to distract the students. Complaints include teachers clicking the mouse on a computer, opening a window, a too-strong scented perfume, standing too close to a particular student's desk and even sniffling. My co teachers were all so tired today (the day after the test) because they literally had to stand still, afraid to move, for the entire test.

One co teacher told me how, at her old school, a teacher confiscated a watch because they thought it had calculating capabilities. The student, therefore, wasn't aware of the time and didn't finish the test (there are no clocks in the rooms). The parents sued the teacher for close to $50,000 to cover living and study expenses for the next year-until the student could take the test again, and the school made the teacher go to their house every day to apologize because they were afraid the family would come after the school. If students don't do well on the exam, they literally spend one year studying and tutoring for the retake.

It is really crazy how much these students study. But they are quite smart. I mean, I teach 700 students and I'd say quite a few of them are on their way to being tri-lingual. Yes, English study is required, but they also study other languages. Not only that, they don't use calculators. And I'm pretty sure they still do the same calculus and trig problems I did in high school. Its crazy. I really can't wait to see if the rate they are going makes them take over the world, or if something completely backfires. Lets hope its a happy medium.

If you have 20 minutes to spare, I'd REALLY suggest watching this short documentary about a day in the life of a 3rd grade Korean student. I've been here 8 months and there were things in this documentary that I still didn't know about and that still amazed me.

Click HERE to watch the Documentary

Also, an article that was written a few years ago about Suneung. Click HERE to read the article.

But, a crazy testing day for 3rd graders means a free day off for me! So me and some other high school teachers went out and enjoyed Korea's autumn beauty.

Adrienne, myself, Lauren and Joanne

At the botanical gardens of Daegu