Tuesday 20 October 2009

University Founding Festival Day

A couple of weeks ago we had “Founding Festival Day” here on campus, in celebration of the founding of the university where I work. Like with “Sports Day” it should actually be referred to as “days,” in the plural, as it ran over two days, but in Korea such semantics are overrated.

During the two days of “Founding Festival Day” (sigh!), we had classes in the morning and other activities in the afternoons and evenings. Apart from the little food kiosks (I had excellent Italian spaghetti on the first day, and mediocre Japanese noodles on the second), there were all kinds of games and shows to keep the students (and wondering teachers) busy.

A big stage was erected with a giant computer screen at the back. A variety of performances were held, including a talent show, which was pretty good. They also had the Korean Police Academy. Coming from South Africa, the performance given by the Police Academy was marvelously peculiar. I couldn’t for the life of me imagine South Africa’s Police Academy putting on something like this. The Korean Police Academy had a number of young policemen sharply outfitted in their uniforms, perform an assortment of acts. There was a musician doing all kinds of slight-of-hand tricks; there was a famous actor (who is now doing his military service, in the Police Force) singing a beautiful ballad; there was a group of percussionist playing the drums in unison as only the Koreans can; and so on. This is all part of the Korean Police Force’s goal of making the police more attractive -- more public friendly. And apparently it is working, as the girls went crazy.

Another uniquely Korean thing was the computer game events, displayed on the big screen on the stage. Yes, you are reading the posters correctly. They had a Tetris tournament and an X-Box soccer tournament. The Tetris tournament was something to see. Never in my life have I seen people so fast at Tetris. The little geometric shapes spun and zapped down faster than I could follow. I did not get to see the soccer matches.

1 comment:

Lindi said...

wow sounds exxciting......