Partay!!!

We celebrated June birthdays this past Wednesday. Birthdays turn out to be quite the event at our school and all the classes were invited down to the "gym" for the festivities. Jaewoo turned eight and Wendy turned seven.

But before we go on to the fun, you must understand East Asian ages. Koreans (and many other East Asian countries) count their age from conception, not from birth. So a baby is one year old when its born. Also, Koreans add the extra year to their age after the New Year, not on their birthday. In some cases Koreans are two years older than their physical age. A baby born on December 29th will turn two years old on January 1st (one year for being born and another year for the New Year) and really only be three days old. It can get confusing and a little frustrating, especially when a student is mentally and physically four years old, but they are in class for six-year-olds. But I guess the rest of the class is really five-year-olds... but they seem really young.

Wendy had a special birthday dress, and she was very proud of it. She made me wear the shall, which was fun for everyone. All of the students in Wendy's class brought her presents. They got in line and handed the presents off one at a time and practiced their English:

"Happy birthday Wendy!"
"Thank you, Ryan!"

Then turn and pose for a picture. This one is Wendy and Annie.

There was a big table up front for Wendy and Jaewoo to sit at with candy and cake and watermelon. All the other students sat on the floor around them.




This is Wendy and Jennet. Jennet could be the cutest little girl I know. Notice the V for Victory Jennet is using. The quirky Asian photo poses start at a young age.

Its also known as "V for Victory" over here. Not a peace sign. This was a new phrase for me.










This is Orange Class with my partner teacher, Michelle. Pretty smart six-year-olds. I look forward to teaching them a lot more than my other classes.

V for Victory.
When in Asia...

After the party the kids divided up into red and blue teams and had races. This was all in preparation for the big Sports Day we had on Friday. No class, just fun games and lots of cheering. More on that later.