Korea, Korea

Today we had an all-day field trip to the Korean Folk Village in Suwon. It was a beautiful day and the kids had lots o' fun misbehaving and not staying together. I tell ya, the safety concerns here are much different than at home. When the kid's at my mother's daycare go on a field trip they have enough parent volunteers for two kids to every adult. Here we were about five kids to every adult, and in a place packed with kids.

The elementary and highschool kids on their school picnics looked at us like they were looking at aliens. It appears that it really shocks them not only to see foreigners speaking English for real (it's not just a crazy language they learn in school and see on TV) but to see five year olds holding our hands and interacting with us without the blink of an eye.


It's funny. When I'm walking around the streets of Korea, taking the subway, negotiating through crowds, and watching people, I admitedly see the teenagers and the adults kind of in a different way, as part of a different world. But the kids are my kids. It's crazy to me that they'll grow up to be part of the world that I'm apart from.

Similarly, many Korean people look at me as if I'm part of another world. My kids treat me like their teacher. Will they grow up and forget about the close relationships they had with foreigners, and subsequently stare at these different people in the streets? Or will they always remember it and cease to be amazed by blue eyes?

I feel like I've written this before but what can ya do.