Saturdays Off

Saturdays-off (Saturdays without classes) at elementary, junior, and high schools come biweekly to give parents many concerns.

They cannot easily come up with an idea to let the children have a fruitful and worthy day off their weekday schedule filled with the school classes and after school lessons.

Driving to the outskirts of the city through all the traffic jams could be good, but in many cases end up in disappointments. But the riverside of Hangang has a lot of unexpected leisure enjoyments to offer.

The Eco Programs-

Three ecological parks in Yeouido Saetgang, Gangseo, and Godeok provide the visitors with many programs to give them chance to experience the ecosystem and to feel the importance of the ecosystem.

The Yeouido Saetgang Ecological Park runs the Eco Class in which the visitors can listen to stories about fish and insects and actually observe them, and “Guarding the Ecosystem” in which the visitors themselves can eliminate the exotic plants that harm the ecosystem.

The ecological park in Gangseo wetland opened the programs named “Dying with Grasses” and “Fun, Fun, Dica (digital camera) World,” and the Godeok waterside “Saturday Eco Classes” and “Eco-friendly Dica Users!”

Fun Sports!–

Summer gives us the fun of rafting and riding the banana boats.

Rafting is a sport in which a group of people plow through the waters. Making the participants row in concert with the sound of whistle, it is perfect for uplifting the team spirit and the love of challenge. The fee is 2,000 won per person in the water training center of the Sea Explorers of Korea in Ichon and Yanghwa districts of the Hangang Park.

It requires quite a deal of sense of balance to be on a banana boat and dash on the surface of water, but it’s easy to learn. The fee is 10,000 won per person at the boat docks in Mangwon, Jamwon, and Ttukseom.

From this month the outdoor swimming pools equipped with flush toilets, outdoor shower booths and the slides for small children opened business in Gwangnaru, Jamsil, Jamwon, Yeouido, Mangwon and Ttukseom. The fee is 4,000 won for an adult, 3,000 won for a teenager, and 2,000 won for a child.

Volunteer Activities-

Over 300,000 people per day visit Hangang Park on weekends or holidays. With such a number of visitors, there’s always a lack of volunteers.

The Hangang Park Bureau issues certificates for those students who participated in volunteer activities that include the security campaign, picking up garbage, distributing announcement letter etc.

The application is accepted in 12 regional offices in the Hangang Park. Those who were unable to make a reservation can apply on the day. For more information, call 02-3780-0819.

The president of the Hangang Park Bureau, Gwon Jong-su, emphasized, “Many people regard the Hangang Park as just a riverside but it’s growing to be a multipurpose area where visitors can experience the nature and enjoy a range of track an water sports.”

Dong-Ki Sung esprit@donga.com