Volunteering + Archery in Korea + Buffet in Korea

Hey, I'm back from the 6 weeks exchange in Korea. But still, I will be writing on all the events I went through like how I did in the previous posts. 

5th of Feb

Today, we went to volunteer in Siheung English Education Centre of Geumcheon. Our purpose in this centre is to read English storybooks to the kids. To be honest, I was really afraid to hear about this task as I am never good with kids.

It takes about one hour away from our guesthouse and as we arrived, we were greeted by the manager of the centre. After a little self-introduction about ourselves, we were told a little about the kids here and the task we are supposed to do. Thankfully, it was a lunar new year eve and that most of the kids went back to their hometown and, yeah, it was a good news for me. 

As the teacher of the centre brought in the kids one after another, I let my exchange mates have them first and I took the last kids. After the kids chose their book, we either read the books to them or the kids read it to us and we explained some vocabulary to them. While reading is not the problem, explaining to them is the problematic part as I could only speak minimal Korean, as in really minimal... and the only thing I could do was pointing to an object or acting it out to explain the vocabulary. It was a really tough time but I hope that they understood what I was conveying and learnt a few things from the short period of time.

After the story-reading, the manager even treated us with pizzas and that she even told us to go there again for another story-telling. My friends were delighted to hear that and we promised to go there again. 

6th of Feb

This is the day I'm looking forward to, even before I arrive in Korea, as we are going to do one of my favourite sports - archery!!! Yay!!

As we arrived, we were told to stand according to our heights as the length of the bows or maybe the strength of the bowstrings are lined up according to the heights.

Then, we were given a detailed lesson of archery. That includes the standing position, bowing, the strength and pressure needed to pull the bowstring and etc. After the short classes, we were given about an hour to play (practise) archery.

My stance. How was it?
Photo credits: Krisztina

After playing for about 30 minutes, our hands started to turn "soft" as pulling the string required too much muscle usage. Most of us were starting to rest, but a few of us continued to practice, and that includes me, as this was such as rare chance for me to practice archery for an unlimited arrow within an hour. To play archery in Malaysia, the price of playing is counted by the number of arrows, which can be quite unfair sometimes.

As the time approached, the trainer asked us if we wanted to extend it. Of course, we said yes and he extended the time for free. More time for archery! He also allowed us to try bowing the professional bow (the ones use in Olympic). According to the trainer, the Olympic bows are about 40 pounds which is 3 times heavier than the bows we used (and here we were complaining how tiring it was...). We also witnessed the professionals pulled the Olympic bow effortlessly. Gosh, their arms must be really strong!!

Look at this lady pulling the bow effortlessly~~ (envious)

After archery, we went to have dinner around the area. It's a restaurant that serves dakgalbi. This dakgalbi, unlike the usual chickens which are stir-fried, is bbq-ed  by the workers in the restaurant. The chicken is so juicy and tender. To be honest, it was the best chicken we had and it was worth the price. I regretted not joining them for this dinner. Well, actually I was there but I chose to not eat it so that I could cook in the guesthouse. I knew the taste as one of the workers served a chicken onto my plate and I had no choice but to eat it.

Here's a picture of the delicious dakgalbi
Photo credits: Lee Kyeong Jin

7th of Feb

Today is Chinese New Year's Eve!! 2 of my friends were invited by the manager of Siheung English Education Centre of Geumcheon to one of the children's family for a 2 days one night stay at their home family. That left the rest of us doing nothing in Seoul. Thus, we decided to have a buffet to celebrate this CNY's eve. Before the dinner buffet, we went to Samcheongdong to have dessert in Cafe Bora 카페 보라. Cafe Bora's specialty is that of purple sweet potato, which makes their purple sweet potato ice cream and purple sweet potato bingsu really famous.

Purple sweet potato ice cream and bun

strawberry bingsu comes with sweet potato chips

Both the purple sweet potato desserts have a mild taste of sweet potato and it tastes good. For the strawberry bingsu, the strawberry ice cream was just right, not too sweet and not too sour. The ice shaved was, of course like the previous ice shaved, not plain, but has the perfect sweetness. I think this is what made Bingsu so popular in Korea.

Then, we went straight to Hongdae for buffet in 자연별곡. It is a more Korean type of buffet and it costs 19900 won per person. It is famous for its 9-squared plate.

Sorry for my bad plating, the food took control over me XD

It also serves steamboat without extra charge, but we had to take it from the counter.

There is also a place for you to make your own dessert and this dessert is what I made for my friend. I actually wanted to have a dessert too but I was too bloated and fulled to stuff in anymore food after a few rounds.

After the buffet, we went around Hongdae to have a little walk to digest the food. We could hardly laugh as we were so full.