School festival;

Wow, last post seems like a bit of a downer, doesn't it? Let's talk about something happy!

So, it happened two days ago already, but I feel I should really talk about our school festival. At every Korean middle and high school, festivals are a given. It's sort of similar to the school talent shows in America, I guess? One of the cute things about the festival is that pre-talent show part, the students turn their classrooms into little restaurants/stalls/shops and sell things to the other students. There are games/food/etc. Unfortunately, at my school the students didn't have much time to prepare, and because the festival was held in the early afternoon, students from other schools couldn't attend, but it was still a lot of fun. Two of my girl students kidnapped me and tried to get me to join in their student-made "dance club." XD;

Unfortunately, I myself had to perform in the talent show segment (HAHAHAHAnotbychoice), so during the morning I was pretty fixeated on that and couldn't enjoy the morning festivities all that much. Once I had sang and made a fool of myself, though, I was able to enjoy the students' performances. And let me tell you, they put me to shame. Some of my students are seriously very talented! It was really eye-opening for me, as I rarely see my students outside of the context of an English classroom, and we all know that foreign language is not everybody's talent. Many of the students who have been written off as "low-score" or "low-level" were some of the most amazing performers I saw. There were dancers, singers, what have you. One of my advanced girl students rapped! She was so good. Another student did a comedy act where he impersonated teachers--he even did me. >>; I was laughing so much, both in embarrassment and amusement. Some of the third year boys sang "Missing U" by Fly To the Sky and it was pretty dead-on, I was shocked. I saw one of those third year boys today and was surprised at how different he sounded while talking. XD; (I don't teach third years so I know like none of them.) There was a magic show done by boys from another school (so-so), and a dance performance from another school, too (I liked them: they did a complilation of "Nuna nomu yeppo," "Haru Haru," some old American R&B song and "This is the New Shit" by Marilyn Manson. Somehow it worked.)

But I really like OUR school's dance teams, as well. ONE TEAM DID A KOREANIFIED SOLDJA BOY. I almost died when I saw that, seriously. It really is surreal to see some of your most hellish students dancing like professionals on stage, seriously. It was weird enough to see them out of their uniforms. One all-girl dance team featured one of my favourite students (which is strange because she is SO BAD in class, she almost never pays attention), Jin Hwa. NO, J.H. is not the prettiest girl, as any all-too-honest Korean person will tell you. She's short and slightly chubby with a round face. Her facial features are fine but not pretty--at best she's sort of cute. Usually when I see her, she's wearing black owlish glasses and screeching "SHABON!!!!!" at the top of her lungs at me. But when she got up there on stage and started dancing, she looked hot. She didn't dance inappropriately or anything, she was just really good at dancing to point where you can't stop watching her. Honestly, it was really surprising, but a nice surprise. I've often wondered if my students have ever had any time to foster other interests outside of school, and it seems like some of them have.

After the festival, I went out to dinner with the co-workers in my office. Afterwards, I was walking with my co-worker back from the restaurant, and she commented on how seeing all of the students perform so well was a little depressing for you. I can sort of relate--it's sad that these talents are not appreciated at all in school, aside from one day a year (festival day). At my HS school, too, academics were considered the most important, but there was still some appreciation for arts, performance arts, sports, and so on. At a school like Yeong Heung where many students are trying for Seoul universities (the most competitive in the country), there's not much time for anything other than studying.

In the two days since the festival, things have pretty much gone back to normal, and only two of my students have given me crap about my singing abilities thus far. =D I sort of wish another festival was happening soon, but sadly there won't be another one until next year. Maybe if I'm lucky there will be one in the spring! (fingers crossed.)

Note: I do have festival pictures (not terribly good ones, they're so blurry) and a video of the rapper girl, but I can't post them here because I'm not supposed to put up pictures of another w/out their permission. =/ So if you want to see them, email me or something.