Happy kids!
I was worried that Christmas would be filled with loneliness and homesickness since I am far away from those I love. However, with a fellow coworker, I went to a local orphanage Christmas morning. We found all sorts of games and activities to do with the kids, picked up some candy, and then schlepped onto the Metro to meet other members of Volunteer Busan. Right away the group made us feel welcome and we huddled together talking excitedly about meeting the kids while we waited for other members. Once everyone had joined us, we piled onto a bus.
When we disembarked we were met by a wizened woman who smiled and motioned us into the playroom to get ready to set things up. A small group of foreigners had prepared a skit that involved the grinch so they set to putting their costumes on and painting the "grinch" green. The rest of us less dramatically inclined volunteers began sorting through the presents and frantically doing last-minute wrapping. Everyone went into action, there was no one just standing around. In a short time we had the presents organized by gender and age group and we were in shock with how many presents there were. SO HAPPY! Then we got to work planning the activities to do with the kids. We created three stations where kids could decide where to go and what to do. Once the kids came down, we were prepared and excited. You could tell so were they! They were mostly middle school aged kids, and mostly girls. Many of them smiled and waved as they came in and sat down to watch the very spastic Grinch try and steal Christmas.
Present time!
After a brief presentation of a donation of "Happy Points" for all the students which are basically gift cards to trendy places to eat (every middleschooler's dream; free food) the kids came over to our stations. Most of them weren't shy at all. Many of the girls came over when they saw we had origami and arts and crafts and got to work. Many of the volunteers are bilingual so that helped with the language barrier. The only group of children who weren't joining in was a group of older middle school boys who were kind of looking around like they weren't sure what to do. Since there were many volunteers at our station, I grabbed a bag of marbles and a Korean version of Jacks and sat down near them, showed them the games and motioned them over, preparing myself for them to decline. Almost right away when they saw the Korean jacks they came over and sat in a circle with me. I soon found that I am terrible at Korean jacks. Haha, but they put up with my lack of skills nicely. It filled you with so much Christmas spirit to look around the room and see everyone just having a ball sitting on a cold stone floor coloring or doing the limbo with string. Smiles all around.
An origami rose one of the kids made for me. Impressive.
After too short a period spending time with the kids, it was then time for presents! Then it was mayhem, which was to be expected. Some volunteers tried to organize the process but it quickly dissolved. In addition to presents, they also got candy and warm clothing to wear. It was reassuring seeing them put on warmer clothing, the orphanage was pretty high up and it was cold! After the present excitement, the kids went back to their dorms to put their presents away and there were still many gifts left which were donated to the orphanage for the play area. Then we set to cleaning up. With everyone's help, in no time, we had everything organized and straightened and made our way upstairs to the mess hall where the workers there had taken the large amounts of junk food the volunteer group had donated and arranged a spread that seemed like something out of Willy Wonka. Volunteers spread out amongst the tables and we waited for the kids to arrive. We were told that it's normal for the kids to take food and put it in their pockets for older siblings or friends who are working at part time jobs during the day.
All of the kids were very polite and hungry for attention. A group of girls motioned me over and tried to ask me questions but we were having difficulties understanding each other at times. The thing that struck me the most was how giving they all were. They shared everything with their table and would go to other tables to spread the food around. It was truly inspiring. The hardest part of the whole thing was the good byes. It seemed much too soon to be leaving but their dinner was on it's way (like there was any room after all the junk...ooops) and we had to catch a bus back. They stood out on the steps of the mess hall waving good bye and thanking us as we trekked back down the hill. The fuzzy feeling lasted for the rest of the evening. I truly hope that life throws some good fortune their way, they deserve it.
Om nom nom. Potluck dinner with friends!
Once we got back to my apartment we set about preparing the food for the potluck Christmas dinner my coworkers were throwing. I sauteed shrimp and built a fruit salad with a coworker. When I got to the party I was shocked by how much food we had! It was ridiculous. We all ate and talked and then ate, and ate, and ate. Haha. I ate so much, so quickly that I started feeling a bit woozy so I headed home early. As I crawled into bed, I did miss my family and loved ones back home but,I was so full of good feelings and food, I was happy. :)
I've never been to an orphanage before. Part of me feels as though it would be sort of depressing, but I didn't gather that you had a depressing experience at all. That's good. It sounds like you're having a great time :]
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame though, that you suck at Korean Jacks. I don't know if we can still be friends. You're definitely off the list of recruits for my Thursday night Korean Jacks team.