On Thursday my 5th graders and 3rd graders were going on a field trip. The 3rd graders were going to a farm and the 5th graders to the Korean National Museum. I was invited to tag along and semi chaperon the 5th graders. All together the 5th graders consisted of four classes of 33 students or so. A typical size for an elementary school. This was the first time I had ever been on the opposite side of a field trip. I was always the one being chaperoned. It was a little different experience for sure.
I was so excited for the trip. I had been looking forward to it all week. Mainly because I love going to museums, and this one just so happens to be the biggest in all of Korea. Also I got to spend some time out side of the classroom with my students and their teachers.
Here in Korea it is customary and almost demanding that whenever someone leaves campus, including the faculty, that they must report to the vice principal and the principal before leaving. So Grace and I stopped by the their respective offices and said that we were leaving. They approved and we went outside.
It was 8:40am the kids and teachers were all gathered on the playground where the school principal gave a short speech to the kids. I don't know exactly what he said, but I am sure it was something encouraging to the kids. Something like, have a great day, be on your best behavior and learn a lot, maybe. Once the little assembly was done we all headed for the chartered buses.
We went with the 5-3 class and got on their bus. The bus was nice, equipped with a huge flat screen plasma and water cooler. They also provided Gatorade for everyone. Pretty nice huh? The drive took a little over an hour because of traffic. It was not too bad. But we were all glad to arrive. We made our way to a big open area and organized all the kids. And of course did a head count. We then went inside. The Korean National Museum was pretty big. It's also new, built within the last five years. We took the kids through one exhibit and then let them go on their way. They all had a worksheet the had to complete. I think the worksheet helped them learn a little bit about the different artifacts.
I too was given free time at this point and decided to take my own route through the museum. I learned so much about Korean history that day. Korean history is very long indeed, about 4,000 years or so. I had a difficult time keeping all the different periods in a chronological order. Mainly because their were multiple kingdoms in any given period. Also Korea had been taken over several times by the Chinese, the Mongols and later the Japanese. I found it all very interesting and enjoyed looking at the different displays of each period. The calligraphy section was interesting. I learned about it as an art form and not just a way of writing. My favorite part of the museum was the history of Korean map making. Since I love maps, I enjoyed reading about the process and development of accurate mapping and scaling. I could have stayed in that section for hours but unfortunately we all had to gather for lunch shortly. I visited the last section of the museum and then headed out to meet everyone. Oh ya, throughout my museum stroll all the students I passed from my school would always say hi, every time I saw them. Also students from every other school in the museum would also say hi. The other students would typically ask me my name and where I was from. They also loved to say, what's up. It was flattering at first but then got old after a couple of hours of it. But I was 1 out of 5 non Koreans at the museum so I can see why it was unusual for me to be there. I am assuming not too many foreigners visit the museum during the week because of work and school field trips.
I met everyone outside and we gathered all the kids and took them to the park adjacent to the museum. We found a grassy area and the kids all got comfortable and laid out their little blankets and broke open their home made lunches. The kids for lunch mainly brought Kim-Bap (Rice and Kimchi wrapped in seaweed), some sort of fried dumpling with rice in the center, a piece of fruit and a drink. The kids had me try some of their food. I could not resist, it looked delicious and it tasted delicious too. After all the kids began eating the teachers and I all got together. Some of them had made a picnic lunch for us. Grace asked if I like Sushi and my eyes lite up, I most certainly said yes. I love Sushi. Lt and I were just talking the day before how we were craving Sushi but did not know were to get it around our place. They spread the food out on the picnic table and we all dove in. It was so good. They provided soy sauce with wasabi already mixed in, just the way I like it. We had fresh cut up oranges and melon, they also had some grapes. All in all it was amazing.
After lunch the kids were given free time to play and run around. They were playing games similar to elementary kids back home. Like, a go and stop freeze game. Also a duck, duck, goose variation. Instead of tapping the kids on the head they held a scarf and dropped it behind the a kid's back and then started running around the circle. The kid picked must pick up the scarf and chase the kid running. It was a lot of fun to watch. After free time it was time to head back to the buses. We met up with some other kids who went back into the museum. We all got back on the bus and headed back to Baekbong Elementary School. Grace, the 5-3 teacher and myself all fell asleep on the way back. We were exhausted following the kids around. We got back at about 3:30pm, so it was a full day. I loved it and can't wait for the next field trip.
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