16th Mannyon School Festival

Last Friday my school held their annual festival where students have the chance to show off some of their hard work. It was interesting to see how talented and passionate students are about things that interest them.

The school set up a special purpose classroom to showcase the work of both students and teachers.  

I quite like the two artworks in the top left corner. 

And the artwork on the right. 

Here is a science project from some students. They made some speakers using a coil of wire, a bottle cap, a magnet and a plastic cup.  

Some artwork from teachers. The artwork in the middle is by one of my co-teachers and is a picture of her and her son.  

This poster is about different career paths. 

Outside in the hallway were posters students made to tell foreigners about Korea and its culture. Just as I took this picture, one of the teachers knocked over the easel. Action shot FTW. 

After lunch the whole school assembled in their home classes, and then walked to the theater where some would be performing. As you can see Autumn is in full swing and the trees are bright yellow. 

The theater was pretty big. I was a VIP so got a seat in the prime seating area with all the other teachers. 

I then used my teacher status to go back stage and take some photos. Here are some students dressed in traditional Korean costume all set to play the drums. 

Some more students nervously waiting in their Hapkido uniforms behind the stage.

These are not ugly girls, they are boys dressed as girls. This seems to be a normal thing in Korea. I regularly see guys dressed as women on TV in the name of entertainment. 

The stage crew. 

Some almost unrecognizable girls with lots of makeup. 

The 16th Mannyon School Festival started with the Korean national anthem.

And some words of encouragement by the principal. Apparently he also took the opportunity to announce that he would be retiring at the end of this year. 

Next, they played a video they had prepared showing baby pictures of various teachers. I make an appearance at 3mins 23 seconds. 

The first act were the traditional Korean drummers lead by an instrument known as Kkwaenggwari. A Kkwanggwari is a small flat gong used in Korean folk music. It sounds a lot like pots and pans getting bashed together. Personally, I don't enjoy the sound. The drums sounded good though and were coupled with students waving their heads around in unison. 

Then, a piano solo. 

Then a song.

Next up, recorders. 

This guy just got even more popular with the girls. He is tall, intelligent AND he can sing very well. 

Next up were some girls dancing.

Then, a Hapkido demonstration. 

And some Haedong Kumdo (해동검도) which translated means "Korean way of the sword".

Some more dancing

Then the boys dressed in drag dancing. All the students rushed to the stage to take photos up close of this.

Then finally, it was my time to dance. For the last week we spent half an hour at lunch practicing the routine. If you look carefully you can see me. I am hiding behind the incredible hulk to the left of the center.

The music stopped half way through. While waiting for it to start again, I decided to take a photo ^^.

Then, it was home time.