Alicia kim's blog

Day 1 (2/23)

It all felt surreal that I was in India, a country I never thought I would go to, back when I was counting the countries that I wanted to visit. Now I am in a country, in a van with my baggage strapped on top of the roof, going to a 5-star hotel. For that split moment, I felt like a tourist more than a volunteer who came to visit a school. It was almost midnight after we got settled in. I got a special room, a single big room, but connected to two other girls. I was still half dead when I got into my room, so I still couldn’t believe that I was in India. I only hoped for me to actually believe once I woke up tomorrow.

Day 2 (2/24, but actually 1)

My feet were aching so much from the walks and walks we had. Honestly, it wasn’t that long of a walk to begin with, but to me, the walk felt like hours because of the hot temperature. Our first stop was the Taj Mahal. Honestly, it didn’t amaze me straight away because I had only been looking at the photos on Google, and that engraved a clear picture of the Taj Mahal in my mind.  We walked around the Taj Mahal, and four different gates also looked like I’ve seen somewhere else. There were monkeys around the area, too. However, the most fascinating part was the inside of the temple. Taj Mahal was actually a temple that an emperor made for his favorite deceased wife. I couldn’t believe how dedicated he was to his wife, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but get disappointed at the same time since the “tomb” included only the tomb itself of the king and the queen.

For the first time in an actual restaurant, we ate our first ever pure Indian food. There were more than just curry. It was truly a new cultural experience. Our next picture was the Agra Fort. Straight away, I was lost for words. It felt like a clay fort, but the sunlight grimmering on it, and the birds circling it, it felt like a whole other world. I found it more engaging than the Taj Mahal because of the different elements it included, such as the sound-travelling wall, a garden, etc. The only part that I felt that I regretted was that my phone died, so I couldn’t take many pictures. I also felt like everyone was tired, so we didn’t look as thoroughly as we did in the Taj Mahal. 

Day 3 (2/25)

Today was the first time. I was afraid that I would mess up the activities that I organized. It felt like it was my first time in the site. We started off by worshiping, but the school was smaller than I thought it would be. We all crammed to the back of the room and squeezed ourselves in rows of students. After that we were able to separate and interact with the kids. It was hard to communicate with them, since they understand only a bit of English. However, the moment that I felt the most connected was when we were able to connect through activities that we prepared for them. Because we had to do it outside, some of the activities took time to set up, and I thought of it as a risk of going to a new place for the first time, since we didn’t know what to expect of the place. Although we were immature, the kids seemed to have so much fun with the activities that were prepared for them. For the first time during the trip, we ate Korean food that became a catalyst for my Korean cravings.

After lunch, we performed the skit we prepared about Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. I could see that the children didn’t understand what we were doing, so I tried my best to show them with my gestures. Only about an hour left, we split into groups and ran two activities. I got to lead one of the activities, balloon volleyball, but because of the wind, we had to quickly change to jumprope. We were playing that for around twenty minutes, but I really appreciated that they were having fun with it. After that, everyone gathered in the front yard, and we started dancing in a circle. It felt really awkward because I’m not just a person who goes somewhere and starts dancing, but I was dragged into the moment truly. I started following their body movements, and I think I had the most fun then and there. 

Day 4 (2/26)

Today was the second day of my service. I was relieved when I thought that they would be able to communicate with me through English, but I was also afraid thinking that the activities we prepared wouldn’t be enough to engage them. When we arrived, I was actually breathless at the scale of the building. Although I knew that it wasn’t as good as our school, in the shoes of the Indian students, I knew they loved the school. The missionaries started introducing the building, and I was surprised that the dorm was Korean military style. I greeted them while passing their classroom. We gathered in the HESED Hall (unfailing love), and we started worshiping. That was the first time I felt tears in my eyes. I couldn’t believe how passionate they were in a condition like this.

Then, we split up into groups, and that’s when I met the trio, Afsana, Payal, and Rani. Afsana was outgoing and friendly, definitely extroverted, while Rani was self-reserved and quiet. Payal was somewhat in the middle. We shared what we liked and some phrases back and forth in Hindi and Korean. But mostly, we talked about our future and what we wanted to become. They wanted to become a teacher, a nurse, and a makeup artist. After that, we had lunch together and started our activities. The activities were sex-segregated because of the strict cultural norms. We stayed in the hall while the boys went outside to play cricket. We played a few Korean traditional games like “I Am Ground” and Red Light, Green Light. We also just talked for half an hour because everyone was tired. Three hours passed by like seconds, and it was already time to leave. One of the teachers turned on worship songs, and we started dancing all together in a circle. I think that was when it sparked me. Then and there, we became united under one belief in God.