The 6th Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan

Posing with taekwondo athletes.
Posing with taekwondo athletes.

AUS’s Student Multicultural Learning Program sponsored a trip to the Mall of the Emirates to watch a presentation by the Korean Embassy. It started with a taekwondo demonstration from Arab athletes, complete with adorable little children performing stunts. Then, what can only be described as Korean opera music started playing, and South Korean taekwondo althetes began a professional taekwondo demonstration, which was almost a play. It was a touching story of good versus evil, with emotions displayed only through occasional shouts, facial expressions, and music. Then they just started showing off their skills, which included kicking flowers while blindfolded and kicking apples so hard they exploded. They also demonstrated their ability to kick through pieces of wood, the shreds of which were flying into the crowd.

After a couple of traditional dances, a techno-ish song started playing and the crowd went wild. This was the cue for Gamblerz Crew, a famous breakdancing group from South Korea, to begin their performance.

After the shows, the taekwondo athletes were signing the boards they didn’t destroy during the performance. The mostly-male athletes stood out as white dots among a flood of abaya-clad Emirati girls, all of whom fought to get their signatures and pictures. There was also an all-you-can-eat buffet of Korean food, with a gigantic platter of sushi.

The rest of this post is pictures of the event.

This young man jumped off the board to kick the apple on a stick.
This young man jumped off the board to kick the apple on a stick.
Breaking boards.
Breaking boards.
Blindfolded flower-kicking.
Blindfolded flower-kicking.
Traditional fan dance.
Traditional fan dance.
Gamblerz Crew.
Gamblerz Crew.
All-you-can-eat buffet.
All-you-can-eat buffet.