100 Days Of School!

Seeing as Meg and I are less than 48 hours away from landing in Bangkok, I wanted to do a quick update on this past week. I figure that by the time we get back to Seoul we will have all kinds of Thai adventures (the newest one being a zip line trip we booked through the jungle outside of Bangkok!)

to update you on and this past week will not seem nearly as fun by comparison!

This past Monday was the 100th day of school for us at CIS so we were allowed to have a party. The kids were all told that they could dress up because the photographers were coming in and I was expected to plan activities dealing with the number

100. This proved to be slightly difficult since my Nemos can not count to 100 (nor would I expect 3 and 4 year olds to be able to). We made number 100 hats to wear and

then I planned on us making fruit loop necklaces using 100 loops. The plan was to do this together so we could count altogether, unfortunately, the photographers came in to take pictures when we were on number 7. Since the photographers need to get pictures of everything going on, plus each individual child, it ended up being a free for all with the children putting as many loops on their string as they could in 25 minutes. Some of my quickest children ended up with 100, give or take, while some of my slower students ended up with about 30. Our next activity was to make a picture out of 100 squares of paper. I had cut the paper up in advance and separated it into envelopes to ensure that each child had 100. While some of my students came up with some pretty colorful and creative designs, I had a couple who simply stuck stacks of about 20 squares on top of each other on the paper. In the end, I don't think any of my students actually glued all 100 squares on their paper anyway.

We rounded out the day by making a 100s day snack mix. Each kid brought in an ingredient and we mixed 100 of each all together. It turned out pretty tasty (even though I cheated and didn't actually count out 100 of each ingredient...way to time consuming with these kids!)

Today was another fun day at

CIS...fire drill day! I learned today that if there is ever a fire at CIS we will probably all be in trouble.

Mainly because the fire drill follows a procedure I like to call KL - Korean logic. Some things in Korea make a lot of sense and are done logically. Other things are so illogical, you just have to shake your head and say "whatever, its Korea" (hence where our motto came from). First, let me explain the layout of CIS. There are 4 floors, the first being just an entry, and the second through fourth having the classrooms. We were told that the "fire" was going to be on the third floor. The fourth floor and half of the third floor were to go to the roof as their escape plan. The other half of the third floor and the second floor were to go down to the first floor and out the main door. Then, we were told we had an order to exit in, that we had to follow. The fourth floor was to go to the roof first, and then the third floor could proceed (so the students on the floor with the "fire" had to wait). Likewise, I (being on the second floor) was expected to wait in my classroom until all the kids from the third floor came down and made it out (makes zero sense right?) The best part is that the school has fire escapes...but apparently only to meet building code. The harnesses used to lower people to the ground from the building (yep, no slides or ladders) take over a minute per person (by the time you strap them in, lower them, and than raise the harness back up) so they are essentially useless (here is a good example of KL). Also, there is only one way out of each room in the school. Every classroom has windows, but they are so small that even my smallest student wouldn't be able to fit through it. All of the foreign teachers tried to point out the flaws in in this escape plan, but to no avail.

Anyway, the fire department came and gave a presentation (in Korean) to all the students about what to do if there is ever a fire. Then, we all went to our classrooms and went about our normal day until they sounded the alarm. We were told there would be a smoke machine on the third floor, where the "fire" was. However, this ended up being false. The firemen filled the entire building with smoke. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face and I was expected to lead 12 three and four year olds down two flights of stairs. Plus, we were being told we needed to bend over (so we were below the smoke) and pull our shirts up over our mouth and nose to keep the smoke out (technically, the school is supposed to have a handkerchief for each student that they can use to cover their mouth and nose. You know, you can just grab them on the way out and pass them out. KL). Anyway, all my Nemos made it out, alive and injury free (although so slowly we probably would have lost a few had their really been a fire). All I can say is I hope there never really is a fire while I am in this country because as noted today, the evacuation plan is definitely not fool proof.

On to the good stuff though! Meg and I fly out Saturday morning at 10 am and arrive in Bangkok around 1 pm. We will be in Bangkok until Tuesday night when we fly to Chiang Mai until Saturday. We have an overnight flight on Saturday night, returning to Korea on Sunday morning around 7 am. Look for tales of our adventures and lots of pictures in the upcoming weeks!