Message from the Irish embassy
“Ambassador’s Message 19 January 2012
While in contrast to last year, we have not had much snow, I want to draw your attention to two events that cannot do without it.
The first is the International Ski Festival. It has been one of the highlights of the year for expatriate families living in Korea for thirty years and indeed the Festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
It has been my honour to be selected as this year’s Chairman. Indeed previous Irish Ambassador’s have served in this role, including Ambassador Moran for the five years he was posted to Seoul.
He had the distinct advantage of being able to ski! That said and even though skiing is not a great tradition in Ireland for obvious reasons, if you have skied or are interested in giving it a go, the International Ski Festival is not a bad place to start. For more information on the event, please visit http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/eng/index.asp
The second concerns the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games and the need for support and volunteers.
It will be held in Pyeongchang in early February next year. Some of you may have noticed a recent advertising campaign to raise awareness of it. We have heard from Special Olympics Ireland that they expect there to be 14 Irish athletes attending the games, competing in Alpine Skiing and Floorball (Floor Hockey).
One of the unique elements of the Special Olympics is the Host Town Programme where athletes from the different countries stay in a town before the Games begin to learn something of the culture and environment of the host country. Some of you may remember the great success of this programme in Ireland when as a result nearly every corner of the country felt involved.
The organisers of the games are building up to the hosting of the event and are very aware of the challenges of hosting teams from so many different parts of the world. It is not yet certain where the Irish team will be hosted but it is likely to be in the greater Seoul area.
As the Games approach the organisers are looking for both assistance in holding the Games and volunteers to take part in the Host Town Programme. Support could include providing athletes with services, turning up to cheer them on or volunteering to spend the days before the games with the team (26-29 January) acting as local liaison between the Irish team and Korean hosts. Korean language skills would be an added bonus but not essential. The organisers want to make sure that there is plenty of support for the teams as they compete.
As more details become available on how to sign up to be a volunteer or to offer assistance we will let you know.
In the meantime you might wish to have a look at the Games’ website: http://www.2013sopoc.org/hb/en/sub06
Best wishes and Happy New (Lunar) Year,
Eamonn
Eamonn McKee
Ambassador”
Irish Association of Korea 한국아일랜드협회 