It was an early start for Milton and I that morning. We were up at 5am and on the bus to Gwangju by 6:30, at the meeting spot at the National Museum in Gwangju just after 8am, where we were supposed to meet about 25 other volunteers and get on buses at 8:45. It turned out that we actually had to wait until 10am to leave the museum parking lot because the students were at the camp ahead of us and had something planned for our arrival that they scheduled for 10am. It was a bit of a long wait, but well worth it...
When we arrived at the camp all the students were gathered outside holding signs with our names to welcome us. I was the first one off the bus and first to walk through the screaming crowd of kids like i was some sort of famous celebrity. It was the most amazing welcome i have ever received!
Once we got inside we were directed to our seats in the auditorium for the official opening ceremony of the camp. We were each called up on stage one by one and greeted by our 3 students who would be our "buddies" for the weekend. They gave us our name tags and put them around our necks as if the were Olympic medals while all the other kids in the crowd cheered for us. I had two girls and one boy in my group, but you wont see any pictures of the boy because he was super shy and pretty much hid from us all weekend. Be sure to get a good look at the poster they made me. I love the united Canadian-Korean flag!
The feeling of being famous didn't stop at our arrival. I have never received so much attention from people in my life! The entire weekend kids were asking if I wold pose for photos, they all wanted to touch my hair, the girls told be i looked like Barbie, and the boys all shouted "actress" and "movie star" whenever they saw me. My favourite story is that when two students from another group found out that I lived in Mokpo where they live, they screamed and jumped up and down and gave each other double high fives! It was a major ego boosting weekend but that's not the only reason it was so much fun...
The group of teachers was mostly made up of people from Canada and the USA, but a group of foreign university students were also participating in the weekend, and were from Nepal, China, Gabon, and Tanzania. Friday afternoon we all divided into teams to cook and share some food from our native countries. This was a really fun afternoon and such a good meal afterward! Our team made donuts using a traditional Christmas recipe from Quebec. Everyone loved our contribution and the kids loved getting their hands all mucky making them! We also ate some super spicy chicken dishes, tacos, french toast, different rice dishes, and lots other yummy non-Korean food for a change!
After dinner we were treated to a spectacular show! There was a clarinet concert, followed by ballet and modern dance, and then an unbelievable taekwondo performance.
The kids doing taekwondo were the most impressive with the long routines they had to learn, the muscle control they demonstrated through the moves, and the height they got for the kicks!
At the end they even did a skipping routine where they had 3 jump ropes going at once, one inside the other!
As if that weren't enough excitement for one day, after the show, they took us all to an observatory that was located at the base of the mountain. We all got to look into the telescope at a star but it was less impressive than it sounds... it looked the same as a star seen with the naked eye, just a small bright dot surrounded by dark sky. It was still cool to see the observatory and how everything worked.
Saturday we started the day with a hike up the mountain. It was a fairly easy hike compared to what Milton and I have hiked here so far. We took this big group shot at the top. It was about a two hour hike and it gave us a good chance to talk and get to know our students better.
My students were super shy and it was tough to get them to talk, but lots of other students were around and more eager to talk to me since i was "Barbie".
Saturday afternoon we made Mosaics representing our cultures. They all turned out really nice. we made them out of paper, but we were told that they would serve as the models for the real glass mosaics they would have made to be put on permanent display at the camp.
Saturday night was the big party night. The volunteers from each country were asked to put together a little something and put on a show for the kids. The Canadians played the spoons and sang "the good old hockey game" and the national anthem. There was a dance contest and karaoke afterwards and a big bonfire that was a bit more discomforting than it was warm:
Closing ceremonies were held Sunday morning and we were given time to take a few last photos with our students before lunch.
After lunch we were back on the buses to head the the bamboo museum and then home. the museum was a bit dull, but it was neat to see how much Koran's can do with bamboo - furniture, pipes, huts, baskets, boxes, wine, and more!
Overall it was a fabulous weekend and we can't believe that we were actually given a monetary "gift" for participating. We were happy to volunteer and had a great time hanging out with the other foreigners and with the students that we felt a bit guilty being paid for having so much fun!
We were happy to get home Sunday evening for a nice quiet night after all the excitement and to catch up on rest after all the activity.
After dinner we were treated to a spectacular show! There was a clarinet concert, followed by ballet and modern dance, and then an unbelievable taekwondo performance.
The kids doing taekwondo were the most impressive with the long routines they had to learn, the muscle control they demonstrated through the moves, and the height they got for the kicks!At the end they even did a skipping routine where they had 3 jump ropes going at once, one inside the other!
As if that weren't enough excitement for one day, after the show, they took us all to an observatory that was located at the base of the mountain. We all got to look into the telescope at a star but it was less impressive than it sounds... it looked the same as a star seen with the naked eye, just a small bright dot surrounded by dark sky. It was still cool to see the observatory and how everything worked.
Saturday we started the day with a hike up the mountain. It was a fairly easy hike compared to what Milton and I have hiked here so far. We took this big group shot at the top. It was about a two hour hike and it gave us a good chance to talk and get to know our students better.
My students were super shy and it was tough to get them to talk, but lots of other students were around and more eager to talk to me since i was "Barbie".Saturday afternoon we made Mosaics representing our cultures. They all turned out really nice. we made them out of paper, but we were told that they would serve as the models for the real glass mosaics they would have made to be put on permanent display at the camp.
Saturday night was the big party night. The volunteers from each country were asked to put together a little something and put on a show for the kids. The Canadians played the spoons and sang "the good old hockey game" and the national anthem. There was a dance contest and karaoke afterwards and a big bonfire that was a bit more discomforting than it was warm:
Closing ceremonies were held Sunday morning and we were given time to take a few last photos with our students before lunch.
After lunch we were back on the buses to head the the bamboo museum and then home. the museum was a bit dull, but it was neat to see how much Koran's can do with bamboo - furniture, pipes, huts, baskets, boxes, wine, and more!
Overall it was a fabulous weekend and we can't believe that we were actually given a monetary "gift" for participating. We were happy to volunteer and had a great time hanging out with the other foreigners and with the students that we felt a bit guilty being paid for having so much fun!
We were happy to get home Sunday evening for a nice quiet night after all the excitement and to catch up on rest after all the activity.
No comments:
Post a Comment