Wondering what a Field Day in Korea looks like? What games do attendees play and what it would be like to attend? We’ve had these questions throughout the years thought it would be nice to share the PIEF Field Day event from April 2023 to show what you might expect from a Korean Field Day event in the future.
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What is Field Day
In Korea, we LOVE playing games together. Every year, the schools have something called Sports Day or Field Day where different classes compete against each other while playing fun team games. The name of the event may be called either Sports Day or Field Day depending on who translated the Korean name. For this blog post, we will use the term Field Day.
In addition to having Field Days at schools, Korean communities may throw Field Days for families and kids to get together and play games. In 2023, the Pyeongtaek International Exchange Foundation (PIEF) decided to create such an event that brings US Military Families and Pyeongtaek Citizens into the community together.
Add Field Day to Your Bucket List
If you live in South Korea, you should try to attend at least one Field Day while living here. Joining a Field Day brings you into the heart of the culture around you. It’s where you fall in love with the Korean passion for games, friendly competition, and cheering each other on. Field Days hold warming and it’s where you can often make new friends. Honestly, go out of your way to get involved in one of these events if you see it.
The following 20 second video shows a glimps of the fun had at PIEF Field Day in 2023 despite the weather:
If you live in South Korea, you should try to attend at least one Field Day event while living here. Joining a Field Day brings you into the heart of the culture around you. It’s where you fall in love with the Korean passion for games, friendly competition, and cheering each other on. Field Days hold a warm feeling and it’s where you can often make new friends. Go out of your way to get involved in one of these events if you see it because they help you connect with the deeper social vibe.
Field Days and Weather
Field Days often occur outside in large fields or play areas. Since such events include large numbers of people and rowdy events that need space, it’s uncommon for such events to be canceled or moved inside due to weather. This means attendees should come prepared for anything. However, if there is a lot of rain attendance may be limited.
The 2023 PIEF Field Day experienced some surprisingly cold wind and rain in 2023. There were a few touch-and-go moments when we all thought, “Maybe this won’t happen today” but it all worked out in the end. PIEF had emergency raincoats for everyone and there were tents for attendees to stand under.
Having this type of cold weather in late April in South Korea almost never happens so everyone was caught off guard. It’s unlikely an event planned at the end of April will ever have weather quite like this again. Many of the activities need to be changed or modified for the event due to the weather conditions, however, the organizers kept everything moving and managed the changes with surprising grace.
The Hardcore Fun Lovers Showed Up
Even with bad weather, die hard fun lovers show up to Sports Day ready to play. Even for PIEF Field Day 2023, a few hundred awesome and excited attendees showed up to PIEF Field Day and put their hearts into it.
Kids and parents let themselves embrace the fun to play games and laugh together in the rain. The smaller crowd made the event feel more communal and folks had more time together. Honestly, we think this was the ideal size for a Field Day event. The mood was perfect.
Everyone Joins a Team
For Field Days, attendees join teams. Each team needs to work together to complete different tasks and games. In mixed age events like the one organized by PIEF, the Field Day games include activities for adults and kids so that everyone could get involved. Not every game included everyone from each team. This allowed team members time to rest and it also meant that those who just wanted to watch could feel free to do so.
Some international parents didn’t realize they would be included in the PIEF Field Day games but they quickly adapted. It was fun to see people working together and having a great time despite the language barriers. There is something especially heartwarming about watching an adult’s guard come down as they start to relax into the fun.
The Field Day Games
In Korea, events like PIEF Field Day hire special companies who bring out very fun games for everyone to play. This means the games may change each year and they may bring games you’ve never tried before. However, they often have many familiar elements regarding teamwork, racing around cones, and general mayhem.
Additionally, the event planners try to make sure the events and activities aren’t too complicated. They keep activities simple and easy for the average person to do. No one needs to be a professional athlete or especially good at activities. You just need a heart for fun and the desire the cheer on others having fun.
The MC Makes the Day
Usually, the MC makes or breaks a Korean Field Day event. Their job is to be funny, get people involved, make people feel comfortable, and keep the good vibes rolling. You can’t imagine how hard that can be to accomplish when you are MCing an event in two languages. Thankfully, PIEF hired a wonderful MC for the event who made both English speakers and Korean speakers feel comfortable.
South of Seoul volunteers have always been impressed by the effort PIEF organizers put into finding the right MC and organization to partner with for their events. The PIEF organizers always strive to find teams that can smoothly go between cultures and make everyone feel they belong. Obviously, there will be confusing language issues here and there, and they handle such hurdles with grace.
Field Day Safety
Since Field Day can be hectic, event organizers like PIEF take planning for safety very seriously. Attendees do sign waiver forms and emergency services keeps an ambulance on hand “just in case.” They even communicate the nearby hospitals and information related to how injuries may be handled.
Follow PIEF for More Events
Interested in participating in events like Field Day or other fun acitivities? Follow PIEF on Facebook to see what they having planned. South of Seoul partners with PIEF to support their community development work and we love what they do!
PIEF has two locations in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. One PIEF location is in Sinjang-dong near Osan Air Force Base:
Pyeongtaek International Exchange
031-667-2353
Copy and paste phone numbers into Naver Maps to get directions
Hangul Address
경기도 평택시 신장로 124
International community center funding by Pyeongtaek City. They offer language classes, trips, and plan festivals.
The second PIEF location is in Paengsong-eup near Camp Humphreys US military base:
PIEF
0507-1415-4302
Copy and paste phone numbers into Naver Maps to get directions
Hangul Address
경기 평택시 팽성읍 안정순환로267번길 42
You want to get involved with this organization if you live near Camp Humphreys. Funded by the city of Pyeongtaek to support both foreigners and Korean citizens in Pyeongtaek, this community based organization offers amazing events and experiences, and the people that run it are super friendly and work VERY hard to make sure attendees have everything they need to be happy. Notable programs include Korean language classes, English conversation groups (Talk Cafe), Cooking classes, PIEFest, foreign exchanges, organized Korean cultural experiences, tours for foreigners, and much, much more.
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