Sport's Day at Wadong Elementary School

Today was sports's day at Wadong Elementary school. I was told over a month ago that this was happening today, so unlike most things in Korea, it didn't come as a surprise. What did surprise me was the amount of preparation and ceremony involved. I shouldn't have been surprised by that, afterall this is Korea, a country that prides itself on ceremony and tradition.
I arrived at school this morning expecting a fun day with the kids playing a few games and having some good natured competition. I was taken aback when I had to walk past the food vendors and cotton candy stands to get to my school. It was no longer a school but rather a carnival. The playground had been transformed from a dirt field to a stadium. There was a stage at one end for the Principal, Vice-Principal and other important people to sit (the royalty of the school). There were tents set up along the edges of the field for parents, grandparents and other visitors to watch the games.
At exactly 9am the ceremony began. The kids marched onto the field, dressed in the schools colours of blue and white, where they lined up in perfectly straight lines, according to their grades and teams. The entire school had been divided into 2 teams (blue and white) with students from every grade level on each team. Let the competition begin and in Korea there is no such thing as good natured competiton.
The ceremonies started with the national anthem followed by a speech by the principal welcoming the families and officially opening the games. This was followed by warm up exercises led by a teacher who was formally in the military, and it looked like a small army on the playground. They did calisthenic exercises all in complete unison. It was a little wierd and reminded me of the propoganda videos you see from N. Korea with everyone moving in sync.
Finally it was time for the fun. The kids competed in a variety of events some of which were similar to games in Canada and some that were very different. They had relay races and 100m dashes to see who was the fastest. They had one game where they had long poles with balloons on the top. On top of the balloons there were giant balls and the kids threw bean bags at it until the ball broke open. The first team to break their ball would win. It was different. I think the most exciting part of the day was the last relay race between the grade 5 and 6 students. It was a close race and the winning team only won because a girl on the opposing team dropped her baton.

Overall it was an excellent day, the kids had fun, and I was impressed with the number of parents that came out to cheer on their children and participate in the games. The day ended with another round of calisthenics and the children singing the school song.