Seollal 설날 with Multicultural Family in Korea (part 1)

we had a class on Chinese language and culture, too.

ok..let me get it straight..first. we were having a meeting on Saturday Feb. 2nd 

Thanks to Kyobo Foundation, we could arrange the class and this activity at Kyobo Building at Shinseoldong. 

Eyra and Freya were having the best time, too...learning Chinese language. ^^ 

I never thought that the decorations on the ceiling were brought in from China directly. hmm...that's something. Well..I got to admit that they were pretty.

The kids had to cut and paste a map of China full of information on the names of each province along side with its geographical sketch.

a closer look at the ceiling decoration. 

This is the paper we used to learn Chinese expressions. 

We were preparing to play some yutnori: one of the must-have traditional games played during Seollal.

Back to the class activity.

Then...a personal information is needed on a piece of paper for others to know who we are. Eyra is writing hers on a piece of paper...in Korean language, of course.

Wait..not ready, yet.

Some of us.

Gangnam Style .....an indispensable time-killing dance..^^

Introduction of each family....

more and more...

The kids were just actively moving around the small class where they could get along with others.

Another...family on the go.

Making Kimchi to Share - 사랑의 김치 나뭄

This is a post about what my family and I were doing for the weekend on December 1, 2012.
We were once again reuniting with other multicultural families to have another great activities.
That day we were making kimchi to be distributed to the community at large.
First, thing first, this is--as long as I remember-- the third activities that we had for this year.
First we got Summer Camp for Multicultural Family co-organized by the 동부교육청 and 교보생명교육문화재단 or Kyobo Foundation for Education and Culture as the sponsor of the program.
Now, we got this Kimchi making program and Kimchi Sharing Program to the Community coordinated by the same foundation.

First, we made them..and got them distributed. How cool is that?
Lots of things have changed since the last time we met one another with other multicultural families.
**Ok, let me start with where we were.
We went to 원광장앵인 복지관 or the Welfare Center for The Disabled located at Jungrang Municipality at Sinnae Street). It took us about 40 minutes by subway and bus from where we live at Imundong.
Not that far, actually, but since we got to transfer from subway to bus, it took us that amount of time.
Anyhow, we somehow managed to be there ..though a bit late.

Fortunately, the event was about to start when we got there.
In the chilling windy month of December, the winter really urged us to move faster so as not feel cold.

Now, let's start with the program:
We make some kimchi..so..we got to be clean and ready for ourselves.
The dress codes both for adults and kids?

We had to use aprons and head plastic caps....so as to not let even a single hair dropped while making kimchi. ^^

 The kids looked sooo happy to have the kimchi on their hands and they even tried eating them while making them.

Look at the happy faces of their Mom's, too.
I think kimchi making with the whole family is one of the best ways to show a sense of togetherness.
The other families were also busy making kimchi on separate tables. They were all so rigorously happy in showing off their passion for kimchi since they knew that all of the kimchi were to be distributed to the needy families surrounding the neighborhood.

Ok, upon having a break from making the kimchi...oh..or was it...before making the kimchi,
we got a chance to look around into the facilities available at the Center for the Disabled. I think they were all so well equipped and I loved it.

Eyra even managed to post themselves on the corridors that were full of colorful graffiti in all of the imaginative ways.
We loved them.
--
Now, lunch time. We got lunch together after making some kimchi.
See the queue where kids and adults were there?

It was always a nice atmosphere to be in a crowd like this.^^

Freya was ready to have her plate served.^^

We were great to have a simple lunch served for us, especially with the kimchi we just made^^.
loved to eat our hand-made kimchi freshly served on our table.

---
After lunch, we got to deliver or distribute the kimchi to the neighborhood.
First, we were divided into groups and started to deliver the kimchi according the address given for us.

It was our first time doing this kind of voluntary work of making and distributing the kimchi. We realized that there were people who need more attention from us.

We were bringing the boxes full of freshly made kimchi to share. knock-knock on the door and off and up we went to the receiver.

That is why we were touched by this kind of activity since it really show that social ties and communal feeling do still exist in the society, especially in Korean society.

That's what we love about kimchi making and sharing them to the community.
Apart from looking into the real condition at the society level, we were also becoming closer as multicultural families.
In this part, I would like to thank the 동부교육청, 원광장앵인 복지관 or the Welfare Center for The Disabled and 교보생명교육문화재단 or Kyobo Foundation for Education and Culture for the opportunities given to us.
We will surely always remember the time we have right here in Korea sharing all of the time.
우리의 가족을 초대해 주셔서 Thank you, 감사합니다.
우리 행사를 통해서 진짜 한국사람의 정을 느낄 수 있다고 생각합니다. 

Global Family Camp 2012 (Part 6): We are Happy to be a part of it

Once again, we would like to thank the 교보생명교육문화재단 for having facilitated and coordinated such an event. 

이런 활동을 통해서 우리가 한국에서 사는 것이 색다르게 변하고 있습니다.

After having finished our Archery activity, what left for us was......finding back all of the arrows we shot earlier. It would not be a big problem if the arrows hit the target. We just pluck them out of the target board. But what about the missing ones? We got no choice but to search for them in the bushes behind the target board.

Now: searching time! The kids loved it. As for the adults, we got no choice but to go further beyond the perimeter to find any missing arrows. 

-----it was about 10.30 when we finished having our first activity.

Then, off we went to make organic soap. Eyra and her Korean family friends were busy looking at how the soaps were being made.

Then, we made these cute little family out of pins and nuts.^^

We were making a family dolls out of cloth-pin and nuts. We drew our family members' faces and glued them on the pins. See the picture?

Then, we made a book out of some paper and some fancy papers. We could decorate and write anything we liked. Each family got a pack of fancy cards, some posters, pictures, and other prearranged information on each country. 

We cut and pasted the pictures onto our books eventually so as to make them look like the ones shown above.

It took some coordination and cooperation to make this simple design. Yet, creativity was what we needed. Finally, though, a 30-minute task given to each family turned out to be a hard-driven spirit and challenge for us. After all, we would not have finished making it, had we not cooperated. Right?

The final remarks from the committee, National Youth Center, Kyobo Life, and 동부교육지원청. And of course, we thank them for inviting us to participate in the program.

We said goodbyes to our doumi or liaison officer during the events. Till we meet again...^^

Now, I want to write down the reason as to why we were chosen as the participants of this program: our daughter, Eyra, is now attending Cheongryang Elementary School. As one of the families whose children attend Korean Elementary School, we were given an opportunity by the school to participate in the program. After submitting our application form, we were happy to know that we were among 24 families selected to participate in the Global Family Camp 2012. 

That's pretty much the reason as to why we were chosen to be the participants.

We were so happy to be able to meet multicultural families and Korean families along the way. 

A worth-it trip. 

Once again...we would like to thanks the 동부뵤육지원청 and 교보생명교육문화재단 for having facilitated and coordinated such an event. 

이런 활동을 통해서 우리가 한국에서 사는 것이 색다르게 변하고 있습니다.

Global Family Camp (Part 2)

This is the one of the highlights that we loved most.

우리가 가장 기억에 남은 활동은...바로...보물 찾기가 아니었나 싶다.^^

너무 흥미진진해서 그런가? 

We loved Treasure Hunting since it was so thrilling.

Treasure Hunting or 보물 찾기 begun.

Within on hour, each family was tasked to start going around their way and navigate themselves through the map and clues that the committee had provided to find the 14 treasures or marks scattered around the 42-acre wide camping ground^^. What a task. 

As soon as found the post as indicated on the clue-map, we got to clip or mark the stamp on a piece of paper provided. Eyra was doing the clipping and jotting down the puzzle written on each post. We got to solve the puzzle if we were able to collect the 14 stamps. It was so hot. But, since most of the families were having the best time right there...there was literally no time to complain. We just got to move and push ourselves to solve the problems.

During which, what would a race be without any traces of memories as we ventured upon the camping ground. So, we just ended up taking pictures while walking our way through the camping ground.

And...this was EXACTLY what we meant.

We would never miss our chance of being 'flushed down' into the lush green of this beauty. We live in Seoul where what we normally see was building and building. So, upon finding this beautifully and wildly scattered yellow bushes of flowers...we were stunned.

Off we went into it. We then stopped walking. Instead, were were admiring the lush flower beds on the camping ground. 

Had we never dared ourselves to stop from the race, we would never have the chance of enjoying this panoramic view. 

It was like being soaked in the 'House on the Prairie'-kind-of-movie set.^^ If you know what I mean^^

The wooden fence on the right somewhat imbued the Western-flavored sense of the environment---Yet, this was all in Korea. Who would've thought that it would be just around the corner^^

or...I must've been so mindless or clueless as to think that such a beauty would not exist in Korea.

 I was wrong, then.

In fact: this shows how this pretty landscape is within reach from Seoul. 

So, we are so indebted to the committee who have done their best to bring us there.

Global Family Camp (part 1)

Global Family Camp 2012 or 지구촌 한가족 캠프...here we go. We started off at 동부교육지원청at around Cheongnyangni (well a bit far off). We started the day at around 9 pm where we had to gather with other families before departing.

Off we went to Cheonan NYC (National Youth Center) where we would be having a 2-day event of family camping. Freya and her Mom were on the bus ready to go. ^^ 

After arriving at about 12 and had our lunch, we were ushered into the UN hall--one the so many halls and auditoriums--located within the 42-acre camping ground. 

After changing our clothes into the camping uniform--the one like Freya was wearing--, then ready were we!  

We were teaming up with one Korean family. The committee deliberately planned in such a way that one Korean family would be teaming up with one multicultural or international family. By having so, the two families would end up learning their differences and similarities and creating a sense of togetherness and oneness--which was the goal of this global camp in the first place. 

The first task: each group must create a bulletin on a white paper to describe themselves through pictures, and any other medium:  to express themselves. See other groups over there? 

Oh, I should have mentioned that there were other international families from Iran, Nepal, China, Jeoseonjeok, and of course Indonesia. The rest were those of Korean origins.  

See what happened in the first task? It was quite an amazing experience. First: Eyra started to draw Korean flag 'Taegukki'. It was impressive, I guess. Instead of drawing Indonesian flag, she came across to draw Korean flag, instead. 

Then...of course, eventually she drew the Indonesian flag, too. As for her counterpart, Korean family's kids: they were drawing Eyra's family and her own.

This was pretty much of what came put of the first task ever. We just met and there was somewhat a sense of belonging to one entity or sort of understanding. 

See the kids? They became close and played along well since.  

The first hours but they have become friends.

마난지 2시간이었지만 친한 친구로 되었나 봐요.^^

The background-- I mean the bulletins that we made--became the highlights of the first day afternoon activities. And..if you wondered as to when it was? It was around 2.30 pm. Yup, you guessed it right. 

It was afternoon. But, thankfully, it was an indoor activities.....just before having our first ever outdoor activity under the scorching heat of summer: Treasure Hunting or 보물 찾기^^. (Talk about it in my other entry)

The kids were lining up to take their first map and clues to find the treasure within the 42-acre wide camping ground. Nuts? maybe, but it turned out to be so much fun....

it was just the first day, but we had a lot of fun already. 

It was just the first day이지만..벌써 재미있는 활동들이 많아서 신나게 활동했습니다.

그래서...I think I should thank 교보생명교육문화재단 for having facilitated and coordinated such an event. 

이런 활동을 통해서 우리가 한국에서 사는 것이 색다르게 변하고 있습니다.