Sangju: School of Thought

Friday marked the last day of school. It was also graduation day. Having never seen how it’s done in other countries, I was pretty excited about it.Â The previous day was a pretty accurate indication of what to expect (sans teacher farewells), so the graduation ceremony didn’t come as a complete culture shock to me. However, Ottie and I were quite the awkward penguins when it came to the national pledge and song; we opted to put both hands behind our backs, at rest. Why don’t they teach these things in etiquette lessons? Not that I ever bothered to attend any of them…

Anyway, I discovered a cute little pond in the school that day! How had I never noticed it before? A replica of The Thinker sat above a pond frozen over. I was so close to attempting to walk across the film of ice, but the thought of potentially being drenched and miserable in -3Â°C weather was deterrent enough.

Naturally, photos of my last school outfit were taken there:

Ottie by the pavilion. He refused to venture nearer to the pond, but humoured me byÂ photographing my outfits there.

Last scenes of school:

The ever-stocked staff room. :3

The teachers had prepared flowers for the graduating seniors.

In return, some of the teachers got bouquets of flowers too. These were so pretty!

Honey Jujube Tea. I really liked how my paper cup had a little plastic holder (given to me by a teacher after I was found to have difficulty holding my hot cup of tea).

The graduation ceremony! Derp Ottie is derp.

It was sweet how it was apparently tradition that second graders send off the seniors. They put up a skit on Don Quixote and sang together this year.