2019 ASEAN- Korea Youth Network Workshop

Hello reader!!! Welcome back!!!

I have been selected as a participant that represents Malaysia in 2019 ASEAN Korea Youth Network Workshop. This workshop has been held for 10 days which 5 days in Seoul and another 5 days in Singapore. This year theme is Sustainable Smart City, we have been taught about how to create a sustainable city or smart city and at the end of this workshop, we need to come out with our own policy proposal for the country that we have been given. In this policy proposal, we need to determine the given country problem and how to overcome it by following what we have learned throughout this whole workshop.

Our first group photo (from the left bottom- Nim, Qibah, Liv, Sojeong and Me; Left Top- Jay, Ong, Andrian)

On the first day of the workshop (which been held in Seoul National University), we have been divided into 10 groups with 8 members each. In each group, there are participants from ASEAN country and add on with another participant from South Korea, China, and Japan. Luckily  I have been placed in the second group (group 2). Our group consists of a participant from Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos and 3 from South Korea. We called ourselves Satu, Song, Sett to show the unity of diverse language that our group use; since Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia used "Bahasa", so we used Satu instead of One, Thailand and Laos said Song for two in their language and sett is three in Korean. After preparing all the group name, select the team leader (which is me; happen cause we kind of losing soo much time deciding who will be, until I volunteer myself to become one. Sorry guys!), we need to do a simple introduction of our group and present it in front other groups. Since then we are inseparable; we need to do everything together. It was a bit awkward for the first 10 minutes but after that, we kind of automatically bonded effortlessly.

 

Me and my groupmate posing in front of Sewoon city for the site visit 

The schedule is packed each day, we have to attend lectures about varieties topic that related to ASEAN, sustainable energy, urban living, and smart cities. After the lecture ended they brought us to site visit and we have to complete our daily recap and send it over before 9pm every day. We also need to create a video related to the Sustainable smart cities ideas and talent show for each country. We need to juggle our time and schedule to make these things happen. Sadly, our team didn't manage to get any award for that video, although I thought we did a really good job; but it's okay, we still happy that we managed to send it over even before the dateline and we are really proud of it. Luckily for me and my Malaysian teammates, we have been selected as the second-place winner for the talent show. Performing pantomime about an infamous Malaysian song "Apo Kono Jang"  is just a smart move for us since no other country does that. The award will not be meant for us without others approval and for this, I would like to thanks all of the participants that voted for us. Thanks, guys!!!!

with my Malaysian team

with my own team

We finish our workshop in South Korea with a day trip with our own groupmates to bring the participant that does not base in South Korea to wander around Seoul (Seoul city tour) and visited a few places. So, our group decided to do indoor activities instead; such as visited the K-Style Hub building and visited King Sejong mini-museum before heading off for our lunch and Bingsu date. 

Jumping group photo is a MUST!

Us trying out Korean Traditional Clothes (Hanbok); by the way, this is an example of a scholar group photo 

while us posing as spoiled Chaebol kids

making our own pocket mirror for free at K Style Hub by KTO and bring back as a souvenir for ourselves.

Our own DIY free mirror

Korean style lunch at Gosame Sinchon

We did our closing ceremony in South Korea right after the Seoul city Tour ended. They provided the prize to all the winner and the winner for the talent show need to perform again. There are two representatives to give a closing speech that represents all of the participants which are Jenny from South Korea (Non- ASEAN) and Maggie from Indonesia (ASEAN), their warm speech really makes our heart fluttered. The workshop at South Korea ended with good food at the buffet (seriously guys, they feed us well). 

Our happy faces after knowing we are going for the buffet dinner

The journey to Singapore for our second workshop begins at 5am in the morning, for Korean based participant we need to checkout from the  SNU Hoam faculty early, but for those participants that not a Korean based they will have a trip to DMZ. If you guys don't know what is DMZ, you could read my previous blog post. 

We arrived at Changi Airport at 2.30pm, and they gave us time to explore the new addition to Changi Airport family which is Jewels. The breathtaking view of Jewels make us amazed at how could an airport could be this green and modernized at the same time. This makes us eager to learn more about the smart city in Singapore.

us in front of the Jewels 

Jewels is truly a jewel, after mesmerizing the beauty of Jewels we headed off to our accommodation place that we will stay for 5 days. We stayed at the National Community Leadership Institute (NACLI). The place really took us back to nature as it been surrounded by tropical tree. They gave us time to put our belonging and get ready to go to dinner at Peranakan places called Cili Padi, we hit the jackpot again since that places served buffet. They also concern about all the Muslim since they provide us with Halal food as well since not all the food is Halal. We went back to NACLI and waited for the second trip to arrive. Since we arrived on Saturday, we get to explore Singapore on Sunday! but we have a task before they let us go with our own group. We need to make video footage on the place that they listed down, they used this video for the final video that our official videographer/photographer, Mr. Jeremiah made. The first place that we need to explore is Sentosa island; our group went to Siloso Beach, infamous Sentosa Merlion and because we have a lot of extra time we went to Universal Studios Singapore globe and Candylicious. Then we moved to Kampong Glam for lunch and exploring the areas. The highlight of this trip is Garden by the bay!!! they paid for our ticket. The first impression of Garden by the bay is the place is magnificent and beyond beautiful, we love it so much! an experience that we will cherish forever.

2019 AKYNW family member 

We tried the Korean common squeeze pop up-hat (I don't know the actual name tho) inside the Candylicious

On the next day, we need to head to S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) early in the morning for the opening ceremony. The schedules for Singapore is almost the same as we are in South Korea. Started with lectures and end with the site visit but the differences are we don't need to prepare for the video competition nor talent show anymore and in Singapore, they tend to give us time to explore the city a bit after the site visit ended. The schedule is more flexible for us.

Chinatown

We get free time after the schedule of the day ended, this is like an opportunity for us to complete our group policy proposal. Instead of doing the policy at NACLI, we kind of sneak out to do it at a cafe. Sadly the cafe that we decided to go to is full of people and not suitable to do the group discussion there, we ended up to do it at Starbuck.

you can see we are so serious for our policy.

Since Starbucks closed quite early, we decided to explore the nightlife of Singapore. We went to Merlion Park near One Fullerton; the view was breathtaking, with the great scenery of Marina Sand Bay and other Singapore landmark.

thanks to the friendly Singaporean that manage to film this for us.

Workshop in Singapore ended with the policy proposal presentation and closing ceremony where they announce all the winner. Our group ended up with taking pictures of others group prize. LOL. No regret on not winning anything, because we gained new family members and that is more than enough.

Suddenly dragging Jenny with her team prize for a selfie-and claim that prize is ours

Before the workshop begins, they emailed us to bring a little gift for our secret Santa and before the workshop end they revealed that we will exchange the gift with another group which I ended up exchange the gift with Tama (Japan) since I needed someone that not based in Korea (because I bought the gift from Korea).

Tama and me after exchanging our gift

My new family member, I love you guys 3000.

Finally, I would like to thanks my groupmates for being an awesome, great and supportive. They helped me a lot during this workshop. Actually, I didn't plan to participate in this workshop at first since I just lost my father 1 week before this workshop started; for me, I don't know how I'm supposed to react normally, but my father insisted me to come before he passed away. So, I gather all my courage to come, and luckily my group makes it easier; instead of grieving, they gave me hope to move on. Through this program, we become a clingy happy family.

Our last family photo together  :'(

Thanks for the memories;

Qibah (Brunei); our group cutie pie, that always there for me. Always energetic and smart in many ways.
Andrian (Indonesia); the person who is soo passionate to do the policy proposal. The one that I know way before AKYNW and the long leg that I envy the most.
Ong (Thailand); our vitamin C, without him our group maybe no be as cheerful as we are up till now.
Nim (Laos); our calm goddess that full with the element of surprise.
Sojeong (South Korea); my 1st roommate for this workshop, thanks for being our group princess of meme.
Liv (South Korea); our messenger that always does her work and lead our group with all the info.
Jay (South Korea); our actor, our group Oppa that always surrounded by the girl from another group. Our very own Park Seo Joon.


Last but not least, the participant of 2019 AKYNW, you guys are awesome. There is soo much name to be mention but I rather not doing it since I'm afraid I left out some important name. Just need you to know you guys are important to me!!! without you guys, 2019 AKYNW will not be as amazing as it does.

Sincerely,
Nabeela Ami Mohd Yusof