Ellen and I had last Friday off, as we had signed up to go to a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) weekend. This was organized through the Jeollanamdo Office of Education. We did not get too much info other than we were going to cook at some point and to buy what we needed. It was a fantastic weekend and we really loved it. The volunteers like us were both a mix of teachers and students. There were people from the US, Canada, Nepal, Gabon, China, Tanzania and New Zealand. The teens participating at the event were 13/14 years old. The kids had been selected by their school to attend, and usually only one or two from each school. All the smartest kids in the province were there. Upon arrival on the bus at the camp facilities, there were 125 teens cheering and yelling "we love you" holding signs they had made that morning:
Kids had spent the morning making signs for us. Each person had 3-4 teens assigned to them for the weekend to interact with and learn each others culture as well as participate in the activities. There were opening ceremonies in a the International Hall where there were speeches by officials and then each group of kids gave us the signs they made us as well as our name tag for the weekend.
We were brought to our rooms which of course had the boys and the girls separate. Here is the boys view. On the right there is Kerry. A stand-up comic for 13 years from Edmonton, Alberta, he made me laugh all weekend. Ellen met up also with Nicki (on the right. Kerry's wife) and Jen who she had made friends with during orientation when we first arrive, but we had not seen since getting to Korea as they teach in a different town.
After some preliminaries, we jumped into the cooking contest. Each country was represented and made their own dishes. We decided to make des beignes come au Quebec. On voulais les faires aussi bonnes que celle a ma tante Reine, mais ils nous manquent encore de la pratique et surement quelque secret!!
After dinner we were treated to a show by three shows. A Concert by the Bridge Viola Chamber Orchestra, Modern Dance, as well as a Taekwondo demonstration. The shows were put on by people not part of the camp. They came by bus to put the show on for the kids and volunteers. It was quit a show we got which lasted just over two hours.
The orchestra had 8 violins, a grand pianist and also a clarinet player. Very nice classical music was played.
The dance was interesting, but got most of us out of our seats was the Taekwondo demonstration. Kids jumping/kicking off of kid made pyramids breaking boards:
This little guy is skipping inside a double dutch jump rope (2 ropes).
There were also about 3 choreographed dances including standard poses that were done to very popular Korean pop songs. They were really into it, and you could tell they had practiced a lot!!
After the show wrapped up around 9:30, we headed to an observatory to look at the stars.
Once all the kids had gone to bed, they brought in some beer and Soju as well as lots of pizza for all of us and the staff to relax and have a snack before bed.
Saturday morning the kids were up at 6 doing exercises in the yard. You could here the military like orders blaring from the leaders. We got up close to 8:00am, had breakfast and then went on a 2.5 hour hike with the whole gang.
We stopped at the end of the hike for a team picture.
They all love their English writing on their sweaters. Doesn't matter what it says, as long as it is in English. Check out the guy in the yellow sweater. Says he didn't even know what it meant, but I'm sure he knows exactly and had looked it up on the net or something. We did laugh, but c'mon.
After a hike and lunch, it was time for us to mark our weekend with a Mosaic. This was the 5th annual camp at this location, and every year before, mosaics designs had been made by each country, then actually made. Here is one from a previous year:
Kerry who has the artistic sense help come up with design and then with a simple color/number system, the kids went at it cutting up the colours in shapes and gluing them onto the poster.
Here is most of the team with the finished work. It has Northern Lights, mountains, and an Inukshuk. Appreciate nature and its beauty when you get a chance to admire it, to remind you of the importance to keep it as it is and respect the environment (northern lights). The mountains are a sign of strength and beauty in Canada to prosper. The traditional meaning of the Inukchuk is "We were here" or "You are on the right path".
On the Saturday night we had to go up on this huge stage and each country would do an act or sing Karaoke and then have a fire. We had an animator break the ice with all these games that revolved around Rock Paper Scissor. In Korea, Rock, Scissor, paper is the Ultimate decider. They use it for everything...and they swear by the outcome. No matter who loses, they must do whatever. We use it in class if there is tie for a winner. One of the games, was the loser had to give the other a piggy back. I was teamed up with this tiny little Korean girl from my group. When she lost the for RSP showdown against me, she immediately turn around and hunched over waiting for me to get on. I told her it was ok, 'cause there was no way she was holding my 190 lbs up. We had a dance showdown later too. I showed them the worm. When came time for us to do our Canadian show, we did Stompin' Tom Connors (The Hockey Game Song). I went to the cafeteria, we got spoons for everyone. We also sang Oh Canada and a couple other tunes. Good times. Every country did a dance or song representing their country. Afterwards was the fire. Not just a fire though. There were roman candles, words lit up with gas, and a big fire fuelled with gas. Not super safe, but what the hay. That`s they way they do it.
The Frienship in flames was a little different, but appreciated by most all the same. The people from Nepal took it pretty personally though that Friendship was burning. All good.
What a weekend! Whenever there was some relax time, which there was, we filled the yard and played sports. Canadians had brought Frisbees and a hackey sac which was completely new to the kids. The US boys brought a football, which was also totally new to the kids. The Korean kids introduced some of their games as well. Like playing volleyball, but only with your feet. We had a wonderful weekend and we really glad we participated. Good laughs with our friends and also all the boys and girls we met. We really had an amazing time. Here is Ellen as we were saying goodbye with the girls in her group that stuck to her like glue. Everyone called Ellen barbie or movie star. She was a real hit with all the girls and some boys of course too.
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