In the airplane on the way to Pusan, I was so excited that I tried to calm myself down. The Second East Asian Games would be held in Pusan. I was going to be a volunteer for the wushu (kung-fu) competition in the games, although I did not know very much about wushu.
        At last, I arrived at Kimhae Airport. It took about an hour to go to Pusan. I was supposed to stay for a week in my relative's house in Pusan. When I realized that Pusan was the same as Seoul, with dirty air, heavy traffic, and narrow roads, I was a little disappointed. My first day in Pusan was finished amid mixed emotions of excitement and disappointment.
        On the second day, I went to the headquarters of the wushu competition and learned about the rules of wushu by watching a video tape of it. Wushu, which has been known as kung-fu around the world, is composed of three performances called Tijigquan, Nanquan, and three events combined, which include Chanquan, short weapon exercise (sword or broad sword) and long weapon exercise (cudgel or spear). The wushu competition would be held over three days in Pusan. Participating countries in these games included China, which is the home of wushu, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Macao.
        At the first sight of Tijigquan, I was attracted to the smooth and quiet activities. There was only stillness, but I could feel that some invisible power made me strongly contemplative and reflective about myself. On the other hand, Nanquan was violent and alive. When you see it, you might think that a brave warrior in old times is fighting with an enemy for you. The most impressive competition was women's short weapon. The female athletes were good at handling the sword or broad sword. I could not detect any weakness or signs of femininity peculiar to women; they looked more bold and courageous than the men.
        I was the English announcer for the wushu competition, so I slept only three hours a night to prepare my script for the next day. Even though my major is English Language and Literature, I am not a professional announcer, but just a volunteer who had no experience speaking English in front of hundreds of people. I could not even remember how I managed to finish the first day of the games. I was so nervous that I had to take some medicine to relieve my tension.
        Because the athletes, team managers, and judges did not know Korean, they had to rely on my English announcements. I made many mistakes on the first day. One of my mistakes was that I gave the wrong procedure to the judges and referees so they were all confused and wandered around in the middle of the arena. Another was when I was enchanted by a certain athlete's performance, so I called his number twice by mistake. However, the other two days were better than the first day. I could feel proud of my work and realize how important my work was for the successful completion of the games.
        Wushu is not a famous sport in Korea, so there was not a large audience in the stadium. Instead, many high school, middle school and even elementary school students were required to attend the games as a makeshift plan to fill the empty stadium. On the day the Tijigquan was held, all competition managers, volunteers, and I were sorry for the noise those students made. For Tijigquan, the athletes need a quiet place to gather their spirits. It was impossible to make the students quiet down. Shouting, persuading, and even threatening were of no use. They did not care about what we were saying. All the competition managers were irritated and worried, but fortunately the athletes did their best in spite of the bad situation without any complaints.
        I heard that this was the first time that an international competition in wushu was held. Although competition managers and volunteers were inexperienced, the wushu competition was completed successfully. I think this was due to the efforts of all the athletes, competition managers, and volunteers who worried about the performances and tried to finish them successfully. In this competition, it was more important how earnestly the athletes had been practicing for short performances, rather than whether they won the gold medal or not. So in the end, every participant was a winner.
        As a result, I will always remember my wonderful and fruitful seven-day experience in Pusan. Even though it was a short period, it taught me an important lesson. In the future, whenever I fall into a difficult situation in my life, I will always remember the athlete's sweaty faces and their efforts to do their best in the performances to the very end.