2016 GCP BUSAN 부산

2 words to describe today's experiences

Relaxing, informational

2 highlights of the day

In the morning, we walked to a beach nearby the hotel. We had a lot of fun chasing seagulls and trying to avoid the waves. We have never seen seagulls before and there were a lot of them. We took many picture there too. It was really nice to start the day of relaxing at the beach. After we said goodbye to our buddies, we went to the Bulguksa grotto and the Seokgulam temple. We trekked up the mountain to to grotto where a huge stone Buddha state was there. Then we took a short bus ride to the Seokgulam temple which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The tree where yellow and red and I made the temple very beautiful. In the temple there were two pagodas with one temple where we saw people praying to a gold Buddha statue. Our tour guide, Mr Brian, explained much of the history and the things people do in the temple like when people donate to the temple, they get to hang a card on a lotus flower for the deceased.

2 things I learnt about korea

I learnt that in Korea, 30℅ of the people are Buddhists 30℅ of the people are Christian and 30℅ of the people believe in confucianism. I also learnt that in the Seokgulam temple, they have a devoted space to train monks but without speaking. This means that Koreans are appreciating their culture and there were many parent bringing their children to the temple meaning that the culture is going  to be passed on to the next generation.

2 things I learnt about myself

I learnt that i really had fun spending time with my friends and I hope to spend more time with them, after the trip. I really think this is really helping with my social skills and how to uses them , which really comes in handy when making friends and maintaining and strengthening bonds.  That I could be more open to people from other religions like how the Buddhists are open to people from other religions. I guess this means I would nee to try to be better at thinking from other people's points of view and how I could implement that to understand them better.

2 things I could have done better

I could have brought my note book withe to take down note on what Mr Brian was talking to us about the temples and the culture. I could do this by making my note book more noticeable by putting my notebook to the front of my bag instead of at the back of the bag where I usually put it so that I will be reminded to bring my notebook. I could have paid better attention to the presentations that the buddies and some of the students gave us this morning. I could do this by taking small notes on a piece of paper or my note book to keep up my attention and also help be backtrack information when needed.

2 things I look forward to tomorrow.

I really hope to learn as much as I can from the Busan science museum since our teachers have told us many good things about it and how it has so much more than our science centre. I also want to see my parents again and have a good night sleep at home.

How did you connect with those learning experiences

In SST, we only started to learnt about electrolysis very recently and we only learnt about using it purification of metal, and we did not learn how it works exactly. So it was nice to learn about how electrolysis can be used other than  the production of metal and how it can help the environment.

How did the learning experiences extend on the learning in SST?

How did the learning experiences challenge your learning?

When Mr Brian said that Buddhists are very generous, more generous than other religions like Christians and Muslims, I was quite shocked. I thought that Christians were really generous, being one myself. In my Chruch, we organise activities to help needy people like packing and giving them packs of foods and helping to pray for them, among other activities and I would see this as very generous but I guess this is can be seen from different points of view and I should accept them.

1) How did you connect with those learning experiences

We connected with the learning by doing many hands on work. This let us more easily see how the concepts taught are used. In the drone class, we had more insight in knowing that knowing how to work the drones will be important in the future when drones will be a part of our lives. Also in the math class, the teacher gave us a chance to show our learning by writing our answers to the question that the teacher let us solve on the black board. This is quote similar to the way some teachers teach in SST and really helped us to learn how to do the question. We also use a UV spectrometer to measure what is the concentration of vitamin C in a drink. I did this similarly in SST where we measured the concentration of proteins and DNA using the UV spectrometer. SO we could apply the skills we learnt in SST and apply it here in Busan science high school

2) How did the learning experiences extend on the learning in SST

 We were taught many things in the classes. We were taught how to wire and use the arduino to make lights shine with the music and how electromagnetic waves work. We learnt coding in SST in Sec 1 and sec 2 but it was only the basic coding. But we learn how to use the coding to show how how loud different frequencies of sound waves are and lighting lengths of LEDs accordingly. This let us learn more about coding and using the arduino in addition to the things we learnt in SST. In yesterdays physics class, we learnt about electromagnetic wave and we made a electromagnetic wave generator and a detector. This built upon on what we learnt on electromagnetic waves in SST and improved on our circuit building skills in sec 1 and sec 2.

3) How did the learning experiences challenge your learning

In SST, we are used to doing work with our friend and having not that many concepts in one questions. But here in Korea, the students study alone and in one question, there can  be many different concepts. This way of learning was really new to me and I needed help from the Korean buddy to solve the question. So we are so used to having so much help when needed and so we need to be more independent in our studies but still get help from the friends and teachers when needed. The Korean students also only use the computer in class and are not allowed to use their phones, yet they do so well without the constant help from technology. I feel that we could learn from the Korean students and try to control our use of our technology and pay better attention in class.

1) 3 words to describe today’s experiences

Fun,  captivating, exciting

2) 3 highlights of the day
The  hanbok wearing and Korean manners class was very interesting. We learnt how to properly bow and we made glutinous rice cake which we really enjoyed eating. We also dressed up in traditional hanbok and learn how to properly wear them. This was new to most of us as we have never experienced Korean culture like this. I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know my buddy, Jeong Yeon Soo and the other Korean students. They have a lot more clubs and facilities than SST like the deck for the samunoli band. The samunoli band was amazing. You could feel the beat of the instrument. We have never seen the instruments like the one used in samunoli before so it was very interesting and enjoyable. I really enjoyed the fab lab when we made the marble maze with the goal for the marble race that lasted the longest time. We came up with many ideas and made them. This was actually quite similar to the projects we have in SST so we could apply the skills like brainstorming and designing to make the maze.

3) 3 things you’ve learnt about Korea

I learnt that the younger generation of Korea are losing touch with their culture. I have also learnt that there are people like Mr Moon Im Hoon trying to teach the younger generation the culture so that can stay in touch with their roots. I have also learnt that the pounded rice cakes are a traditional and yet popular snack among Koreans. Through all this Korea is trying to get the younger generation back in touch with their culture and will most likely succeed.

4) 3 things you’ve learnt about yourself

I learnt that I needed to get more sleep. At a few points during the trip, i felt like wanting to sleep. This caused to lose attention when the speaker was talking. In the morning, I even felt sickly. So today night I will try to find ways of making myself more comfortable and get a better night's sleep. I also learnt that my communication between new friends and I have improved more than I have previously thought. So I will talk to my friend and the Korean students buddies more. I learnt that I have much more to learnt about the Korean culture than I thought and I will be looking out for that

5) 3 things you didn’t do so well

I can pay attention to the speaker more  and not doze off. I can also try to eat more off the dishes and expand my palate so that I can experience more of the Korean cuisine. I can also try to take down notes faster so I can have more to reflect on other than just memory

6) 3 things you look forward to tomorrow

I am looking forward to trying more of the Korean cuisine and trying new types of Korean dishes. I am also looking forward to the Samsung motor factory as my project is based on the MRT breakdown and I hope to find new ways of making the MRT engines more efficient. Finally, I will be looking forward to spending more time with my friends and especially my Korean buddy as we did not have much time to get to know each other.

1) 3 words to describe today’s experiences

Loud, spicy, captivating

2) 3 highlights of the day

Going to the Posco metal works was amazing. We got to see how a thick slab of metal is turned into a thin sheet of metal. The sounds of the machines rolling and flattening the metal were very loud and we could feel the heat from the metal slab. The Posco museum was very informational. Many ancient artifacts like a very large cast iron rice pot that could feed 300 people were there and we watched a movie that explained a lot about Posco's founding and building. When we went to the Jagalchi market, we saw many different types of seafood and tried to eat them. The tastes and textures were very different then we are used to and we really enjoyed them. There was a lot of spicy food too.

3) 3 things you’ve learnt about Korea

In the past, Korea had difficulty setting up its steel industry as many kooreans were not interested in using steel that much. But through much hardship, korea had made itself a successful steel industry. Now, Korea has patented "Finex" which is a more efficient way to produce iron than the blast furnace. Korea has the largest blast furnace in the world. Korea's steel industry exports 48% of the steel to other countries and the other 52% is for domestic purposes. With these advances, Korea's economy will continue to grow and expand.

4) 3 things you’ve learnt about yourself

I learnt that my limits of tolerence for spicy food is higher than I thought. I have also learnt that I have a lower tolerence to the cold than I thought, so I realy need to cover up more. I have learnt that I still need to talk to my friends more to get to know them.

5) 3 things you didn’t do so well

I could have been more attentive to what the tour guide, Mr Brian, was saying. I could have also tried takedown more notes in my handphone or my notebook. I could have also tried to talk to my friends more and get to know them better.

6) 3 things you look forward to tomorrow

I will be looking forward to interacting and talking to my friends more and getting to know them better. I will also be looking forward to meeting the teachers, students and the principal of the Busan science high school. I hope I can see my buddy from two years ago.

1) How do you feel about the upcoming trip?

2) 3 things I am looking forward to

3) 3 things I am hoping to learn from Busan/ South Korea

4) 3 things I am hoping to learn from my friends

5) 3 things I am hoping to learn about myself

6) 3 challenges I give to myself

7) What are my expectations of Korea