School Field Trip

 On Monday I joined my students and fellow teacher from Bannam Middle School on a field trip to Suncheon. Suncheon is a little over an hour away from Gwangju (a bit farther from where our school is in Naju).  The plan was to visit 2 different temples and a traditional folk village and hike a mountain at the one temple. Unfortunately, Monday turned out to be a chilly, rainy day. The kids were still excited and so was I.  I got on the bus and one of my 2nd graders (by 2nd grade I really mean 15 year old) asked me to sit with her. I was about to until the Korean teacher called my name to the front of the bus. The principal wanted to sit with me so we could talk and he could practice his English. I was fine by this, my principal is a pretty great man. We had some good talks about the upcoming Chrysanthemum festival in Bannam, the Yeongsanpo boat festival, about the temples we were going to visit and the folk village. 

We arrived at the first temple. I got off the bus and forgot my camera, but luckily had my iphone to use for picture taking. As I was looking around I was bombared my 6 of my 1st grade girl students (the 14 year olds). They started asking me questions and would clap when they hit their 3 mark. Mrs. Im, my co-teacher gave them all homework to ask me more than 3 questions on the field trip. I was excited that they were coming to talk to me and that they were practicing the things I taught them the week before! Some of the girls' walked up to the temple with me, talking the whole way. This was a big step for my students' who are usually too shy to answer me in the halls. The temple was really beautiful and there was music and monks praying while we were there. It was really colorful with lanterns hanging everywhere. Ms. No, the art teacher who joins my teachers' workshops and I climbed the mountain a little bit with some students'. These kids were all but crawling up the hill and complaining about how tired they were. I started walking fast and ahead of them and told them keep up with me. They all looked up and me and started saying "wow Megan is strong!" Some of the students crowded around me to ask if I like to hike and who I hike with, etc. One of the 1st graders (14 yrs old) ran up to me and said "Megan, I love you! But, I'm not a lesbian. I like men." I was impressed by how well she said this and also a little shocked, not by the comment, but that her English is pretty good. This girl always covers her face when I call on her in class and tries to get out of speaking, usually gets to nervous and I skip over her.

We headed back to the bus around noon and were off to the traditional folk village (I would write the name, but I forget it! ooops). When we arrived we found a dry place to have a picnic. I sat with a few 2nd grade girls, who were very kind as to share some of their lunch with me. I had kimbap for lunch, so as the girls' shared some of their food with me, I gave them some kimbap. They were too shy to take it, but I put it on their plate and insisted. I then walked around the village with Ji Sue, a very kind 2nd grader. We had some good talks. She kept telling me how beautiful I was and how she was fat and ugly. It made me kind of sad, I don't doubt that her family tells her that she is ugly and fat (she already mentioned that to me previously). She really isn't either. I told her she was beautiful (because she is) and told her she should tell herself that everyday. We then met up with her classmates and she bought me ice cream and insisted on carrying my umbrella (I had been sharing it with her carrying it, but then she didn't want me to have to hold it anymore). Seriously, these students are so respectful and awesome. I love it.

We then headed to the next location of Seonggwangsa temple. It was gorgeous there. There were lots of colorful trees that just made it wonderful. I took several pictures of the students or the ones that would let me take their picture. It was really muddy there because of the rain. But, it was still great.

We then jumped on the bus to head back to Bannam. They stopped in Yeongsanpo at the bus terminal for me to head back to Gwangju, so I was home around 4 ish instead of 5:30. Overall, it was an awesome day with my students'. I hope it helped them feel more comfortable with me, since they were able to get to know me.

some of the 1st grade girls

a few of the boys

                                                           

Traditional Folk Village

Seonggwangsa temple

beautiful 

favorite place!

Mrs. No and I 

Mrs. Ahn, the social studies teacher

Today was my short day at Bannam. I only had the 1st grade class and my teachers' workshop with Mrs. Im. Around 2 pm, Mrs. Im asked me to help her set up some pictures for the students' performance tomorrow at the Naju Performance Center. Some of the 3rd grade students painted some amazing pictures! It took about 10 minutes for us to carry the stuff in and set it up. I was at home by 3 pm. This is turning out to be an awesome week! I went to the bank to take care of some bills and decided since it was a beautiful (but chilly) day, I should go for a hike! I headed out to the mountain near my apartment and started to hike up. I am not sure how far the hike is or where the actual top of the mountain is located. I hiked to where my co-teachers took me 2 weeks ago. I took a few pictures of Naju with Gwangju in the distance and started to freeze so I headed down. It was probably a total of 3.5-4 miles. Some great exercise and it was fun!

Check out the rest of the field trip pictures at my picasa page!