Kay oh Ray: the accidental weekend.

Part 1: The concert.

Last weekend was a busy one for the teachers of Corem.

Since early November, all Kindergarten classes (and their teachers) have been practicing for the annual English concert which involves songs, dances, and dramatic numbers performed by each class. Scripts are written, revised, written and revised, songs are added, scratched, added and dances are choreographed and practiced until the moves are burned into the children’s minds. This Saturday was the day that all of the kids would put their skills to the test. After doing two dress rehearsals in the morning, the actual concert went on at 3:00pm for family and friends of the students.

in kindergarten, cute = immunity against punishment.

The kids worked incessantly hard, as did their teachers... sometimes resorting to brute force to get kids to learn their moves, lines, positions, or correct voice volume. This part of practicing was a little hard to accept for us foreign teachers, knowing that even looking at a student wrong at home can land you without a job. But, this is Korea, and we spent the day in a dressing room with small children running around in their underwear while they were often slapped by their Korean teachers, who would then play and laugh with them 2 minutes later. The ‘corporal punishment’ aspect of the job is never something we are expected to do and honestly, not something we see a whole lot, but something that just feels normal in this culture. Something else that is apparently normal is for the kids (boys and girls both) to all wear the exact same white tights underneath their clothes.

Kevin, who seems to be in a perpetual time-out.

After going through the entire performance two times, it was finally showtime for the kids - and us. Most of the English teachers also had parts in their kids’ plays, and we donned our wireless microphones to speak lines that most of the audience wouldn’t really understand, while standing awkwardly facing the crowd, hands on hips.

we all get our 15 minutes, right?

Though we didn’t really get to see the fruits of our labour (as we were stuck backstage with the kids), the smiles of adoration on the parents’ faces when we sang the final closing song as a full school pretty much made it worth it. Yes, I know that’s pretty cheesy.

Because our school has a kindergarten program, which some kids spend 3 years in, there is somewhat of an elementary school atmosphere at work which creates a more cohesive environment than I think many hagwons (private afterschool schools) have.

Overall, I was pretty proud of our little ones.

Because the concert was held on a Saturday, we missed out on most of the day and ended up with only half of a weekend..... or so we THOUGHT!

surprise snow day!!

On Monday morning, during Tim’s third annual Valentine’s scavenger hunt, we happened to peek out the window at about 7:00am and were shocked to see all of the dong covered in snow! We went about our normal morning routine, just in case, but all the while were hoping to get a phone call dismissing us from work, at least for the morning. My prayers were answered and at about 9:00am I got a call telling me classes would be off. Though I had planned to sleep all morning if we got so lucky, I ended up being so excited to not have work, that I couldn’t settle down enough to sleep and actually ended up doing school work all morning anyways (isn’t that how it goes, teachers?)

a valentine... right in the face. boyfriend of the year.

After lunch, when we heard that afternoon school would be cancelled too (yaaaay! goodbye 830am-700pm workday!) we ventured out in the white and searched for an appropriate snowman making location. Things we found along the way:

Though not a 'dump' by Canadian standards... for a place that doesn't get snow, it's a miracle!!

Bank employees having a noon-hour snowball fight.

Bank employees clearing the parking lot with piece of plywood.

A Korean salt spreader.

A Korean woman who we found with an umbrella in one hand and a shovel in the other. As good CDNs we tried to help... until some more aggressive Korean men came along and did a better job.