Gwangju International Center

GIC invites active and enthusiastic international residents living in Gwangju to experience and assist in various ongoing cultural programs through its Volunteer scheme. This time 16 volunteers from 10 different countries( China, Denmark, El-Salvador, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Slovenia and Uzbekistan) joined GIC for September~December 2017 period. All of them participated in various activities like Language exchange, GIC day, GIC Tour, Cultural classes, GIC talk, Kids classes, Proofreading, Translation etc. At the end of their volunteer service they submitted their review of volunteership which we're going to share with you.  Michaela, Philippines GIC Day: A Colorful Day to Remember             Cultures as Colors of the RainbowEach color has its own unique characteristics that make a rainbow spectacular. The GIC Day is like a rainbow, not just because it is colorful but also because people with different cultures are brought together to work hand in hand, producing scenery of unity and cultural appreciation. Mabuhay! (Live!) Philippine BoothsAssisting in carrying out the Filipino traditional dance, Tinikling and the traditional game, Sungka went beyond my volunteering experience because it is sharing something which is a part of me. Thanks to GIC for organizing such cultural event! The HugIn the event, I had the chance to use the Super Mario costume. The children’s expressions as they approached and hugged Super Mikka were very heartwarming. This made me realize that happiness is not just a product of volunteering but also a part of the volunteering process itself.  Smile Outside and InsideThe people who approached us wore the best smiles. I was so happy because I made them smile even if they did not know the one who was behind the character. Every time someone took a picture, I smiled gorgeously in the inside and outside, as if my smile will be captured in camera.  Indeed, it is a colorful day to remember! -MA Gwangju Tour with Global Friends Every month, GIC organizes the Gwangju Tour with Global Friends. The tour last November 18 is my second time to join such event but my first time to join as a GIC tour volunteer.  In the program, we participated in team activities which include quizzes about different cultures. Teams were composed of Korean high school students and “global friends”. In the afternoon, we visited Yangnim-dong and a certain folk village.  Travel. Enjoy. Share It was fun since missions were given to each team and were to be accomplished in Yangnim-dong. After the tour, we guided the high school students in making a report about the experiences in the tour. The biggest challenge is when I was helping them decide on the presenter of their report because no one really wants to at that time.It was a great experience not just because of the fun and adventure but also the shared insights and shared times. –MA GIC Talk: The World of Ideas Volunteering is made more special in GIC Talk because the event is unique. Diverse topics are discussed. From career, to arts, to traveling, to farming, to countries- welcome to the world of ideas! Volunteering Experience + HugotAside from the volunteering experience one can gain, is the inspiration he or she can get from the hugot or hugot quotes in the talk. Hugot, as a slang word (Filipino), as defined by tagaloglang.com,  refers to drawing emotions from somewhere deep within you.  In this case, the deep insights that were shared by the speakers, based on their own experiences. For instance, in travelling, you should not just think of the fun but the impact that you will leave, especially to the people. Another is that,  during difficult times, one should help himself first and help from others will follow.Setting upArranging the chairs, being assigned to distribute the question and answer slips, or to monitor the Powerpoint presentation, or to greet and welcome the attendees, almost every Saturday– these tasks I will surely miss! Plus, the intense decision-making on who will the host be! (Play drumming sound effect here!) I have tried being a host once. I was a bit nervous but since the topic was related to adventure, my nervousness somehow, was lessened.  The GIC Talk and the whole of the GIC Volunteering Program are both amazing for growth and development of ideas.–MA Yap Wen Kang, Malaysia It has been four months be the volunteer in Gwangju International Center.  Thank you  to international volunteer coordinator who giving the chance to us explore more event  and advisor of GIC talk, Anna who teach and guide us to coordinate the GIC talk in every Saturday. So there are some comment throughout the whole event I join.  GIC Talk: GIC Talk was the main team of mine. The team consist of four international volunteer, four local volunteer and one advisor. Our job is make sure and run the talk on every Saturday. So the team separate into two for routine. Usually one team will conduct two talk per month. During the talk, I was assigned as the photographer in the talk.  The talk usually take one hour or one hour and a half to finish.  We always success to run the talk each time. GIC  Tour: Actually I not in the team of GIC Tour, but our coordinator give us the chance to join GIC Tour. We join the trip to Yangnim -Dong village tour with the student from junior high school.  We assigned as a buddy to guide them during the trip. It is fun because I get to know more friend in this program although as a facilitator. Other event: I do join the one of the big event of GIC, Gwangju International day. I duty in the booth of GIC to promote the GIC to foreigner. The event took 8 hours to finish. It is the first time to join the international festival. Beside, We do have workshop sometimes for international volunteer. The purpose of workshop is to reflect and give opinion to the activities we did.  These activities are my experience in Gwangju International Center.  In overall activities, I have full fill the working hour of International Volunteer in every month, but I only have one volunteer activity in December due to back to my country soon. Overall, There are not any in my team (GIC TALK), the Korean volunteer very kind and always help us and teach us how to conduct the activities. The only problem is lack of high standard camera sometimes. I have to use the normal camera to take photo cause the photo does not look good. I suggest that GIC can buy one camera GIC talk.   Allen Dee, Philippines   I found out about this program when I became a GIC member. And I participated to this program to enhance my social skills. I also want to gain ideas and insights especially about culture and student’s life from different people since this program invites international and local residents of Gwangju. Our basic role as volunteers is assisting and promoting GIC programs and special events. We also need to attend every orientation and workshop and to complete the required time for volunteering. I was assigned as member of the GIC Talk team. The team is composed of eight members, four Koreans and four international volunteers. The team is handled by Ana Traynin, the coordinator of GIC Talk. GIC Talk focuses on different topic each week. These include world cultures, social issues, history, lifestyles, political issues, speakers' experience and other areas of interest. GIC Talk happens every Saturday. As volunteers, we should be on the venue from three o’clock to six o’clock in the afternoon. This three-hour time includes the preparation and setting up the venue followed by a one-hour session with the speaker or the talk proper then the remaining time is for fixing the materials and pieces of equipment used during the talk. Different tasks are assigned to each member. The tasks are taking pictures during the talk, hosting, setting the PowerPoint presentation, making poster, promoting the talk online, and greeting visitors. Out of eight GIC Talks, I participated five times. I did different tasks like taking pictures, hosting and setting the PowerPoint presentation. Doing these tasks is not difficult but requires expertise in execution. One of the tasks, which is hosting makes chills run up and down my spine. It was my first time to do hosting so I got nervous specially that the host should have a stage presence to capture the attention of the audience.  However, doing this will at least help me improve my confidence level. Then I tried hosting the second time and it turned out just fine. In GIC Talk, we volunteers are not only doing our assigned tasks but also we are learning new ideas and insights through listening and interacting with different speakers. At the same time, we are getting concepts on how to manage and organize an event. Aside from being a volunteer in GIC Talk, I also participated in other volunteering fields like the Gwangju International Community Day Special Volunteering and the 8th Gwangju Tour. The GIC Day is a special event in which countries from all over the world gather together to show their culture. It is a big event so all volunteers are given the task to assist in different booths. I was assigned in National Museum booth in which we are providing coloring bags to people especially to children. In the GIC Tour, I was assisting and guiding High School students in doing their tasks. Another task given to me is the Gwangju Guidebook Proofreading. Proofreading is a little difficult especially that I am not familiar with the content. Sometimes changing the structure could change the idea or the content itself. Most of the proofreading process I have done focus only in checking and correcting sentence structures that involve coherence of ideas and topics, tenses structures, parallelism, and good choice of words. My journey as a volunteer in Gwangju International Center comes to an end but the memories and experiences I have gained will remain forever. GIC provided me a second home and gave me opportunity to execute my skills and improve myself to be a better individual. It also motivated me to do things I have never done before. This volunteering program provided me a chance to interact with different people thus helping me to express myself and boost my self-confidence. It is also the vessel of gaining new friends and I am glad that even in a short period of time, I have gained many friends. It may be the end of my work in GIC but I will carry out the act of volunteerism whenever and wherever I go always. Thank you GIC and the people behind it for providing opportunities to students like me.    Kamila, UzbekistanWhen a month passed since I have arrived to South Korea I found out about GIC. I didn't think about any details and I didn't even read a poster. I just applied and didn't  regret about my decision! I have met many interesting ,different and talented people.I have an honor to call some of them "friends" I have participated in festivals ,events and various activities(Fringe Festival,GIC Community Day,Gwangju Tour 8 with Global Friends) My favorite one is GIC community day.Actually I didn't expect such a huge event which was professionally organized by GIC and other centers. I was positively surprised.Belonging to Language exchange team I have learned to work in a team ,share ideas and be more responsible. Assisting in Kids Art Class I've learned not to afraid be funny and childish like these little cute kids. Naturally ,there were moments when I doubt about what I was doing ,but I got  an essence .So, if you would like to develop yourself ,help others and integrate yourself into the society of a new country  you cannot find a better place than GIC! GIC is not just an organization, but a family which care about all it's members. I am more than grateful for what this volunteership gave me and gives every single day. Katja Sajna, Slovenia  My volunteering at GIC did not start the best since I have been late on first 2 meetings. I was lucky that Harsh still let me participate. My first assignment was review of an event. I was making a reportage of a kids Halloween event at Kwangju foreign school. I came there in the early afternoon, in the beginning of the event. I took some photos and just enjoyed the event. After i wrote a review. I found the event very nice. Great for the foreign community, kids can enjoy both, American and Korean culture like that. I guess school really encourage that.  My next volunteering job was working on GIC day. I was there for the whole afternoon. I was at the Flea market, trying to sell used books. The experience was great, I was having fun with selling the books, inviting the customers and trying to reach the goal. We had the goal of the money we wanted to raise. The best thing about that day was experiencing all the countries and all the food! That day was really fun  My next assignment was kids art class. I participated at 2. On the first one I was listening to the presentation of Mongolia. A girl from Mongolia presented her country, their culture, how they live. She also prepared us some of the traditional tea. My job was to take pictures, observe and later make a review of the presentation. This way people that are interested in GIC and what it does could read about it. At the second class I was the English teacher. We were making art, coloring and learning about shapes. My job was to help them learn shapes in English, so to repeat the English words. It was quite nice. They were very lively. In december I represented my country on GiC Global culture class. I represented Slovenia. It was very special and interesting for me, representing my country. The kids were very interested. The best thing for them was the activity. We made a Slovenian Christmas dessert, special kind of doughnuts. It was fun for them because they rarely see the dough or work with it. So I think this was the best part. My last job at the GIC in december was decoration of the space for the Adios party. We decorated it in Christmas lights. We listened to some Christmas music to get into the spirit. It was nice. On the end place looked festive and very cute.  My time at GIC was very nice. I had fun participating on many events GIC has organised. And i am very proud that i was a part of the GIC community. I think they are doing amazing work for Gwangju and for diversity there. Margeline, Philippiines I officially began working at GIC as a volunteer on October 11, 2017 where I got involved in the first session of language exchange program. Prior to this, I met the other volunteers and talked about how to run the program and what preparations were supposed to be done. I was part of the program until the month of December. During the first few sessions, only a few people participated but more people kept coming later on. Such program is indeed a great opportunity for people to improve their Korean and English speaking skills. Though there are certain topics to talk about, the participants can freely talk about other things and this makes it more interesting and engaging. Not only the speaking skills improve but also one’s knowledge about culture and other interesting facts since participants are from all over the globe. On the other hand, for some participants it could be challenging at times especially for those whose language level is quite low because they could not keep up with the subject or conversation and not many are willing to explain every little thing in detail. Aside from the language exchange program, I also volunteered in one of the biggest GIC events for the year which was the GIC Day. It was a whole day activity where people from different countries were gathered and showcased their cultures including traditional cuisines, games, costumes, etc. Thousands of people came to the event and experienced diversity to a high level. I proofread some articles as well and did a presentation about the Philippines.     I could say that I was not able to fully commit my time since I failed to participate in some of the most important meetings. Nevertheless, the opportunity of being a GIC volunteer has helped me in expanding my skills and abilities. I was also trained better on how to work with people and deal with different circumstances. Ravina, India Having received the opportunity to be a part of the volunteering team at GIC has been a great learning experience. Being assigned under the ‘Language Exchange Program’, we had regularly sorted out our roles on every weekly basis where we had conducted the program. It was indeed an interesting program that takes place catering the interests of both the local, and the international participants. Allowing both the categories of participants to give and receive the language acquisition they need, it’s a mutual approach where GIC helps to mediate the link. Spreading the word across through SNS or by displaying posters was the very initial attempt, thereafter there was a rapid rise of participants. Language Exchange Program is a program whereby, foreigners get the opportunity to learn Korean and Korean get to learn English. Both the participants are giving the mutual effort to achieve the ultimate goal of learning the language. The program is split into twenty-five minutes of English conversation, followed by twenty-five minutes of Korean conversation, and after the ten minutes break is the thirty minutes bilingual conversation. Apart from the general conversation based upon particular theme or topic chosen for the day is quite ideal, yet believe that things progresses faster with greater interests when certain games or activities are conducted. The learning outcome of the particular language is more fun experienced. In the near future, for the new sessions of Language exchange program, I believe there needs to be more structured or organized division of the three levels, that are; beginner, intermediate and advanced. The timings for the starting of the program must be limited to the participants as well. Otherwise, it gets chaotic later to sort the different levels amongst the participants.  Overall, the language exchange program is a great service and opportunity for people living in Gwangju, allowing it to be globalized in one platform, through mere means of exchanging conversation. It is indeed through language that a hand is extended in understanding each other’s culture. I thank GIC for giving me the platform to volunteer. This in turn gave me the learning experience where I was able to be the volunteering to organize the program out with other volunteers, while at the same time I was a participant myself. Being a foreigner, and as well being a beginner level in Korean speaking, I was able to participate along with the other participants and involve in the language exchange. Laura, Romania The GIC volunteering period was a beautiful and worthwhile experience filled with many personal developing and blissful moments. Thanks to its multilayered program structure, GIC is a good place to volunteer, one filled with lots of opportunities to immerse in unforgettable cultural learning experiences. The GIC staff proved to be engaging and friendly. And my coordinator, Harsh, has been a true inspiration and a model of efficiency. He was always on point in delivering advice, orientation, helping materials, keeping track of his own responsibilities but also of ours. He was a professional manager who also succeeded in showing us his human side. I appreciate him a lot. My only wish is that the International and Korean volunteers could work more closely together, as part of the same team. Though I understand perfectly the reasons behind the decision to separate us, I feel that this distinction drew a psychological line between foreign and local volunteers. Let’s not forget the purpose of Gwangju International Center: to promote cultural exchanges. As a serious and responsible person myself, I admit having felt somehow punished for other people’s irresponsible behaviors and therefore robbed of the opportunity to interact with more Korean volunteers and staff and of the opportunity to better observe Korean work methods and mindset. I should also add that a part of the Korean volunteers (at least the one that I’ve met and talked to) felt disappointed too by this separation. That’s why I hope that in the future, a better solution will be found so that all volunteers feel part of the same big family. The team building meetings were of great help in that direction. I appreciated as well the flexibility in changing the projects for foreign volunteers.  Also, I wish to give my feedback concerning the Language Exchange program. I fully value the work that has been done for this program until now. Although it seems an easy task, it is in fact one that requires dedication, pedagogical skills and lots of creativity and enthusiasm. I really believe that the Language Exchange is one of the coolest GIC activities, therefore a program that should continue and be taken more care of. There are so many things to be bettered and so many wonderful ideas that could be implemented. Finally, I strongly recommend to anyone interested in volunteering (local or foreign resident) to invest his/her free time in improving Gwangju community through GIC.  And, although my student priorities do not allow me to continue as a volunteer in GIC, I wish to express my continuous support to the organization’s activities by participating at its events and by purchasing GIC membership every year from 2018 and on. Thank you for everything! Once GIC, always GIC! Vivi, Denmark Enjoyable aspects of the program Despite being accepted as a volunteer after the deadline of the application I was very well received with sufficient information about the different existing teams that you were available to join as an international volunteer. Moreover, the coordinators whom I had the most contact with (Singsing and Harsh) were perfect at responding quickly to any questions or doubts that I may have had during my volunteership program. There was also a lot of room for listening to any dissatisfaction we may have had as well as lots of opportunity for finding the team that fits your own desires. Despite not being as active compared to some of my other peers I definitely felt very welcome and that GIC is a very cosy family. No matter how busy I was, there was not a time where I regretted going to GIC.  Room for improvement: While I think that GIC offers a wonderful program for foreigners staying in Gwangju, I think it could have been just slightly more organized when we first joined the program. That is, after the programs were introduced at one of the orientations as well as after writing down in our application in which field we would like to work with, I had the impression that we would be assigned a team rather than having to sign up for one ourselves. Therefore, for a long time I did not do any team activity although it would have been nice to join a team from the beginning. Another thing that would have been lovely is for more opportunities to engage with the other volunteers by maybe incorporating not only a informational orientation but an ice-breaker as well so people could get to know each other better! Yap Chuin Hong, Malaysia Kids Art Class (2 hours) I was the reporter of that class. This session is about making paper plate tambourine. Due to my weak proficiency in Korean Language, I wasn’t able to contribute much in the class. I tried my best to assist the teacher and the class assistant in charge by helping out the students in some of the steps in making the handicraft. GIC Day (6 hours) I was in charge in the cultural booth of China and Philippines. In the morning, we set up the booth by decorating it with the traditional items from each respective country. It was fortunate that I am a Chinese descendent and a Malaysian as I can demonstrate some of the traditional Chinese games such as diabolo and some of the traditional Philippines games which are similar to traditional Malaysia games such as congkak. The session was smooth and I managed to tried foods from various countries. Gwangju Guide proofreading (9 hours) Proofread of some English documents. Personally I hope the author of the documents have higher proficiency in English as some of the contents are misinterpreted badly. Global Tour with Friends (8 hours) I interacted with local high school students and we conducted game sessions together in GIC. We proceed to carry out some missions in Yangnim-dong area. The weather was cold but still I enjoyed it very much. The high school students are shy but helpful. Saturday Kids Class (2 hours) I introduced to the elementary school students about my country, Malaysia. The kids concentrated quite well in this session. I think I have made my presentation simple enough for the kids to understand. Muhammad Zaigham, Pakistan During the volunteer program by Gwangju International Center (GIC), I was mostly assigned with the ‘GIC talk’ program of the GIC. It is a weekly organized event in which presentations on topics such as society, culture, politics, science, education or any topic of interest are held. Different people from all over Korea are invited including entrepreneurs, businessmen, bloggers, social-workers and so on to share their thoughts and spread the knowledge. We were a team of 8 volunteers, 4 international and 4 Koreans whereas we had one coordinator Anna, who was the in charge of all GIC talk related activities. The major tasks during these events include social media promotion, hosting, setting of the event place, video recording of the talk, photography, Q&A session handling and guest reception. Normally, in order to add diversity and fun to the tasks, our team started to rotate the tasks for each member. So we all got a chance to participate in every of the aforementioned errands. The work felt like fun and we all ended up having a great time and eventually became good friends. Below are some glimpses from various talks that we organized.  Apart from the event execution, due to my previous knowledge in graphic designing, I was also assigned with the task of Poster designing for the events. My coordinator, Anna was very positive towards new ideas so I had a free hand in working for whatever I like.  For designing tasks, I wasn’t required to visit GIC so I usually used to do it from my home. One of the largest annual event hosted by the GIC also fell in my volunteer term, so I was obviously required to work for it. Named as GIC day, it’s a massive event with lots and lots of fun activities including games, signing, international food festivals etc. I was assigned with the second hand books stall organized by GIC to raise funds. Whole day was fun where we had a chance to interact with many new people.  I would also like to add my heartiest gratitude for the international volunteers’ coordinator, Harsh, who patiently answered to all the queries I had and was always supportive when I had some schedule clash. Finally, I would like to say thanks to the Whole GIC team for this amazing experience. I am looking forward to join the volunteer program again!   Ge Biying, China  3개월동안 자원봉사 활동 해서 좋은 추억이 됐네요. 그동안 제가 총 4번만 참가해서 아쉽지만 좋았어요. 그동안 중국의날이라는 중국 문화 체험 활동 또는 필리핀 문화 체험 활동에 봉사 했어요. 그리고 GIC’ day에 어린이 문화부스 운영했어요. 그날은 많은 국가의 음식과 문화 만나서 재미있었어요. 

GIC Tour in August Written by Putro Dimas Yunianto, GIC International Volunteer  This August, we went to Mudeungsan Pyeongchon Village for touring and making a straw pack of eggs and Damyang Ecological Park. This two places were so awesome to visit. I was a photographer staff from GIC in this trip. So, let’s start my story… We gathered at 09.00 AM from GIC Office to Mudeungsan Pyeongchon Village for 45 minutes. Before that, we had a briefing and participant introduction. It was warmly greetings among us.  The foreign participant comes from France, India, Vietnam, USA, China, etc. We were ready to enjoy and explore the trip for today! In Mudeungsan Pyeongchon Village, we visited a place that we made straw pack of eggs. It was nice and cute eggs pack ever in my life. This made from rice grass and 1 pack for 2 boiled eggs.  It was not easy to make for us even I did not try to make it. But at least, we like to eat that free boiled eggs for our breakfast^^  You can see how we made it with full of skills we have. And then, we only eat that couple of eggs for our breakfast. So rude, haha… The next spot was a children playing ground for physical activities. We had to hiking to the hills to go there. It was shinny and humid there. One of participant tried to enjoy here by climbing the rope games but it was not allowed because we did not have safely equipment even the insurance covered for this trip.  Personally, I miss the place like this because it made me remembering my children memories that can enjoy every single activities without worried about some injuries, but not at my age now. And next, only hundred meters from this place, we visited a tree house. This place made for children that can enjoy playing in outdoor. It was my first time to see and enter a tree house.  At there, they have a cute puppy that very nice with strange people like us. Unfortunately, I like pets such as cat or hamster, but not dog because I had bad memories when I was child.  Next place was going to a restaurant for lunch! Our main menu is Whole Chicken Soup or 닭백숙 (dak-baeksuk). Dak-baeksuk seems like boiled chicken and little bit salty. It was so tasty and delicious for lunch.   It was so nice and enjoy restaurant ever in Korea. You got delicious lunch and enjoy the river view next to your seat. You can relax after eating whole chicken soup by playing water with your friends and family and take your watergun to refresh your body if needed. The last spot is Damyang Ecological Park. There was a small lake with beautiful waterfall that can refresh your mind. At here, we can see many of hills among us with the birds flying around and a clean river.  The masterpiece from this place is a hanging bridge. You can try your adrenalin by passing this bridge. Our staff said that the bridge is 70 meters high from the ground. Because of that, he did not pass this bridge. Of course, this hanging bridge is safely for walking…  Do not try to see how the view in under your foot. Keep going straight and feel that the bridge can shake slowly. It was creepy!    Finally, we can enjoy the view from this hanging bridge. You can see how happy we are. It was amazing trip and nice friends. So, let’s join in next our GIC Tour. You can have and meet new friends in each tour! See you later… 

Interview with GIC Kids' Science Class Instructor RISHI CHAUHANWritten and Interviewed by Harsh Kumar Mishra Harsh:Hello, Rishi! How about you give a short introduction about yourself.Rishi: Yeah! So, my name is Rishi Chauhan and I’m 23 years old. I’m from Philadelphia, US. I graduated from my college in May, 2016 with Biochemistry major. Right after finishing my college I came to Korea as an English teacher. Harsh:When did you come to Korea?Rishi:I came in July 2016. It’s exactly been 1 year here. Harsh: How did you decide to teach English in Korea?Rishi:It was like a program where they have several English teaching programs around the world in more than 100 countries so picked Korea for this program. This program is little bit different than other English teaching programs as It’s an English teaching program supported by the American government. So, when I came to Korea they gave us 6 weeks of Korean language training and had to do the homestay as a requirement of the program. Harsh:Many people feel like South Korea is now one of the dangerous country because of the North. What’s your say on it? And when you decided to come to Korea what did your parents say?Rishi:I think it’s like an interesting mix because Korea itself is like super safe, in fact one of the safest country inside but there is just threat of the outside maybe. So, for my parents it’s like new threat so they were really scared. They hear on the news like “oh my god! Korea has the nuclear weapon” and all this. They were little bit concerned but they were more concerned about day to day safety and that’s like really safe in Korea. When you say Korea that’s first thing comes to your mind like Seoul is a big city and North Korea is right beside it. Idea of it was definitely back there in their mind but I don’t think they were too concern about it and I wasn’t concern about it at all. Harsh: You have been living in Suncheon city for past 1 year. How is life there? How is it different than Gwangju? Would you recommend Suncheon to other foreign friends?Rishi:I really like Suncheon. I think it’s because Suncheon is a smaller city and it’s really far away from Seoul so, I had very unique experience in Korea compared to a lot of other people living in big cities. Also, the traffic there was smoother than of Gwangju, less crowded and more nature.  It seemed like, every week in the school from teachers and the homestay hosts I got new recommendations about popular food there in Gwangyang and Suncheon, which they said I could not find in other regions, to me that part was really cool. I will surely recommend Suncheon, Gwangyang and Yeosu to foreign tourists because you experience the unique culture and lifestyle of Korea as it is. Harsh: How was your experience of teaching English at Korean school? What are the main differences between Korean and American kids?Rishi:I taught at a boys’ high school in Gwangyang. I was really scared coming in an all-boys high school but the students there were very nice. School was in really rural area and because of so rural students were super kind and they had strong traditional values. I think that’s the positive side of it but negative is that they were too respectful sometimes. Unlike in America school students are much more independent and they’re not afraid to talk back to the teacher, but I think in Korea sometimes students are afraid to express their thoughts and encouraging them to express here was a bit different than of America. Harsh:As you have already mentioned it before tell us about your Homestay experience with the family. Was it good? Would you recommend it to others? What did you find best thing about it?Rishi:I think Homestay is completely unique experience and it just gets you so immersed in Korean culture. If you live alone, you ‘re never going to experience the real Korean culture that you can do in homestay. I completely recommend it to everyone. You get to learn about all aspects of Korean lifestyle and culture like how they bath, eat and all that. It really helped me kind of get used to Korean life. Harsh: So, you lived there as a part of the family or tenant? Was the family friendly to you?Rishi: Actually, I think it was a mix. It depends on the person but because my Korean isn’t good, there were some cultural boundaries like you know I can’t talk casually with my host family. They are super nice and they are like willing to try to have discussion but it’s exhausting to talk in English. I regret just that I couldn’t have more talks with them because of the language barrier. Harsh: You have been doing kids science class at GIC for long time. So, could you tell us how did you know about GIC and the program? Also, I heard like you were doing something similar back in the US, like same science class program! Rishi: I heard about the GIC because I was looking for teacher to teach me Korean. I was struggling to find someone in Suncheon, so my friend, who lives in Naju City, recommended the GIC. Then I contacted GIC and started getting Korean classes on the weekend, and then I got to know that GIC runs global culture classes. As I mentioned before, like even back when I was in college, and had free time I used to volunteer with kids in some way. I ran science programs, I did afterschool help for kids in a city poor community. So, I just asked them that can I do this science class at GIC, and GIC was super enthusiastic about it and that’s how I ended up doing science class here. Harsh: Tell us your experience of kids’ science class at GIC? Let us know about both negatives and positives!Rishi: The thing that surprised me in a very good way is, I think the students here were as enthusiastic as my students back in America or even more so. That really made me happy that students are so enthusiastic about learning science. Things I learned from experience back in the U.S.  like what kind of science courses kids like it or don’t like helped me picking courses for them. You know every culture has different way of teaching science so trying to figure out lesson that they didn’t ever did in Korea before was quite fun. I think both of those components made the classes really enjoyable. I think the hardest part of it was just the language barrier. It’s hard enough to translate like normal speech but to translate like complicated science terms into simple Korean to teach them were challenging. But I think keeping it visual and physical really helped the kids understand the basic components of the science even though deep understanding maybe got a little bit lost because of translation problem.  Harsh: So, was there any special class that you want to recall? Rishi:I think my favorite ones were two with two different sets of kids.  It’s called science crime busters where we do like a fake crime and we have the kids take finger prints, do powder analysis, pen chromatography, so it’s like deep science principles but having kids act up in a fun way. I thought my student would not like it, but when we did they were like super triggered up trying to get the criminal. When I did it in America, the criminal wasn’t in the room but they had this imaginary criminal, but when I did it here it was three teachers for helping so I made it one of us three is a criminal. They were so much into it. It was great fun for them.  Harsh: When are you heading back to US? What are your plans for future?Rishi:I am going to Japan on this Wednesday (19th July) and then from there I’ll leave for the US. My next plan is to go to medical school to become a doctor. MD. I want to become a pediatrician. Harsh: Last question, what do you find main differences between Korean and U.S.?Rishi: How you eat meals together, you share from one plate, and I really enjoy that a lot, because it’s so different when you have to share meals I think It’s a much closer and intimate. When I was in America, nobody wants to share with each other, we just want to eat our own food, so I really enjoyed that part. Harsh: How will you sum up your 1 year life in Korea?Rishi: There is like 3 different parts to it. With my host family, I became very close with my little host’s sister who is 9 years old. We played so many games together, so I think we are both going to miss each other a lot. In school, I really bonded with some of my students. I think that close connection my students and my teachers like helped me. I learned so much about different kids and challenges in cultural communication. I think just meeting so many nice Korean people I think because I am not stranger you know there is good and bad. Like you know you get stared at the crazy everywhere that’s a negative part, but the good part is, a lot of people are really curious and that opened me up to new conversation. In America, if you by yourself nobody cares, here like I had a little kid like pointing at me saying 외국인. You can like smile at them and say hi and they are going to like oh he smiled at me, he is talking to me. Those parts were kind of precious moments. It’s like very unique thing, you don’t get that in America   Harsh: Thank you so much Rishi for your valuable time. We at GIC wish you great luck for the future. Rishi:Thank you!

[Review] The 6th Gwangju Tour with Global Friends  written by Ahmad Ijaz   Our tour started at the GIC with division of the participants in 5 teams. We went to Moodeungsan Water melon village by bus. Throughout the journey we were given the historical background of the village and information about the activities we were going to perform in this village. The disappointment thing was we came to know that we will not taste this famous watermelon because it’s too early for that. Upon, reaching the village we were given instructions how to make rice cake (떡), which started with hand washing and ends with eating the rice cakes we just made! Which were delicious, I never had enjoyed rice cake that much before. The cultural thing that we came to know was that in old days they don't have knives that's why they used plates to cut the cakes and we did the same.  Learn!The staff was so much caring that we don't have to worry about our things! We dug up potatoes, the fun part was to take a photo to win and the best part was we brought back the dug up potatoes with ourselves.​The Food was delicious! The photo before and after photo shows we enjoyed the food a lot. We spent sometime in the valley! And it was all about Nature.We learnt the "Rolling Hoop" game and then compete. It was very Fun!I could not say, what the difficult part was: Not spitting the watermelon with seed or not swallowing the seed with watermelon! I did both.  The Spiritual experience in temple was also very good. We shared a lot about our cultures, life styles and games. Blending in Cultures! We started trusting each other. 

An old friend of GIC, Allen Gray Interviewed by  Nahia Antoranz   -Can you introduce yourself? My name is Allen Gray, I´m 70 years old and I came to Korea because I have always had trouble with a lot of the norms of western civilization and I have always been more in touch with the eastern holistic unity of things, which eastern civilization is better at, than western civilization, so that was my major motivation and I also like to travel in foreign cultures anywhere I can. When you come from New Zealand, a little island in the middle of nowhere, we don’t get much interaction between different cultures and that’s something I always wanted to do.   -When did you come to Korea for the first time? What brought you here in Gwangju at that time? Korea, I’m rationalizing after the point here a little bit, but the reasons for Korea was, one, I have been practising Buddhism in my day again for reasons that are more part of the eastern civilization and eastern way of thinking. In the western part of me, I like to categorize things, in the east everything is holistically integrated, so it was that, plus the flag has the downwest symbol in it. And also Korea has a strong chamman background, probably from their ancestors day, but this chamman culture does see the whole everything as ben sacred including the rocks, and the soil, the trees, the mountains, and I think that we live in the very edge of it turning towards another ecological disaster because western civilization sees itself as more important than physical environments. And so I came here to be in a Buddhist culture, not so buddhist any longer, but still buddhism exist in the values of the people and to get away from the wisdom of scientific protestants way of thinking. -How did you know GIC at first? I had a job in a hagwon and a couple of the other teachers there introduced me, since they were taking korean language classes, and that's when I met Singsing, that she just had started herself,  and I got to know her very well a I was involved with the GIC deeply, I was here for 9 or 10 years in total, so i got to know the GIC very well. I used to join the GIC Tour for trips around the province, and i got to know quite good writers, so i got involved in the Gwangju News, and for a short time I was the editor of the magazine, but it was too stressful for me (laughs). They worked very professionally, when I came here the Gwangju News magazine was two sheets of paper, printed in a copy machine, folded over and stapled together. Now, I am very pleased to say that think I made a significant quantum leap for myself, but nowhere near the quality that exists now.   -I heard that you have been helping GIC as a proofreader even after you left Korea. That’s great that you still keep in touch with GIC even though the times goes by. I am still involved with the GIC, I used to write articles and proofread, and occasionally i get something over the internet to proofread, not so much for the magazine but for some translations that has been done by the GIC. So that's how I keep in touch with the GIC directly, but Singsing and Minsu are old friends of mine, independently of the GIC and I keep in touch with them.   -Can you share good things of Gwangju? What attracts you to come to Korea again? Special memories you had in Gwangju? or GIC? or in Korea?I like to visit Gwangju, because I like the culture of the people, the ambiance of the town and its beautiful forest. In New Zealand we don’t get to see deciduous the forests. We only have evergreen trees, we do have deciduous trees planted but there is no natural forest.   As for the GIC my most special memory is the phenomenal amount of work that they do on behalf of the foreign people, the sacrifices they make, because Dr. Shin makes huge sacrifices running the center and seeing it grow and this is my first time since GIC moved to this new building, and it has grown enormously, and has become very well known among the community. When I first arrived in Gwangju, everything was in Korean, there was no signs in English at all  and almost none of the population knew any english here, which is, sadly, the language of the world. If you want my opinion it should be Spanish, a lot more straightforward and easier to understand than English. But unfortunately, the bullyboys of the planet, being English speakers from the British Empire to the American Empire led English to where it is.   I would like to give you the best story of me being in Korea, it has to do with the forests on the hills. My background is environmentalist and landscape designer so I’m motivated towards this sort of thing. But in the 1960, all those hills where the forests are on, weren’t here they were burned, all the trees have been just chopped down for fire, and the japanese colonists took a lot of them and the korean war destroyed a lot of them… so what they did, starting early 1960’s, was grow millions and millions of trees native to the area and people of the villages was their job to take care of the trees and plant them all over the hills and I did that 10 or 15 years and thats why Im staying here now, I think that's one of the best things you can say about anybody, anywhere. And compared to New Zealand, where we only have 4 million people but we chopped all our forests and hills and put sheep running all over them. And with the erosion, it has been washed away and now there is no beauty there. Affinity with all the nature   

 <Interview with Mamado Cisse, Bekithemba Ngwenya>Interviewed by Saerom Son, Eunseon Cho 1. Could you briefly introduce yourself?M : Hello, my name is Mamadou, I’m from Senegal, I came to Korea in August 2015 and I have been living here for a year and two months. I’m a KOICA student and I will be graduating in December.    B : My full name is Bekithemba Ngwenya. I’m from Zimbabwe and came here at the same time as with Mamadou, doing the same KOICA program.   2. Why did you come to gwangju, korea? M : We were selected from KOICA, we are both civil servants in our countries. And KOICA program is one Korean government scholarship for civil servant in developing countries. That’s why we applied.   B : This is a scholarship program, specifically targeted to governments that acquire co-helping countries and take part in developmental issues back at home. I also applied Chonnam National University, because what I want to do only kind of job that I am doing back home.   3. How do you know about GIC?M · B : It’s our Korea agent coordinator CNU, office of International affairs. We have been told the GIC is a cultural center and a brief explanation on the general programs that they are involved in. Then, we told that if we are free, we want to be going to schools and to do center program. And it’s part of knowing Korea better, we saw it is an opportunity for meeting different people outside campus. That’s why we agree to volunteer.    4. Are you enjoying your life in korea?M: Actually some frustration I think that if we have to stay in korea for 500days and some, I have been writing my dairy and there are more than 200 worries. Because the korean life is not that easy anyway. There are very positive aspect that we appreciate but sometimes because of the cultural differences, the biggest difference is actually that we are black, not white western. And since I am Muslim the big hindrance for me to enjoy my life is I can not enjoy really social life. Because Korea is a heavy drinking country I can’t have very close friends because they are drinking and I’m not comfortable with it. The food also is mainly made with pork so it’s like to even enjoy the food sometimes we have problem. But anyway, I have some specific Korean food that I like.    B : I have had a chance to visit many places in Korea. So generally Korea is some fun interesting places to visit but the major challenge maybe like any foreigner in Korea, is always language first of all. So that could take some time to get used to. But eventually you get to understand Korean people and get to meet them in different, interesting places.   5. Is there anything good about living in Korea?M : Actually most of it are good things. For instance, you can go wherever you want without any difficulty and the teaching conditions here are better. Although the teaching system is difficult for us because it is based on memorization, and in our countries we have a different system based on understanding and building up one’s own knowledge. As for Korean people, a majority of them are very nice but some of them don’t like foreigners in their country. So you have to be aware of this kind of things which is like anywhere else in the world.   B : Maybe for me, since I can’t repeat some of those things is the working ethic of Korean people which is different. Generally Korean people are hard-working, at times too much. According to my opinion, they don’t have much free time. So they might think they are not enjoying the fruits of their working but the good time management will help them to find free time.   6. We heard that you are participating TWIS(The World Inside School) program at GIC, how did you feel about it?M : TWIS program is hard to know about if you are not introduced by your administration. But the GIC told us about this program and we said if we have time, we are willing to participate in all cultural programs in Gwangju. Because it was just a kind of partnership, so Korea is going to learn about us, and we are going to learn about Korea. What I am saying is that you are in a country but they don’t know who you are, your culture and they don’t know even about your country location. So if you have a chance to visit the schools, meet young Koreans who are the future generation and express yourself, it might be positive in some way. Maybe coming foreigners from Africa, they may not have this kind of difficulties that we have, thanks to TWIS program.    B : Development is a process, is not an event. So this cultural exchange is part of that developmental process. We all know that before this, Korea was generally close society and it is starting now to open to other nationalities. And at times, it will need people to volunteer their time and energies to explain some of the similarities and differences. For us, we teach and learn from Koreans and we teach them what we know about Africa and that’s the exposing tool. Cause even all challenges and issues we just like to meet each other, even all complication, even from misunderstandings. So we try to communicate effectively. We need more discussion, more communication, and friendly common comes. From this, people can understand even with differences. -Senegal TWIS Program-   -Zimbabwe TWIS Program-  7. What was your first impression of GIC?M : I just saw GIC for the first time last year but it wasn’t that much. But this Tuesday October 4th, I saw the working atmosphere, and the head of GIC. So this is what I wanted even in my own organization, this warmth atmosphere that the family of GIC has. For me, as a principal of a junior high school, when I go to another institution, what I look at is how people are in that institution, and who is leading the organization. What kind of leadership style does he or she display? And for the first time, I saw a very humble leader in here, Dr.Shin. When I discussed with him, I saw that for him, it is like for me, to be a servant leader, because I think the best leadership in many organizations is a servant leadership. Actually, my first day at GIC was my best day in Korea. When I came to GIC, I feel like at home and even my working hour is over, I don’t want to go back to my university dormitory.   B : GIC is the multi-cultural place. And of course, there is no communication challenges. So GIC is welcoming and interactive. I feel there is mutual respect among staff, so that kind of exchange on equality is very important for one to stay in a place. And I like this openness of this place. This environment is open and friendly so you can see that the flow in here is different than outside. So that’s because me and Mamadou say that we feel warm at the GIC. I think partially that’s why is the reason that I want to do this even though I’m a volunteer.   8. What is your plan, when you go back to your country?M : We are both government officials in our countries. This is an investment to the development of our country. So when we go back home in December, we are trying to adapt what we have learned in korea. In my field, I’m interested in education Leadership. Because education makes your people better and contributes to the country human capital. That is the key to development. I know there are a lot of things done in Senegal towards education, but still there is a lot more to do. I’ve learned things in Korea that I can implement in my country and some policies to improve leadership in our education. I want to advice to my ministry policies how to improve leadership in our education in Senegal. That’s my real purpose to be here in Korea.    B : Like Mamadou said, for me community development that is brought to me into many aspects. My duty is to figure out how to improve the life quality of the people back home. And so for me, how to make those small changes for the better is the purpose. So improve management, better uses of resources, and if possible, learn some production system in Korea that are the most efficient is the goal. Cause most of the people in Zimbabwe, focus on farming and mining activities. So how can we have the best farm? There is a lot of land, and is not very productive like it is in Korea. My goal is to say I improve the productivity of the land that my people are using. New management techniques on their farm, that they can use. We have to develop our own infrastructure in villages, and farms. So we access the services and facilities needed. How can we integrate those two farms in Zimbabwe and Korea to have better outcome?  -You can find the korean version of this article here-   

INTERVIEW WITH MR.FREDERICO PEREIRA DE MATOS  Interviewed by hyoeun Park, mina You GIC Korean Classes are full of passionate students despite the extremely hot weather of Gwangju. Mr.Frederico is also one of our diligent students who will be working at the city hall of Gwangju for 5 months via K2H Fellowship Program. Shall we meet him?    Q. Could you briefly introduce yourself?Hello, my name is Frederico and my full name is Frederico Pereira de Matos. I came from East Timor.  Q. Could you tell us about your country, East Timor?The official name of East Timor is Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. We got our independence in May 2002. We had been colonized by Portuguese for 450 years and after they left, Indonesia invaded us militarily and we had to fight for 24 years again. Then in 1999, since the issue of our colonization spread throughout the world, the United Nation participated and decided to have a referendum in Timor-Leste to ask the citizens to decide whether they want to be a part of Indonesia or become an independent country. Everyone voted for independence. Finally, we officially declared independence in 2002. East Timor is located between Australia and Indonesia. Timor altogether is an island, but it is divided in to two part, east and west. West Timor still belongs to Indonesia. We have two official languages, the first one is my mother tongue, Tetum and the second one is Portuguese. But Indonesian and English are also part of the local language. So when we communicate, we usually use Indonesian language and English. Our currency, right now is American dollar. The most exported commodities of our country are coffee and oil. The total population of East Timor would be around 1.18 million.  Q. Why did you come to Gwangju, Korea?I came to Korea through a program called K2H (Korea to Heart) Fellowship which was organized by the Governors Association of Korea (GAOK). K2H Fellowship has been making progress for several years in lots of countries, but it was the first time for us, East Timor to join. The K2H Fellowship program sent an application form to us. I applied for it, and finally I was selected to be part of this program! By the way, this program is only offered to the government officials. So in this case, because I was an official back in East Timor as well, I was selected and assigned to work in Gwangju. Before coming to GIC, I worked in the mayor’s office at Gwangju City Hall. Then they assigned me to work with international relations bureau. Later on they decided to send me here as an intern. So I am working here since last month. I also began to take Korean classes recently.  Q. What was your first impression of Gwangju International Center?When I first came to GIC, I met the director and he explained what GIC was doing so far. Those activities really impressed me because they are very big events organized by GIC almost every year. GIC also organizes many other programs related to human rights issues in Korea and around the world. So the first impression of the center was that it is a very big organization and that I am really proud of its activities.  Q. We heard that you are taking Korean classes at GIC. Are you interested in any other GIC programs?Korean class is really important to me. Even though I am only here for five months, I am forcing myself to learn Korea in order to communicate with people and make my life easy here during these months. It is especially for when I need to ask for things that I want to buy and asking for the direction These basic expressions are the most important thing I have to know to make my life easier in Gwangju. Other than that, I am interested in GIC Tour that are offered to the members and participants. It is really exciting to take people to do tours at cultural sites and tourism sites all over the South Jeolla province. It is really exciting to be aside from the formal workplace so at the same time it is also a relaxing time for the staffs in GIC. This month I am busy with the World Human Rights Cities Forum, so it is nearly impossible for me to join. but I definitely have been planning to join next month tour.  Q. Why did you decide to participate in the WHRCF?It is just because human right is an issue that is never ending. This means that every country has this kind of problem. Our country in the past, also fought for the independence which is also one of the human rights issues. So that is why I am very interested in the World Human Rights City Forum (WHRCF).   We were amazed by Mr.Frederico’s passion and interest towards Korea and Korean culture. We hope that he could experience more of the beauty of Korea and spread the exotic culture of East Timor at the same time while he stays here!  -You can find the korean version of this article here-

SPEAKER: Yu DongREVIEW-WRITER:​ Noh Ho-jinGIC TALK DATE: July 2, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: Fascinating Nano World Professor Yu Dong was the guest speaker on July 2nd. He presented his GIC Talk about information related to Nano technology to over 30 GIC audiences members. Nanotechnology is currently revolutionizing the science and technology with a fantastic opening of nano world for us to explore. Professor Yu Dong explained how nanotechnology impacts our daily life significantly from automobile, cosmetics, information technology, advanced materials and structures, gas and liquid filtration to drug delivery and tissue scaffolding. During his informative speech, professor Yu Dong shared his experiments about nano materials with the audience members such as nano tube and nano particles. He said that Human beings have experienced several ages in history from ancient stone age, iron age to age of steel, polymer and, of course, recently information age in 1980, which demonstrates the footprint to the advancement and development of science and technology. From the year 2000, we have met a nano age when tiny nanoscaled objects are investigated to improve our daily lives. Professor Yu Dong especially highlighted the fact that we are on the progress of making nano products of such a tiny size by mixing them with other current materials. His speech made us consider about our world again. We are definitely going to be exposed to nano materials, which could have both side effects for our organs, as he mentioned, and advantages to technological fields. So, thanks to his speech, we could think about how we should deal with and adapt to the upcoming nano world. Find his entire GIC Talk presentation on our Youtube page: www.youtube.com/user/GICTALK

SPEAKER: Jure SutarREVIEW-WRITERS:​ Vivian and Hong Eun-gyungGIC TALK DATE: June 18, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: I lived with Buddhist monks, and you should too  Jure Sutar, who was the guest speaker on June 18 th, gave his GIC Talk in front of over 30 GIC Talk audience members. He started his speech by talking about his experience related to Buddhism. When deciding to go to Asian countries, he experienced something different from his culture, and he stayed at a temple with monks in Thailand. In the temple, he faced lots of experiences that he had never done in his life before: taking a nap with nothing else than a wooden pillow, waking up at 4 a.m., doing meditation for about 10 hours a day and so on. Even though these experiences were difficult to live at that time, they made him feel inspired and be fulfilled with a high satisfaction. During his informative speech, he shared some of the advantages of Buddhists’ lifestyle with the audience members. He highlighted that every person is living in this society, pursing happiness from their possessions such as money, information, etc. Jure said that if someone accepts Buddhism, he or she can live in this world without greed and can realize that he or she does not need too much. His speech made us consider about our lifestyles again. We are definitely exposed to social media, which shows us personal economic success and makes us follow the current trends. However, we can live in this world without all of this material success, which does not actually represent the real success in our lives. The real success is when people do something that they want to do, and find a small, but very happy moment in their life or daily routine. So, thanks to Jure Sutar's GIC Talk, I now better understand how to find the way to be happier.

SPEAKERS: Lisa Crone and guest Heo JiseongCO-WRITER:​ Hong Eun GyungGIC TALK DATE: May 21, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: Become an Animal Rights Activist! For today’s GIC Talk, we were honored to have Lisa Crone and Heo Jiseong with us to talk about how to “Become an Animal Rights Activist”. Lisa Crone, an activist for animal rights, is now in charge of an animal shelter located in Gwangju. She introduced us to GACHI – Gwangju’s first non profit animal welfare organization. First of all, Lisa Crone showed the GIC Talk audience members pictures of diverse dogs and told the story of how she started to engaged herself with that work. Lisa and her friends not only volunteered for the shelter, but adopted personally the dogs and cats that were sick and disabled. She explained how to protect and maintain the animals' health. She promoted not buying a pet but adopting one and advocated new laws that carry real punishment to the owners and enforcement of the law. She added that we need to reduce the number of existing dog farms and illegal breeding. She requested honestly that everybody needs to be educated. For children, they need to be taught about how to respect animals as emotional beings and consider dogs and cats as a member of their family. For adults, they are advised to stop eating dog meat, to accept mixed- breed dogs and to avoid negligence and abandonment of dogs. Finally she stressed again the importance of adoption rather than shopping. Thank you Lisa Crone for sharing your opinion and experience about pets’ rights and showing us your love for animals. I believe that through today’s speech, the audience will have a better understanding of animal’s right.