Flat Stanley Comes to Seoul!

 

I was very surprised to receive an envelope in the mail a few weeks ago with a little paper man and an an explaination. Flat Stanley was a boy who was flattened by a bulletin board which hung over his bed.  Now Stanley is flat enough to be stuck in an envelope and mailed around the world rather than going by plane.

This is a project being done in my cousin's son's first grade class. Each child colors their own Stanley, and then sends him off. Stanley is then passed from person to person until April when he must be returned to his home and family. I thought this was a very cute idea and a fantastic geography lesson, so I gave Stanley a very quick tour around Seoul before sending him off to his next location.

We left my house, which is a traditional style Korean house called a hanok in the morning and headed off to work.

I think Stanley liked the alley I live on, there are several other traditional houses down there besides mine.

Stanley came to my work. He was very impressed because it was nothing like my house, it was a very modern building on a busy street crowded with cars, taxis and buses. 

After work we went to Tapgol park, one of the first public parks in Seoul and famous because of the independence movement protests that started here during the Japanese colonial rule in 1919. We went inside to see the famous pagoda, but unfortunately, the park was closing for the evening and we got kicked out before we could find the pagoda.

We were cold, so we went into one of my favorite local cafes in Jongno (downtown on Seoul) and we had a cup of chai latte. People were busy studying and chatting. Cafes are one of the most popular places to hang out in Seoul.

After a fun day together, Stanley was ready to go off to his next destination, Santiago, Chile. I wish him the best of luck on the rest of his adventures!

Teachers or parents, if you want to try a similar project, I think it's a great idea. Here are some websites to help, but there are huge Flat Stanley communities and blogs, so be sure to do a quick Google search as well.

http://www.flatstanley.com/blog/ - See where Flat Stanley has been!
http://www.flatstanleyproject.com/template.php - Get your own cut out Flat Stanley template