DEAR editor,

My name is Caroline Pile I wrote to the Penarth Times earlier in the year to thank all those people who contributed in any way to my fundraising efforts to enable me to take part in this wonderful opportunity. This is a report of my adventures.

It was an extraordinary volunteer trip, I was one of nine girls from around Wales and we were accompanied by three leaders. Whilst we were in South Korea we spent most of our time in Busan with 18 Korean girls making our trip a cultural exchange as well.

Our time in Korea started in Seoul where we found out a little about the culture and language with the opportunity to try on a Hanbok (the traditional dress) and try using chopsticks. We moved on to Busan for the rest of our visit which started with an official opening ceremony with the mayor and other local dignitaries, we also met the local girls we would be working with.

Our volunteering was based in the local market area which we were to help renovate, preserving some of the traditional aspects and creating newspaper articles about the development.

As part of the cultural experience we had a once in a lifetime opportunity, we stayed overnight in a Buddhist temple. We lived the life of a Buddhist monk for 24 hours, including wearing traditional clothing provided for us and eating a traditional Buddhist meal, we were also expected to be quiet while we were there. We had a very early start to the day to meditate and watch the sunrise surrounded by spectacular scenery.

After returning from our temple stay we continued with our work in the market which now included painting, we helped create large murals on the walls of an old building. Our volunteering concluded with us cleaning the public toilets.

Our stay in Busan finished with a closing ceremony, with the same dignitaries, I gave a thank you speech which two other girls in our group repeated, one in Welsh the other in Korean.

We came away with very impressive certificates of participation, a host of fantastic memories and hopefully some lifelong friends.

We returned to Seoul, where we discovered the only Starbucks in the world to be written in a different language.

From Seoul to Heathrow and home, the end of a fantastic memorable experience.

Thank you Girlguiding Cymru for this brilliant opportunity and everyone who supported me in any way to achieve it.

Caroline Pile

6th Penarth Rainbows (young leader)

94th Penarth Rangers