미지센터의 청소년 국제교류이야기

     ‘Behind these professional, well organized UN charts are stories of humanity.’

     Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all United Nations member states and some international organizations have agreed to achieve by 2015. The goals encompass from eradicating poverty to forming global partnership for development. Promised due date is only four years away. 
On July 31st 2011, Ju Hun Kim (김주헌) former UNEP consultant and an author of 'Cross the World'(하루에 국경을 두번 넘는 사람들) reminded us the importance of MDGs. He lectured on “MDG Goal 7 and TEEB” at MIZY Center. He divided his lecture into two and emphasized the importance of ecosystem, MDGs, and TEEB. Overall, he tried to encourage our participation by keep asking questions. It was easy to understand, even though the content was quite challenging.

Part 1. MDGs and Environment
     

                             
      Ju Hun Kim especially discussed the 7th goal of MDGs. The 7th one is on environment. He began the lecture with his worries on the earth – despite people’s increasing interest on environment, people still lack understanding on global environmental issues. He stressed environmental issues are essential; they affect people, countries, and the earth.
      He explained different sectors of environment – forests, ozone layer, natural resources, and water – with statistics. The statistics revealed “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” reality.
      “2011 is International Year of Forests …” Forests alone absorb one sixth of world’s CO2 emission. In other words one sixth of CO2 emission is lingering in the atmosphere, left unabsorbed by no longer existing forest. Developed countries in Europe and Asia know this and try to form forests in their nations. And Asia and Europe are getting greener. However countries in Latin America and Africa which used to have rich forests are losing trees. It is because they need to export natural resources to sustain their lives. In short developing countries are more suffering from decreasing and lack of forests.
      Similar situation occurs with water. “The UN proposed that world is likely to surpass drinking water target by 2015 though more than one tenth of people would still be without access to clean water,” said Ju Hun Kim. Ironically the poor need to pay more to get drinkable water since clean water is rare. It is shown in statistics that poorer people are less opportunity there is to be accessible to clean, sanitized water: people in the city had more access to clean water while 32% of people in rural areas still used contaminated water.
      But there is also success story; it is about ozone layer. Montreal Protocol helped restore the ozone layer. It legally prohibited consumption of ozone depleting substances (ODSs) to 2%. This was possible because the protocol was legally binding.

Part 2. Ecology and Biodiversity
     

                             After a short break, the resumed lecture began with the introduction of the second phase: Ecology and Biodiversity. Two ecological terms were introduced: “ecological footprint” and “ecological capacity.” Ecological footprint shows how much environment is destroyed due to economic development. Ecological capacity is self explanatory – how big an ecosystem can stay balanced in a nation. When the footprint overwhelms the capacity, the nation is in a seriously environment deprived situation.
      Governments are used to abusing the environment for their convenience. Why are they not so hesitant to do so? Is it because environment is just everywhere and does not requires monetary exchanges. “Just because it is economically invisible, it does not mean that it is not economically valuable.” He suggested that environment must be valued to our currency. It should be visibly monetarily numerable so that they will be cautious of letting their money spill out.
      Nation’s economic strength has been measured by simple economic compass like GDP. However, for ‘sustainable’ development, natural capital must be taken into account when deciding national competence.
 “We may dismiss ecosystem service as only 10-20% of GDP, but they are actually 50-90% of the GDP of the POOR.” – Pavan Sukhdev, Head of the UNEP Green Economy Initiative TEEB.
      Poor class of the society is more dependent on environment for their economic activity since many work in primary industry. When climate change gets out of our hands, the first ones to be affected will be nations in archipelagos and poor, rural class. I was moved by this explanation. People seeing gray skies everyday in enormous headquarters will never learn the reality by heart, even though they may know all the statistics. Statistics may even be foamy and the reality could be quite different from the graph.
      RIO+20 2012 is coming up. There should be a 3 month experience of Maldives for high governmental executives and law makers without any help of the civil culture. Then, the world should be in much better shape.

                          

/ MIZY Youth Reporters Yeong-ran Ahn & Chorok Lee

<Image exerpt from www.worldyannews.co.kr>
     Philippine Street in Hyehwa-dong is renowned for flee market. Philippines who live in Korea call it “the 2nd Manila.” The market has eleven-year-long history; about a decade ago, Philippine Catholic priest visited Korea and started the flee market. Unlike other flee markets, people sell Philippine products. You can taste Filipino food like Balut (boiled egg), cassava (cheese-cake), and sausage. 
 

 
      There are other foreign towns in Seoul such as Little Tokyo (Dongbu Ichon-dong), Nepal road (Changshin-dong), and Russian village (Dongdae-moon). And even more are located outside Seoul. Foreigners have now become our neighbors. Whenever you want refreshment but lack time for a short trip, try visiting foreign-neighborhood in Korea.

/MIZY Youth Reporters Yeong-ran Ahn

     In 1960s, Koreans went to Germany in a hope of financially stable-life. Men and Women worked as miners and nurses respectively. Their life was not juicy at all; in fact, miners had to work in 40 degrees hot and 3000m deep underground. However, their influence to Korean economy was massive – they earned 30% of Korea’s national export. 
     Despite Korea’s huge economic improvement, people still visit Germany. Some wish to achieve their goals, look for refreshment, and to challenge. While I was on my two-week long backpacking in Germany, I met three Korean ladies who visited Germany for different purposes. (Two of them were cousins of my travel roommates, and the other was random backpacking college student.)


Granny Nana in Kassel

     Nana (the second from the left in the image) first stepped on Germany at her age of 20 because she wanted to study industrial design at university in Kassel. When she arrived at Germany, she had only studied German during 3 years of her high school life. Despite the language barrier she decided to study in Germany to achieve her dream. (She commented she used to dream of becoming a world renowned designer.) According to her, she was the only Korean in the university. In other words, she had to be strong and independent to survive in foreign land. While attending the university she decided to open a small organic toy store for babies. She named her store Nanchen after her name. And her store which began as a flagship store now became successful toy company with forty years history.
      I asked two cliché questions to her: What does Germany and Korea means to you, respectively? She answered without a doubt. If Korea mentally supported her, Germany physically assisted her dream. Her family in Korea encouraged her, and people in Germany gave her an opportunity to challenge.
      She also commented, “I never regretted my coming to Germany. True. It was difficult to adjust to completely new environment alone. However even such hardships helped me achieve my goal. Never stop but challenge; then, there will be a way.”



Aunt Lina in Berlin

     Lina (the first from the left of upper image) has lived in Germany for three years. Before, she had lived and worked in Korea for about a decade. She used to work as music department marketer in S company. Though she was living financially successful and stable life at Korea, she was dissatisfied with her life. She found repetitive and routine office work tired. Thus she decided to come to Germany – since she majored German language at the university – and refresh her life. Until now, she seems to enjoy her life in Germany.
     I asked the same question as I did to Nana, and Lina’s reply was very different from Nana’s. Her answer was simple: “Korea is closed and Germany is open.” She believed despite much globalization, Korean society is still conservative and closed minded. She continued that average life of an adult is too busy to rest. “Koreans work for the company and family rather than themselves. I think they should know how to work and play just like Germans or any other Europeans.”
     During the weekends she practices piano which she have always wanted to learn. And she attends German class at the university nearby. She advised us not to spend time merely studying and working; she wanted us three to try what we like.



Anonymous Backpacking Student at ICE (IntetCity Express)

     While heading to Berlin by night train, I met Korean backpacker. She 23-year-old student was traveling Germany alone. According to her she had traveled Swiss and Austria with her friend, and they separated at Germany.
     She was taking time off university for a year and travel around Europe. I asked, “Why did you decide to travel for so long?” Just like previous two ladies, anonymous backpacker wanted some change. “Having lived as a typical Korean university student for few years, I forgot what I wanted to do. I cannot grasp what I would like to do in the future. I needed some time to meet people, get advices, and learn more about ‘life.’”
     She added, “I think traveling around Europe gives me a lot of time to ponder. Why do not you try imagining your future while traveling? It might give you an insight.”


     Traveling around Germany, I could not see many Koreans among Asians. Though short chats with three ladies gave me a lesson which I could not have learned from other travels: to try and challenge. Wish we continue questioning for our future.

/MIZY Youth Reporters Yeong-ran Ahn

 

< Statistics from the Korea Tourism Organization Website (http://kto.visitkorea.or.kr/)>

            

             According to the survey taken by Korea Tourism Organization, tourists were satisfied by unique Korean culture – they gave 4.3 out of 5. However, they were disappointed by lack of shopping opportunity in Korea: shopping scored 3.8 which was the lowest. Many found the language issue as the reason; tourists often do not know how to speak Korean and average Korean does not speak fluent English.

             One day, a Korean American friend of mine, who was suffering from the same language problem, asked me for help. She has been studying in North Carolina, the United States and visited Korea during the Spring break. It was her second time visiting Korea, and she wanted me to guide her around Seoul. She said, “I want to play around Seoul just like average Korean girls in 20s.” So we decided to make a plan focused on “eating, playing, and shopping.” The following was our plan: Sinchon, Chunggye cheon, N-Seoul Tower, and Myeongdong.

             Guiding my friend in Seoul was a challenging task because Seoul is not yet a good tourism site – only 4.7% of 506 foreigners living in Seoul answered that they want to tour Seoul (2010 fall statistics from Korean Tourism Organization). In other words, entertainment in Seoul is more targeted to Koreans. I wanted to take my friend to either Dongdaemun or Daehakro where she could see collected shops and theatres respectively. But since we only had a day, we decided to follow the green subway line, the line number 2.

 

First Hot Spot: Sinchon

                                              <Image from Korean Tourism Organization Website>
             Sinchon is not only home of Yonsei University or Ewha Womans University but also to spirited college students. It is college students’ one of the most favorite entertainment spot. There are both large shopping malls and small shops. Any girl can buy whatever she wants: clothes, cosmetics, and accessories.

             At Sinchon, I took my friend to the shopping street around Ewha Womans University because the shops sell diverse clothes in affordable price. Also, I wanted her to shop like average college freshmen who do not have affluent money but wish to be fashionable. Furthermore, I took her to cafés around Sinchon and Hongik University. Between Sinchon and Hongik University, you can easily find colorful, unique cafés. I wanted to take her to my favorite café where you can buy a bowl sized hot chocolate, but the room was filled by the time we arrived there.

 

Second Hot Spot: Chunggyecheon and N Seoul Tower

 

             In order to arrive at Chunggyecheon and N Seoul Tower, we took the subway to the Seoul City Hall. We walked along Chunggyecheon to N Seoul Tower – we walked roughly half an hour. Chunggyecheon and N Seoul Tower is not an amazing entertainment center. Yet, the two are the symbols of Seoul. Chunggye cheon, which is located near the Seoul City Hall, is a manmade stream. It symbolizes the harmony between the city and nature. In the meanwhile, you could look down the Seoul from N Seoul Tower, the first electric wave tower.

             Chunggyecheon and N Seoul Tower intrigued my friend a lot. She seemed to be fascinated by observing the Seoul in one look.   

 

Third Hot Spot: Myeongdong

                                                   <Image from Korean Tourism Organization Website>

             My friend enjoyed Myeongdong the most because she bought all the souvenirs for her family in the United States and for herself. I recommend to visit Myeongdong during weekdays since it gets heavily crowded during the weekends; if you have enough time and money, it is a good place to shop and play.

 

Words from my friend: Seoul Metro              Thank you, Seoul Metro. Although there were difficulties due to heavy amount of people using the metro, it was a comfortable transportation for its cheap price and easiness to move from one spot to the next. I think the subway line is well organized for citizens. However, the subway lacked map information in foreign languages – in my case, English. Especially when the station is jammed, I could barely move on my will; before I had a chance to check my destination, I had to follow the stream of people to just get out of the station. So, I recommend other tourists to search the map before you go out.   Sinchon              I heard many college students or young adults hang around at Sinchon. My first impression was “this place is for everyone!” Sinchon has all different types of entertainment. You can shop, eat, chat, sing, or watch a movie. Also, I found coffee shops or shopping malls with themes very fascinating. You would enjoy just looking at distinctively decorated shops. (I did not expect to see lots of dogs or cats in a coffee shop – pet café.)               Though Sinchon is a center of entertainment, I do not recommend this place for Korea-beginners. Sinchon is for those who know Korea, Korean, and the place well. If you super wish to visit Sinchon, be prepared. The more you know, the more you will see.   Chunggye cheon              Chungye cheon is a manmade stream in Seoul. (I remember watching English documentary on this stream.) You can play in the stream since the river is Class 2 level of water quality; however, the water is very cold. Anyways, I was awed to the fact that this beautiful and calming stream is artificial. There were people jogging and tourists taking photos, too. Though the stream is not so long, a cup of coffee and a nice walk along the stream would refresh you.   N Seoul Tower              N Seoul Tower is a symbol of Seoul and the highest place where you can see the scenery of Seoul. The tower was originally the first electric wave tower to send TV and radio broadcasts.              In order to arrive at the tower, you need to take the cable car. I saw some people walk to the tower, so you could walk to the tower if you’d like. When you arrive at the tower, you can look down the city twinkling in lights. You do not necessarily have to go up the tower to watch that scene. You need to pay to first enter, second to look around Teddy Bear museums inside the tower. If you do not want to spend too much money on the tower, you do not need to. Just enjoy the night scene outside.              Yet, I recommend you to look around the “Lovers’ locks.” At the Roof Terrace, you could notice a fence locked up in hundreds of locks. Families, couples and friends write a wish on locks and lock them on the fence.   Myeongdong              Myeongdong is a good place to eat and shop. I think you can easily buy clothes you want at Myeongdong since there are so many different brands. Also, some shopping malls have international brands so even foreigners can easily buy some. So if you want to go shopping at Myeongdong, you better bring enough money. However, not so many people speak in English. I heard some people speaking in Japanese – perhaps to grab Japanese tourists’ attention.

 

/MIZY Youth Reporters Yeongran Ahn

     구정 연휴동안 일본 동경으로 자유여행을 다녀왔답니다. 사실 가족과 함께한 3박 4일 중 1박 2일만 혼자 자유여행을 했습니다. 엄밀히 따지면 나홀로 여행은 아니지만! 첫 자유여행을 준비할 사람들을 위해 홀로 1박 2일 여행 코스를 준비하고 직접 일본에 다녀온 소감을 이야기 하고자 합니다.

자유여행 첫 발자국 : 여행의 목적을 정하라

     여행의 목적에 따라 여행 코스, 숙박시설, 사용할 수 있는 미디어 등이 굉장히 달라집니다. 저의 경우 가족을 위한 관광 및 휴식과, 저를 위한 쇼핑을 다 할 수 있는 곳을 원했기 때문에 볼거리 먹을거리 살거리 많다는 동경을 여행지로 결정했습니다. 가족과 함께 시작한 여행이기 때문에 제가 항공권과 숙박 장소를 정하지는 않았습니다. 하지만 확실한 것은 되도록 숙박시설은 여행 목적지와 가까운 곳이어야 한다는 점! 그래서 교통비, 시간 둘 다 아낄 수 있답니다.

자유여행 두 번 째 발자국 : 여행사 사이트를 활용하라

     '자유여행 준비'라고 하면 왠지 책자나 다른 사람의 블로그를 봐야한다고 생각하는 분들도 많을 겁니다. 하지만 준비운동도 하지 않고 정보의 바다에 뛰어드는 것은 위험한 생각입니다. 자칫 잘못하면 지나치게 많은 정보에 빠져 헤어나오지 못할 수 있기 때문입니다.
     여행사 사이트는 자유여행 초보자에게 좋은 길라잡이입니다. 자신이 가고 싶은 여행과 비슷한 패키지 상품을 구경하면서 자유여행의 틀을 잡는 것이 좋습니다. 여행사가 홍보하는 상품들은 다른 온라인 정보보다 통계적으로 증명된 것이라고도 생각할 수 있으니까요.
     제 경우에는 여행사가 추천하는 일정 중 가고 싶은 명소와 별로인 곳을 일차적으로 정했답니다.

자유여행 세 번 째 발자국 : 여행 책자를 꼼꼼히 읽자

     꾸준히 사랑받는 여행가이드, 책! 여행 책자들은 꼭 필요한 여행 기본정보들을 자세히 다루고 있습니다. 물론 어떤 책을 사느냐에 따라 정보의 양과 질이 조금씩 다르겠지만 책이 알찬 정보의 정리본이라는 점은 바뀌지 않습니다.
     저는 일본 여행 또는 동경 여행 관련 책을 두세 권 사, 관광하고 싶은 곳들을 모조리 체크했답니다. 한 권만 있어도 하루 구경 스케쥴은 충분히 짤 수 있습니다. 저는 계획은 넉넉하게 잡는 것이 좋다는 주의여서 하루에 볼 수 있는 곳이 평균 5개라고 해도 10개 이상을 조사해 놓는답니다. 귀찮은 성격이지만 이토를 여행할 때는 이 성격 덕을 많이 봤어요. 이토가 생각보다 작아서 한 동네를 둘러보고도 시간이 남아서 따로 조사해 놓은 맛집, 상가 등도 가게 됐습니다.

자유여행 네 번 째 발자국 : 다른 사람들의 여행후기를 듣자
    

      자유여행을 보다 즐겁게 만들 수 있는 ‘양념’이라고 할 수 있는 경험자의 이야기들. 블로그를 통해서 이토에서 맛있기로 소문난 횟집, 하라주쿠에서 유별나게 독특한 옷을 파는 옷집, 오다이바에서 친구 기념품 사기 적격인 상점 등 책자에는 실리지 않은 유용한 정보를 얻을 수 있습니다. 다소 주관적인 정보라는 점이 흠이긴 하지만요.
     블로그가 아닌 친구의 경험담도 좋은 정보입니다. 저는 일본 여행을 자주 가는 친구의 도움으로 하라주쿠에서 제 마음에 쏙 드는 크레페 가게와 옷가게를 찾아갈 수 있었습니다. 아무래도 저를 아는 사람이니 제가 좋아할 만한 곳을 추천해주더라고요.

자유여행 다섯 번 째 발자국 : 머릿속에 지도를 그려라

     비밀 작전을 성공시키기 위해서 요원들은 작전을 외우고 또 외운다고 합니다. 실수와 시간낭비를 줄이기 위해서겠죠? 여행도 마찬가지랍니다. 효율적인 여행을 위해서는 여행지의 교통수단을 충분히 이해해야 합니다. 일본의 경우 한국과 달리 사기업들이 지하철과 기차를 운영합니다. 따라서 운행선마다 표 가격도 다릅니다. 더욱이 일본의 경우 대중교통비도 한국에 비해 비쌌기 때문에 교통수단을 현명하게 이용하는 것이 매우 중요했습니다. 미리 한국말로 된 지하철 노선도를 뽑아가고, 지하철 표 기계 사용법도 찾아갔답니다.

자유여행 여섯 번 째 발자국 : 여행지의 언어를 공부하자

     어렴풋이 여행의 윤곽이 잡혔다면 여행지의 언어를 공부할 때입니다. 아는 만큼 보인다고 여행지 정보를 찾는 사람은 많아도 여행지 언어를 따로 공부하는 경우는 드문 것 같습니다. "요즘 같은 세상에 영어 하면 되지!"라는 사람들도 많지만 여행객이나 현지인이나 여행지 언어로 대화하는 것이 가장 편하다고 생각합니다. 영어를 공용어로 채택할지 고민까지 하는 일본에서도 일반인들과 영어로 능숙하게 대화하는 것은 참 힘들었습니다. 억지로 영어로 하는 것보다 일본어 회화 책을 뒤져가며 천천히 일본어로 대화하는 것이 더 효율적인 적도 있었습니다. 또 일본어로 대화를 시도하니 좋아하는 현지인도 있었구요.
     부지런히 여행 스케쥴도 거의 다 짰다면 시간 날 때마다 여행지의 언어를 배워둡시다.

/미지 청소년 기자단 안영란기자