#Day 3

WEDNESDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER 2012

Day #3

Visit Kukkiwon(museum + stadium)

To start off our day, we went for a tour at Kukkiwon, the Headquarters of Taekwondo, to learn more in depth about Taekwondo. As a Taekwondo member, it is important to know about the history of Taekwondo as it will help us to appreciate this form of martial art more. In the museum, I found out that there are 153 countries that are affiliated to the World Taekwondo Federation and there are a total of 13 championship games. The Kukkiwon stadium has been at its present site for almost 40 years. We also had a golden opportunity to be able to watch a 8/9-don grading exam that was held in the enormous stadium in Kukkiwon. It was really an eye-opener! We also took the chance to take photos with the judges, referees and the Taekwondo Masters. We met the journalist for the Kukkiwon Taekwondo Newsletter at the stadium. He took a snap shot of our group and informed us that our group photo would be published in the next edition of the newsletter. We were elated! We will be famous now! Overall, we learned a lot about Taekwondo from Kukkiwon and enjoyed watching the grading exam.

At the Namsan Tower

Next, we visited the Namsan Tower, commonly known as the Seoul N Tower. It is Seoul’s most famous observatory deck. When we reached the destination, we had to hike up a hill to reach the tower as vehicles are prohibited to enter. Our coach, Sir, gave the boys a challenge, that is to run up the hill as fast as they could and see who is the winner. Haha, in the end, it was Hanis and Shi Cong sharing the first spot! When we reached the Namsan Tower, we were ushered to the elevator that led us up to the observatory deck. The elevator has an interesting name. It is called the ‘Shocking Elevator’. Why is it named this? Well, we really had a shock when we went into the elevator. They had a screen right above our heads. It showed us a video where we were brought into ‘space’ and it was such fun watching it that we didn’t realize that we had reached the deck within the few seconds!. Looking down from the observatory deck, everything on the ground looked so small! We even found a telescope saying that we could see Singapore from there. After admiring the beautiful scenery of South Korea, we went down to the souvenir shop. My friends and I bought a set of items comprising of a pen, two hearts and a lock. We wrote down our well - wishes and locked it up on the deck, together with all other locks written by many people. Even though these are normally what couples do, we did it together to remember our time in Korea together.

Taekwondo Performance “Spirit Of Taekwondo”

The “Spirit of Taekwondo” performance was performed by the black belt masters from Kukkiwon and we found out that they are only University students. It was a spectacular show. They were very synchronized and their punches and kicks were very powerful and swift. It kept everyone amazed and wanted to see more. During one part of the performance, one of the performers did a 540 - degree horse kick. His kick was so powerful that the piece of plank flew from the stage to our friend, Ray and he was seated about 50 metres away from the stage! Wow! The performance was a moral boost and inspiration for us, Team Eagles.

Learning Taekwondo from Kukkiwon Sabum

After that, we had Taekwondo training at the same place conducted by the teacher, Master Park, who is from Kukkiwon Sabum. It is a totally different experience as we had people from other countries joining in the class. Master Park taught us Taekwondo using a different technique. His lesson was fun and interesting as he taught us a few combinations of kicks and punches. He also educated us on values that we can learn through the hard training. He taught us us about “No sweat, no pain”. It meant that he respects every individual who comes to learn from him, and in return, we have to respect him by giving our best in our training. Last but not least, we received a certificate from Kukkiwon and the President of Kukkiwon even signed on it. We truly enjoyed the training very much!

Nanta ‘Cookin’ Show

We ended the day with a hilarious musical. We were all excited about the performance because we heard good remarks about it. It definitely didn’t disappoint us. We had such a great laugh and it ended our day with a big bang! The musical is about a group of chefs who were tasked to prepare a wedding banquet. There was one moment when the chef tried to interact with the audience. He divided them into two groups. He did it in a very funny way and he made the audience burst into lots of laughter.  It was one of the best shows that we have ever watched!

#Day 2

TUESDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER 2012

Day #2

Our Group

Annyeonghaseyo :D

We are from Group 2. Our team members consist of Qistina (group leader), Seraphilia, Lee Ting, Wei Qi, Iffah, Diyanah, Shi Cong and Darryl, led by our teacher Miss Cathy.

Everland Recycling Centre

The first activity for the day was the tour at Everland Recycling Centre. Their main focus is on the recycling of the underground water. The process is as follows:

Firstly, the dirty water comes form river valleys and the water will go through a process where the bacteria are being removed.

Thereafter, the water is being filtered in tanks and it’s clean.

Everland Theme Park

When we first arrived at the theme park, it was raining. Looking at the weather condition, it was expected that the outdoor rides would be closed. We were rather disappointed, however we did not let the rain dampen our spirits. We managed to play some indoor activities and Amazon Express, however it's not as thrilling as the outdoor rides. Despite having the bad weather conditions, the teachers were concerned about us, ensuring that we drink sufficient amount of water and are properly attired for the activities.

KBS Drama Center

There are 6 studios in the KBS Drama center in Suwon. The staff shared with us a lot of information about the various studios. He also introduced to us some props that they use for filming. One of the most interesting studios in KBS Drama center is the one used for weather forecasting.

Here are some of the pictures:

Dinner & Hanyang University Guest House

We went to eat in a Korean style barbeque restaurant for our dinner. There was a large variety of meat and vegetables. We had difficulties at first as we were constantly overcooking our food, but we soon got the hang of it and enjoyed ourselves. We then finally went back to our hotel after a long and tiring day. The hotel lobby was well furnished and the room also had good faculties. Before we went to rest for the next day, we gathered at the lobby for an exercise session to warm up our muscles for the following days’ Taekwondo trainings. 

#Day 1

Monday, 3 September 2012

Day #1

Arrival at Korea

The Edgefield TKD CCA comprising of 29 students, 2 teachers and 2 instructors embarked on a learning journey to Seoul on Monday, 3 September. The group arrived in Seoul, Korea at approximately 8am. This is the photo of Group 1 led by Ms Tan Sio Ling. Our members comprised of Mohd Hanis, Cindy, Ying Hsia, Amirah, Ryan (Group Leader), Lynn, Tze Xuan, Jing Yi and Wei Qian.

The Gyeongbok Palace

After we left the airport, we set off to our next destination, the majestic Gyeongbok palace. There, we witnessed the changing of guards. It was a brilliant performance performed by the ex-military soldiers!!! 

The Changing of Guards

Witnessing the changing of guards was indeed a spectacular sight! As the drummers drummed along to a lively tune, the guards marched up front to take over the assigned positions from the guards of the earlier shift. The shift would then last for an hour before the next groups of guards take over their duties. It was no regret watching it!
 

This picture above was the breakfast served to everybody in the airplane. This dish is called the “bibimbak”. It comes with preparation process before it is ready to consume. First, you have to pour the cooked rice into the bowl mixed with beef and vegetables. Next, add in the hot sauce and the sesame oil into the same bowl. Mix them well and it is ready to be eaten.

This picture above showed the lunch that was being served to us in a Korean restaurant. The dishes consisted of Korean kimchi , fried fish , cold salad , vegetable kimchi soup and many more.  They were all delicacies from Korea and most of the dishes were spicy but delicious!

After lunch, the group visited Seoul Physical Education School to find out more about its curriculum. This is one of our friends, Lee Ting, trying out shooting at the school’s rifle range. It was not easy as the pistol was very heavy. However, with great concentration, she managed to hit the target.

The school has many sports facilities to nurture children in different sports such as swimming, diving and gymnastics. The school used to be the 1988 Olympic Park. The sports facilities in the Park are now used as a training ground for the students to practice.

After dinner, we headed to our hotel to do our reflections. One thing that we can improve on is to give respect to the teachers, coaches and the tour guide by greeting or bowing to them whenever we see them.

That’s the end of day 1. Time to sleep. Annyeong!