Sports Day

In Korea, most schools host one or two Sports Days each year. Sports Day is considered extremely important; students and teachers spend weeks preparing. Everyone spends a great deal of time assembling their costumes, making signs and posters, team bonding, and strategizing. What exactly is sports day, you ask? It is a day to stop schoolwork and testing for relay races, tug-of-war, and the limbo. 

Below is a picture of the students at my middle school at the "opening ceremony" of Sports Day. For roughly one hour, class presidents, head teachers, and the principal make speeches following vigorous group warm-ups. Yes... all for relay races, tug-of-war, and the limbo.  

All sorts of pubescent adolescents show up to sports day. I will now list the different kinds I spotted. 

There are those who are happy to be at Sports Day (minus the fellow on the right). 

There are those who are too cool to be at Sports Day. 

There are girls who hide from pictures. Notice the back row as well. 

There are superstars. 

And then there are the classic Korean posers. 

And then there are more classic Korean posers. 

There are those who fashion towels into hats and dress up as Princess Leia the Cat. 

There are boys who think they are girls. 

And the teachers who wear big, floppy hats and a team banner to shield themselves from sunlight. 

And last, there are those who would rather be somewhere else. 

Finally, I have a 2-minute video providing a glimpse into this riot of a day. Please enjoy. And oh, yes, at the end of the video, those are two students doing a suggestive dance in front of the entire middle school. 

(for a clearer version, see the Youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQOt3S1oLGw)

Enjoy☺