Hanok Guesthouse

Howdy~~~ Although our guesthouse has had many guests now stay in it, we are this week officially opening our Hanok Guesthouse and homestay.

We will be open for renting our hanok guesthouse and also meeting rooms both at byeolhadang and yeoreum jip, so come check out our blog for the new hanok guesthouse

http://yoos-home.blogspot.com/

PARTICIPATION CERTIFICATE

Hi everyone, if you want a participation certificate and you did not get my email, please let me know

I also wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that the blogs that you were given the task of updating at the festival can still be updated. We are hoping that with 37 countries in attendance that we can have some of the blog posts translated into your native languages so that people searching for the EXPO in 2012 can find out more information from people from the same country using the same language as them. If you need the blog passwords I will post them at the bottom of this email. Please try your best to add some more information and photos to them, every team should please try and add some things, but especially the winning team.

Finally, I know I mentioned this in the last email,(emailing an organiser from the Yeosu City Government to say thanks) but actually if everyone can send one more email to the deputy mayor (5625@korea.kr and 101bb@korea.kr) because, even though in our eyes the youth camp was a success, there is talk of the camp not going ahead next year because of some problems that occured during the camp. If everyone can email this person and mention how pleased that they were with the camp and that because of the camp (and the people that organised you- ICI) you really want to return to Korea either next year and/or 2012 for the world expo, I appreciate everyone taking a few minutes to do this so we can do it again next year.

Also, thanks for everyone that has been uploading pictures to the facebook group, I, along with my co-workers will be trying to find the best one next Friday, so keep uploading them,

Thanks Yeosu City

thanks to all the Yeosu participants for sending gifts or messages of thanks to me, but actually it was thanks to Yeosu City for paying for everything that everyone got this opportunity, I would appreciate more if everyone could send a message to this man-his name in Korean is 구태호 I guess in English Koo Tae-ho, fair21@korea.kr , I know that he would really appreciate getting some messages no matter how small, thanks, Logan. :)

Blog competition-on going/photo competition

Hi everyone, I would like to let those of you who are still checking my blog know that we are offering a photo competition, the single best photo will receive a $100 Amazon gift certificate to be used on whatever you want-games, books, cds, dvds, etcera...

So I am hoping that you can add all of your pictures to the Yeosu facebook group that I have-make sure to comment on who took the photo and all that jazz..

Finally, we made something close to $2500 from the international cafe, and will be deciding the use of that later, I know some is going towards UNICEF, and some for the ongoing upkeep of the blogs, so I ask that you still continue to update the blogs, especially in another language, but for now I suggest you send in photos to that facebook group and see if you can't be the winner. it will finish in about 2 weeks.

BLOGS

Hi these are the top 4 blogs from the camp, and the remaining ones are underneath.

http://ysexpo2012.blogspot.com

http://www.opendiary.com/yeosuyouth2010

http://www.yeosu2012.tumblr.com

http://yeosuyouthfestival.blogpost.com

http://www.opendiary.com/yeosuyouth

http://yeosuyouth2010.blogspot.com

http://yeosu2010.blogspot.com

http://youthfestivalyeosu.blogspot.com

http://yeosukoreacamp.blogspot.com

http://youthfestivalkorea.blogspot.com

http://helloyeosuexpo2012.blogspot.com

http://helloyeosuexpo2012.blogspot.comblog.naver,com/caenorhabdit

Thanks again for those that contributed to the blogs.... Logan.

So Long and Farewell

So, after 3.5 months of planning, it all came down to just one week.

We came, we saw, we waited, we waited a little more, we ate some kimchi, then some more waiting, before we finally conquered....

I received and replied to over 2500 individual emails, and sent (not including emails sent to more than one person) about 5000....

We hopefully had lots of fun, especially considering how hot it was and the long days.

There were many difficulties that we had to oversome, some with hindsight that we could have better prepared for, and some that were impossible to know about.

After speaking with everyone for so long, I felt really good to meet everyone, then when everyone's buddy came it felt like a huge family reunion :)

I got to know everyone much better and even got to know myself a bit more...

My personal goals were for everyone to be happy, everyone to gain a new insight into other cultures, for people to learn about and love Korea, and to make enough new friends from all around the world that I could travel this wonderful world of ours and stay with you all for free :)

Unfortunately there were a few complaints about this or that, but for the most part I would like to think that this camp was a success!

When everyone left today from city hall i felt a bit sad, like when a good friend leaves to go to another country, except this time there were 170 of you...

I would like to once again thank all of these people because although everyone knew me, these are the guys that if not for them this wouldn't have been possible, the EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea Committee, the City of Yeosu, Jeollanamdo Province, ICI, Yeongje, Anna Im, Vivien Ahn, Lina Min, Cindy Yoo, Jade Yoo, Emily Lee, Christy (Yoo Jung-hee) all of the volunteers-Q, Rogelio, Estefy, Lorri, Rita, Charlie, Sean, Hwa Yoon, Sam Park, Youkyeng, Mike, Serah, Yoo-jin, Young-ran, Cheol-min, Carl, Gwen, Dong Hyun, Kyu, Jina, and Eunsook. I would of course like to thank all of you for coming to Korea with your hearts and minds open, learning about each other's culture, about Korean culture, and teaching about your own.

I suggest that everyone join the facebook group that I started a few months ago, I have one more night of work at our traditional house before some more students go home, and then a few days rest, I will fix up the group, feel free to all add me on facebook so that we can keep in touch, if only to make comments about the many, many photos that will undoubtedly be uploaded.

There is talk of a competition for the best photo, with some kind of awesome prize- I swear it is not a kilo of kimchi... I will give you all info when I find out about it.

I hope that everyone has learnt something and will be richer for the experience, until next time, I will speak to you next time, Logan.

P.S. I would like to thanks those guys that brought something from their own country, I don't need thanks, seeing everyone enjoying themselves is all the thanks I need, but those little momentos, from books to booze, from umbrellas to hats and pins, I will always keep this things so that I will never forget about the week that I spent with a generation of 170 students from 37 different countries, Logan..............Out....

TOMORROW!!!

OKAY so most people are coming tomorrow, actually 100 of you will already be here by tonight, so the best thing to do is check the post down.... and it tells you how to get to the hostel, if you are coming to the airport tomorrow we are meeting at gate 43-44 and the volunteers there will assist you in getting to the accommodation. I wish everyone else a safe flight, and will see you all tomorrow. Logan...

WHAT TO BRING!

Hi everyone, not long now, I know some people have already arrived- Daniel D, Mark, Daniel G Augusto, Josh, Marina, but for the rest that haven't here is a basic list of things to bring: summer clothes-it is hot in Korea so bring plenty of things to wear-shirts, shorts, skirts, underwear, socks, swimming costume, swimming goggles, camera, shoes, water shoes, toiletries, small bag-to carry around each day, sunglasses, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, stuff to show about your country-post cards, photos, maybe some CD's of your home country's music. You can also bring a laptop-we will have wireless internet etc. of course your passport, and a photocopy of it. I also suggest having at least 50,000 Korean Won in cash just in case. Medication

And I am sure there are other things, but this is basically it. Ask me if you have any questions

YEOSU HOME STAY

As you may be aware some gracious families of Yeosu have offered to open up their homes to people form around the world, the following people have either asked to experience this or have been lucky enough to have been randomly chosen to do so. These are the people that will be doing Yeosu home stay on the Fri/Sat/Sun nights of the festival.

Byron Papanikolaou

Denise Au

Char Lee Schelich

Carrie-Anne Wilson

Ilya Kim

Nazife Pehlivan

Albert Kerner

Alba Chiara Wu

Khegay Galina

Henrieta Austenova

Kaliat Ammu Sanyal

Fabiana Improta

Kristi Rebane

Rebeka Braxator

Anastasia Baskina

Mira Demsar

Grant Stegehuis

Noah Applegate

Nemanja Braletic

Rade Vulic

Augusto Correnti

Daniel Garcia

Paul Forien

Pierre Forien

Martina Dell'Aversana

Julian Faul

Benjamin Lim

Szabina Szalai

Paula Maria Vahtra

Henri Huovinen

Contact

I have been contacting most people by email, but many have not been able to reply to me, I hope that all of our participants know what our blog address is... I have told many people that we will both be offering affordable guest house accommodation at our traditional house, as well as being able to recommend accommodation to our participants at places nearby, both before and after the camp.

The details of where we are is located on the blog below, if you need to call me my mobile phone number is 010-8854-eight-five-six-one. Logan~~~

YOUTH HOSTEL

I know lots of you guys and gals will be arriving early, so first let me give you the exact address and way to get to the "dreamtel International Youth Hostel"

By subway: Subway line 5 Banghwa Station

By bus from Incheon Airport : 642, 651, 6712, 6629 get off at Banghwa Station

Then take exit 4 (walk past “buy the way” to the end of the street, turn left at the “T” intersection and walk for 3 minutes, it is on the right hand side, you can follow the signs, it is a 5 minute walk)

Location of iDreamtel : No. 801, Banghwa3-dong, Gangseogu, Seoul

Contact No. : 02) 2667-0535

If you want to stay down town, closer to our office, then you can catch airport express bus number 6011 (9000W), get off at "Changdeok Palace" many youth hostels and our guest house are nearby, please click this link for the explanation on how to get here. http://icivolunteers.blogspot.com/p/where-are-we.html

Update-FRINGE-COUNTRY INTRO-PERFORM

Hi, as you may or may not have known before, if you are all from the same country. On both the first day of camp, and the opening ceremony of the festival, we are hoping that each group of people from each country can come and say hello and so something representative of their country.

This can be something simple like a 10 second dance and say hello, come out together with your country's flag, all wear the same t-shirt, say a quick greeting in your native language etc, it is only going to be around 20 seconds each~~

As you know we have an international cafe where we will be able to show or teach something about our culture, some people are going to be bringing their country's traditional clothing, some will be filming some things like famous sites and bringing the film, bringing some music cd's of traditional music etc, etc. These are some ideas, I hope you can come up with better ones so that you can show your culture to the world.

Also, there is a fringe concert, this concert is for all people to perform. You can perform anything, singing by yourself or as a group, doing some drama, musical performances, magic, anything, please keep this is mind and prepare whatever you will need. We will work out what times each participant can enter once you have arrived, this is just to let you know.

We only have 11 days left... So close...... I am just finishing up the info packs and will send them tomorrow

Talk soon, Logan.ICI

Groups

Hi everyone, After spending the past day organising the final people who will be joining us, I have now organised what will be the final groups, I have a tentative list of who will be in what room and with whom, but I will probably be letting everyone know that stuff when you get here.

Anyway, please click on the "GROUPS" tab to find the list of groups and who will be in your group, I have not included each others emails, so you will meet the other group members when you get here-unless you happen to know some of them already, oh yeh! also, some people are still being changed but that will be finalised by Friday....

Logan.....

INTRODUCE YOUR CULTURE

Hi, as you know this is an INTERNATIONAL youth festival, and with people from 40 countries attending this truly is going to be an awesome international festival. As part the concept of this festival we are going to have a huge TV setup to show films about each others' cultures,

So I am asking that if anyone wants to film an introduction to your country, maybe you wanna go to a famous place in your home town with some friends and a camera and film that place with an explanation, or perhaps you want to film you and your friends singing a traditional song or dancing.

Whatever it is that you wanna do if you film it and then either email it to me or bring a USB with that file we will put it on the big screen so that EVERYONE can see it!!!

For those that can't film or don't want to we will give you plenty of chances to talk to people or show things about your culture-dance, food, books, ANYTHING at our booth also,

I hope that everyone can really get into the spirit of this and share all of our wonderful cultures with each other, Logan~~~

ACCOMMODATION

Annyeong~~~ click the page "YEOSU PICS" for all the pics that I took in Yeosu last week and of your accommodation :)

SECRET-korean k-pop band.

Hiya~~~ So I just got back from spending two days in Yeosu, it was my second time to visit. I went sightseeing, food-tasting, and accommodation testing!!! It looks fantastic, the accommodation looks really good the food was delicious and everything is coming together for a perfect week in July.

I learnt many things from those two days and will be once again updating everything soon. I will be sending everyone their information packs in about 2 weeks.

I would also like to happily announce that the final band that will be coming to the youth festival is..... SECRET, a girlband, famous for songs such as this... check it out!

HOME STAY

Hi everyone, so almost everyone has bought their ticket, and I can now move on to other things, yay!

Namely~~Home stay. The way we will do home stay is this- After receiving the information for a home stay, I will post the family's information on this blog entry, if you want to join this family for home stay, you will need to copy and paste the information of that family into an email and email me.

I will then contact the family and let you know if you are successful.

Most families are offering stays for free.

Each family will be posted in a new comment section.

Remember, many of you have mentioned home stays before, but you will need to apply through this way in order for us to find you a family. Thanks, I hope that everyone lets me know ASAP.... Logan

NEW THINGS

Hi everyone, especially to those that I know check everyday. You may have noticed that the schedule page has been updated, you can click on the thumbnails and see a more detailed version of some of the events and things that will be happening.

There is of course going to be an opportunity to learn some things about Korea, Hallyu (Korean Wave) and more specifically a K-Pop song and dance, so don't forget to vote.

There is a competition with a prize of a PMP-portable media player, for anyone who can change the lyrics of a Wonder Girls song to reflect the concept of this camp.

The participant list should be fully up-to-date, we are still waiting on people to send me a copy of their tickets so I can write them names up.

I understand that the idea of us reimbursing you for traditional clothing has been put on hold for the time being-due to Yeosu City not having a suitable place to store these things after the festival, I will let you all know if this changes.

Those of you that have been waiting for your invitation letters, I apologise for the time it has taken so far. Unfortunately, the time it took for the Yeosu City Government to organise the correct documents was far longer than predicted, I am just as stressed if not more so than you about this. I will send everyone tracking numbers soon so you can follow the whereabouts-Please note that the Korean Government has told us that all of those documents had to be sent directly to the closest consulate or embassy, so they will not be arriving at your house, but the embassy.

I think that is all for now. I have sent everyone their buddy's contact details so make sure to start talking with them as soon as possible.

K-Pop song

Hi everyone, there are going to be a few competition and things like that for the 10th Yeosu Youth Festival. Check out this poll.

We will have the chance to learn a Korean Pop song and its dance. As you may know we will be having teams made up for the festival, so the team that performs best will get the most points, make sure to check out all of the videos and vote for
which one you most want to learn.

Comments

Hi, it's me again!
I just wanna let everyone know that everyone can now comment on any posts without registering, so make sure to comment, especially on the NEWCOMERS section...