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Greetings dear Parents!
It is vital for every child that they get to go out in to the world and explore. And we, the academe of Neo Seoul Preschool firmly believes that exploring and experiencing new surroundings are an important factor in a child’s path to knowledge. With this, we are proud to announce that levels 1 – 3 of the kindergarten class will be having a family field trip on September 13, 2020. The class will be visiting Gyeonggi Children’s Museum. Students are encouraged to join with a maximum of (2) adult companions to ensure their safety. Bringing of snacks and drinks are allowed. Lunch will be provided by the museum.
Furthermore, a complete itinerary will be released on a later date.
We look forward to your partcipation. See you on September 13!
Respectfully,
Lee Taeyong
Head Teacher
Kim Jungwoo
Assistant Teacher
“What do you think? Should we go?” Kun hands the letter to Johnny. The family had just finished dinner and Kun was going through Jisung’s notebooks to see if he had missed any of his assignments.
“Well, I don’t see a problem in us going. I can close the studio that day.”
“Great!” Kun smiles. “I’ll see if I can take a leave that day. I wouldn’t miss his first field trip for the world.”
“Wait, shouldn’t we ask Sungie if he wants to come?”
“Why wouldn’t he want to come? I’m sure Taehyun and Hyuka are both coming along.”
“Still. If he’s just going to sulk the entire day then it won’t be enjoyable for him.”
“Alright.” Kun finally agrees. “Baobei?” He grabs his son’s attention who was busy coloring something on his spare notebook.
“Yeah?” Jisung replies, not looking up at his dad.
“Did Mr. Lee talk about your field trip today? What do you think? Do you want to come?”
“Yeah, I want to come.” Jisung finally looks up. “Hyunnie and Nini will be there. Chen too.”
“Okay, it’s settled then.” Johnny concludes. “Not gonna lie,” He lowers his voice so only Kun can hear. “That took a lot quicker than I expected.”
“Right? I thought he was gonna whine about not wanting to come. We should invite those two friends of his one of these days and thank them.”
“I agree. Whatever they’re doing, it’s making Sungie open up to people more quickly. Taeyong – ssi even says that he’s more active in class now. He was even on the noisy list one time.”
“Our little Sungie’s finally growing up and expanding his world.”
“I told you he’d come around. It just took him a while.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But then again, when were you not right?” Kun teases as he looks up at his husband.
“Don’t look at me with those eyes of yours. I still have photos to edit.” Johnny jokes back as he walks over to the other side of the dining table.
“Hey!” Kun calls out. “The night’s still young, you know?”
“Jisung is literally right here!” Johnny scolds.
“Whatever. The offer still stands if you want. You have until midnight, though.” Kun sends a wink at his husband before stuffing back Jisung’s notebooks in his bag.
“You’re insufferable.” Johnny deadpans.
“Only for you, my love.” Kun sends a flying kiss to his husband. And as much as Johnny wants to act like an adult in front of his son, he can’t help but catch the kiss with his hand and keep it inside his pocket. This earns a hearty giggle from Kun, which resulted in Jisung looking up from his coloring notebook confused.
“Why is Baba laughing?”
“It’s nothing, bub. Dada just made a funny face.” Jisung nods nevertheless and looks down to continue coloring.
And on the day of the field trip, the family was up bright and early thanks to Kun. The meeting time was at 7 am, and by 6:15 am, the family was already out the door and on the way to the kindergarten.
“Drink some coffee. You look like you’re about to pass out any time now.” Kun comments as he hands Johnny a cup of coffee.
“Not all of us are morning persons here, baby.”
“Then stop sleeping so late. Sungie’s starting to copy your sleeping habits.”
“He’s a child. Let him be.” He mumbles as he takes a sip of his coffee.
“Still. He shouldn’t sleep so late. He’s got school early in the morning and being sleep deprived isn’t going to help him focus at all. I might have stay in his room until I’m sure he’s asleep. Leaving after reading him a story isn’t working at all.”
“Okay, you do that.”
“We’re taking turns by the way.”
“What?” Johnny gives Kun a short glance before focusing back on the road.
“What? You expect me to do that every night?”
“Of course not. I just didn’t hear you.”
“Riiiiight.” Kun teases. “Whatever floats your boat, baobao.” He adds in Chinese.
Once they had reached the school grounds, they went to Jisung’s classroom for attendance checking. Upon entering the classroom, Jisung immediately zooms his way to where Taehyun and Hyuka are. The three then slip into a conversation about dinosaurs and how Barney doesn’t look like one.
“Hey!” It was Shotaro’s dad, Yuta. “Haven’t seen you both in a while.”
“Oh, it’s been a while, too.” Kun greets as he bows. Johnny does the same. “Sorry, I’m always at work which is why you only see Johnny so often.”
“Ah, that’s okay. Taro’s mom is also a busy woman. I’m fine with being the house husband.”
“Me too!” Johnny agrees. “I get to be home all the time while still get work done.”
“Oh, yeah. You have a studio at home, right?” Yuta inquires.
“Yeah. I’m jus thankful it’s somehow thriving.”
“Oh, you. What’d I tell you? Have faith in yourself, will you?” Kun reassures him.
“You should listen to your husband, Johnny – ah. They’re always right.” Yuta teases.
“See? I’m always right.” Kun boasts as he sends a lopsided smile to Johnny.
“Be thankful we’re in public.”
“Am I interrupting something?” Yuta teases again.
“No, Johnny’s just very receptive to my teasing.” Kun remarks.
“You!” Johnny scolds.
“Okay, everyone! Let’s do a head count, shall we?” Mr. Lee calls out through commotion in the classroom. “Let’s start with level 3!”
“One!” Jisu was the first to speak.
“Two!” Then it was Soobin.
“Three!” Next was Renjun.
“Four!” It was Yeji.
“Haechan!” Was supposed to say ‘five’ but Taeyong lets it slide.
“Six!” That was Jeno, smiley as ever.
“Seven!” Yangyang squeaks in German. Taeyong sends him a confused look but Yangyang just smiles instead.
“Eight!” Jaemin sing songs.
“Nine!” Shotaro exclaims.
“Ten!” Beomgyu calls out.
“Eleven!” Sungchan squeaks.
“Twelve!” Chaeryeong sings out loud.
“Thirteen!” Ryujin exclaims.
“Fourteen!” Jeongin follows up.
“Fifteen!” Chenle yells loud and proud.
“Six! Teen!” Hyuka yells.
“Seven! Teen!” Yeojin copies.
“Eight! Teen!” Taehyun plays along.
“Nine! Teen!” Chaerin follows along.
“Twenty.” Jisung mumbles more to himself rather than to the class. Jungwoo smiles at him regardless.
“Right! That was everyone! We’ll be heading to the bus now! Make sure you don’t leave anything behind!” Taeyong instructs as the students and the parents start to grab their stuff. Once everyone was ready, they all pile outside and into the bus. Johnny and Kun found a seat in the middle of the bus, with Kun taking the window seat, Jisung beside him, and poor Johnny on the aisle seat. Taehyun and his older brother Jungkook took the adjacent seat next to them so that Jisung and Taehyun could still talk to each other. Hyuka and his parents weren’t far behind, occupying the seats behind the Suh’s.
“Is everybody comfortable?” Jungwoo speaks through the microphone. “I hope you all brought your energy today! Because our field trip will be nothing but fun!”
“But of course,” Taeyong speaks through the other microphone. “Safety is also important. So, children. Make sure to listen to your teachers and your parents and guardians, alright?” A chorus of high-pitched agreements echoed through the bus. Ah, music to Taeyong’s ears. “We’ll be starting our trip now, so make yourself comfortable. Eat some snacks, take a nap, or do whatever you want. But remember, clean as you go, okay? We entered the bus clean, so let’s also leave it clean, alright?”
“Yes, Mr. Lee!” Even the parents and guardians answered along.
An hour and a half later, they reached the museum and half the students were still sound asleep. Jungwoo thought of an idea to wake them all up at once as he grabs the microphone. “Children! It’s time to wake up! Up! Up! Up!”
Some of the students started to wake up at Jungwoo’s voice, while some are still deep in their sleep, Taehyun was one of them.
“Hyunnie, it’s time to wake up!” Jungkook tries to shake his younger brother awake gently.
“Does he not wake up that easily?” Johnny offers Jungkook a smile.
“No. It’s always a pain in the morning since I’m the one that gets him ready.” Jungkook complains with a smile. He loves his little brother regardless.
“Ah, you’re not the only one. Jisungie here is like that, too! Sometimes I even give him a bath while he’s still asleep!”
“Even when I tell you not to!” Kun scolds from his seat.
“Hey! It’s either that or we’ll be late!”
“And who’s fault is that, hmm?”
“Let’s not fight today, shall we?” Johnny looks at Kun.
“Alright.” Kun plays along. “Only because it’s Sungie’s field trip.”
Once the students were up and awake, they all piled outside and did some warm up exercises that was led by Jungwoo. Taeyong played some music on his phone and that got everyone singing along.
“Okay, one, two, three!” Jungwoo instructs in a playful voice. The students all follow along while the parents and guardians were at the side taking photos and videos. It was such a sight to see toddlers dancing along to “Sorry, Sorry” to the best of their abilities. Their short legs can only dance so much.
After the warm up dance, Taeyong paired the students up and instructed that they should never leave their partner behind. Jisung and Taehyun became partners after clinging at each other at the speed of light. After, they all excitedly entered the museum and was greeted by the tour guide. And he sure did make an impression on the students with his dyed white hair.
“Welcome to Gyeonggi Children’s Museum! I will be your tour guide for today! My name is Christopher! But you can call me Chris!”
“Good morning Chris – nim!” The class chorused. Chris smiles back at the students.
“I’m relieved to know that you’re all energetic even though you traveled far to get here! But, enough talking. Let’s start the tour, shall we?”
Chris toured them to the most interesting exhibits first, making sure to get the students interested enough to listen through the rest of the tour. Once they’ve finished the tour, he let them have some free time to roam around on their own at their own pace. The parents and guardians were advised to follow along to their kids but to not interfere with where they wanted to go. Jungkook had volunteered to watch over Jisung and Taehyun so that Johnny and Kun could rest for the meantime. The couple took the offer with warm smiles and proceeded to sit down at a nearby bench by the lobby.
“Right, where to?” Jungkook called the attention of the two toddlers.
“Let’s go to the giant mouth!” Taehyun squeaked with excitement.
“Alright! Let’s go!” Jungkook then took Taehyun and Jisung’s hand in each hand and made their way to the exhibition room.
Jisung and Taehyun both decided to play around “How The Body Works” Section. They both sat down inside the giant mouth to watch an infomercial on how to brush your teeth. Unfortunately, Jisung was so engrossed in his watching that he didn’t notice that Jungkook and Taehyun had left him all alone.
“Hyunnie?” Jisung called out. There was nobody there at all. Not even a visitor. “Taehyun?” He tried again. “Jungoo hwung?”
He stands up and climbs out of the giant mouth and waddles his way to the exit (which took Jisung a good five minutes of aimlessly walking around trying to find it). There, he bumps into Chenle.
“Oh, are you alone?”
Jisung nods as reply.
“Where’s Taetae?”
He shrugs as a reply.
“Do you want to come with me instead? I don’t know where Gyu is too.”
“Okay.” Jisung mumbles.
Chenle smiles and grabs Jisung’s hand before making their way to another exhibition room. The two ended up touring the museum on their own, completely unaware of everything outside of their bubble. It wasn’t until thirty minutes later when they heard Mr. Lee’s voice on the intercom did they finally paid attention to their surroundings.
“Zhong Chenle, Suh Jisung, please stay where you are and wait for Mr. Kim to find you. I repeat; Zhong Chenle, Suh Jisung, please stay where you are and wait for Mr. Kim to find you.”
“I think he’s telling us to stay here and wait for Mr. Kim to find us.” Chenle informs.
“Okay. Let’s just play in the ball pit.” Jisung suggests.
“Okay!”
A couple minutes later, Kun and Mr. Kim enters the exhibition room with worried looks on their faces.
“There you both are!” Jungwoo exclaims. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“Sungie! Why would you leave Taehyun and Jungkook’s side?”
“They left me.” Jisung rebuts.
“He said, he said that he was watching something and when he turned back, they were both gone!” Chenle defends.
“And why did you separate from Beomgyu?” Jungwoo gives Chenle a stern face.
“He was no fun! He wouldn’t climb the tree with me!”
“Either way, at least we found you both. Come on, it’s time to eat lunch.” Kun informs the two toddlers.
“Okay!” Jisung squeaks in excitement.
When the four of them finally arrived at the lobby, Taeyong was busy counting his students to make sure no one was missing.
“We found them!” Jungwoo exclaims. Taeyong turns around and a sigh of relief escapes his lips.
“Oh, thank God! You two will be in so much trouble when we get back home!” He scolds. “What happened to never leaving your partner, huh?”
“Taehyun left me.” Jisung informs.
“And Beomgyu was no fun so I left him!” Chenle informs as well.
“Sungie?” Taehyun’s tiny voice breaks through the commotion.
“You left me!” Jisung calls out, close to tears already. “You were just gone with Jungoo hwung!”
“I had to pee!” Taehyun defends. Jisung doesn’t responds, instead he lets his tears do the talking.
“Now you made him cry!” Chenle reprimands. “Say sorry!”
“I’m sorry, Sungie.” Taehyun apologizes as he walks closer to Jisung.
“O – okay.” Jisung mumbles as he tries to stop his tears.
“Then, let’s just eat lunch, shall we? You can still play afterwards.” Mr. Kim informs.
“Really?” Chenle beams.
“No. You’re both on timeout so you can reflect on what you both did!” Taeyong scolds.
“Oh, Guess you’re not.” Kun holds back a laugh.
“Whyyyyyyyy?!” Chenle whines. Suddenly, Jisung lets out a hearty giggle.
“What’s so funny?” Kun looks at his son.
“Chen is so funny.” Jisung informs.
“Now is not the time for you to be laughing, Suh Jisung.” Taeyong informs him.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Lee. Jisung is still learning on how to assess certain situations. We’ll teach him better from now on.” Kun apologizes.
“Ah, it’s okay, Mr. Suh. It’s normal for his age. He’ll learn as he grows up.”
“Sungie, you’re not suppose to laugh in these situations, okay? That’s rude.” Kun scolds his son.
“Yes, Baba.”
“Go on, then. Go to your families and eat lunch. Taehyunnie?” Taeyong calls for Taehyun.
“Yeah?”
“Partner up with Beomgyu, okay? Chenle and Jisung will be staying behind.”
“Okay.” Taehyun sighs. There’s not really much he can do.
“Looks like it’s you and me for now, Jis.” Chenle grabs Jisung’s hand and makes their way to where Chenle’s parents are.
“Jis?”
“You only call me Chen. So, I’m only going to call you Jis.”
“Your name is so hard to say.”
“No, it’s not! Say it; Chonluh!”
“Chon – lay.”
“No, luh!”
“Lee!”
“Let’s just eat, okay?”
“Okay!” Jisung nods. “Wait, Baba and Dada are over there! Taehyun and Jungoo hwung are also there!”
“Are you really going to eat with Taehyunnie when he left you? Call your Baba and Dada and eat with me!”
“Okay. I’ll call them.” Chenle lets go of Jisung’s hand before Jisung waddles over to where his parents are.
“Eat with Chen over there!” He exclaims.
“But we’ve already set up our food here.” Johnny informs him.
“I want to eat with Chen!”
“Okay, okay!” Johnny then looks over to Kun. “You okay with eating over there?” Then he looks over to Jungkook. “Is it okay if we leave you guys for a while?”
“Yeah, that’s okay! I’m guessing Jisung’s a little mad at us for leaving him behind.” Jungkook laughs.
“Okay, thank you. Eat lots, Hyunnie!” Johnny calls out as he starts to close the lids to their containers and chucks them inside their lunch bag. Kun grabs their drinks and makes his way to where Jisung had walked to. Chenle’s parents greeted him in Chinese and Kun couldn’t be more overjoyed to be able to speak Chinese again to another person that’s not Sicheng.
“It’ no wonder Jisung was listening intently to what I was saying earlier. He must’ve understood what I was saying!” Chenle’s mom comments.
“Oh, yeah. I’m teaching him some Chinese from time to time.” Kun beams as he pats his son’s head. Johnny has arrived at the table and greets Chenle’s parents as well.
“I see where Jisung got his good looks from.” Chenle’s dad comments as well. Johnny just smiles his whiskers smile and proceeds to unpack their lunch boxes. Chenle and Jisung sat and ate together as they talked about JJ and his animal friends and why Yoyo doesn’t look like her siblings.