Today ended up being a very busy day. We had to pack everything so we could check out of our hotel. Most of the students were ready to board the bus promptly at 10:00 am. Those who have been late to the bus the last couple of days have had to sing a song on the bus. Michelle stops them after they board and they have sit in the front and sing. We have had wonderful renditions of Old MacDonald, Happy Birthday, Arirang (Korean folk song), as well as some other favorites. One boy in particular sang a great cover of Bruno Mars "Grenade."
The two B-boys, who were brothers and actually from a group called the Gaby Nest, joined us for most of the day and met us at the hotel. While we went through the Aquarium at the COEX Mall, they were warming up for our own private show. The aquarium was a very good one. I personally always enjoy the penguins, otters, and seals.
We went to an open outside area of the Mall where the B-boys had set up the equipment. The performed a couple of songs for us before dividing the students into two different groups, A and B. Each B-boy took a group and taught them a couple of very simple dance moves. Then the two groups "battled." Group A ended up being declared the winner, but both a member of each group was presented a T-shirt of the Gaby Nest by the B-boys later in the day.
After the dancing, we ate lunch at Outback Steakhouse (delicious as always). The students were then given about 30 minutes of shopping time at the mall before we moved on to the Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is just that, a tower that overlooks the city. Inside the tower was also a rather peculiar but very interesting Teddy Bear Museum. You'll need to see the pictures to understand it, but they took each Korean time period and set up teddy bears depicting certain eras. After the teddy bear museum, we took the elevator to the observation deck of the tower. What I thought was neat about it was the each window pane all around the tower observation deck had world cities and the distance from that point to the tower written on it. I took pictures of a few.
After the Seoul Tower, we went to the Seoul Animation Center. This was a huge disappointment. What I thought would be interesting and very interactive ended up being just 3 rooms that had drawings in them. I'm sure the rest of the animation center is great, but we didn't a chance to see it. We opted to leave there early and head to Insa Street for more shopping.
We spend 1.5 hours on Insa Dong Street finalizing our shopping before heading straight to the airport. Michelle checked us all in and waved goodbye to us before we went through passport control. I know she had a good trip with us, but I'm also very sure she was glad it was over. She usually takes adult groups, so this was a big change for her.
11 hours to Doha and 1 hour to Dammam and we finally arrived at school at 11:20 am.
Outstanding Trip Overall. It was nice to see some of the students mature as the trip progressed. I have no doubt they'll take away some memories that will last a lifetime.
We'll be getting together a presentation to present in front of the middle school, but it probably won't be until after spring break. That'll give the students enough time to get their pictures together and for us to practice the dance, bowing, and Korean phrases.
Make sure your kids are completing their journals and their A to Z book. They will have until just before Spring Break to turn those in. They can always ask their teachers for some guidance or stop by my room or Ms. Casside's for some help.
I'll get the Day 9 and 10 pictures into the 2nd photo album soon.
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