Someone's got to marinate all that meat, right?

If only all meat tasted like Korean barbecue. But, alas, that's not the case. Someone's got to do the work to prep the meat, transport it, marinate it, chop it up, and put it on the grill. To marinate 1000 lbs of Korean barbecue tonight, it took:

• 23 people
• 25 cutting boards
• 24 knives
• 6 food processors
• 22 tongs
• 17 really big bowls filled with soy sauce and marinating stuff
  

Additionally, it took four guys and a big truck to pick up all the meat and transport it this afternoon. Here's a picture so you see how many boxes we're talking about:

What to expect at the Free Korean Barbecue!

So you've circled, "Free Korean Barbecue and New Student Welcome Night" on your Welcome Week calendar. That's a good thing, for sure. But what to expect? Seems like everyone and their cousin is going to be there.

In previous years people came to the barbecue because they got one of our ubiquitous flyers, met a new friend who was going, or just smelled the thing as they were walking by. Here was the common scenario in years past: New student goes to registration table, says hello, gets name tag, wanders over to really long line which is serpentine in form and Disneyland in length, gets plate of food (which smells really good), isn't sure where to sit, is a little intimidated by the massive amount of people, and (if said student came alone) uncomfortably sits near a cluster of people trying to belong, and enjoys good food. If said student is lucky, will meet a Koinonia or acts2fellowship member and strike up a good conversation.

We always thought that wasn't a very good experience. Yeah, the food's good. But it's not just about the food. It's about the people, meeting someone and connecting with them, finding out a little bit about our group and what makes us tick. So here's the scenario you can expect tomorrow night (it's only one day away!): New student comes to registration table and gets cool name tag with colored sticker, says hello, gets plugged into a group of 10-15 other people, is directed to big cluster of colored balloons corresponding to the color on her name tag, sits down with group and meets other people and has interesting conversation, eats good food, has more groovy conversation (like, "I know someone from that high school!" or "I visited your hometown before... I think it was when I got lost on the way to my SAT." or "Oh my gosh! I collect spoofy youtube movies too!"), and then walks over to Wheeler Auditorium with new group of friends, laughing and holding hands all the way.

With the exception of the holding hands part, that's what you can expect tomorrow night when you get to the barbecue. See you there!

How many pounds of meat should we barbecue?

That's the question, of course, when faced with an uncertain number of people who will show up that night. Do we dream big and hope for a huge turnout, but then overbuy? Or do we go cheap and conservative, but then also set ourselves up for a situation in which lots of people will be disappointed (and hungry)? The latter is not an option and certainly not one of our values.

Thankfully, we have some perspective we can bring to this problem since we've done this barbecue thing several years now.

Last year, we bought, marinated, and grilled 800 lbs of Korean barbecue short ribs. Unfortunately, we also ran out before the half hour was over, and a dispatch was sent to Berkeley's finest, Top Dog and we started grilling sausages, frankfurters, and hot links. The guys didn't mind so much, but it was still a real learning experience.

This year, we're projecting 1000 lbs of meat. That's right, folks. 1000 pounds. I've heard male arctic polar bears stand 11' tall, and, if they're really well fed, can weigh upwards of 1000 pounds. Now that's perspective.

NSWN video trailer finished!

Big props to Andrew for finishing the video trailer for NSWN! We posted it to youtube, and put it on this website over there at the top of the column on the right. The video makes us look almost cool. Now Andrew just has to finish editing the NSWN video itself...

The other stuff rumbling in the NSWN machinery:

• Brainstorming for Welcome Week activities
• Sieun and Myra working on the postcard design (I'll put up some pictures soon)
• Angela applying for our NSWN bbq permits (Thanks, Angela!)
  
• Kenton reserving Lipman Room for Koinonia Welcome Night ( Aug. 30)
• Bunch of people working on the a2f Welcome Night video... I think they're storyboarding now
  
• Got ourselves a table at the Summer Bridge Club Fest on Aug. 6
  
• And, of course, the Deathly Hallows...
  

Reserving rooms: chore or delight?

Yes, we said the Barbecue would be next up for discussion, but first things' first. These days it's all about reserving rooms.

Got to get the room for New Student Welcome Night, reserve the Campanile Plaza and Memorial Glade for the pre-NSWN barbecue, and what about the acts2fellowship Welcome Night and the Koinonia Welcome Night the week after? We want to make sure there's enough time to hang out afterwards, so we need another room for that. It's endless! We haven't even started talking about rooms for weekly bible studies and small groups.

Thankfully, the two Councils have been doing a lot of running around on campus, talking to administrators (really nice, great, wonderful and lovely administrators!... in case they're reading), getting permits (we need a food permit and an outdoor amplified sound permit in order to do our NSWN barbecue), logging in hours on the UCB room reservation website, and overall just making sure there's an auditorium for people to show up at.

Reserving rooms: who'd 'a thought it'd be so tedious and time-consuming? But thank goodness buds like John, Paulina, and Jasper (mighty seniors!) have been so willing to run ahead and pull the NSWN 2007 cart.

Publicity and the web

Each year, we mail something to the new students, some way to say hi and introduce our group. It used to be a letter, and then that seemed too frumpy, so we changed it to a postcard. It was cheaper that way too and coincided with the entire revolution to print stuff in color.

This year, we thought we'd do something a little different. If we can, of course we'd still like to send a postcard welcoming new students. It's a small gesture for us to say hello, congratulate new students as they prepare to arrive to Berkeley, and introduce what our group's about. It's also an invitation for them to join us at New Student Welcome Night and some of our welcome week activities. It's something like 3000 postcards we'll be mailing out so Ben's making sure we get the ball rolling: design, printing, and then mailing.

Additionally, however, we thought we'd start by making this website (which is still under construction), and also jump on the web where many of our members already currently live, breathe, and eat. Seeing as how Youth Trends notes that 69% of women and 56% of men ages 17-25 are on Facebook, we're going to set up a Facebook NSWN2007 event (which will be connected to this site) so we can invite our friends and new friends that way too.

Trying new things, and rethinking some old ones. Next up: the NSWN barbecue.