Korean Expat Community for National Disasters

It is not a secret even to my professors that one of my hobbies or addiction is “Gunpla” or plastic models of giant mechas called “Gundam”. It is no surprise then that when I was given the chance to participate in an international conference in Beijing, I quickly booked the fast train to Shanghai and back to Beijing to make a quick tour of the Gundam Base in Shanghai where there stands a life-size statue of Freedom Gundam. You can even say that it is one of the main reasons why I even submitted my abstract to such a conference in the first place. Of course, I was excited also to go to two major Chinese cities in one trip, while also experiencing the fastest trains in the world which can go more than 300 kilometers per hour, though I also experienced such fast trains during my trip from Fukuoka to Kobe last year. Nevertheless, it was a very long ride! China is very big and the distance between Beijing and Shanghai is so large that it still takes around 4 to 6 hours to get from one point to another even with such fast trains! But even with such time constraints, I managed to arrive at the Lalaport in Shanghai where the Gundam Base and the statue are. I was afraid that the possibly fake news that I read earlier that week that the statue was destroyed by a storm was true. But then I saw it in its glory. The white devil as some people calls it, is now clad in blue and white. People talk about the irony of there being Freedom Gundam in China of all places, but all I can say is that it is beautiful—freedom can be anywhere for within the human are endless possibilities. I took many photos and went inside to go to the Gundam base, and basked myself in the heaven of exclusive plastic models, including the 1:144 replica of the statue outside. Of course, I bought it. And also tried my luck on the lottery called Ichiban Kuji and got the very rare B prize which is the clear version of the God Gundam kit—now it is curious how two of the kits I got there are the Freedom and God Gundam. I jumped with joy of course because it is just with one pull. Afterward, I just toured around the shop and looked at the different dioramas that they have—they even have a giant head of the Freedom Gundam inside! However, when I came out of the mall, I just realized that I missed the 3 PM show where the life-size statue apparently moves along with some lights and smoke effects. But hey, I am grateful enough for all the experience. I hurried to my fast train back to Beijing and almost missed the last train to the Communication University of China which is near the hostel I am staying. And that’s it! That’s how I met my 3^rd life-sized Gundam statue during an international research conference in China, with the 1^st being the Nu Gundam in Fukuoka and 2^nd the Unicorn Gundam in Odaiba, Japan.