Daycare Time

I went back to Auntie's daycare for more beatings. It was actually awesome - the kids are a little rough and they tend to tire out way, way after me, but they're really sweet and playing with them is a lot of fun. Today was a birthday, so there was cake.

 But first there was singing, and shuffling around, and pictures, and some kind of weird game where the birthday girls got to ride one of their classmates like a pony and got hoisted up in a fireman's carry. Then there was lunch. I think there's some kind of law against putting a group of kids in a room with a good-looking cake and making them wait that long to eat it.

The kids loved hamming it up for the camera. That lunch, by the way, is kimchi, spinach, omelette, rice, and seaweed soup. Who says kids won't eat healthy? Yeah, but if you gave this to an average American kid and told him it was lunch you'd probably have an epic-level meltdown on your hands.

After lunch, then there was cake. What? I wasn't waiting for it. Nope. Couldn't care less.

This girl was really cute. We played a lot, and this was one of the few times when my hands were free to take a picture. She made that top/spinner thing out of these interconnecting blocks. For the rest of the time, we threw plastic Pokemon figures at each other, played with toy cars, and got in fights with the boys. Most of those fights ended with me flat on the floor and about five kids on top of me.

We went outside for a while, and my God but I had forgotten how much fun a jungle gym is. I played on one of those merry-go-round things and wore myself out playing tag with the kids. I think they liked having an adult who would climb all over the play structure and chase them. I also got up on some bars and hung upside down. Well, they thought that was awesome, and they kept dragging me back to do it again. At first they stood back and watched, probably worrying that I would fall on my head. By the third time, all the blood was starting to go to my head and they had figured out that I wasn't going to fall. While my vision blurred, they tickled me, swung me back and forth, and tried to smack me like a pinata. Though it doesn't sound like it, it was actually a lot of fun. 

When we went inside it was some kind of quiet art time, so I grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil and started doodling anime characters. Pretty soon I was surrounded by kids wanting a picture. They gave me little 3x5 slips of paper and I'd ask them, "Yeo-ja? Nam-ja?" (boy or girl?). Then we'd pantomime or I'd draw thumbnail sketches of what they wanted for hair, eyes, and clothes. Pretty soon they were passing my pictures around like trading cards. It was pretty fun. When I left, Eun-mi said that they were asking if I would come back. I definitely want to next time I'm in Suwon on a weekday.

Oh yeah, and sorry I'm late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYSON. I can bring you back something from Korea, or you can save up your present and I'll bring you back something from Europe. Or, I dunno, I could just get you a video game or something. Whatever you want. Hope you had a good birthday.