Kimchi Escargot

Let the week of field trips begin! Okay, well it was only two, but still...That means some long days for us Kindergarten teachers. Constant hand-holding (a dangerous sport these days with the cold weather) and picture taking. Our first field trip was a fan favorite from last year- Kimchi making! The kids were herded onto the buses to head 10 minutes away to the kimchi village right nearby my apartment. Taken into that familiar room with the long table down the middle, we were greeted by a cute little woman who would be teaching the students how to make this national dish. The 7-year-olds had already done this last year, so they were seasoned veterans. The 6-year-olds listened carefully and patiently (HAh) until it was time to get messy making their own kimchi. Provided with aprons, sleeves, AND plastic gloves, the kids wouldn't be getting ANY kimchi on their clothes right? wrong. My little one, Jean, a well known messy eater in the classroom, managed to paint the entire forearm of her sweater with the bright red, chili-pepper-based sauce. How, I inquired Jean, did you manage to do that? A smile and a shrug were my answer. Hopefully her mom has some investments in Tide stock.

The careful one

AAND the not so careful

As I was taking pictures and commenting on the excellent kimchi-chef-skills I suddenly realized that our group looked like some underground, child-labor, kimchi-making rig.

Just trying to meet today's quota

After they were freed...I mean...finished...the students skipped off with a bag full of the fruits of their labor. We then got to play around in the small museum area that resembled a traditional hanok village with the small houses and wooden pagodas. Students could participate in traditional Korean games, however, as I am not well-versed in traditional Korean frivolities, the students and I made up rules to the games as we went along.

Traditional Korean hacky sack

 

Traditional Korean hopscotch

 

 The girls didn't know the difference. All that mattered was that they could get a turn jumping around and kicking the shiny silver magic ball thing. We also saw this-

Old Korean Woman: "Dear, you haven't played this in years. It's time to throw it 

out"

Old Korean Man: "I was planning on picking it up tomorrow. I just needed to tune it up...give it a little shine...take out the small mouse family.."

Result--Compromise.

Finishing work on Friday it was an early night for us Little America teachers as it would be field trip number two the next day. Yes. Saturday. I love my job I love my job I love my job. Just kidding, I really do. This was the graduation trip for our 7-year-old students who will be going up to first grade in March! Due to March being absolutely freezing cold (yay) we have the field trip now. Logical...

Stepping onto the giant bus, a change from the usual Little America vans, the students were automatically excited to be able to sit wherever they want! All the boys went back to the "cool kid" section, which is obviously the back of the bus, then we had the teachers' pets located in the front with us, and those floaters in the middle. About 10 minutes into the trip the "Are-we-there-yets" began. The farm we were on our way to was about an hour and a half away (longer with traffic, and let's be real, when does Seoul not have traffic). Therefore, these inquiries in to the ultimate arrival time to said location were a tad premature. We attempted to distract them from this fact by having them sing songs, and play games together.

The weather wasn't exactly the nicest, but luckily the majority of the trip was inside. Unluckily, the bathroom was not located in this building, therefore hundreds of umbrella-clad trips occurred. Usually once one trip returned another student suddenly really-really had to go. Too much information? Sorry. Just that a majority of my time spent on this trip was walking to and from the bathroom. Which, might I add, was covered in palm-sized spiders. Those were cute.

We started off the session by making 화전 (hwajeon) which is a rice cake, decorated with edible flowers, and then pan fried in oil. Yum! They actually aren't too bad, but a bit too oily for my taste. The girls enjoyed making theirs look beautiful and then insisting that they would get to eat their own creations. In the spirit of sharing I proposed a compromise (similar to the tuba one earlier). They could eat their own cake first but then would eat any one. They agreed. Crisis averted.

Me pretending to be a 화전 expert- look at the face of awe over there

Final product

 a burnt smiley face

After we ate the oily flower cakes it was time to do some tie-dye! I think I got a bit over-excited at this point. I haven't been able to do tie-dye for over a year and I've gone a bit crazy. This was not really like the kind of thing Tairen and I would do as we took over the lawn outside our apartment and soaked 20-plus items in brightly colored dyes, ending up tie-dyed ourselves. We were given a small handkerchief and a bowl of natural dye made from a yellow radish. After seeing my swirled design my girls tried to copy it. I told them no matter what design they did it would turn out to be beautiful. Whether or not they believed me, I'm not sure.

Teacher, how?

All ready to go

Getting yellow fingers together

kimchi squat at its finest

simple and classic- words to describe my Jenna <3

 After tie-dying it was time for lunch. The farm puts up a lunch buffet for anyone visiting that day. The spread is all made on site with freshly grown ingredients. Complete with delicious veggies and of course some kimchi, it was a great meal! We were all full and happy and ready for the next item on the list. It was time to learn about snails and silk-worms...Yayyy...The students listened to a presentation (always the age appropriate field trip activities here), then got to spin a sewing wheel to collect the silk. They could also see a pupae inside an egg. We had a couple students brave enough to touch it! Next, they each were the lucky recipient of their very own....one of a kind...snail! The kids were pumped, asking questions about how to take care of it, why it was sleeping, and what color poop it will have...

The last part of the trip was pear picking. At this point, the students and more so the teachers were cold and tired. Ready to get back to the warmth of my own apartment, my fingers were numb and begging me to stop picking pears from rain-covered trees in 50 degree weather. Each student was shipped off from the farm with a bag of goodies including a snail, 2 pears, a handkerchief, and a bag of yummy snacks provided by Little America. After a traffic-heavy, 2-hour trip home, broken up by several pee stops on the side of the highway as well as singing the same song over and over, we finally made it back to Little America. The students were reunited with their parents and we were free to go have a birthday dinner for Seol! Overall the day was a long one. Could really use another to get work done and relax for this upcoming week, but its back to work tomorrow!

54 days until I'm in DE <3

Korean of the post:
"아니요, 너는 달팽이를 먹을 수 없어요"
(anyeo neoneun dalpeangireul meokeul su eopseoyo)
No, you cannot eat the snail.