The Pottery Village

We survived it and luckily it turned out to be well executed and a lot of fun! I'd have to say that this was our coolest and most fun field trip to date (I suppose we've only gone on three, but still). I was really relieved that we were the only school/group at the Pottery Village so we didn't have to worry about losing kids as easily or picking up new ones or having our kids bother another group during the trip. I think I was probably more excited than the kids were when I found out in the morning that I was going to be able to create something and paint it too. Hahaha. This was great since Matt and I wanted to go to a Korean pottery place and now we got to do it for free!

This pottery experience was different than any I'd had in Canada (not like I was a pottery guru or something but I had painted some at one of those shops once or twice) because this stuff was actually just formed and still wet, soft and malleable. This meant that on top of painting our stuff we got to carve things into it and shape it if we wanted. Some people did interesting things with the tops of their vases like make it into a heart/flower/star shape but I was boring and kept mine round. Also we only had 4 colors to choose from- a glaze that looked red and turned brown, one that looks purple and turned red, one that looked grey and turned blue and a white one. It was neat and I hope my vase doesn't turn out too hideous. Paige's looks cute as she had a heart motif going on.



Paige and Lily hard at work.

My vase is on the far left, Jake's is beside mine.
Joi and Kelly got to make plates.

After everyone finished with their carving and painting we got to go onto stage two of the field trip and have a go at the pottery wheel. Of course there was a trained professional there doing 99% of the work. It was really cool and the kids loved it!
Once all the kids had a go Mr. Rhie asked if the teachers wanted to try (all the kids had gone out in the massive playground to play while this was going on). I was like, sure, and then they said something about there only being enough clay for 3 of us to try (Paige, Kelly, Elly and I were still inside) and I couldn't figure out what the big deal was. They let me go (since I'm the foreigner) and after I learned that we get to keep the mug that was made! Then I understood the big deal. Luckily Kelly used her extensive feminine wiles and sweet talked them into bringing out more clay so she could have a mug. Joi was fairly annoyed when she learned of our mug making experiences while she was (and I quote), "Freezing her ass off in the cold watching the kids play".









Then we played with the kids on the playground for awhile before going back to the school. It was a really great (although still exhausting) day.


Lily and her older sister Kayla (Panda Class). Aren't they adorable?

Gus from Panda Class is so shy and cute.
Matt gives a push.

More pictures here. There are some good ones so this time I really recommend looking. I even made captions!