Anyways, i get on the bus and sit in the middle of a large handful of children. Some say, "hi!" to me and others are too busy talking to their friends.
So after an hour we end up here:
I have no idea what this says. The only thing i remember is Joanne telling me something about our field trip being called "Picnic by the stream with pear blossoms." Ya, ugh ok. So regardless of not knowing anything about our day i was very excited to be here. From what i observed, it was a farm, but it also looked like a summer camp of some kind. There was a pool in the distance, archery, a stage.... all kinds of fun activities.
So our day began with making toys out of sticks, pine cones, and a paper cup. Well the teachers ended up making the toys because there was a hot glue gun involved. So we made these:
There is a string attached to the stick. Attached to the string is a pine cone and you have to try and get the pine cone in the cup which is attached to the end of your stick. Nothing new, but fun.
After that, we rushed over to another tent to make organic red bean soap. We cut up some glycerin and then melted it together with some red bean powder. And poured it into a mold . And viol-la! Soap! But it has to sit for a week before you can use it so we took home some soap that some other school made last week. I didn't get any picture for this one. I wish i did.
After lunch we walked up to a house. Its comforting to see a house after only seeing high risers and apartment buildings. We went into the house and it had a "traditional style" mud walls and old wooden doors. The mud walls are good because it allows the house to breathe. It looked like this:
The entrance
The woman in the blue shirt and jeans is my boss. :)
The inside.
As usual we had kimbop for lunch. I can always eat kimbop. We also had a side of kimchi fried rice. Kimchi is the fermented spicy cabbage dish that is served with every meal here. Im not a big fan if kimchi, but kimchi fried rice is great! It tastes like jumbalya (sp?)! Then, Joanne proceeded to tell me they sometimes add pork or sausage too. Hmm, sounds familiar. Lunch was quick, yet satisfying.
After lunch we got to make herb rice cakes (funny side note, Koreans pronounce the "h" in herbs, haha). So the rice gets cooked with the herbs, which in this case is wormwood (apparently Koreans use this herb often) and then when the rice is ready it is super sticky. But then, they might even add more herbs and then mix it together by hand. Then, the fun part comes! There is a low wooden table and two wooden mallets. The rice/herb dough making process begins. The chef places the "dough" in the center of the table and then two people grab a wooden mallet and stand on either side of the table. They alternate pounding the rice/herb dough until all the grains of rice disappear. Since the rice is sticky, water is places on the end of the mallets and under the pile of dough on the table. The process looks much like this:
Veronica and Sunny give it a whack.
Joanne is the other woman in the photo. She is the woman who lives in the same apt building and who has helped me out tremendously since i have been here.
Harry and Huey
I got to give it a try too. It was fun. It would be a beneficial way to let any frustrations out if need be ;)
After the pounding is complete the dough is rolled out and pulled into tiny pieces and placed in a red bean powder. They looked like little uncooked chicken fingers.
Harry and Huey trying to find the perfect piece.
It wasn't too bad. Koreans love rice cakes. I dont really care for them. I will try them, but i dont really return to them. The red bean paste tasted almost like peanuts. So not so bad, and i couldnt taste the wormwood. Overall, i think i would just make the rice cakes for the fun of it.
So im beginning to think we went to a red bean farm maybe. I should have figured this out. Well, if it isnt a red bean farm we now know that Koreans love red beans.
After lunch we snapped a quick photo of Ginny class. Joanna is their teacher and Joanne is like my "co-teacher." That is not really the best name for her, but she takes care of me. if i have a problem i go to her first, then Ann. So since she is my designated helper, I stay with her and her class. I usually end up being one of the students buddy since there is an odd number in the class. I dont mind. So here is Ginny class:
Ginny class is the oldest of the bunch. They are 7 Korean age, about 5 American age. (I will share more in detail about that later). Most of the time i forget how old they really are. I think, "ya, youre 7, you can totally handle this," but no. Ok, back to the story...
So, after rice cakes and posing for pictures we stroll back down to the fun area and on our way we see these:
This little table was by the house we ate in
And so were these! Most awesome tents ever! I have no idea what they were for.
Another Ginny photo shoot. This was near the house we ate in.
Once we ventured down the fun area we got to enjoy some cotton candy! Heck yes! The day just kept getting better! So i snuck some photos of the little ones. Oh ya and the cotton candy was spun on chopsticks.
Jacob. He's adorable.
Arina. She's a princess, a chowing down, going to town princess.
Dave. Oh Dave. And Julie.
Huey and Kevin P.
And after cotton candy we got to ride on a tractor? I don't really know what was pulling us, but we sat in a cage like thing. Its like some one read my mind and wrote down some of my favorite activities and put them all in one day. Bah! No but really. However, all i could think of was driving around in Haiti!
("MMMOOOOOooooooooo")
Yay! They were so excited! Joanna and i hopped in there too!
And don't worry, this is totally safe. It is metal tubes fixed with electrical tape. Who knew that Korea and Haiti are so alike!?
After driving around the parking lot three times it was another classes turn. We headed below to an amazing play area. There was a big trampoline, some traditional Korean games, archery, swings, and this awesome slide! We first headed to the trampoline. I miss big trampolines, so fun. Usually im the small one who gets launched, i amlost forgot that now im the big kid whose gonna launch the little ones. Ginny class looked like little noodles. They would jump and half the time never really catch themselves. They'd just fall and giggle.
Traditional Korean game. Kinda like a teeter totter but you stand and jump. It takes a little bit of coordination.
Swings, hula hoops (which i showed the kids how to do, but they couldnt do it) And and epic slide.
Kids running with excitement across the archery "range."
And now, the slide. So, you grab a disk to sit on and the lady get the slide wet first:
Then you get pushed off and fly!
Huey
Jacob again
The picture is small, but his face is quite terrified.
William (aka "dinosaur")
This is the vice principal/ admin of our school. her English name is Melanie, but she doesnt like being called that. Shes a little shy, but from the little i do know of her shes pretty funny.
This is Sunny Teacher (thats how Koreans call one another, by their titles)
She is with the babies, the boy she is with has some separation anxiety issues because he always cries if he is left alone with me in a room. But if we are outside somewhere, he's totally fine. But regardless, he really stinkin' cute.
And yes, i totally went down the slide. It was the first thing i eyed on the play ground area. It was quite fun! I could have done it all afternoon, but the field trip wasn't for me (unfortunately) it was for the children. I hope you enjoyed reading about today!
