YiXianGuoJi Olympics, Part 2

The games resumed Friday morning, after several days' worth of preparation, practice, and decorating:

(these teachers are basically the most skilled craftwomen ever!)

While most of the classes used the pom-poms and noisemakers from Monday, Pink 3 opted for more practical sun-deflecting gear--flower hats!

It began the same way as Monday: lining up, marching out, watching the flag raising, and singing the national anthem. Then Jerry and Jasmaie (pronounced Jess-may) introduced the games; she spoke in Chinese and he "translated." Adorable.

By this point, there were tons of parents gathered around the gates, watching, waving, and taking pictures. It was a little strange for me because I don't know them but they knew me; I heard "Hello Alison!" several times, but just smiled and waved because I had no idea whose parent they were.

We then did the morning exercises (singing and dancing) and then suddenly everyone was lining up to go back inside. Turned out to be a bathroom break...minus the bathroom. Instead of walking our kids up to the 3rd floor, they took out the plastic portable potties, like from our trip to the Military Museum, and kids took turns dropping their pants in the hallway. My job was to tuck their shirts back into their pants as they lined up. I took some pictures because it was that unbelievable, but Adam said they're inappropriate to post. You know, the whole kiddie porn thing and all...

Then the whole school trooped back outside, where chairs had been set up for them. Let the Games begin!!

The teachers decided their class' events, so we had everything from running and crawling,

to feeding radishes to a rabbit,

to crawling and rolling.

They were all pretty similar tasks, but the smaller classes went altogether, while the older kids competed 2 by 2. They all had a blast and the parents took tons and tons of pictures.

Then it was time for a teacher event: Tug of War! A few teachers from each class competed and the kids loved cheering them on. It was hilarious.

At the end, each kid was awarded a "medal," a pack of markers, and a certificate from the principal before taking a group picture:

A very fun morning at YiXianGuoJi kindergarten!