the ExPAT project

My friend, Jenny, and I put down our hands on the "We like books better than toy guns" banner
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"Guns are bad, books are good"
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This past Saturday, a bunch of us from the ExPAT project and Amnesty International Korea got together for a Control Arms event at Paju English Village. Not only did we have a great time, but we got to educate kids about why guns are bad. We helped kids put their painted hand prints on a banner that read "We like books more than toy guns" and a few kids turned in their toy guns for free books! We also had face painting, mascots, and balloons. The ExPAT people got together and paraded around the Village to get people over to the site with chants like "Guns are bad! Books are god!" and took pictures with kids who thought our white faces were fascinating. We also led kids in English favorites like "The Hokey Pokey." Eight of us met on Saturday morning for donuts and coffee before heading out. We, of course, ended the day's fun with a pint at the English pub! We honestly all had a blast and it was a beautiful day to be outside. Working with Amnesty Korea was awesome. Our contact, Esther, is great. She was so happy to work with us and was really helpful. We are definitely going to be working with Amnesty Korea in the future. We have begun discussing ways to throw an ExPAT benefit for them. Any ideas (club party in Hongdae???) would be appreciated. It was really cool to see the ExPAT project in action. ExPATs doing good things, giving back to Korea, and having fun too. In fact, the ExPAT project also included some of our fellow Korean teachers, so it's cool to see us all working together. Because we are part of this community, even if only temporarily. To find out more about Amnesty's Arms Control program go to Amnesty International Our next event and upcoming event info. can be found on our blog The ExPAT Project