It has been two years and a half since I came to Korea and for this period I’ve had many
experiences ? both ups and downs; met a lot of new people and made many friends. First
months of my life in Korea were lonely, boring and painful since I did not speak Korean
at all. I had few foreign friends who I could communicate with and was terrified to bump
into locals in convenient stores, bus and taxi or hair saloons where people had no idea of
what I was trying to explain in my broken Korean. I was distressed and prepared to go
back home with the first ticket as soon as my language classes ended in February, 2012.
But things have changed to one hundred eighty degrees after I met ‘MANNAM’ volunteer
association. Now, recollecting the events of my life before making New Year’s
resolutions, with a smile on my face I remember the joy and light I had with ‘MANNAM’
and decided to share some of them in this essay.
First day I met ‘MANNAM’ volunteers was in February, 2012 when I was invited to a free
Korean class in a ‘Doran Doran’ cafe in Dayeon station. A class in a casual environment
without pressure of homework or assignments and cute young friendly volunteers who
mastered English gave an inspirational light not to leave Korea and continue my study.
In the class there were about five or six foreign students each from a different country. It
was then when I met Hong - one of my best friends in Korea. It seemed that he was a
new staff member to MANNAM which itself was in a fledgling stage. We had a brief
conversation about our interests and hobbies. After that, momentarily, he suggested
organizing soccer games every weekend which, I think, was an amazing idea. In this way
I happened to know ‘MANNAM’ and became a part of it.
‘MANNAM’ International organizes various sports activities and tournaments among the foreign teams
throughout Korea and one of the most memorable such events was a trip to participate in
a football tournament in Seoul. It was formalized in a large scale that over thousand
foreigners took part in it and it was broadcasted on news. On this day we set out from
Busan in four coaches at 6 in the morning. Five-hour journey to Seoul was spent full of
joy singing, dancing, playing various local games like ‘21 questions’, etc. In a
tournament we played against Seoul MANNAM team and our friendship won again as the
score was a tie two and two. There was a short series of performances in the field to
entertain us. It was a chance for one to meet hundreds of new faces and make friends
within a single day. Not once ‘MANNAM’ has organized such gathering and brought light
together. In addition to the regular trips to Seoul, ‘MANNAM’ unites us in Busan as well.
In a row of such events Gwangalli summer beach gatherings are unique. Last summer it
was a true fun with ‘MANNAM’. We had several booths each serving food, drinks, games,
wish cards, stickers and a concert on a stage built on the beach. I still have the T-shirts
from the event.
Last ‘MANNAM’ party of the year was held last week and it was pleasant to know how big
family we became over this period. A long awaited party with red tones of clothes,
people wearing a red hat, pants, skirt, jumper, etc. began with warm welcome of hosts in
a cozy cafe. There were also people from my soccer team, badminton team and a Korean class. We wrote our Christmas wishes to each other on a card and played various interactive games like bingo, card drawing. Winners were given prizes and also there was an award giving ceremony to grant certificates for active participation in the activities of ‘MANNAM’. I never thought I would ever be awarded in such celebration, but I was given a certificate for being a multiplayer of the year. I took the credit for participating in many events and activities.
I am still looking at the photos taken at the party and feel that joy and warmth. It was a memorable last party of the year by ‘MANNAM’.
To sum up what ‘MANNAM’ means to me, I would say it is family of friendship with
contagious love that gets bigger and bigger as time goes by. All the activities ? soccer,
badminton, cricket, basketball ? we do, the events ? parties, gatherings, classes,
marathons ? we organize and the charity works ? visiting orphanage, helping the old,
painting walls ? we volunteer are for a single cause ? peace and love in the world.
‘MANNAM’ gave a light to me and my goal is to shed the light even brighter because when light meets light there is a victory.
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