Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Sports Day and Children's Day!

This week is for the kids. That's right, Korea loves their children so much that they devote a whole week to their enjoyment! Wednesday is Children's Day, a national holiday in Korea. I am quite happy about this because it means a day off for me! Today, Tuesday, is Sports Day, which is what all of my students have been looking forward to since the Lunar New Year. They spent all day Monday practicing for it, and now they get to compete  today.

Some of my students were too tired to come to English academy today after their sports day activities. Their loss is my gain. I had 3 students absent in my kindergarten class and two of my tutoring students called in absent because they were too tired from the activites. I have two hours off to read and work on lesson plans.

Children's day is supposed to be a crazy day. Most parents get the day off of work and spend the day lavishing their children with gifts and taking them to amusement parks like Everland. My student "Sally" showed me her pre-Children's Day loot which included a notebook, some pencils and erasers, and a goodie bag full of junk food from her school. She also went to Lotte World over the weekend. Tomorrow, she is excited to go on a surprise vacation with her parents and brother and get even more presents.

Some of my older kids were telling me how sad they were for Children's Day. When I asked them why, they told me that once they become a teenager their parents don't buy them gifts anymore. This is the last gift year for a handful of my students. I feel like telling them that in America, kids don't have a national holiday so they should be thankful for what they get, but I don't.

A lot of schools are closed for up to three days for this holiday, so we're not expecting attendance to be very high for the rest of the week.

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