Orphanage

Every Sunday some of the pilots in the squadron go down to the local orphanage to play with the kids for a couple of hours. I wanted to do this the last time I was out here, but was unable to. This time Jayson and I made sure we went there. This particular orphanage has 76 kids ranging in age from 3 years old to 18 years old. Most of them were not there today as their parents came to pick them up for the holiday Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving Holiday. Yes, I did say their parents. Some of the kids in the orphanage are not adoptable as their parents still have custody of them. You may be asking why the kids are there then. Well, by law if a couple gets a divorce and the woman wants to remarry she has to remarry with a 'clean slate'. By this I mean her children from her previous marriage are not allowed to join her and her new husband in their home. I know sounds crazy, but it's true. The kids are roomed together by age and gender. I was able to look at the teenage girls room. Before you walk in you are required to take your shoes off. This is normal for most Asian communities. There is a room for the teacher who teaches them their studies and looks after them, a community bathroom that they all share, a living room area where they gather together, and two rooms for them to sleep in. They don't sleep on beds, but rather a very thin mat with blankets. The floor is heated in the winter and they have air conditioning in the summer. They have a television, computer, and a few board games to entertain themselves with. For the most part I thought the facility was very clean. Here are some pictures from today. This little boy liked play soccer. Jayson threw him a football, but he wasn't sure what to do with it. This is a picture of some of the teenage boys that played soccer and basketball with the pilots. Let the games begin. The Korean boys are very good at playing soccer. While the boys were playing soccer Amy and I went upstairs and played Jeon (Jenga) with the younger kids. We had a lot of fun.