겨울 학기 수료식

So finally it was the closing ceremony. Our teacher sent us a sms in the morning reminding us to be in class by 10:20am and to be at the Crown Hall by 10:40am. There was a special event going on during the closing ceremony so she had to make sure that we turned out. Before the ceremony proper, I received my result slip, a group photo and a CD containing class photos and videos. There was no course completion certificate for me since I will be continuing.

Inside the Crown Hall for my course's closing ceremony.

As I mention earlier there was this special event. The event is the brainchild of a civic group and one of their targeted audience are foreign students. IIE was picked to host the event because it has the largest cohort of foreign students in Korea. Yonhap News, being a member of the civic group, was also there to cover the proceedings. The event requires us to make some sort of a promise that when we return to our country, we will tell people around us the correct things about Korea and to seek and correct misinformation about Korea found in any textbooks, magazines and other media. To mark this special occasion, everyone was given a free t-shirt to be worn during the ceremony. We also flew paper planes to signify that we will deliver our promise or something like that.

Sat with my classmates right at the back as we didn't want to appear in Yonhap News.

The amiable director of IIE wearing the white t-shirt made for the special event.

Paper planes in take-off position waiting for command.

Paper planes taking flight.

After we had fun throwing paper planes all over the hall, the diploma presentation ceremony began. Anyone who has studied from level 1 to 6 at IIE will be awarded a diploma instead of a certificate. Not surprisingly, almost if not all the students who went up stage today were Chinese students.

To end the ceremony, teachers who taught Intermediate 2 level, put up a sign language performance for this heart-warming song - "거위의 꿈".

Intermediate 2 teachers performing sign language for the song "거위의 꿈".

Beethoven Virus version of the song - "거위의 꿈".

So that's it for the closing ceremony.

The farewell photos for class 33. Only 4 of us are advancing to Advance 2.

After the closing ceremony ended, we had 감자탕 with our teachers and our neibouring class since there weren't many of us left by then. I was always puzzled by why 감자탕 doesn't seem to have a lot of potato in it. My teacher taught me something new today. The "감자" in 감자탕 doesn't mean potato. It actually means 감자뼈 - the name for a specific portion of the pig's backbone. We ordered 묵은 김치 and 만두 감자탕 and polished the two pots clean. The 감자탕 is very savoury. It tasted much better than it looked.

With the end of our 회식. The winter term has finally come to an end. Holiday starts tomorrow.

Our class toasting with soju. I had half a cup of it.

Combined 회식 with our neigbouring class.

만두 감자탕 heating up right in front of me.

감자뼈 from the 묵은 김치 감자탕. There was not much meat to be eaten.