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)