5th may 2004: Children's Day in South Korea
The Occassion: There are more than one reason for all Samsung families to wait eagerly for this day every year. Children's day being the only day of the year when Samsung allows the family members of all the employees to enter and have a look in and around the campus and of course not to forget the gala events and the colourful activites that Samsung arranges inside the campus on that day. It was this excitement that took me there even though I was 7 months pregnant.The events starts at around 9 am and it continues till 5pm.
Visit to Computer Division: We first went to Computer System Division, where Kumar works. The reception area exhibits the latest range of Laptop and Desktop PC's. We went to the first floor and visited the huge conference cum meeting room which was highly sophisticated with all latest presentation and conferencing equipments. Then we looked around the labs, other meeting rooms ,exhibiton rooms and finally went to Kumar's cubicle. We took some rest there, had tea and then headed for the event ground. '
At Kumar's work Place
Ground Zero: Since it was children's day celebration, so there were mini amusement parks for kids in everycorner . The whole campus was crowded with kids with their parents. The excitement and happy mood was so visible on every face.
Events: One of the favourites event among children was the body painting event. One could easily figure out the popularity by seeing the length of the queue of kids waiting to get their face and body painted with nice colourful designs. There were tall and colourful jokers all around who were making different shapes with balloons.
With the gas balloon joker
Every one seemed to be busy taking pictures with them. Another nice attraction was pop songs performed by one of the famous korean pop bands in the foodball stadium. Yes the Campus houses an international standard soccer stadium exclusievely for the employees. We could also see a huge crowd where Samsung security organization was displaying their skill and parade.
There was more than 20 different types of events on the whole street and we could see people participating in every event very enthusiastically. On winning one would get a sticker on his badge and if one could win more than a certain number of stickers he/she is entitled to gifts.We too participated in many of them like aiming at a particular object with tennis ball , arranging small balls on the top of the bottles in 20 seconds, throwing arrows on the dart board , rock parper scissor and many other interesting games.At one spot they were displaying the process of making rice cake. Rice cake is a very important sweet for South Koreans which they prepare in all auspicious days and festivals.
Visiting to the Exhibition Hall: We went to see the exhibiton hall which displays almsot the entire range of Samsung products for last 30 years. One could see the oldest TV sets to the latest Plasma TV's.
Inside the Exhibition Hall
It was very interesting to see that the televisions of different era were also showing the programs of that period. The first washing machine, the first telephone were all fun to see and it also gave an idea of the change in the structure and use of the products. We could also see the change in Samsung logos from the begining till date. They had also set up a model living room, kitchen with all hi tech gadgets which adds value to our life
Samsung Logo from 1969 to Present day
Chandra liked the model Kitchen. Hoping to Own one in future.
It was a nice learning experience. One can get an complete idea of past, present and future technologies products and trend.
Lunch in Company Canteen: By 12 noon we were tired and hungry. So we went to one of the office canteens by shuttle bus arranged for the purpose. The canteen was huge and jam packed but so systematic the process in the canteen was that no one needed to wait in queue for long and no chaos at all. The menu was really delicious. Once you get the hang of it, korean food is really delicious. After lunch we sat in the Park beside the canteen and took some rest and then again boarded the bus to reach the event spot.
Telecom Building Visit:
We now decided to enter the Telecom building. Its a 27 storied building built and appeared real Hi-Tech. The first thing that draws our attention are the huge live trees inside the hall. Then we took the express lift and reached the 27th floor to have a look at the whole campus. we could see almost all of suwon from there. We could even locate our appartment area from that place.
In front of IT building
Calling the Day off at Suwon Campus By the time we finished looking around the Telecom building it was almost 4 pm and we had covered almost all events and good places to see. So we decided to call the day off at samsung suwon campus. At all the exit gates the organizers were distributing gifts. They were meant for kids but since we are foreigners so they obliged us too.
Visit to Samsung Semiconductor Campus in Kiheung:
We then decided to visit the semiconductor campus in Kiheung which was around 20 min's drive from Samsung Suwon campus. On reaching there we found that similar to Suwon campus, many mini amusement parks were set up for kids.
With Shubranshu(leftmost) at Kihueng Campus
Additionally we could find many small open air restaurants around the main event ground which were selling all kinds of food and drinks. People were enjoying the cultural events being performed on the stage including dance and songs by professinal groups. The place was jam packed. We went around the whole campus with our friend Subhranshu who works there. The campus was very huge and very close to nature. There were many fountains small water pools and neatly mantained beautiful gardens all around. This really enhanced the landscape of the place.
Inside Kehung Campus We were there for around 2 hrs and then decided to call the day off.
It was a wonder ful day and we enjoyed it very much.
