It happened, folks. Hampyeong, my hometown, had its first real overnight snow of this winter season on Friday, December 16th, 2011. Now, the prophetic Mark Stassen, Hampyeong's longest tenured foreigner, had predicted a date of December 17th for the big white snowfall--apparently, for the last 2-3 years, Hampyeong has seen its first glimpse of real, here-to-stay snow on the 17th. 24 hours early might part with tradition, but it gave me a chance to do something I'd wanted to do for a long time in Korea, anticipating the winter: have snowball fights and make snowmen with kids. All day long. And so I did just that:
I was like a little kid on Christmas morning. Here's a rough view from outside my apartment, circa 7:20 a.m. Notice the car on the left that barely resembles a car, as it's absolutely blanketed. I'm happy to say there were at least 2 or 3 inches on the ground, and it was the best kind of snow--the stuff that falls light, but sits heavy.
Everything in Hampyeong looks cooler in the snow...I guarantee it. From the pavilions to the tacky little pyramid structures on which kids climb.
Buses were running quite a bit later than usual, and the trek to school definitely took an additional ten minutes or so. All things considered, though, Hampyeong seems to handle snowfalls pretty effectively. The drivers are infinitely more pissed about it, though.
And here's the scene out at Sonbul Seo, my Friday elementary school, around 8:10 a.m. As you can see, things are pretty blanketed out here. Truth be told, Hampyeong is one of the finest candidates for giant snowfalls in this part of Korea, being close to the ocean, but separated from it by various mountains and ridges that can catch the warm air and trap the relative valley in which Hampyeong and some of the smaller towns sit in air that's cold enough to hold plenty of snow. So even though I'm just a few miles from the ocean, the mountains are high enough to keep things cold enough for this to happen.
Walking up to the school, absolutely giddy for what will later take place. For now, it's off to the teachers' lounge to look like I'm busy for about 10 minutes before going outside and playing with all the kids--after all, I'm not on the clock until 9:00...
The boys were so psyched. "Sam Teacher! Class...snowfight?" Yes, boys. Yes.
Still waiting on the other 40 or so students from the school to join us in a giant kindergarten through 6th grade snow fight. The best part is that everyone seems to think I can hold my own against them, so it tends to be Sam Teacher VS. Entire School.
Anyway, the teachers weren't 100% sold on the idea of a 4-hour snowball fight as a viable substitute to English class. I can't really blame them. But we beat our longing to get outside by just doing some good Christmas stuff--watching videos, wearing awesome hats, playing some games, eating candy, etc.
Like so.
And so. Man, this game is too simple, but all Korean students seem to love it, because it gives them a chance to kick each other around a bit competitively--you just put a bottle, or a ball, or something in the middle, make the rule be that they can't touch it or they're "out," have them hold hands and continue to hold hands while they all try to push each other into the item. It tends to go on for hours and never have a clear winner, though...
As concerns about the snow melting and giving way to blacktop grew deeper and deeper, we just knew we had to make our way outside after lunch and get the party started in the snow.
And see stuff like this.
But first, let's drink more soda and try on more Santa hats. If only the supervisor would just leave the room so we could sneak out into the snow...
Bae Seo Youn is so giddy looking outside at the impending snowfall.
More mandatory Santa hat try-ons.
So embarrasssed.
My man Bond is absolutely relishing it. How happy and innocent and nice and cool does this dude look?
And then it was time! I had never seen students eat lunch so quickly. After eating, we all ran outside to the school yard and began work on some epic snowmen. And these kids are no strangers to that process--4th grader Mark got the ball rolling (no pun intended) immediately on that.
The epic teamwork begins. We had 3 solid snowballs for the snowman's body in less than half an hour. And believe me, these kids work and work and work at it until they can literally push a snowball no further--and then it's time for Sam Teacher to tag in and give it a roll for 5 minutes.
4th grader Joey went big with this one. And without mittens, no less! What toughness and commitment to his craft, eh?
3rd and 4th graders just defining teamwork.
Putting the finishing touches on a 4-5 segmented snowman that towers well over 5 feet high. This is solid work for about 40 minutes of snowball rolling and ice shaving. They had to remove any blemish caused by dirt, rock, or grass. It's all about the pure snow.
And now it's time to add some eyes and decorate this dude. Again, the attention to detail is absolutely insane.
Brian got a little tired of all the building, and just decided he's give himself a snow-made coffee table and pillow on which to recline for a while.
Little Tom is so happy. Cheers to the first snow of the season, bud.
I was so happy to have shared the first snow of Hampyeong's winter with these kids. As I may have mentioned before, the students of Sonbul Seo are significantly "out in the sticks," so to speak, moreso than students at my other schools--as such, I think they get really excited to do stuff like this together, even if it's just for an afternoon.
The other great part about this day was that, because my co-teacher wasn't there to take me to my usual bus stop, I had to take the school bus with the children. I rode shotgun with the cheerful bus driver who tried what little English he knows, got to see where all of my students live and personally say goodbye and thank them for a great semester, and ride in style to my usual bus stop in the next little town over. Then it was back to Hampyeong, where there was no longer as much snow as before--as it turns out, the more rural the school, the more preserved a school or town's snowfall generally will be. I'd never been so exhausted and cold in my life, and I'd never been so happy to be in such a condition.
And then it was on to the Christmas celebrations, which I'll touch on in my next post. Until next time, folks, thanks so much for reading.
Quick side note: my vacation has officially begun! After bumming around Korea for another 5-6 days, doing some hiking and various day trips, I'll fly to Thailand for 9 days with my boys Erik and Aaron. So I'll make a push to have you caught up on everything prior to Thailand before going out of touch with the world for a while. Expect another post tomorrow! Thanks for reading!
Lots of love, and all the best,
-Sam
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