South African week

This week is South African week at the Village. To commemorate South Africa day (like Canada day) we held an assembly... and let's just say I got a little verclemped. In the middle of the assembly, the South African ambassador and all of the South African teachers sang the national anthem... and then... without any prompting... all of the 350 students in the assembly held up and began to wave the flags that they had made the night before. One side of it was the South African flag... the Korean flag on the other side. Looking back it was a great cheesy movie moment... but it was just so overwhelming to see this sea of flags on their bright little faces... that me and a couple of other teachers became a little teary eyed. It was so overwhelming. Overall the assembly was really nice... it ended with a famous South African Chellist playing for the students. His stuff was really interesting... he played mainly origional works... which were all abstract. A part though that was a little over the top was when he decided to put down his chello and do a dramatic reading of HAMLET for the restless children. Needless to say, it didnt go over well... but come on... who would think that HAMLET would be a great thing to read to ten year olds?????
Next week we have 30 American students joining the Village. This is part of a cultural exchange experience that the Village and the Yongsan base organize about every 6 months or so. Last time it didn't go so well... since many of the children had never been exposed to each others culture... and well there were a lot of fights. Many of the Korean students got into trouble for pulling or playing with the African American students braided hair... while the American students were sometimes culturally incensitive. This time around though... we have been assured that the students are ready for this week... and moreso are willing to make a valient affort at getting along. (I'll let you know how that goes... though I am a little optimistic).
58 days and counting until I come home.
Cheers!