Everywhere we have gone in Korea, we notice the children. Perhaps it is because our own grandchildren, all five of them preschoolers, are so far away right now. Maybe we just need a grandchild boost.
Or perhaps it is simply that the little ones are just endearing.
We found this little girl entertaining herself outside the Busan Museum, on a plateau between the museum grounds and the UN Cemetery where many Korean War dead are buried. She was energetically kicking her legs when I spotted her.
We have encountered many school groups at the educational venues we have visited. Trying not to draw attention to myself, I have photographed groups at the Busan Museum and this one at the Gyeonbok Palace in Seoul.
When the field trip to the palace becomes a classroom, the Korean children are like school children everywhere -- some are bored, some are distracted, and most are dutifully struggling to stay seated while the teacher talks.
One of the funnier aspects of encountering these groups is that the younger kids, all of whom are learning English, will take special notice of us, since we are nearly always the only non-Koreans when we travel around Busan. They will smile and giggle. Many will wave.
The braver ones will shout out, "Hi!" "How are you?" What's happening?"
Occasionally, we will hear something genuinely off beat or surprising, like "I love you." One little boy shouted to Donna, "You're beautiful." Makes one wonder where those lines come up during language lessons.
One of the more entertaining aspects of the moving classroom is to really see it in motion. Yellow safety vests help teachers identify who belongs and who is wandering off; and, sometimes, a couple of border collies just might come in handy.
On occasion an older child will come up to us in a store and ask in a serious voice where we are from. Learning that we are from America or New York State usually is enough information for them; they say, "Thank you," and retreat. This kind of encounter has happened often enough for us to think that some English teachers must encourage their students to try out the phrases they have learned. "Where are you from?" is a rewarding question to start with.
We have also occasionally engaged children in other places. On our trip to Seoul two weeks ago we had the joy of meeting Grace Oh's three energetic children and her brother Andrew's daughter.
For grandparents deprived of their own little ones, it's great fun to have them around. No wonder Jesus reminds us that the kingdom belongs to such as these.
This warmed my heart and reminded me so much of the many children I spend my days with...especially the part about them being distracted and dutifully trying to stay seated!
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your entry, I am reminded of a train ride I once took from Calais to Paris. A class of what looked like to be third graders boarded and proceeded to fill the seats around us. At two to a seat, there were quite a few. It didn't take them long to realize we were Americans and the train got quiet as they put their heads together and tried to remember every English phrase they knew. After a minute, one was delegated to speak to us and for the next 10 minutes, we responded to lots of questions like "Are you Americans?" "Do you speak French?" and "Do you like Michael Jackson?" as well as random phrases they had picked up "See you later, Alligator!". The teacher finally shushed them and apologized, but we enjoyed the children's openness and enthusiastic curiosity.
ReplyDeleteWe saw many sites in Paris on that trip, but the memory of the train ride is one of my fondest.