AFRAM IN KOREA: December 2007

Thursday 20 December 2007

Eid-ul-Azha 2007

This year Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated on Dec 19 in South Korea.

Sunday 9 December 2007

[South Korea] Dec 09 2007 ---- Wongak Temple Visit

GIC arranged the Wongak temple visit located in the Gwangju downtown area. Around 25 people including foreigners and Koreans attended the event. I went with Raheel and learned to sing Jindo Arirang and Traditional Musical instruments to play. We reached the temple around 5PM and learned song and instruments till 6PM. After that the dinner of bibimpap was served at the temple. This program is free of charge. I met a Nepali guy named Sudheer and another lady who works for the Kona volunteers. Every month there is an advertisement in the Gwangju News about the Kona volunteers. She arranges the home stay program for foreigners with Korean families. After the dinner, we went to walk around in the downtown area with Sudheer who bought us drinks and we came back to GIST at 8PM. The trip was interesting and we learned a new aspect of the culture. This program was free of charge. Bus 9 goes directly from GIST to downtown in about an hour. The GIC office is located across the road on Culture Complex subway station bus stop in the Jeon-il building fifth floor. I frogot to bring my camera so I requested the GIC staff to send me the pictures of the event.

[South Korea] Nov 2007 ---- Volley Ball Match, Mechatronics Vs. Management

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[South Korea] Nov 30 2007 ---- Yongsoo, Thuy, Hokyong, Jungseon Graduation Celebration Dinner

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[South Korea] Nov 11 2007 ---- Dinner with Sarah, Shiba, Jenn, Dallas and Eric in GIST

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[South Korea] Nov 10 2007 ---- SeongAm Camp Members Get Together at Andrea's Place, Gwangju

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[South Korea] Nov 10 2007 ---- Pizza Hut with MJ and Friends, Gwangju Downtown

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[South Korea] Nov 10 2007 ---- Chosun University, Gwangju

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[South Korea] Nov 09 2007 ---- Diwali Celebrations in GIST

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[South Korea] Nov 09 2007 ---- GIST Athletics Day

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[South Korea] Nov 02-04 2007 ---- The 4th SeongAm International Cultural Awareness Youth Camp, Damyang

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[South Korea] Oct 21 2007 ---- Gwangju Kimchi Festival and Gwangju Museum of Art

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Kimchi festival was held in the Jungoe Park infront of Gwangju Folk Museum and Gwangju Art Museum.

I went there using bus 16 from GIST and got off at the Culture and Arts centre stop in Unam Dong. This was the last day of the festival and the attendance was huge. There were many stalls where you can eat the food and also buy Kimchi and try some for free. Inside the Folk Museum a new Kimchi Museum is also established for the event which I think will stay there afterwards. The museum displays a variety of Kimchi as well as the ingredients used to prepare the Kimchi including Kimchi plant, garlic plant and ginger plants. I saw the ginger plant for the first time over there. Many other products besides from the Kimchi were also being sold including rice cake, dry grains of different kinds, sea weed, vegetable shredder, stamps etc. A stall at the festival was making the Korean rice cake in a traditional way. It was fun to watch the procedure of making the rice cake and enjoying the freshly cooked rice cake. After that I went to the Art Museum and bought a very cheap ticket (i think 500 won) and visited the newly constructed multi storey museum having around 8 art galleries. After that I went back to the festival and enjoyed some live performance including walking on rope, circus, traditional drummers, dances etc. In the end of the ceremony the mayor of the Gwangju made a closing speech and everybody danced with the friendship rope around the fire. That was one of the best festivals I have attended in the Korea and very pleasant experience.

Attendance at the festival...