Baseball Legend Lectures at Woosong

Students lined all the way outside the library auditorium to see one of Korea’s all-time baseball stars. Park Chan Ho, current Hanwha Eagles and former Major League Baseball pitcher gave a special lecture in front of a packed-house October 25th. As seats filled, students stood and sat in aisles to get a glimpse this very successful athlete and businessman.

Park summed up his coveted baseball career as it began with the LA Dodgers at just 21 years old. He had spent his glory days in Los Angeles, setting a Korean record, winning 124 games in Major League Baseball. Chanho Park is the envy of many baseball players in Korea.

The lecture went on with his life story. He gave the Woosong students helpful advice for their future while sharing the tools that made him successful, such as time management- crucial to students.

With ten minutes left in the lecture, he started to accept various questions from the students. Some of questions were pretty hard to answer for Chanho Park and he commented on how these students were just as professional as journalists he has faced here and in North America. Park fielded questions dealing with his future plans, what he might have done if he didn’t turn pro baseball player and advice for teammate and Korean baseball sensation, Ryu Hyun Jin, who appears headed to play at the highest level- MLB. To the surprise of many, the crowd learned that Park thought he “might have worked as a judge, gangster or something else.”

Woosong students with varying degrees of interest in Park and baseball, walked away with new opinions and admiration after the lecture. Park impacted his audience. “Honestly, I was surprised to see Chanho Park who was really famous in MLB. And he was more well-built than I thought. He told students of his experiences,” explained Dongjun Seo.

Park may have also helped ticket sales for his team while inspiring some too. “I was not a huge fan of baseball. However, he gave me confidence and courage.

So I thought I’m going to see a baseball game next year. I didn’t know what he did before coming back to Korea. But I realized he was such a fabulous baseball player in the past. So I started respecting him,” said Jungah Kim, Woosong student.

As the lecture ended, Park buttoned his jacket and hurried out, after a swarm of students approached the tall athlete. He signed a few autographs and stood for a few photos. Nobody knows where his baseball future will lead. At 39, he walked out of the Woosong Library in the twilight of his career; students may have seen the last of Chanho Park the player. However, his words have just begun to impact some new followers.

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Staff writer Seunghwan Jung.

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Yeosu EXPO 2012 (Part 2)

Most Koreans are filled with anticipation of the Yeosu EXPO 2012. The Yeosu Expo provides an opportunity to enhance the international community’s awareness of the function and value of the ocean, share knowledge on the proper use of the ocean and recognize the need for cooperation in the marine sector.

The Yeosu EXPO has a good purpose, but there are some problems. One problem is the International Pavilion, which is one of the most popular attractions. The International Pavilion is comprised of exhibitions from countries in individual national pavilions and booths. However, some countries did not prepare well and some pavilions only want to earn money by using the EXPO. Not only in the Saudi Arabian pavilion, but also in the Peruvian pavilion, there are no exhibitions about the ocean. They are only selling Peruvian seafood in the Peruvian pavilion.

“I think, the International Pavilion is the best but some pavilions did not look good. I don’t know why they only recommend buying their food or souvenirs. Also their souvenirs are so expensive! When foreigners see that, it is very shameful,” said Lee Su young, a visitor from Seoul.

Jason Park, a tourist from Australia, mentioned, “I study abroad in Australia and I came here to see the Yeosu EXPO. The EXPO has a lot to see. There are many performances like the Water bike show. I love it, but the Aquarium and some of the International Pavilion did not meet my expectations. When I went to some pavilion, I said ‘That’s it? Oh, I was really disappointed’ The EXPO seems to only focus on appearance.”

The EXPO organizing committee determined only their sections and they do not care about the individual international pavilions. Many visitors who want to understand the importance of the ocean are disappointed. If the EXPO wants to be considered a great success, the committee has to solve these problems.

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Staff writer Cha SuJi.

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Yeosu EXPO 2012: Reflections (Part 1)

Back in 2010, there was the “City Makes Life Better” Expo held in Shanghai. I was so excited that I purchased tickets in advance. However, according to the news, there were so many people that normally it would take people 6-8 hours to wait for a premier pavilion. Not only that, the trip itself would be costly, which made me make the decision: not to go.

How fortunate I am to be a member in the Woosong Herald, which offers its staff the most wonderful incentives. This time, it offered all its staff a 2 day-1 night trip to Namwon and the Yeosu Expo.

Everyone was so inspired that no one was late for the scheduled departure: 1:00 on May 11th. After one day staying in Namwon, we headed to Yeosu the next morning. We were worried whether there would be a traffic jam due to the opening ceremony, but it turned out that was not necessary. We arrived at 9:30 and we were able to enjoy the expo for a good eight hours.

This year's expo theme was related to marine life and ecology, which is easy to understand because Yeosu is a city on the coastline. It is about time for humans to pay more attention to the ecology as well.

The first thing that impressed me was that there were so many volunteers. Even in the restroom, a volunteer would never leave his position, which made me “uncomfortable.” It was not proper to ask him questions in the restroom, so I made a short interview with another volunteer, Chonghua Lee, at the gate. According to her, not all the volunteers are paid for this event, some of them regard this as their temporary job with a sustainable pay, others were simply helping for one day or two.

“This is my current job. I am doing this because I like to meet people. While I am doing this, I feel I am doing something good for everyone. I am very proud of myself,” said Lee, a 27 year-old volunteer.

We made two appointments for the Theme Pavilion and Aquarium. After waiting for about 10 minutes, we were able to visit the Theme Pavilion. It was scientific, informative and entertaining at the same time. In the Theme Pavilion, there were all sorts of important facts about marine life and ecology. And there was an adorable dugong telling the mysteries about the sea.

After this, we visited many international pavilions, all of which were connected to the theme.

The most visit-worthy part of the Yeosu Expo, in my opinion, would be the Firm Section. All high technology-supported shows were there, like Samsung and Hyundai. The employees were not allowed to take any interviews, so I chatted with two of them, wanting to know more about the big companies’ perspectives about marine life.

“Seventy percent of the earth is covered by water; who dominates the sea dominates the earth,” said an anonymous, ambitious employee from Samsung.

“Our mission in [the] 21st century is unlocking the mysteries about the sea,” said another employee form Hyundai.

It was an interesting and meaningful trip. All I hope is I could visit the Yeosu Expo again shortly and explore the rest of it.

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Staff writer Ying Cheng Hao is currently a Woosong University student majoring in Railway Electrical Engineering.

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A Window to Malaysia

My first thoughts were, 'What? Malaysia? What can I do there? I was hoping for crazy shopping in Hong Kong!'


When I heard that we are going to Malaysia for English Training, these were the words that came out from my mouth. But, what could I say? I am college student and I should deal with it. On the last day of July in the evening, 30 Woosong University students landed safely in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. There were three people waiting to greet us.


One of them was a Korean coordinator from the University of Malaya (UM). The other two were International students from UM. And they referred to themselves as a ‘PM’. They said they would be helping us out for the next 2 weeks. I was thinking, ‘Local friends who can show us around for 2 weeks? Cool.’


The next day, they took us to a Faculty of Languages where we would take our classes. That same day, they gave us a campus tour and welcoming ceremony. Thankfully they organized 3 daytrips with a college bus to the suburb of of Kuala Lumpur. We visited places such as Firefly Park, Malaca, Batu Caves, Petra Jaya and so on.


They all treated us like old friends. They were so friendly, kind and dedicated. Most of our guides were Muslims, so they were doing their Ramadan fasting which means they can’t eat while the sun is up. Yet, they helped us 24/7.


I was very impressed with their dedication and warm hearts. 2 weeks seemed like such a long time before I left Korea. But, time flew. When I got back from Malaysia, I realized I got an amazing experience of diverse cultures and good friends. Something I couldn’t compare to some postcards that I would have gotten after a trip to Hong Kong.

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Jain Song is currently the Chief Student Editor of the Woosong Herald
and
a Woosong Student majoring in Culinary Arts

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What I Felt Through Training Program in Malaysia

We, the 30 students of Woosong University, came back to Korea after the completion of two weeks of training at the University of Malaya in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Although it felt like it was somewhat of a short period of time, it was a good chance to feel and experience a lot of things. In my opinion, to cut a long story short, Malaysia is a very unique and special country.


Firstly, one thing that made me surprised the most was that Malaysia is composed of a variety of cultures. All this, as well as the peaceful coexistence of such different cultures at the same time. The diverse cultures in Malaysia were so distinctive that I could feel it in daily life. For example, there were all types of apparel being worn on the street. Not only Malaysian traditional clothes but modern and casual clothes as well as religious clothes. Downtown was scattered with all kinds of temples such as Islamic Mosques, Buddhist temples, Hindu temples and Sikh temples. Looking at all the different types daily religious practice was very interesting.


Besides diverse cultures, another novel feature was that there were a lot of foreigners. In fact, the major ethnic groups of the country are Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian. Moreover, in recent times, a number of people coming to Malaysia in order to study or to work are from South Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. So there were many chances to meet tourists and foreigners who live there while I was staying at the University of Malaya and walking in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Running into foreigners so frequently made me feel like a member of Malaysia, not just a stranger.


Furthermore, I got to think a lot about language. Actually, I encountered numerous kinds of languages that I’ve never experienced before while in Malaysia. Beyond Malaysian, some examples of them are Arabic, Persian, Cantonese, Panjabi, Tamil and so on. As meeting so many kinds of unfamiliar languages, I anew realized that indeed the world is wide and it has much to offer and learn from. And I thought that if this is a place where people from all over the world gather, English is a basic means to communicate but when it comes to learning each other truly, an active attitude to understand different cultures and ideas is necessary.

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Jeong Seop Ahn is currently a Woosong Student majoring in the Nursing Department

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Return from Malaysia Summer Training

First, I have to tell you that I have itchy feet. It means I love to go somewhere, want to travel or do something different. This defines me exactly. Luckily I got a much higher than my usual average score on the imitation TOEIC test from the foreign language competition this time.

That is how I have got a chance to participate in the ‘University of Malaya Exchange Students program’ for 2 weeks this past summer.

So I am telling you I was pretty lucky though. The university paid for this great  program, and I have learned a lot, experienced totally new and different things, and also met lots of great people there. It was a very meaningful and very precious training for others and myself.

While I was in Kuala Lumpur, which is the capital of Malaysia, all the thoughts and expectations I had about Malaysia until I arrived were all wrong. The streets and buildings in Kuala Lumpur were so impressive. The city itself is just very well organized, clean and neat. There are a lot of modern designed buildings in Kuala Lumpur. There were quite many buildings that I still think of. Especially I cannot forget the ‘Petronas Twin Towers’ which are very fancy.

Since I was trying to save money, we didn’t go up for the city view. But our Iranian friend took us for the whole Kuala Lumpur ’s night view, which was very beautiful and made us go, “Wow!” Plus when you visit Kuala Lumpur, you may feel like you are in the United States or Canada somewhere because of all the malls! The malls are just like the ones in the States.

The first one I went to was ‘Midvalley Megamall’. I was stunned. Because it was completely awesome! Not only the mall, but there are so many things to buy and eat compared to Korea. Malaysian ethnic groups are various. It’s Malay, Chinese, Indigenous, and Indian. So there are different and diverse foods, cultures, languages, and religions of course. This unique feature of Malaysia could make them more attractive or not. Because honestly for me their culture was so mixed, I could not distinguish who is originally from Malaysia because Chinese and Southern Indian people (Tamil) are also part of Malaysia. But being multicultural is their special attractiveness. So it has to accept diversity.

I also didn’t know that Malaysia also produces petroleum and their main exports are palm oil. It is always good to learn something new about a place. And one more thing I felt while there is that this was my first visit to Muslim country. It was a new and different culture shock, really! Women were wearing Hijabs (a head covering) in 30 degree Celsius and above weather with long sleeves and pants. Mercifully, it was not as humid as Korean summers. 5 times per day, I could hear the Quran’s prayer. Also since it was August, (in the Islamic calendar it’s September) they were having their Ramadan, which is fasting while the sun’s up. So we usually hung out with the students in UM.

They are called as ‘Pembantu Mahasiswa’, which means student facilitator. They are volunteers. Many were not even locals. They were from all around the world like Sudan, Chad, Mauritania, Iran, Sweden, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Russian and more! I’ve met so many good people there and made so many local friends too.I love to meet new people from everywhere and today we still facebook.

My stay there everyday was so cherished and thankful. I really appreciate Woosong University for sending us to this great place to learn and experience. I will never forget this summer!

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Eun Young Hwang is currently a Woosong Student majoring in Hotel Tourism Management

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A Unique Encounter in Malaysia

For two weeks, from  August 1^st to August 15^th, I visited Malaysia. It was a free university trip for the students who were awarded at the Woosong English Competition. During these two weeks, I took an English class at the University of Malaya.

In the morning, I went to my class and then I would travel Malaysia in the afternoon. The English class in Malaysia was similar to that in Korea and the professor let students speak freely in English. I liked my teacher and enjoyed the experience very much.

However, the most interesting and unforgettable thing about Malaysia was the environment. There are a lot of free roaming cats and monkeys in the University of Malaya’s campus. Even in the dormitory! It seems that cats in Korea are afraid of people, but cats in Malaysia are not afraid at all. When I had breakfast in the cafeteria or when I had free time socializing with classmates, cats and monkey’s would come to us and sit on our knee’s.

I was very surprised to see so many monkeys in the dorm. Before we went to Malaysia, we were told that if we put bread or fruits in the dormitory, monkeys would come to get them. I really had a hard time beliving this could be true.

Yet one day while I was alone, I encountered a single monkey in the dormitory. At that time, I was on the way to the shower room and I saw something in the end of hallway. It was a monkey. The monkey was approaching me little by little. At first, I was not sure what it was but I soon realized it was a monkey. At that moment, I was really surprised. I didn't make a sound because I was so scared. So I ran to my room. I remembered my teacher saying I should never look into the eyes of monkey. If people stare at a monkey’s eyes, they will likely attack and injure you. I honestly think the monkey was also surprised to see me and did not know what to do.

Now when I think about that moment, I smile. It was a very unique experience and that makes me laugh. While I was in Malaysia, I really missed Korea, my family, and friends. Ironically now I miss Malaysia. I miss both the University of Malaya because I learned a lot there and I also miss the beautiful Kuala Lumpur Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers.  Finally, I miss all the animals, especially that monkey I met in the dormitory!

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Eun Ah Yook is currently a Woosong Student majoring in Food Service Management

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Woosong University Review: University of Malaya Perspective

Milad Moazzam is currently a student at the University of Malaya. This is his account of meeting Woosong students this past summer.

I headed for the university to greet the new students who arrived from Korea for a two-week program. Well, honestly speaking this was not the first time I dealt with Korean exchange students so I expected the same people with the same look.

The first person I ran into was the kind and lovely Professor Ms. Sue. She was the supervisor from Woosong University located in Daejeon. Woosong students stayed in Malaysia for two weeks, a very short trip but useful!

During the first field trip I was expecting to face many difficulties as we did before, but Woosong students were surprisingly well-organized. Everyone followed Kevin (The Oppa or Big Brother) and the program ran smoothly. Later on Kevin got named Captain Kevin for his remarkable leadership skills.

In the following weeks we conducted several field trips and visits together with Woosong students and my role as a facilitator had nothing to worry about because everything was already taken care of by Woosong students.

Woosong students reflected such discipline and unity that I have never seen before among Korean students. They really showed that “United we stand, divided we fall.”

I still remember their smiling and kind faces in any situation. I know at certain points they did not enjoy what was going on, but still smiled at us. It was such a great help and inspiration to bring up the awesome moments we spent together.

These great Woosong students all helped to create the best memories for me during the Summer of 2011.

It absolutely goes without saying that you guys were the best and I know will continue to do great things!

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Milad Moazzam is currently a student at the University of Malaya

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