Seoul International Friendship Day

I had the chance of checking out the Seoul International Friendship Day at the City Hall today, thanks to a needed, first-time meeting with my Korean Interpreter Volunteer (KIV) for a UNESCO-led cultural class that we both have to prepare for. Aside from this, I have been texted several times by a Chinese girl whom I met when I had my Cultural Exchange Volunteer orientation for the same organization, that I finally agreed to meet up with her on the same day that I have to meet with my KIV.


Just a brief backgrounder, I recently volunteered for the Cross-Cultural Awareness Program that UNESCO has for participants who want to share their country’s cultural backgrounds. It mainly wants to enhance the intercultural understanding of the Korean youth, therefore creating a constructive partnership between Koreans and global citizens as they interact and learn each other’s cultures.

It was an early day spent in the said area, since I agreed to meet up with Ms. YoonYoung (KIV) at eleven in the morning. There were expectedly a lot of people of all colors and sizes at the place, along with food and novelties to try and buy. Ate YY and I of course checked out the Philippine booth to see if there’d be anything that we can grab as materials for our class. The booth basically showcased the country’s most commonly exported tropical fruits-- bananas and pineapples, with sago at gulaman on the sides. There was even a free taste of our sweet pineapples! Aside from the fruits and drinks, native stuff like bracelets, purses, and bags were also showcased for sale. I ended up buying some native pencil cases and wooden balls as prizes for the kids. I also grabbed some brochures and booklets about the Philippines for free.


Then the long walk followed, with YY and I checking out each booth from the country that we felt like going to!

1.) A fun, fun, fun performance from Mexico. Way to go, Korean fellah!


2.) A band performance from Austria's finest men! Haha.


3.) A barbecue experience with Ms. Republic of Cote D'Ivoire. The barbecue smelled just oh-so good! The lady didn't like the star treatment that I gave her, obviously. Way too shy. Ha-ha!


4.) A taste of Malaysian food. I forgot the name already, tastes like curry though.


5.) Window shopping at India's mini flea market


6.) Name-lettering at Turkey's booth. That guy was all-sweaty.


7.) Food fest at the Egyptian booth. It's gold finger (very sweet and syrup-y) and koushari (rice with beans and other stuff in it, hehe).


Then the non-stop pictures went on! A parade of beauties from all nations, wahahahaha.


What's nice about events like these is it really makes you strutt more confidently as a foreigner in a country, all-pretty to make friends with other people. A highlight of this day in regard to this whole idea of "friendships" is the very amiable Fatima, the Egyptian lady whom YY and I met at the Greek booth. Ate YY and I fell in line to check out the sweet pastries in the said booth, when Fatima suddenly approached us to ask what we were falling in line for. She then explained that she is a Greek History major who was plain curious about what the Greek booth had to offer. After we finally got our sweets, we then went inside the Egyptian booth to eat our Greek sweets, while Fatima added her very proudly own "gold finger" and "koushari" for us to taste as well. All yummy! :-)



Fatima, YY, and I