▲ Vietnam booth with ISC students

On October 8, the 2019 CWNU Global Expo was held at Bongrim Student Hall, organized by International Affairs, international students, and the International Student Council (ISC). Four cultural booths were operated by students from four countries: Pakistan, China, Vietnam, and Mongolia. Three other booths were Hanbok Experience, the Photozone, and Hangul Calligraphy to celebrate Hangul Proclamation Day. Two booths were opened by the ISC and International Affairs to offer information and advice. It was such a huge event that Korean student volunteers from CWNU came to offer their support and help. Students enjoyed that day with international students which included a stamp mission!

Hanbok Experience, Hangul Calligraphy, Photozone Booths

GuemBi supplied 10 hanbok costumes for the Hanbok Experience, and volunteers helped students to try them on. Students wearing hanbok took pictures in the Photozone and received small souvenirs when they posted their pictures on SNS. In the Hangul Calligraphy booth, experts drew flowers and wrote the names of the participants in Korean calligraphy as a gift, showing the beauty of Korean culture.

International Affairs & ISC

Teachers in charge of International Affairs provided information and consulted with students on various programs including: Student Exchange, One-to-One, International Summer Camp, etc. The ISC booth, which was new this year, had time to introduce the role of ISC in supporting and communicating with international students to help with university life.

Song Min Gyeong, a member of the ISC majoring in international relations, said: “It means a lot that the Expo was held on such a large scale. The Global Expo introduced each country in our school, while promoting the traditional culture and beauty of our own country. I looked at the activities that the international students held during the event, and everyone looked so happy wearing their traditional costumes and sharing their culture. International students sometimes look timid in class because they are in the minority in each department. But today, they looked so proud to get together and share their countries’ traditions and cultures. The Korean booths at the Expo were also popular, but the international booths helped to make the Expo a truly international event. At the end of the semester we are going to do a second round of recruiting for the ISC. So I would like to ask not only international students, but also Korean students, for more active participation in the upcoming year."

Vietnam

Ho Thi Giang and Dau Thi Kieu Oanh, members of the ISC, said: “We introduced Vietnamese culture and history to participants, and offered Vietnamese Cup noodles with a quiz game. To better understand issues related to Vietnam, the quiz covered Vietnamese trivia like: "What is the national flower of Vietnam?”and “What is the name of Vietnamese traditional clothing?" It was surprising when some students correctly answered that Vietnam and Korea established diplomatic ties in 1992. To prepare for the event, we practiced mixing coffee until dawn before starting the Expo. We wanted to be sure that we could offer the famous Bakshu coffee (Bạc xỉu) and Vietnamese lemon tea of the highest quality. Through this festival, we had the chance to learn more about countries such as Mongolia, China, Pakistan, and Korea. Living in Korea will be something we remember for the rest of our lives. I hope that developing relationships between international students and Korean students will create more opportunities to socialize in the future.”

Pakistan

Tauseef Ahmed, the leader of the Pakistani booth, said: “I introduced participants to Pakistani traditional clothing: shalwar kameez (a style of shirt and pants), and peshawari chappal (a style of shoes). After that, I showed pictures of Minar-e-Pakistan (a national monument of Pakistan), K-2 (the 2nd highest mountain in the world), and participants made paintings of these landmarks. During this cultural festival, I saw many different styles of traditional clothing from Korea, Mongolia, China, and Vietnam. All of which were gorgeous. I am very thankful to the ISC and International Affairs, especially Ma’am Min J., for organizing the Global Expo. This event was very interesting, offered many different perspectives, and provided opportunities to meet and share ideas with people from other cultures.”

China
Qu Chunhua, a member of the ISC in charge of hosting the Chinese booth, said: “Our Chinese friends prepared traditional Chinese paper crafts. On important days such as weddings or the Chinese Lunar New Year, a Chinese tradition is to make paper crafts and attach them to special places. At first, we were excited and nervous to teach students from other countries about Chinese culture. But we ended up feeling really proud when during the event students said that the paper crafts were fun and original. A small problem we had was making sure that the paper was perfectly square in order to make a flower or star shape. However, the paper that was available was not square, so this made paper making difficult for a little bit. But I'm happy that we all worked together and finished the Expo successfully."

Mongolia

Muuggi, biology student in charge of the Mongolian booth, said: “We tried to introduce Mongolian culture through games and snacks. We showed the Mongolian ger (a traditional Mongolian house), some souvenirs, and a game called shagai. (Shagai is especially popular during the Mongolian summer holiday of Naadam.) We were happy to see Korean calligraphy, hanbok, and presents. For Mongolians, the most difficult part of preparing for the Expo was searching for snacks. Souvenirs were borrowed from Korean-Mongolian friends. Snacks (candies and chocolates) were luckily brought by Mongolian students. If Mongolian students hadn’t come to Korea with snacks at that time, we wouldn’t have had any snacks to share at the Expo. Anyways, we all enjoyed the Expo!”

By Lee Yeon-ju, reporter  rosielee@kakao.com

<저작권자 © The Campus Journal, 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지>