DAY 1: IYF World Camp 2010

I thought that today might be a nerve-whacking day for we would be dealing with foreigners (mostly Korean), and would cooperate with them. When I arrived at the Cuneta Astrodome, I found out that it wasn’t really hard to deal with them because they could actually speak Tagalog, for which I was really awfully amazed. The whole volunteering thing went from 9AM up to 9:30PM, and a word can’t describe it; it was more than AWESOME.

We were able to do this “getting-to-know-you” at one point, and I met Kim Soung-woo. He is a 20-year-old Korean volunteer who stays in India (for a year due to volunteering activity). I was quite stunned because these Koreans truly devote themselves in giving their hearts to other people, even if speaking in a foreign language and living in a foreign country might be hard. Anyway, he was also amazed that I could read and write in Hangeul (I wrote my name in Hangeul for him to better understand), he even asked for our mobile numbers to keep in touch. And soon afterwards, we met Chinese volunteer Tien-tien and more Korean volunteers like Ttong, Kam-soon, Ivan, and Son-hee. There were others I talked to but I’ll just get to know them next time! I need their e-mails!

We were actually put in the Academy class (which, I guess, has more Koreans than I thought) but we should’ve been in the Translators/Interpreters, but they removed it. So yeah, we mingled with them Koreans! They are so fun and nice and so adorable. It’s as if we speak the same language because we laugh at the same moment, react at the same moment, etc.

So yeah, the whole program was practiced for like, 3 times. I mean we saw the Gracias choir (they’re so amazing) practice once, then did a pre-opening stunt, then did the official one. They are so great! Also, the Righteous Stars did as well. Mr. Park Ock-soo is a good speaker, and was able to touch our hearts (even through his funny translator), and it seemed as if we Filipinos and them Koreans are all united. They aren’t really the bastos ones who do ingratitude, though sometimes they are kind of masungit, but in a tolerable way. We even saw a lot of Korean look-alikes of our classmates like Kevin, Paolo, and Mhar. It was so funny, and this guy who I’d call Kevin was really not good in speaking Tagalog and it all turned out to be funny, and this guy I’d call Paolo made me impressed at his translating skills, his oh-so-gorgeous voice, and his great English! And then this guy who was one of the Righteous Stars, he was so cute as well as the one who danced in L’Echo. Gaahh *drool*. I already have 3 Korean crushes, just on Day 1. I hope we get to know every Korean there well. ‘Til tomorrow!!

Here are some pictures:

Playing the Bamboo Xylophone

Gracias Choir Solo

Gracias Choir singing Bayan Ko

L' Echo

Korean Cultural Fan Dance

Me with my Academy mates

XOXO

NYC Volunteering Activity: National Museum

To sum it all up, the experience was awesome! It was really my first time to do a volunteering activity, and this is not just any ordinary activity because this involves the whole nation’s culture and heritage: A work at the National Museum!

The moment Marie and I went there, we were excited and at the same time nervous of what may happen on the interview. We saw all the other volunteers and I was kinda surprised to see that they look like older than us. Then I saw this girl in black and gray stripes shirt and she was so quiet and she’s alone. But I didn’t talk to her, I just kept smiling because I’m hesitant to approach her at first. Minutes passed and there were 4 new volunteers who came. Then the interview started.

But the interview was cut when it was almost 12nn, because we’re going to eat lunch. Take note: FREE LUNCH!

When we went inside the canteen, there were 2 guys who approached us, and said, “Ah kayo pala yung taga-UST. Taga-UST din kami.” And of course, Marie and my reaction was, “Wow! Ang galing ah, paano niyo nalaman yun?” And the other guy said, “Haha, nakalagay kasi sa ID niyo eh.” So I looked down and yeah stupid, WE WERE WEARING OUR ID! All 4 of us kept on laughing, when the 2 girls who were wearing white interrupted, “Ui, share na lang kayo sa’min ng table oh!” and she’s smiling. So we sat there and introduced ourselves. There were:

• University of Santo Tomas: Marie (Information Technology), I (Computer Science), Louie and Karlo (Political Science), and Jensen (Tourism)
• De La Salle University: Lilai and Sarah (International Studies)

All right, students from the top universities! We ate and we ate, and while eating I chit-chatted, so I was the last one to finish.

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After that, we went back the museum to finish the interview. There were I guess 4 people to be called before me. When it was my turn, I was somehow nervous but I managed to control it. They asked me about my name, my course, my volunteer experiences, the languages I speak (thankfully I speak 3– English, Tagalog, Japanese– but I can only read and write in Korean, not illiterate so it was not counted), my skills, weaknesses, expectations; the typical interview questions. All throughout, I realized that these questions were just compiled questions from previous organizations that I already entered, so I was semi-confident of my answers.

When I came back, I gave them the hints for the questions. Marie, Jen, and Karlo got almost the same questions, but when it was Louie’s turn, he told us, “Wala naman yung questions na sinabi mo eh! Iba naman yung sa’kin!” then I retorted, “Bakit wala? Ano yung tanong sa’yo, French?!” And they all laughed. He said it involved his resume, asking him what’s this, that, blah. Then Louie and Karlo left, leaving us girls there. We talked about Fred (he was kinda weird) and stuff about Languages. Sarah and Jen talked in French, and I was like, “Wow, awesome!!”

Then after Lilai got back, we all said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Fun day!