Don't be a play...a hater

The background for My Dino Pet.

So for the wonderful month of February, which is when kids graduate and move up to the next level of their schooling (for 7 of ours kids it meant the transition from our Hagwon to a real school).  Graduations are of course a huge deal in Korea much like at home, they actually have graduation ceremonies for kindergarten of all things.  I actually remember graduating from the kindergarten vaguely, I slid down a twisty slide and grabbed a piece of paper out of an elderly woman's hands.  So of course our private school was going to go all out for its dinky graduation.

Manda coloring in a roof.

We were informed at the beginning of February that we would be having the children do a play for their parents.  This is the first time the school has attempted this, and it would be for sure a train wreck even before the first curtain call.  Manda and I combed the internet for the least painful plays we could possibly find.  Originally Manda had chosen Peter Pan, however decided to go with the classic Stone Soup since her kids have the attention span of gerbils.  I grabbed a nice little play written by a 12 year old Mexican child by the name of "My Dino Pet."

Working hard on the Stone Soup background.

The month was painful and long, but it was all worth it when we finally finished the night and had a nice long three day weekend.  I had everything ready and Manda and I had even custom made our own backgrounds for the plays to make them look a bit better.  The children themselves actually had costumes ordered from them, Manda's poor villages became fruit and vegetables (for some reason).  My students who were supposed to be 3 small children, a mother, a doctor, and a dinosaur somehow became wizards, a sailor, and two ring masters.  I am not really sure what the the director was thinking with that one, but it is hard to complain about it at this point since it is after the fact.

The little trouble maker.

The star of my play "Peter the Dinosaur" had a blue dragon outfit.  The child I starred in the role is the biggest airhead in my class, so I figured he would enjoy running around on all fours and roaring like a dinosaur.  He certainly performed his role as a crazy lizard.  When the play actually started instead of staying in the cage that he was meant to wait in he ran around the stage and fought me when I tried to put him back. After much coaxing he stayed in his cage and the play went on.  Then when it came to the scene change he once again fought me to stay on the stage, and I literally had to drag him off the stage.  It was pretty mortifying but honestly it was pretty funny not that I can look back on it.

Insert scream goats here.

The best part about the play though is that we are now halfway done with our contract here in Korea.  It is hard to believe that as I am typing this we are 5 and a half months from our flight home.  I have some more content planned for the blog very soon so I shouldn't be such a ghost on here anymore.  Look forward to some very...interesting posts in the future.