Ali's Adventures: Market Day

July 2nd was Market Day at our school. All year long the children do their homework, and extra work to earn stars, the stars are then converted to currenty and every six months they get to use the money they have accumulated to purchase cool school supplies, Korean food prepared by their very own teachers and also fun snacks. It is fun all day long, and the kids go crazy. The stars are such a good incentive to get the kids to work harder. Plus we had so much fun!

They called me "Mrs. Many Money" when they saw me carrying my sack of the fake "won" that we would hand out to the children. They may use Korean currency but any transaction had to be made in English!

They had signs showing all the places you could go... and even though we have been here a year sometimes the Korean teachers forget to ask us to check over things... Oh well, this way to the "rounge" lounge! (darn that R and L for confusing them so)

Here is May teacher cooking up a storm. They served different combinations of rice cake, fish cake and hot dog either on a stick or in a spicy red sauce. They also have pork cutlets and your choice of sauce.

All over the school they posted sheets to help the kids with the transactions. They could tell us the items were too expensive and that they wanted a discount... That was the most fun. We could make the kids sing for a discount or answer a question in English. We got some very funny answers.

Joseph worked in the Snack bar, we had our own Family mart in the school! They also served fun drinks like fanta and cola.

I worked with Jenny teacher in the stationery store. This was the table before the sales rush!

Ack, here come the buyers, we were prepared, but it was also a little scary. So many kids screaming " How much is this?", "discount, please?" Oh and most said"Thank you"

So many cool items, they have a hard time deciding what to pick. It can be a very laborious choice between a new pen set and a notebook!

And there are still a few who can ham it up for the camera. Peter is a hoot!

FINSHED! Stationery store is closed for buisness, until the next round of kids comes. They totally cleaned us out.

One of my students named Grace and I before the next round of shopping started.

Lisa. She is brilliant and she loves the Simpsons....Hence how she got her name.... I am pretty sure at least.

Lora, Lina, Kelly and Gloria checking out the goods. Lina was mad I took a picture.

So Much Shopping.

Hanna is such a cutie!

After Market Day we decided to treat ourselves to a dinner out, since we had gotten off work early and I didn't feel like cooking anything (and in my defense we had not been to the grocery store in all the busy Market day planning) So we headed to Meat Home.... which is pretty much like the name suggests. All meat and then you go home and feel sick. It is a family restaurant so you have to watch out for the kids. We had a super cute little guy at the table next to us...until he started going crazy and dancing with an umbrella almost hitting Joseph in the face, then he was an annoying little bugger.

For 12,000 won you can enjoy all the meat you can grill and eat at your own table. They also have other stuff that is premade, but everyone goes for the meat! They have all kinds of seafood, pork, and beef.... sometimes even duck and quail... depends on the night.
(yes I got odd stares as I tried to get a picture of the meat bar)