Gifts from Laust and Ida-Marie
Today is August 13th and I have been looking forward to this day ever since our application for the camp was approved. I would get a chance to celebrate my birthday in Korea for the first time in my life. The morning routine started as usually with the alarm beeping at 6:45 in order for us to be ready to leave for breakfast 1 hour later. Before leaving I was called upon by Laust and Ida-Marie as they had brought gifts from Denmark. So I had a small celebration with surprise gifts something they had also been looking forward to. Later on I would get more surprises but more on that later.
My brave fellow Korean students
As this was the 4th day of Korean language classes it was also the final day. The classes were good and our teacher 정경화 did a really good piece of work with all of us.
Laust in front of today’s rewards
In the children classes the teachers were handing out all kinds of rewards: Stickers, stamps and candy as well. Everything goes to motivate and candy is probably the most common language, which quickly won the hearts of the children.
After our lunch in HUFS’ canteen we learned how to play 윷놀이 (Yut Nori) a traditional Korean board game. The game rules resemble a lot like ludo except the dice is replaced by 4 wooden sticks. They are flat on one side and round with prints on the other. The no. of flat sides tells you how many moves you got. If you score 4 you get am extra throw and if all 4 sprinted sides are up you get 5 moves and an extra throw. The goal is to get all 4 tokens from your start position to the end position.
After playing we all joined in one big class. Here the theme was to learn Korean through a song. We learnt the lyrics to a song named “아메리카노” (“Americano”) by Korean singer 10cm from 2010. The session was great fun as the singing was accompanied by both guitar and drumming.
Next activity was making keychain with mother of pearl. We watched an introduction video and with some history and how to make the laquer and cutting the pearl. Making our own design was fun. UV lighting was done by the crew.
Birthday card, cake and banner
After making the key chain I was in for my next birthday surprise. Once all key chains were finalized we took the traditional group photo and cleaned the tables and rearanged the tables as we were going to play the traditional board game jutnori. During the clean up I was standing next to my teacher just chatting with her. All of a sudden the light was turned off and I felt that I got at small hat placed on my head, very elegantly. The next thing which happened was Ida-Marie and Laust entering the room with a birthday cake and happy birthday being sung my the entire camp. I got to blow out the candles and do a little speech. All of the participants and staff members had signed a card which was presented to me as well. This was indeed a really pleasant surprise.
Group photo after making key chains
In the evening a tour to Namsan Seoul Tower was arranged. So after dinner we left for Linda and Jonas’ dorm room as they staying right next to the campus for storing the birthday card and cake until we would come back. They were staying on the 13th floor with an excellent view of HUFS.
Tonight’s evening tour was a visit to 남산서울타워 (Namsan Seoul Tower). It was a nice ride and the temperature had decreased a little bit making the walk uphill a pleasant one as well. We headed for the tower and while waiting in line for the elevator. It will take you to the top in a few moments. During the ascend the ceiling will display a cool animation. There are always a lot of people waiting in line for the elevator, but the wait time is not boring as the room is showcasing a big digital animation of Seoul of past, present and future.
Namsan Seoul Tower at night
All the people going up must also go down, which means the line for the descending elevator is equally as long as ascending elevator. I think it took us about 30 minutes to reach the elevator. Maybe that is way the self-mix candy is placed just next to the elevator. When we reached the ground floor we had exceeded the appointment time so we rushed to the bus, but luckily they were waiting for us at the parking lot.
At the bus’ return I received a bag of gifts from the other Danish families. A surprise they quickly had arranged knowing only today it was my birthday. Inside the bag I found different Korean beers and sojus. So finally entering our dorm and being alone we had to taste the cake which was a delicious chocolate cake. Being really thankful for this long and eventful birthday I had today I went to bed.
A display of my birthday card and presents
Highlights of the day
- Learning Yut Nori
- Learning the lyrics to Americano by 10cm
- Making a keychain with mother of pearl
- Visiting N Seoul Tower in the evening
- Birthday celebration
<< Previous page August 13th, 2020 Next page >>
Recent Comments