PART II
“Welcome to UNESCO
cultural Center!!” The voice from a group of Korean youth. Yes! We
arrived, finally!!! The place was located in a quiet valley in Gyonggi-do,
Inchoen. As peaceful as you can imagine, we were hugged by mountains and
nature. How wonderful it was!!!
UNESCO Cultural Center
The first thing to do
was registration for the camp, paid for the participation fee (US$ 150)
and deposited our valuable belongings, money, passport and flight ticket
that were no need during the camp with the headquater then they would
return to us on the last day of the camp. After that we attended the
camp orientation by Mr. KANG Sang-kyoo, the camp co-director informing
about history, schedule, and regulations of the program.
There were totally 151
campers from 24 countries who attended the 38th IYC.
Australia 1, Canada 3, China 9, France 1, Indonesia 8, Iran 4, Italy 1,
Japan 13, Kenya 2, Korea 56, Malaysia 1, Maldives 1, Mongolia 1, Nigeria
1, Philippines 4, Saudi Arabia 4, Singapore 2, Spain 2, Sri Lanka 5,
Taiwan 9, Thailand 10, U.A.E. 5, U.S.A. 3, and Vietnam 5.
After that, we moved to
our dormitories where we would stay for 2 days before attending each of
camp sites on 5th August.
There were 2
dormitories each group of male and female campers. The standard bedroom
consisted of bunk beds for each of campers. I shared the room with 2
Koreans, 1 Taiwanese and 1 Vietnamese. We had a short talk with one
another before we went out for lunch.
The meal was provided
for campers.. was Korean food! I was in a queue next to Maryam, from
Iran. We were from different countries where were not well known for
both of us, but it was not so difficult to build up our good
relationship at all. New strangers, but felt the same expectation for
the taste of Korean at that moment. Yes! It’s Kimchi! Many kinds of
Kimchi!! The taste seemed weird for our toungs at the beginning. And you
would be surprised that Kimchi can be eaten with every Korean dish, like
a main dish, but it was the truth!!! Maybe, by that reason, I finally
found myself become one of the “Kimchi lovers” (^^)v .. Kimchi was
not only the most famous food for us, but it is also the most popular
word when we took picture instead of saying “Cheese”. So.. 1-2-3 say
“kimchiiiii”!!
After our stomachs were
full, we then had to attend an ice braking activity. I got to know
Pakmee, a little girl from Srilanka who made me know “Sarochinee”
was Srilankan name (Singhalese) too, and the same meaning “Lotus”.
And we also did the same verse praying for the Buddha!!! Amazing!!!!
At night, it was a
Korean night and welcome party. Korean campers were separated for their
performance rehearsal... at the same time, we “Thai campers” needed
to do so to be ready for an International Night that was coming on the
following day. All foreign campers had to prepare their cultural shows
and cultural exhibition booths on that night. Eventhough it was the
first day and the first rehearsal for us, Thai campers, but we could run
it through and we could work well together like we had known one another
for more than 10 years!! We had decided that we would show “Ram Klong
Yao” (drum dance) and sing the song “sawaddee” making other
campers to know Thai people says the word “sawaddee” and making our
hand “wai” for greetings. WoOH--- we were so excited for showing our
performance on stage!
7:00 AM of the next
morning, it’s time that all campers had to wake up.. yeah.. we had to
do a morning exercises. I really didn’t want to leave my bed because
of late sleeping last night preparing our show and chitchatting with my
roommates… But, yeah, I had to.
The next activity was a
camp meeting. It’s a time to see each camp mates’ faces, getting to
know about our camp and getting to know more on each orther.
For my KNCU-10, there
are 6 boy and 6 girl members.
Ms. LEE Seung Jin Seung
jin (Korea)
Ms. JANG Hyung Bin Bina
(Korea)
Mr. LEE Dong Uk Opa
(Korea)
Mr. OH Si Mon Simona
(Korea)
Ms. Ajeng Rahmani
RIJADI aJENG (Indonesia)
Ms. Hani RAIHANA Hani
(Indonesia)
Ms. Sarah Hyesun KIM
Sarah (USA)
Mr. Abdalla Haidalla
Mohammed AL-ZAROUNI Abaadie (UAE)
Mr. Mauro ASTUTO
Maureen (Italy)
Mr. OBITSU Yutaka
Yutaka kakkoi (Japan)
Mr. Ratchapon CHANANON
Ohme (Thailand)
And me Sarochinee
SOMRAT P’Noon (Thailand)
Our first meet KNCU-10
Our first meet was fun.
We were explained about the details of our work camp and what we had to
do there, in Gyeongju. We made a short VDO on introducing ourselves,
created our camp’s chant and shared roles for each person for the
coming 10 days of work camp such as ; Camp Leader (Seung jin), Co-Leader
(Ohme), Accountant (Bina), Reporter (Sarah), Management team (Yutaka
& Abaadi), Cooking Papa & Mama (Mauro, Hani & Noon), Time
keeper (Simon & Ajeng) and Photographer (Dong uk). From now on, 12
of us will be like a family. KNCU-10 family!! Yeah!! \(^0^)/
On the same day in the
afternoon, we attended an opening ceremony and workshops. Mr. Kang Dai
Geun, Director of Korea UNESCO Cultural Center, gave us a speech about
youth’s role in the world of both Diversity and Harmony that inspired
us to take our young power to achieve a peaceful world.
The united of every
little small power may turns into super power. Let’s take our power
step out!!!
“Even the smallest
actions of a determined spirit can change the world”
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Kimchi = pickle
