Field Day

Today was Field Day at my school. Since we have been back from Summer Vacation, an average of one class per day has been canceled due to Field Day practice.

I wrote about Field Day in a previous post back in May, but this is the bigger of the two events. Next week is Chuseok, akin to Korean Thanksgiving, and the students are eager for their week-long holiday. Field Day is a perfect release for their excitement. Here are a few highlights:

Not everyone loves Field Day. This student is faking a stomach illness.

I know this kid, and he doesn't strike me as one who would want to sit out of an athletic event. However, he is kind of a punk in class, so maybe this is a form of punishment. Anyway, he looks content to just play with caterpillars.

Here is one of the caterpillars up close.

A pop of streamers highlights the pre-event festivities.

As well as the pre-requisite (and environmentally unfriendly) releasing of the balloons.

After the national anthem, the new science teacher (and only other male teacher besides me) leads the group in some warm-up stretches. The stretches are set to music and are performed very quickly. I am not sure how everyone (that is my principal with outstretched arms) knew what to do. They must have been practicing while I have been secluded in my classroom blogging. Anyway, the stretches are hilarious and if I can get it to work, I will post some videos.

Only about a thousand more kids than the elementary school I attended...

In between races, an event company staged games for each grade. This is a tug of war game where the grade is split into two teams. When the cap gun goes off, the students run to the rope and pull.

Chaos ensues.

In addition to the games, each grade has been practicing a choreographed dance. The 5th graders used flags in theirs.

For this game, a set of mom's ran the rope underneath the jumping students and then back over the top. They had to race a team that is not pictured.

It seemed like every student's mom (and some dads) were there lined up along the side of the playground. Many brought their cameras and stationed themselves so close to the performers that it took away from the overall effect of unity.

For this relay game with one of the younger grades (maybe 1st or 2nd), the moms held onto a sheet which the student ran down over the top of, and back underneath.

Vendors were there capitalizing on the event. An ice-cream cone was 1000 wan which right now is about 85 cents.

My favorite event of the day. The parents raced to win a spectacular prize of a box of kleenex. Second place was a tube of toothpaste. Wouldn't you rather come in second? Anyway, on three separate occasions a runner tripped and face planted. Here is one such occasion.

The fifth graders blew up balloons and stuffed them into a long plastic condom bag. Then they formed a line and had to hit the bag filled with balloons to the students at the at the end of the line (not as easy as it looks). The end students then grab the condom bag and run it to the front. The team that gets there first wins.

One grade dressed in Hanbok- traditional Korean garb. You couldn't even see them perform because there were more parents than students crouching down in front of their son or daughter and snapping photos.

The 3rd graders incorporated umbrellas into their dance.

In this game, a group of parents and administrators competed by kicking this peanut looking thing filled with air down around a cone and back. The peanut was really difficult to control. One guy figured out how to just roll the thing by using the top of his foot. The guy in the picture is my principal who is already limber and ready to go after some intense stretching earlier.

Not sure why the boys have to wear the bare-midrift tops...

The 4th grade incorporated colored hoops into their dance. It's strange- everyone in Korean is an expert hula-hooper. I see them doing it in the gym all the time. I think that I can only do one or maybe two revelations, just long enough for gravity to do its thing.

For this relay, the students each had a basket. One at a time, they run and attempt to build a pyramid.

The red team barely won.

The day culminated in a huge relay race.

The problem with the race is that the track has an abrupt edge at the corners. Kids always end up slowing down by taking short choppy steps, or way too wide of a turn. Also, on more than one occasion a parent got in the way and totally wiped out a runner. Baton exchanges are also always a nightmare and inevitably lead to the trailing team catching up. When the race is over, the anchor from the losing team always cries. They forget about it though after their mom buys them an 85 cent ice-cream cone.