Lotte World

This week was class trip week.  The second graders went to Jeju (the small island off the southwest coast that Diane and I visited for Spring Break) on Tuesday and returned today.  So, we didn't teach any second grade classes this week, save one on Monday afternoon.  On Wednesday, the third graders went to Everland (like Six Flags) and the first graders went to Lotte World (kind of like Disney World, but mostly indoor.  In fact, it holds the Guinness World Record for the largest indoor amusement park in the world).  Each of the teachers was assigned to go on one of the class trips and Dionne and I went to Lotte World with the first graders. 

We had such a fun day, riding roller coasters with students, getting coffee with some teachers, looking around a folk museum that showed Korean history from prehistoric eras to the 1930s and eating an enormous and tasty lunch with all of the teachers.  Any time we were around students, they wanted to take pictures with us.  We were pseudo celebrities for the day and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it a little... :)

We rode several rides, both just the two of us and with students or Hyunjoo.  At one point, we rode a roller coaster that goes upside down.  Today, Hyunjoo told me that the other teacher that rode it with us leaned over to her and asked, "This is safe, right?"  Adorable.  

Perhaps the best part of the day was when we rode roller coasters with a group of about 12 students.  They were so excited that we were going to ride with them and they didn't even care that they had to speak a little English to communicate with us.  They told us that our mission was to make a heart above our head (a popular pose for pictures) during the last big drop of the roller coaster.  Sure enough, as we approached the last drop, we heard cries of "Teach-UH, heart-UH, heart-UH," reminding us of our "mission."  (In case you're wondering, the mission was completed by all involved :) )  So delightful.

Here are a few pictures that I pilfered from a teacher:

We were having such a great time that we stayed at the park until about 7:30 that night, making for quite a long day.  The next day at school, everyone, students AND teachers, were walking around like zombies.  Dionne thought we should get a second day off to recover...  I wouldn't have protested.  However, as it turned out, we only taught one class (plus my after school class), so it was a pretty easy day.