Chusok with the Children

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Chusok is the name for Korea's version of Thanksgiving Holidays. This year we apparently lucked out as to what days the holiday fell on because we only had to work the Monday of the week!!! The Tuesday was National Foundation Day (October 3rd) - separate from Chusok, but nonetheless it was still a day off! Chusok day is actually the 6th, but the 5th and 7th are also holidays. The idea is to allow people enough time off work so that they can go back to their hometowns and spend time with family and also visit the grave sites of ancestors. As a result, most large cities become deserted and highways are rammed with carloads of families traveling to their hometown.

During the Monday of this week all the kindergarten children came to school dressed in their hanbok's (a traditional piece of clothing that is worn on special days). The day was exciting because we didn't do any teaching, just activities to keep them busy. In the morning we went over to the park across from our school and just sort of hung out while taking pictures in various locations. The major picture being all 13 kindergarten classes sitting on steps leading up to the park (sadly I only got about half of the kids in my picture). The rest of the day was spent doing arts and crafts. Included are a bunch of pictures taken both in the classroom and at the park. FYI there are only 9 pictures of the kids because Ashley went to Europe for the break. Lucky girl! I've tried to ask her where she went, but she doesn’t seem to know. Although, I did get some bath salts as a present with Polish writing on it. She also gave me a chocolate truffle that I recognized as being from Austria. Either way, she said she had fun. Enjoy!

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Photos

Group by the Fountain
It took awhile, but we finally got them all setup for a shot by the fountain. Most of their eyes are closed because they were all complaining about the sun.

Agnes
Here's a pic of Agnes in her hanbok.

Ryan
Here's Ryan in his hanbok.

Justin
Here's Justin in his hanbok.

Soo Bin
Here's Soo Bin in her hanbok.

Rebecca
Here's Rebecca in her hanbok.

Sunny
Here's Sunny in her hanbok. She's always giving weird smiles. Sometimes I wonder where her head is...

Tim
Tim in his hanbok. This picture reminds me of Aladdin with his baggy pants and shirt.

James
James in his hanbok.

Julie
Julie in her hanbok.

The Girls
Here's the girls sitting on one of the park benches (minus Ashley).

The Boys
Here's a group shot of the boys in the park. It took me awhile to get them all sitting still on the bench beacuse there was some bugs just behind the bench that caught their attention.

Group Shot
This is the picture with about half of all the kindergarten kids in the school. Class Pluto is sitting on the second step from the top, on the right.

Group Shot on the Hill
Here's class Pluto sitting at the top of a hill.

Comments

[Mom]

Where's your picture wearing the hanbok??? Maybe next journal!