"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has.”- Margaret Mead

I recently became involved in the Andong Volunteers Association (AVA). This group started one year ago and consists of Korean and Foreign teachers/Andong community members. With every event the main members set up, there is a committee of us that join it to be in charge of that specific event. That's how I became involved with the River Clean Up Event for Earth Day. When I was in New Zealand, our main job was conservation work and reforestation, so this was right up my ally. The 낙동강 (Nakdong River) runs through most of eastern Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and empties out into the Korean Strait near Busan. The committee consisted of myself, Suzanne, Andrew, Tom, and Lisa. We spent about a month planning and pulling the event together, with major help from Kwan Sang-In, Suzanne's co-teacher, who also happens to be the English teacher at my second school (Pung Cheun) the four days a week I'm not there.

Fundraising!

Our awesome t-shirts!

cutie!

This kid wanted a dragon on his cheek. Lisa made it happen

Cassie, me, Lisa, and Meredith

Another precious one

These kids wanted everything!

Jae-ik, Tae-keun, and Lisa listening to Andrew explain the rules

Jae-ik

Tom and his new bff

Cassie, San-in, and Andrew really getting in there

I was in charge of getting a powerpoint together for every Andong Native teacher to show to their students, to get them interested in Earth Day. We also had awesome t-shirts made, that I sold to.. ready for it.. 6 of my students! bahaha. Yeah it's nothing, but it's better than I was expecting. We did last minute fundraising the weekend before, during the last day of the Cherry Blossom Festival, where we did everything from hair wraps, to face painting, to selling handmade jewelery (All help to Meredith, Cassie and the rest of the AVA main members.)

Tae-keun- "맥주!" "mekju" (beer)

The Cleanup was planned to be on April 22nd, Earth Day, but the forecast was rain all day. Of course we wake up, and what is the weather... absolutely beautiful. Haha but it all worked out, because we held it that next Saturday and it was wonderful. Not a lot of appearance, but a few of the others' students showed up, as well as two of my 4th grade boys, Tae-keun and Jae-ik. They were so into it, picking up all this garbage, playing around, having a great old time. It was fun to see them outside of school, where their personalities were brought out. They were absolutely hysterical. It's amazing how much of a language barrier there is between us, but then how much can still be communicated through facial expression, short phrases, laughs and smiles. Overall, a great day! Were we expecting more people? Of course. But we spent a Saturday morning making a little bit of a difference in our community, which was more worthwhile and rewarding than a lazy Saturday morning doing absolutely nothing to help our planet.

Skipping back to a week before the River Cleanup, there was another AVA Event. Open Mic! Which I performed in! Ahhhh. My very first one. I was iffy about it in the beginning. Anyone who knows me, knows that I've been singing forever, but once I hit college, regretfully I stopped joining any serious groups. I decided to sing Kate Voegele's version of Leonard Cohen's, "Hallelujah." Ryan, another native teacher here from Canada, was a saint, and agreed to accompany me on guitar. It was a great night, filled with awesome musicians, poetry, and a Korean girl deciding last minute to sing a number. Everyone said I did great, and that I "made the room silent," so I'll go with that. haha. There's a video on my facebook of the ending, but I was told that there will be a full video of all the performances being posted soon, so when I get that I will try to put it on here for all you non-fb users.

Me and Ryan

Adorable baby putting on a show the entire open mic