Snow slides, sprained ankles, fun house, churros, merry-go-round, bumper cars, bruised knees, peanut butter roasted squid, elevator doors closing on you, lovely hotel room with 5 colors of wall paper and mood lighting, burritos and margaritas, cough-syrup-flavored-saltine-ice cream-corn flake-parfait, green tea lattes, more burritos, and a psychotic trip to Costco...sounds like the Griswald's Daegu Vacation. SO MUCH FUN!! 

Each time we start or finish a class, there has to be a ceremony.  Since my classes are generally 1-2 weeks long, I attend these on a fairly regular basis.  This week I got to attend a few so I thought I'd mention them.

An opening ceremony usually proceeds as follows:  A brief welcome statement will be made by one of the Korean staff members, everyone stands for a salute to the flag, we remain standing while we watch a video and sing the national anthem.  Then, an important person will be introduced to speak.  This is often the superintendent or the director from our facility.  The person talks for about 5-10 minutes.  I have no idea what he/she is saying.  At some point, the person usually points in our direction and then everyone laughs.  When this speaker finishes, the initial speaker returns to the microphone.  We get introduced one by one.  When our name is called, we are to stand, face the students and bow.  Once we're all introduced, we may go to our classrooms.

Same thing every time.  This week I was finally told why we get laughed at...turns out that we're being complimented.  The superintendent says something to the effect of "These are the best native teachers we have had at this institute.  They have received good scores.  Too bad they can't understand me". <<insert laugh here>>

The closing ceremony is basically the same...welcome, salute to flag, national anthem, then closing statements.  Today was slightly different as we were presenting some awards to the gifted students.  I was selected to represent the native teachers and to pass out 5 special certificates to the kids.  I was a little concerned as my pronunciation of Korean names still sucks.   So, prior to the ceremony, I inquired about my duties.  I was told that I didn't have to say the names...just hand them the certificate.  Cool...sounds easy enough, right?  WRONG.  There is proper procedure for  distributing certificates.  The student will come up to you, you have to examine the certificate and look impressed by it  (WOW!), then hand the certificate to the student with both hands, then follow with a  bow.  It would have been nice to know this PRIOR to the first student coming up to receive the certificate.  Oh well, I'm just a dumb foreigner who doesn't know anything, right?    (I love being able to play that card! HAHAHA).  After I passed out the certificates, I was to give a short speech about the students as a whole.  Next all 5 native teachers were called to the front of the room where we were to take group photos with each of our classes.  After the photos, the rest of the kids received their certificates then headed out.  We were instructed to line up in the hall and say goodbye as they left.

Ah yes, another closing ceremony completed...and tomorrow, yet another one.  Next Monday will be  the opening ceremony for the parent class and next Friday will be the opening ceremony for the new native teachers.   And so it continues...open, close, open, close, open, close....

Last night, my friends took me out for dinner and noribong.  Noribong is the Korean version of karaoke.  Instead of singing at a bar or restaurant in front of a large audience, Koreans rent a singing room for a few hours.  In the room, there is a TV, some microphones, a tambourine,  and a song book.  Pick the songs you want, then sing with your friends.  It's so simple, fun, and extremely popular.  

We also took some time to stop by a photo booth.  These things are all over Korea.  It's similar to the photo booths that we have in the States, except that they are much larger and you get to decorate the photos afterwards.  For whatever reason, I find these to be so fun and silly.  

Here are a few pictures from the evening.  If you're one of my OC peeps, and you suddenly have the urge to visit a Noribong, the good news is that there's a nice one in Fullerton...Ziller.