100 % Perfect Us

Setting Up Something Bigger

2009-05-08T17:46:00.003+09:00

We are not going to use this blog anymore. We are going to set up something more functional and more open for our learners where they can freely contribute anytime, and any place.

THUS, WE WILL NO LONGER BE USING THIS SITE AS OUR BLOG.

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 6

2009-04-13T23:44:00.001+09:00

Little Kid Dance Moves

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 5

2009-04-13T23:42:00.001+09:00

Kitten Ninja

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 3

2009-04-13T23:34:00.000+09:00

AFRO NINJA

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 2

2009-04-13T23:32:00.001+09:00

Worst Best Man Ever

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!!

2009-04-13T16:43:00.001+09:00

CHEER UP VIDEO: Train Station Musical

Dancing Prison: Nobody

2009-04-08T16:48:00.004+09:00

From Koreabeat.com:

And here you thought the Thriller video was a one-off. As the Chosun Ilbo reports, no, no, no. (Link includes video goodness.)

A video of prisoners in The Philippines dancing to the Wondergirls’ “Nobody” is becoming an internet sensation.

Uploaded to the video website Youtube on the 31st of last month, the video shows prisoners in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center performing the “Nobody” dance.

Five male prisoners in cute Wondergirls outfits begin dancing to the “Nobody” song, and the rows of orange-clad prisoners behind them laugh and start dancing along.

As the video grows in popularity, netizens have been leaving an increasing number of comments. One netizen wrote, “this video of Filipino prisoners dancing to the Wondergirls’ ‘Nobody’ is awesome. It’s funny seeing them dance in the prison yard.”

Known as the “Dancing Prison,” the CPDRC teaches the prisoners to dance to give them physical exercise, and in 2007 released a video of their dance on the internet to bring attention to their rehabilitation program. That year they performed a Michael Jackson dance. The prisoners practice dance some four hours every day

A Small Drop of Pleasure

2009-04-08T02:28:00.002+09:00

Many of us poor students are battered with our parents' almost constant orders for studying. In some extreme cases there are those who are not given even 10 minutes to stretch their legs on the sofa. For these people, there is some very good news: taking a rest really helps you. A team in the University of Melbourne has researched the topic about the relationship between breaks and work management. The research was done by selecting 300 normal employees of several companies. They found out that employees who use the computers for their personal uses during work gets better work done. The stats showed that 70% of those who use the computers for Internet surfing under 20% of their working time had 9% more productivity than those who only worked. The reason was verified as the imperfection of concentration. Mr. Coker, the leader of the research, says 'A human's concentration is limited, and it needs a brief recharging, like taking a short rest after 20minutes of a hard lecture. These company workers usually favor YouTube, eye-shopping through the monitor, reading the online news, etc.

The research team says that companies who program their PCs to block out any entrance to YouTube and such are actually losing millions of dollars in profit. They warn, however, that computer addicts are not included in the result of this research, due to the fact that they will get frustrated when they are restricted of the Internet.

This bit of information may be useful in some situations, but the study's purposes must not be misinterpreted. So, it is my opinion that these kinds of results should be considered seriously in work, but we should never use this research as an excuse to savor some freedom from studying. The most important thing is, however, that scientific experiments are not always accurate. So, our computers might be bugged in a few years, and it certainly is now by our mothers. Society does not accept this thanks to the infinite competition.

L

Teen Talk

2009-04-08T02:13:00.003+09:00

An abandoned child found in the hospital bathroom’s mother was found to be a high school student who came to Jeju for a school trip. Ms. Lee (16, high school freshman) is facing charges of abandoning a baby (Criminal Law 272) on the 31st (12:40) in a hospital bathroom. It was found that due her unwanted pregnancy that she was trying to leave the baby in Jeju. Of course, the police found her before she left to Seoul.
Teens are going wild these days. They are throwing chairs in Incheon, getting pregnant in Seoul and for the last stop of the course they leave the baby in Jeju. And hello! Some movies that are made for teens to watch are about all of these things. ‘Speed Scandals’ and ‘See you after School’are movies that are all on these subjects! Our teens are losing their sense of morality every day.

E

It's Electric

2009-04-08T02:12:00.001+09:00

Electric cigarettes may seem very odd to people. “What can electric cigarettes do? Real cigarettes need tobacco.” This might be what most people think. However, to me this new invention seems to be a good idea which is very unique and fun. It is an innovative attempt to create something new. It may seem very unrealistic and crazy. It seems to be a good idea because it has many benefits. It doesn’t harm people that are near them because it only produces water vapor instead of smoke. Also, it doesn’t have nicotine. It is not bad for your health. Therefore, it doesn’t harm the smoker, too.

Jasmine

Washing Machine to the Rescue!

2009-04-08T02:01:00.002+09:00

On March 8th, celebrating the international Women’s Day, the Vatican Catholic Church chose the washing machine as playing the most pivotal role in liberating women. For example, 7 years ago, when the first speaking washing machine, called “Washy Talky”, was invented in India, the washing machines lifted a heavy burden of chores that were mandatory for women.

Since long ago, women have been considered weak and unable to take care of themselves. They have been thought to be a group of people with almost no power in society compared to much superior men. In the ancient city of Athens, women were not allowed to enter stadiums nor plays. These were strictly forbidden in the city and anybody who disobeyed the law was thrown in jail. In addition, womens' opportunities of getting education were ignored. Because of the prejudiced view that people had for women, numerous women have been working in kitchens and doing chores every single day. Nonetheless, I just feel glad that the women could become liberated from some part of the entire burdensome amount of house chores because of the advent electronic machines. Due to the widespread use of washing machines, nowadays, women have much more free time than ever before.

Esther

Talking for 124 hours straight

2009-04-06T15:54:00.001+09:00

In Perpignan, the southern part of the city in France, a man named Luis Colet, a 62 year-old man, established a new world record for speaking for 5 days. 3 judges say that he didn’t sleep and he didn’t eat much while he was talking. They say his stories went along without stopping. Colet spoke about poems and about Dali, who was his favorite poet. He also talked about Catalonia’s cultures and their traditions.
Colet said he wanted to protect and preserve Catalonia’s language and culture so he decided to challenge himself and the speaking record.

While I was reading this news, at first I thought that this man was kind of crazy and that he was a chatterbox. But after I read what he spoke about, I found out that he cared a lot about the Catalonia’s culture. I was really impressed by his efforts, because he cares about other countries’ culture. I wish many people care about their and other countries so that we can become closer to one another.

Hamish

Heels on Wheels

2009-04-03T13:47:00.002+09:00

Roller skates allow people to have fun but they hardly look beautiful. Beautiful dresses, on the other hand, make a girl feel pretty. What about if we attach wheels to high heels? One designer chose to do just that. She made high heel roller skates. This seemed to fit quite well. This unique art work was made by Hannah Havana in England.

Heels on wheels… This sounds very unique. If we imagine, heels with wheels don’t seem to match much. However, in this picture, those two items seem to match well. Sometimes, things that don’t seem to match go along together well, like kimchi and sweet potatoes- (trust me on this one). A simple idea led to this. All that person did was combine two very important concepts: fun and beauty. This resulted in the invention of heels on wheels. I realized that everything starts with a small idea.

Jasmine

맞짱 Musical Chair

2009-04-03T13:26:00.003+09:00

A video containing an actual fight, otherwise known as ‘majjang’ video, of two high school boys was found in the Internet. Although there were violent scenes that consisted of throwing chairs, this didn’t stop their classmates from filming the video. According to the posting, the fight was between a guy known as ‘new kid killer’ and the new kid. Some netizens criticized viewers that enjoyed this video like it was some kind of K-1 match and the other classmates watched the scene unfold before them like nothing was happening. Several parents were appalled by the students’ cool behavior throughout the fight.

I, personally, am not at all surprised by this video. It was long ago when people started to act like animals. We have treated the disabled like they weren’t even humans in the past; it’s no wonder now that we start trying to kill one another. No wonder why we call it this the animal kingdom.

E

Going Once, Twice... SOLD!

2009-04-02T23:27:00.001+09:00

Recently in New York, Mahatma Gandhi’s artifacts (his glasses, sandals, watch), have been auctioned off by their owner, American collector and peace activist James Otis. This act of selling off Gandhi’s possessions was strongly objected by the Indian government, but nonetheless, the government lacked the power to stop the auction. Therefore, instead of making futile attempts to prevent the auction, the Indian government aided Indian businessman to retain Gandhi’s possessions.

Another widely known controversy is the bidding of the rabbit head and a companion piece depicting a rat taken from a Beijing palace in the 19th century. The owner of these artifacts, despite China’s protest, sold the bronze rabbit and the rat in an auction.

Some people justify the act of selling another country’s cultural artworks in auctions, but this act should not be considered justifiable. In fact, nobody owns the world’s cultural artifacts; these artifacts are the greatest possessions we can retain from our ancestors, of giving us a chance to look into the pages of past history and to reflect upon on our past deeds. Thus, it is unacceptable to even think about selling them to individual millionaires. Paintings of Napoleon riding his black stallion, statues of the Greek gods and goddesses that depict beauty; these and numerous other masterpieces or artifacts are admired worldwide, and we should give them back to the countries where they originated from.

Even Korea needs to retain some ancient books that were acquired (or pilfered) by the French army during the Chosun Dynasty when Westerners came to explore the countries in Asia. Unfortunately, the Korean government was able to retain only one book out of 297 books that were stolen by the French soldiers. Each country has its culture and the cultural artifacts that are valuable for the citizens to look in order to better understand their ancestors and what they did in the past. The museums and individuals around the world who collect other countries’ artifacts should return them to their rightful owners: the people of those artifacts’ origin.

Esther

The "Drama" Teacher

2009-03-30T14:47:00.001+09:00

On March 25th, a miracle happened. A teacher from England who was on a field trip saved his student by climbing a 300ft cliff without wearing any safety equipment. The teacher was on an island trip, and the telephone network wasn’t connected. Suddenly, he climbed up 91 meters and succeed in saving his student.

When I first saw the news, I couldn’t believe the story. A teacher risking his life to save a student!! It takes a lot of courage to do that. It’s hard to give up your life for your job and the person you love. Although some might think that it is not wise or too risky, I think that the teacher has got an unbelievable amount of trust for himself and love for his students. That is what a real teacher is. Even if the job of teaching and improving students’ level is important, the most important character for a teacher is loving and taking care of their students. That is what counts, not how much you earn, not how much you achieve. Living for the job and giving all that you got for it.

Andy

WBC: What it is + Why we should change it

2009-03-30T14:08:00.002+09:00

What it is:
The biggest baseball tournament held by the IBAF and MLB is being played March 5th through March 23rd. It is a tournament that 16 teams play including Korea, Japan, USA and etc. It’s an elimination tournament that allows a single chance for losers. The world’s best baseball players play on the contest. It’s been of huge interest in Korea, recently.

The influence of the World Baseball Classic is positive for many reasons. First, it will spread baseball to the countries that do not play baseball. For the baseball world, it’s important to make the sport famous because it’s not a well known sport except in some countries. Also, the WBC will give people some kind of enjoyment and fun. By watching their country’s games, people will have a sense of thrill. Last, it is going to bring economical profits for companies and broadcasting studios. As a result, the money will circulate, and the economy should move.

Andy

Why we should change it:
The most intriguing event in this tournament is constant battle between Korea and Japan. The two countries had met 4 times in the tournament. However, this constant engagement between the two countries increases the bitterness and anger of the players and the viewers.
‘Why don’t we just have some special Korea versus Japan rounds every year until the one of the nations surrenders?’ writes one angered netizen from Korea. Many other people think the same thing. How come Korea and Japan play so many games against each other? Well, the blame should squarely be placed on the WBC tournament rules.

The WBC uses double elimination rather than sudden death. For example, soccer uses sudden death which drops the teams from the tournament if they lose. On the other hand, WBC requires more games to determine the losers. According to double elimination, the four teams each play with the others to determine the two winners and two losers. Then the winners advance to the next round and the losers in the loser round is eliminated from the tournament. Then, the winner from the loser round and the loser from the winner round compete again and the winner from this game competes with the winner from the winner round for the first and second play off.

The rule was designed by Japan and USA. Is it possible that it is for their benefit to make this rule? Both USA and Japan had reached the semi-finals. According to their rule, they can lose one game but if they win one game, they can go to the finals. WBC is one of the most respected baseball tournaments in the world. However, could it be still respected even though the rules are so faulty and unfair?

Jay

Law-Abiding Society

2009-03-30T14:02:00.002+09:00

People often say that the Korean law enforcement is too weak for its citizens. I believe this is the ultimate reason why there are so many Koreans who act against the law; because the consequences are not severe enough. Laws in other countries are strictly enforced, such as the US law, unlike Korea.

If we compare the two different law enforcements of Korea and US, it is obvious that the enforcement of Korea’s law is more lenient than that of the enforcement of US law. There are many people who do not abide by the law, such as people who drive their cars through red lights while also using their cell phones. Unfortunately, this disregard for the law is very rampant in our society because the police and the government do not attempt to enforce the laws. In the States, people will be fined as much as $400 if they go over the speed limit or run red lights. In contrast, Koreans only pay about $50-60 of fines if they disobey the traffic laws. This is why some Koreans are slowly stopping to follow the law instead breaking laws. This is having a profound impact on our society. If we do not obey the law, we will be responsible for a society without necessary rules that one needs to keep.

In order to enforce the law and make the citizens follow the law, the police force needs to be strengthened. Unlike the United States where the police participate well in distributing fines, the Korean police do not work that hard to find out other minor, trivial matters such as jaywalking. If we try to pay attention to small things at first, then the larger crimes will be magnified. Our attention will have a huge, and a positive impact on our society. Our society will be able to become a law-abiding society, where every citizen obeys the law that is made to benefit everybody in our society.

Esther

Mother Orangutan Saves Its Baby from the Lake

2009-03-30T13:44:00.002+09:00

Orangutans are known for their fear of water. However, there seems to be an exception when a baby is in trouble. The water of the lakes in Malaysia have risen, and a mother orangutan and its baby couldn’t do anything but to stick to a tree like a koala bear for 7 days. Volunteers couldn’t easily get near them because of the rising water. After a long time of thinking, they threw a rope in the direction of the tree. Then something nobody expected happened. Without any hesitation, the mother put the baby around her neck and jumped into the water. The mother, worried about her baby made sure it was safe by securing the baby with one hand and swam for survival. After a few minutes, the orangutans were able to stand on land.

Seeing this article, I thought to myself, ‘Have mankind finally reached the level of being no more than a monkey?’ I mean, while some animals risk their own lives for their children, some people actually try to kill their own children and then commit suicide?! I guess ‘dog eat dog world’ is slowly evolving into ‘mom eat child’ kind of world.

source: 물 건너 온 뉴스 나우뉴스!
E

Jailbreak ipod

2009-03-30T13:32:00.003+09:00

These days, many people use Apple’s ipod and iphones in America. Even though many Koreans hesitate to use Apple products, I love them. Repeat: I LOVE THEM. In addition there has been a major change to 'ipod touch 2G': Jailbreak. his can be seen as the start of the revolution of the ipod industry. A jailbreak is the process which can lead to the downloading of many applications illegally. The jailbreak process itself is completely LEGAL, while the process of putting many paid applications for free are illegal.

Apple themselves claim that the program is harming the company's work. Although are many negative effects for Apple, there are some good effects for us, the consumers. Apple has made the app store into such nonsense. What man would ever buy a product which they can get for free by going to the “dark side”? However, the jailbreak process has brought benefits to Apple, too. Many programmers made "Themes, color, games, applications' that are for the ipod. Apple doesn’t have to develop such things. I guess that the jailbreak process isn't bad for either sides: "Apple" and "customers".

David Lee

Flags of our Father

2009-03-30T13:24:00.003+09:00

In MLB’s(Major league that runs WBC) homepage, there was a Korean flag that was drawn the wrong way. On MLB’s internet shopping mall, they are selling World Baseball Classic (WBC) souvenirs related to the countries that participated in the WBC. There are 7 kinds of souvenirs that the WBC is selling. However, when you see see the hats, you can see a strange Korean flag. Also, there is an inaccurately drawn flag on the Korean T-shirt. Korean WBC fans are now very upset. They are saying things like “I hope there will be a quick correction made.” and “They are being very rude for incorrectly drawing the national flag of a country.” Because of WBC’s careless preparation, Korean baseball fans are indignant.

I felt a deep hatred like a dark iceberg rise inside my heart. I was quite mad over the WBC’s rude and careless acts. I felt like the WBC was still neglecting Korea’s baseball skills. Although it is WBC who’s to blame, we need to learn certain things from this. When I was young, I always tried hard to memorize the flag because it made me feel very strange for scolding others when I even didn’t know my country’s national flag. However, many people don’t know how to draw Korea’s flag when we ask them to draw one. Even though I was mad at WBC’s careless acts, I was kind of ashamed by the fact that not everyone in Korea knows our national flag. I felt as if we should change ourselves first. This unfamiliar flag gave me a very awkward feeling. I felt like I was looking at a door without a knob and a telephone without the dial pad. The heart of a thing seemed to be lacking. The WBC making this kind of major careless act should be a valuable lesson to Koreans.

Jasmine

Kidney Anyone?

2009-03-24T17:50:00.003+09:00

Some people say that compensation should be provided to those who donate their kidneys, which means that the government should legalize the sales of kidneys. I agree that it has some advantages that will benefit the donors, but let's think about this idea from a different perspective. If compensation is provided, there will be some negative effects for our society. What if the poverty-stricken people try to sell their kidneys just for the purpose of earning money?

Imagine a family that lives in a dilapidated house with a lack of food supplies and the only way to earn money is to donate one of the family members’ body parts. What if he/she is in bad health? Nonetheless, the only option he/she will have will be to sell the kidneys even when his/ her health is deteriorating. I believe that if the government allows the sales of kidneys, people who are extremely poor will not try to work harder, but will just try to take out their organs to sell and obtain a huge amount of money. Thus, the number of people worldwide with health problems will increase until it will becomes very serious for us to handle.

In my opinion, if the government tries to legalize kidney sales, there will be many people who will be willing to donate their parts of the body just for the economic benefits.

Esther

Sunshine Policy Revisited

2009-03-24T17:40:00.003+09:00

True, North Korea is a military dictator state, but that doesn't mean that we have to be so closed to each other. Are we going to sacrifice the health of the North Korean population (Rice sent to North Korea has declined to 0 tons) for the sake of so-called 'morality'? Our current administration is doing to North Korea what the U.S is doing to Cuba. I think that our government should be more friendly to North Korea and reduce pressure and send them surplus food.

Peter

KAL 858

2009-03-24T17:18:00.001+09:00

In 1987, a Korean Air Lines (KAL) 858 was bombed by Kim Hyun Hee who was a North Korean spy. This horrifying terrorist act took 115 lives. For her part in this awful act, she should be sentenced to death. However, Kim Hyun Hee still lives very well. In fact, she came back to Korea on the 11th of March and even held a press conference. The reason for Kim Hyun Hee’s special pardon is that she never had a choice. The court said that Kim was being used by North Korean Government as a spy. If she disobeyed the orders, she would likely have been killed. However, this seems to me like an excuse.

She was forgiven after only sixteen days when the suit was filed in the Supreme Court. How come they decide so quickly? Back then, Korea was a bloody country where tens of criminals were sent to the gallows. Just because she was used by the North Korean government doesn’t mean she should have been pardoned. I think the major reason for her pardon is that she was beautiful. The Korean government couldn’t believe at first that this astonishingly pretty woman would commit such a crime. Here is the prejudice in beauty. If Kim Hyun Hee was just normal looking women or even ugly, there would have been more of a likelihood of capital punishment.

Let’s say that everything is forgiven. Let’s just believe that she had no other choice and she suffered from committing the despicable crime. Then shouldn’t her first priority be to regret her act and apologize to the bereaved families? However, her excuse for coming to Korea is to meet Daguchi Yacho’s family who taught her Japanese. She never had visual contact with any of the victim’s family in 20 years. She finally had the chance on the eleventh when there was a press conference but she didn’t admit her guilt. One journalist asked that when she was planning to meet with the bereaved families.

Kim said “What the families should understand is that the KAL bombing was completely on North Korean Government’s orders. I’m not planning on any interviews unless the families admit that.”

She should be begging and asking for forgiveness to the bereaved families, but she is giving them a condition for any future meetings with them. The thief turns on the master with a club is the proper proverb for this situation. I personally think if she had any morals, she will be right now visiting everyone who lost their families because of her actions in 1987.

Jay

To the Crazy Ones

2009-03-23T17:04:00.002+09:00

Vote Pizza

2009-03-19T15:55:00.001+09:00

Most schools are ready to vote for a school president. My school is going to vote next Monday. Some people say that you need money to become a school president, and that is because some parents send their kids to academies that teach how to speak in front of the whole school and sometimes even writes speeches for the kids (for even more money). I didn’t know that such things existed, but I found out there was a lot of them. Also, most students don’t make the posters and signs by themselves with paper; it also needs parents’ money. In my school, students running for school president will need to take good pictures and even fix it using a computer since my friends are planning on voting for the candidate who is more handsome, and we carefully look at their real face when they make speeches. I’m not saying that you should do the same if you’re a student…^^

I think this is a big problem because it will make the gap between kids from poor families and rich families bigger. I think it’s unfair, though I can’t help voting for a candidate who has a good speech, nice posters, and other things. I even heard that someone became a class president by saying that he will buy pizza (maybe it was something else, but it was some kind of food) for the class. Also, I think that almost every candidate would be no different from others if they go to an academy, because they will all have similar speeches, which can hide their individual character.

Some parents should get rid of the thought that money will help their child unconditionally. Money isn’t the most important thing; the most important thing is who the person is. I hope people (including me) will vote fairly though it is hard to ignore the fancy things that we see.

Lauren

2009-03-19T13:39:00.006+09:00

NYC Visitor's Center

Staircase in Switzerland

Napkin Holder (for those who are inspired to take notes at any moment)

Staircase in Armani Shop @ NYC

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RHM's "Nobody"

2009-03-18T22:23:00.004+09:00

There is some controversy concerning a Cambodia’s singer group singing Korea’s Wondergirls’s song, “Nobody” which is illegal. The group named RHM translated the song to the Khmer language and copied the Wondergirls’s dress and dance. They copied the Wondergirls’s “Tell Me” dance as well as the bullet dance. RHM’s video can somewhat be considered a global issue as the video on youtube was seen by more than 500,000 people. Although this helps the popularity of the Wondergirls, it was still highly illegal because RHM didn’t make a contract with the Wondergirls’s entertainment company, JYP. In this video, Jeong-Hwa Eom’s “Festival” is also included. Korea’s singers are becoming more famous in Southeast Asian countries and many singers there are copying the ‘real’ singers. People are saying things like “This is ridiculous.” and “This is a problem that needs to be confronted in a lawful manner.” The Wondergirls’s entertainment company,JYP, said that they will establish a firm plan to protect their interests and brand.

A familiar melody was repeated in RHM’s music video. However, the language was unfamiliar. It seemed very strange to see unfamiliar people singing “Nobody”. I was quite surprised by the Cambodian version. The translated song was very strange and extremely boorish. When I saw the video, I felt weird and strange like drinking water in a cup that had some milk leftover, or like eating peach with ketchup and mayonnaise. It felt very awkward like seeing a lion dressed in a 44 sized tight dress and dancing. I wondered how the singers in this video lied to everyone in the world and were happy enough to smile. I felt weird and felt bad for the ‘real’ Wondergirls. Although it can be seen in a good way that the Wondergirls gain more recognition, it is still too fake. I hope this kind of illegal activity stops.

Jasmine

100 Million Nintendo DS

2009-03-18T16:23:00.004+09:00

On March 11th, 2009, it was found that the 100 millionth Nintendo DS was sold worldwide. Nintendo DS is a portable game machine that provides wireless games on touch screens. 100 million of these have been sold in just 4 years and 3 months. It is a new record for being the product that reached this amount of sales in such a short amount of time. When this product was first released, it drew a lot of attention because of its new features. 100 million means that one out of sixty people on the planet own this item. That's quite a surprising number because it is not a TV nor a PC, and it's not also an 'electronic necessity'.

One might argue that too many game devices being sold is a bad thing. However, in my opinion, it brings positive effects to human beings and their culture and technology. First, as people play this game, they become happier, while getting rid of their stress.

Also, by selling these products, the companies will prosper. As a result, they will be able to produce more technological devices later on. The technology companies are very important these days because technology leads us into the future which won’t be done only by humans. But the most important reason is that this Nintendo DS brought humans creativity and imagination. Before, people couldn’t think of touch-screens or touch pads. This doesn’t only mean gaming products, it includes all of the new innovative ideas. Because of these reasons, the Nintendo DS provides positive effects for humans.

Andy

FAT Barbie

2009-03-18T16:18:00.001+09:00

March 9, 2009, was Barbie’s 50th birthday. And for many years a lot of women wanted a body shaped like the Barbie dolls. On March 9, 1959, a toy company named Mattel rolled out Barbie, who went out to become an icon.

But there were a lot of critics of Mattel. People criticized that Barbie is a negative influence on kids. The dominant message being that skinny is a way to be beautiful.

In England, the BBC made conducted research on Barbie. They made a human that is similar to Barbie. But according to their research, if a human looks like the Barbie characters they have a huge head even if they are skinny. To be honest, they look weird.

Not in Korea, but in other countries Barbie characters are extremely popular as well as being extremely expensive. I think that Barbie’s are indeed a negative influence on kids. These days a lot of girls want to be skinny, in fact, too skinny. So I suggest that Mattel make Fat Barbie dolls.

Hamish

Pets Dumped

2009-03-18T16:03:00.003+09:00

The economic slump is driving more and more people to ditch their pets. In redevelopment areas in Seoul, dogs are left with a bag of dog food at demolished houses.

Seoul City estimates that the number of abandoned pets reached 15,667 last year, comprising of 11,239 dogs, 4,161 cats and 227 other pets. The number of stray animals had been decreasing since 2006, but the trend reversed last year. In January, Seoul had 900 pets in its animal shelters, up 10 percent from 822 last January.

“The biggest reason might be the current financial crisis,'' Han Min-soup of the Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE) said. ``Our rescue work is mainly concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, but we've received more calls from other regions recently.''

According to a pet shop in Toegye-ro, central Seoul, it costs at least 100,000 won on average to raise a pet for a month, including food, vaccinations, and grooming. If the pet gets sick, the expenses soar immediately.

It’s the selfish and unethical act of the owners are abandoning their pets. Buying a pet makes the purchaser responsible for his or her pet. Just because of the economic crisis, the person shouldn’t throw their once closest companion down the street. Think about if your parents said that, “you eat too much and it makes us bothersome, get out of this house!” Do you think your parent’s command is justifiable?

There could be another way to get through the economic crisis. If the owner really thinks they couldn’t care for their pet, donate it into animal shop or animal shelter. Why think about dumping when you can think about giving? Even though the economy is bad, there are still plenty of animal lovers who will be happy to get a new pet.

I never had any pets like dogs or cats in my life. I believe I don’t think I would be responsible enough. However, I always liked looking and playing with them when I had the chance. If you cannot be responsible for pets, just look and pet them rather than keep them.

Jay

Lottery Winner/Loser

2009-03-18T15:55:00.004+09:00

In Korea, a person won the lottery by buying only five lottery tickets. He got 4,413,350,000 WKRW for getting 1st prize. At first, I thought he was very lucky. I wished that I could win the lottery, too. However, after thinking about it, I thought that this person would eventually run out of money and be poor. I saw many people who won the lottery and go bankrupt few years after. There are some examples in this article: WINNERS WHO LOST IT ALL.

It shows how people who won a lot of money eventually become poor. I believe that people shouldn't depend the lottery or luck in their lives. You might win, but in the long run, you probably won't know how to handle yourself.

Alvin

Raised by Dogs

2009-03-18T15:38:00.001+09:00

In Russia, a 3-year old girl was raised by dogs in her home after her alcoholic mother neglected her. Her mother, Anna, drank and disappeared from home often. While Anna ate at the table, her daughter, Madina ate on the floor with dogs. When Anna got angry, Madina used to run away from her. However, other children recognized her weird behavior and nobody played with her. When people from social welfare found her, she was crawling with her dogs and licking bones with them. Madina can just say the words, yes, and no and when people come closer, she growls like a dog. They say that child is like an angel, but she received no love and care from other people. Luckily, she is mentally and physically healthy.

I was surprised to read about the young girl and her mother who never cared about her daughter. Madina is still young and weak, so she needs sufficient love and care from her parents. And her mother should care for her and help her to be part of society. I can't imagine how the girl felt while living with her dogs, hungry, and cold. I am curious about what will happen to Madina. She will have to learn how to speak properly, write, communicate, and cooperate with other people. Maybe a new world with love and learning will be weird and strange to her. She basically lived with dogs and adapted to their way of life. I wish that she will be happy and bright after all that she has endured.

Susie

School Bus Terror

2009-03-18T15:25:00.003+09:00

A 16 year old boy from Michigan, USA, was caught. The police suspect that he assaulted the bus driver because she rebuked the students who were walking around the bus. The boy apparently became indignant. The bus driver's finger bone broke and she also got some bruises on her face. This boy, who didn't stop though his friends urged him not to, finally went to the juvenile reformatory.

My fantasy toward the school bus cracked. Because I always walk to school and there aren't any school buses in Korea, I always wanted to ride that bus like most American students. I thought it would be such a great thing, but this phenomenon made me trash that thought. I don't want to ride buses like that and most of the people would probably agree with me. The boy is 16, only 16!! How could he dare hit the driver who is 21 years older? This made me realize me that the world is a scary place to live. I know he is an adolescent and when people become adolescents they cannot restrain themselves easily. I can understand him a bit because I am a teenager, too.

I condemn his actions but, I kind of feel sorry for him and mad about the people. Most people will say he should be punished, and of course I think like that too, but going to juvenile reformatory is too harsh. What do you think his life will turn out? Most people will shun him because they will think it will be dangerous to be near him. Also, it will be hard for him to be employed because what company will employ him? In this recession people who have good careers are waiting to be employed, so if you are the head of the company would you even look at his application where the candidate’s been in reformatory? Probably not. Also, as we could see from the book people live more conscientiously when people around them accuse them. Of course living near him will be a scary thing but I hope that the people give him one more chance.

original source: YTN News
Kelly

Capital Punishment

2009-03-11T23:15:00.004+09:00

During the Chosun Dynasty, the laws were very strict and straightforward; the murderer was to be executed and any person who was associated with the homicide would be hanged. Worse, a person who commits murders continuously would have his limbs ripped and the victims’ families would retain all of his possessions. It is very difficult to think of this but this was reality during ancient civilization.

As we enter the 21st century, laws are more considerately made and their predominant purpose is to make a peaceful society for its citizens. Therefore, lawmakers try to respect the dignity of each and every individual while making new laws. For the last 12 years, Korea has not exercised any kind of capital punishment even to murderers just because the court thought it ought to give another chance to the people who committed murders.

Why, though? We should try to take a moment to consider the victims and their families’ point of view. They are probably in great agony and lamentation so deep that many of us have ever felt. A victim’s family would be desperate enough to avenge for one of their family members who had been killed by the murderer. Imagine a person living a stable life, frequently contacting relatives and forming a family, and he gets killed simultaneously, causing his happiness to suddenly turn to mere ashes.

It is said that from 1994 to 1997, an average of 609 people died annually by getting murdered. And from 1998 to 2007, the number of victims increased to over 800 homicide-related deaths. This indicates that not maintaining capital punishment is already having a profound and negative impact on our society. If we try to maintain capital punishment in Korea, the number of victims will dwindle and there will be less people who will need to bear the pain of losing a family member or a friend.

Esther

*Tax Not Included

2009-03-11T22:50:00.004+09:00

If you’re in Korea, did you see the excited Japanese women shopping in Myungdong, and other places where there are many types of clothes? Like the sellers who sell things such as clothes and bags, G-market is also benefitting from the drop of the value of the Korean Won. There are many foreign shoppers looking for bargains in Korea (which is very easy these days for them). About 30% of orders are made by non-Korean speaking people.

Non-Korean speaking shoppers are complaining that there is not enough information in English. For example, not all of the information is written in English. Also, the e-mail updates are only in Korean. They sometimes get surprised by a large amount of money that they had to pay but didn’t know about, such as tax and delivery.
Non-Korean speaking shoppers said that they cannot shop without someone translating for them. They had to pay unexpected amounts of money when they bought things themselves because all of the e-mails about the cost of the product and the additional amount are only in Korean. Unfortunately, it will be hard for G-market to make sellers provide detailed information in English.

I think this is a little funny because people buy a product online, when they are not able to read the important information such as tax, but then get surprised by the amount of the tax. But I understand how confused the foreigners get when they shop at G-market, since it doesn’t even have a lot of information about products in Korean. Still, they must be very happy about the extremely low prices. I wonder what it would feel like if I were one of the shopping Japanese women.

Lauren

Flower Scandal

2009-03-11T22:34:00.003+09:00

There is a scandal between the two main characters of the popular drama, Boys Over Flowers, Minho Lee and Hae Seon Ku. In the sixth day, the metro reported that they both were in love. Also, people around them said that they both were real characters of a real life love story. In one of the TV shows that Hae Seon Ku came out on, she said that she was very absorbed as she acted while coyly mentioning that Minho Lee was very attractive. This relationship seemed to become genuine due to Minho Lee’s rescue of Hae Seon Ku when she was in trouble. However, both deny the claims.

Many people were ready to erupt like volcanoes upon hearing the news. They might be mad because this drama is very popular. Although I’m not one of the ‘volcano erupting’ people, I was drawn to this story because this news is all over the Internet like an ink spreading through water. Also, I’m one of the fans of the drama. This news was also hilarious to me because I thought that most people wouldn’t believe their claim that the scandal is not true. “We’re only in a brother and sister relationship. The scandal isn’t true.” This is the most commonly used reason/excuse by performers. Minho Lee and Hae Seon Ku’s claim was a lot similar to that. It will be more likely for people to doubt their relationship. Also people will not believe their claims because of their own fantasies. People who watch that drama usually want the story to become true. They want the fairy tale like drama to be real. Because of this hope, they try not to believe the claims that Minho Lee and Hae Seon Ku make.

Jasmine

South Park

2009-03-11T22:23:00.002+09:00

Part 1

Part 2

Jay

Bionic Beetles

2009-03-11T22:18:00.006+09:00

Recently, a research team from the University of California, Berkeley succeeded in controlling insects using the HI-MEMS- Hybrid Insect Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. They flew a beetle with a remote control exactly like flying a model plane. The team invented a computer chip which sends electrical shocks to the insect. They attached a microchip, an all wave receiver, a battery and an electrode on the back of the beetle. Then, the beetle’s brain accepted the signals from it and with a remote control, they could control a part of its brain which handles the sense of vision. What this means is that if a computer sends a signal to the microchip’s receiver, then it interprets the signal and sends an electric shock so that the insect moves to the intended direction.

Some people often say that this isn’t right to devastate nature and rule over it. They think that it’s inhumane to control the insects with electric shocks. However, I think that we should let go of this kind of stereotype. In my opinion, if human-beings want to develop, they have to sacrifice some traditional beliefs.

Won

Education Boom

2009-03-09T23:25:00.012+09:00

Mr. Lee, who earns about 5,800,000 won a month spends 1,300,000 won for her daughter, and spends about one-fifth of a million won for her son. He spends a total of about 2 million won, which takes up nearly 34% of his family income.

Koreans have spent a total of 20.9 billion USD for private education in 2008 alone. Why do Koreans spend so much of money on private education? It is mostly for early age learning, fulfilling the parents’ anxiety, and for going to a good college. Korean parents are very anxious about their children's level of education. As a result, they are never satisfied with results. Students study for so many hours to get into a good academy, often studying till the wee hours of the morning. Some academies even have dormitories, and education consumes students' lives. Most students can't play because of their heavy workloads given by academies, not schools. And many students are getting stressed, not to mention the parents.

How can we solve this problem? There is no simple nor one way to solve the problem, but there might be some routes to get there. Basically, the public education and the private education have to be balanced. Neither should take 100%. It is also the fault of the government that didn’t keep up with the high Korean education standards that we are all accustomed to. Also, private education cannot be unconditionally criticized because it gives a lot of help for students in many ways. The way it should be is, the public schools must cover all of the necessary education steps that reaches a high educational standard. And then, the private academies should support the schools education by giving further education and helping out with the hard stuff. Additionally, the government must ensure parents to not worry about education. To make the parents believe, the schools should change gradually. I don’t think that the students should be educated like those in Finland, Denmark, or Switzerland because they get too much of freedom and dont have the desire and the thought to be the best.

Our education must be balanced, meaningful, and efficient. Its the job of everyone, the government, parents, and the students. And, the result of education must be all about: learning, experiencing, and enjoying.

Andy

Black and Blue

2009-03-07T21:56:00.006+09:00

A teacher of an Incheon elementary school who was criticized by Internet users for excessive corporal punishment is back. Last year, this teacher slashed the hip of a 9 year old boy 27 times, just because he didn’t finish his homework. This student’s aunt put a photo of his black and blue hip, and this was the start.

The teacher is a woman who is around 20 years old, had also slashed another boy in the same class. The first “victim” got 100 slashed 100 times. Soon, the school tried to fire her but the teacher said that it was unfair, and she wanted to take it to court. The judge said that the teacher could come back to the Incheon based school after one month. Now internet users are trying to stop that by a signature-seeking campaign on the Internet. Also, from one new source, it was revealed that the controversial teacher sent the message with curses to the student’s parents. She wrote, “Stop doing crazy things and take care of your silly husband, if you want to live!”. This message was sent from a different cell phone number, so after investigating, they found out that it was in fact, the teacher who had sent the threatening message.

These days Korea’s education is breaking down. Students are easily thinking that being a teacher is really easy. They sometimes look mad. They always tell us, the students, that physical force solve nothing, but they seem to forget their own words! This makes students upset. I think most of the teachers are disconnected the modern day student. Students don’t want to see someone thinking that they’re babies. Teachers sometimes say “…Oh, forget about it. You guys are too young to understand it,” to students. They don’t realize that students stare at them when they say these kind of things. They have lots of misconceptions of the modern day student. That’s why there is so much misunderstanding and situations like the one in Incheon.

Ashley

iPhone for Everybody...Japan

2009-03-07T21:25:00.003+09:00

The world’s most popular smart phone by Apple called the iPhone is free in Japan. This is through Japan's movement communication service, which is Soft Bank Mobile's campaign 'iPhone for Everybody!'. In this campaign people can buy the 8GB version for free and the 16GB for 18 thousand KRW.
They identified that the function of the iPhone which is sending short movies, downloading music, etc. aren't better than Japan's existing mobile technology.

My teacher, Eugene, showed me the iPhone's commercial and it made me think that I want to have one. In the commercial the phone seemed really cool. We could find restaurants, which are near me, easily, watch movies, and etc. The functions were fantastic too. I really wanted to throw away my phone and buy it if I could. But it’s not available in Korea due to some government regulations on the standards of Korean phones.
I can't believe what Japan's saying. It's hard to believe that the iPhone is free. In Korea, we kind of always thought and raised to believe that products and technology overall, were better in America. Hmmm… I wonder.

Kelly

3/3 = PORK DAY

2009-03-07T21:14:00.003+09:00

Many people don’t know what day March 3rd is in Korea. Well, 축협(Domestic animal cooperation) has decided to make March 3rd, Pork Day(삼겹살). In Korean, pork is called Sam-Geoupsal, and number 3 is pronounced as ‘sam.’ Because 3/3 has two double threes they decided March 3 as the Sam-Geoupsal Day. 축협(Domestic animal cooperation) explains that they wanted to increase the amount of pork getting sold. They also worked on telling that pork makes a more flexible skin and it helps the skin age more slowly. (aside: I’m not making this up)

On Pork Day many stores are selling pork at half price. E-Mart, a supermarket chain, is putting it on sale until March 4th. And Home-Plus and Lotte Mart are selling them 950 won (300g).

Americans and other foreigners won’t able to taste sam-geoupsal. It’s like the top 5 foods that Koreans love to eat. To describe it, the top part is the fat and as it goes down there is a red part which is the meat. I’m also happy that Sam-Geoupsal day was created because people can enjoy it for half price. I hope that Sam-Geoupsal becomes famous and I would like to eat in front of the Statue of Liberty.

Hamish

34 Movies In A Row

2009-03-01T20:20:00.004+09:00

On Feb. 24th, from 12:00pm to Feb. 27th, two people watched 34 movies without sleeping. CJ CGV opened this contest in Seoung-Dong gu, Seoul. In the photo above the person on the right (Lee Sang Hoon, 26) and the person the left (Lee Su Min, 28) won the contest. They watched 34 movies in 4 days.

239 people participated in the contest. The rules were very strict. People who closed their eyes for over 5 seconds were disqualified. After one movie was over they were given 10~15 minutes to go to the bathroom. Some people even slept in the bathroom so they couldn’t enter the movie theater which also meant they were disqualified. The two winners watched for 68 hours and they had to stop because the doctor said they should stop or else they might damage their bodies, too much. They each received 2.5 million won.

I think they are extremely powerful and have good stamina. I feel sad for those who slept in the bathroom and couldn’t go back into the theater. Every single one who joined the contest is brave and wonderful, because they tried something new. Maybe I should also try something new and challenging.

Hamish

Break Free Sauce

2009-03-01T20:04:00.003+09:00

Design needs to break the fixed ideas in people's minds. This is why I believe that designers are worthy to be called 'inventors'. I got interested in these kind of 'stereotype breaking' clothes. Even though these clothes that designers make seem to be very odd, it is somehow fashionable. Most people think that we only hold bags with our hands but in this fashion show one of the models wore a bag on her head. Also most clothes can be divided into two. Ones that cover the person's back or ones that don't. But one of the clothes that the model wore had strings covering her back. This is somehow covering and showing the model's back. These kind of clothes seemed to be very weird and odd. However, I believe that the world is a more fun place to live because of these kind of 'stereotype breaking' clothes. A world without fashion is like spaghetti with no sauce, a pen with no lid, and living in that kind of place will be like sleeping without a pillow. This world that we live in sometimes needs shocking and interesting ideas. And that's possible in fashion.

Jasmine

Blogger or Employee?

2009-03-01T19:50:00.003+09:00

In society today, people that use the blog to express their feelings and share their opinions are called 'bloggers'. By looking at the texts written on the blogs one can understand how that blogger feels about certain issues. I was also a blogger, but I quit because it wsa very hard to take care of. However, the purpose of blogging is becoming very strange.
Big companies hire bloggers as employers to write about their companies in a positive way. I'm not quite sure if this should be the purpose of blogging. It's very deceptive, in a sense. I wish that big companies not commit certain acts like these. Instead, they should take the negative responses of consumers and try to solve the real issue at hand. Covering something up doesn't help anyone in the long run. Go ask George Bush.

David

Freedom of Speech

2009-03-01T01:09:00.005+09:00

To be honest, I'm not sure if this is a farce or not but I think something is going on. If you guys have any information, please let us know.

MBC, one of the four major national TV and radio networks, seems to be the torchbearer of freedom of speech in Korea at the moment as they claim that the National Assembly is pushing a bill through that would limit the Freedom of Speech in this country.

There has also been reports that Naver, the "Google of Korea", is deleting this clip from their search results.

The New Unit

2009-02-27T21:48:00.003+09:00

The Bank of Korea has shown the new 50,000 won bill on the 26th. It will contain a picture of a symbolic Korean historic figure, Shin-Sa-Im-Dang, and will show her drawing of plants, and a wall painting from the Ko-Gu-Ryeo times. It is currently being fixed and checked, and will be printed from the 6th day of the upcoming month. The purpose of making the new unit of money is to make people’s spending easier by letting them pay only a single 50,000 won instead of paying five of the 10,000 won bills. It has been a long time since the nation has added a new note to the currency, and many people are excited and curious about the new money.

However, I think this new 50,000 won bill can bring a very negative consequence for the Korean economy which is already in an unstable condition. If the 50,000 won bill is out, people will start using many of those, especially adults. Since they have a bigger amount in a single paper, people can spend more money because it is easier to pay 50,000 won and they can potentially forget the value of money. If people spend too much, it can damage the country significantly, and this is a world when the possession of money is critical. Also, it can bring inconveniences to people because they might not have units like 500, or 1,000, and consequently be unable to buy cheap items, and their pocket will be always ringing because of the huge amount of change they get when they buy things with the 50,000 won.

Andy

Action Comics

2009-02-27T20:28:00.004+09:00

These Action Comics were discovered in the US, in 1935. This comic book is what a lot of collectors dream of getting, these days. The series of superman, batman, etc, which are well known in the movies, are well known and thus, very popular. In 1935, it was 10 cents, but now, it is about $2,222,226! I think this comic is not worth that much money, because now, you can always make things exactly the same as the original ones. As time goes on, this comic book’s price is going to get higher and higher while the book gets older and older, and at some point, it will disappear! I don’t think you have to pay $2,222,226 for nothing. But, I think in this fast developing world, it will be preserved forever. I wish at least I would get to touch the comic once in my life.

Today, there are economic problems all over the world. Who would want to spend that much money for piles of paper? Nobody would. I think the other countries would be laughing at these US collectors and asking, ‘Why would they be selling such a thing for so much money?’ Then that would be on the news, it would be known to every country. That would cause a lot of people around world to wonder and perhaps, even laugh at the collectors… Well, if I were the richest person in the world, of course I’d buy them! But the problem is that I’m not.

Joanne

ICE AGE

2009-02-26T19:44:00.007+09:00

“Wow!”
A Germany artist drew an ice cliff in the middle of the street and received a great deal of attention from all around the world. His name is Edgar Muller (40) and his team showed a different masterpiece (ICE AGE) in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland.

These kinds of streets arts should not be too large and it requires a special type of technique. Also, 3D art is a new form of art, it is hoodwinking and it shows the new part of the “Present," he said.

He also said that his team used the Da Vinci and Michelangelo’s perspective drawings and it took about 5 days to finish this masterpiece. I felt amazed and surprised when I saw this picture. It’s a new form of art which is very creative. But if every street is like the ICE AGE, people would definitely get confused between what is real and what is not. I wish that later on, I can make things that nobody else can imagine or think of, like Edgar Muller.

Hamish

Gee Gee Gee Gee Baby Baby

2009-02-26T19:22:00.002+09:00

GIRLS’ GENERATION IS STILL GOING STRONG

The pop singer group, composed of 9 girl members, has topped the music chart in the music portal Mnet for five straight weeks with its title song ’Gee.’ This is especially noteworthy, as Wonder Girls’ song ’Nobody’ holds the same record.

The team manager, Kim Seungchul, of the Service Organization Team of Mnet Media said, "It may be coincidental, but Girl Generation’s ’Gee’ holds same records with Wonder Girls’ ’Nobody’ of last year, as it topped the list two days after being released, and as it ranked first place for five consecutive
weeks.”

Not only that, on the Feb. 20th, Girls’ Generation won first place which makes it six weeks in a row winning the popular Music program; ‘Music Bank.’

Girl Generation released their album last month, and ’Gee’ has topped the list for five weeks, and on top of that it has been within the top five in terms of the number of times it was downloaded so far.

It is clear that Girl Generation is having their finest moment in their generation.

However, I don’t approve of Girls’ Generation’s method of success. Their songs are full of repeated words. Their newest and probably best song ‘Gee’ is full of repeated words. As you can see, the lyrics go like this; Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee Baby Baby.

Experts say repeating words makes it easier for to memorize the song. Also, it’s easy and repeating rhythm make people hum the tune without them realizing it.

Sadly, this is the music trend in Korea. For example, Nobody, Tell me, So hot, Amigo and other popular songs also have repeating words. Music should be about their feeling but its becoming just a way to earn money.

We cannot blame the singers, because singing is their job and earn money. Nevertheless, they should know that music is breathing for the soul and a part of art.

Jay

Boys Over Flowers Craze

2009-02-26T18:57:00.002+09:00

“How far can a TV drama go?”

The KBS mini-series, “Boys over Flowers”, is the main interest among the Koreans these days. It is a drama about a mid-low class high school girl who goes to the richest, and the most famous school in the nation. There she meets 4 boys called "The F4”, falling in love with one of them who name is Domyoji Tsukasa, or Gu Jun Pyo in Korea. Jun Pyo is the richest boy in the nation. The drama is frequently on the cover of internet newspapers since the beginning of 2009, and now has become a sensation.

The reason that this drama is so famous is because of its multi-colored, and well written storylines. Watched by viewers that range from 7 year old boys to 70 year old women, it’s a drama that draws interest from people in many different positions. That means the drama applies to the conditions of many people in the nation. Also, the storyline that makes peoples’ hearts beat like a burning soup even 1 day before the drama is on air, is a factor that makes it so popular. It’s impossible to stop the popularity that the drama is gaining, and this drama seems like it will never be forgotten.

This drama is not just a popular, or a famous drama. It is something that now even brings people together. It is something that Koreans were thirsty for. A drama that everyone can watch, that everyone can agree on, that is thrilling. I think it’s been a positive effect on society making people relaxed and happy. There needs to be something strong that can get people out of their tiredness and escape from their everyday lives. And, here it is, right on time when the country is struggling with the economy tanking, and many people are struggling. It’s been a beacon of hope for this country.

Andy

Becase of the Bark

2009-02-26T18:43:00.003+09:00

A mother of 2 children bought a dog from a animal hospital. But the day she bought the dog she called the hospital and told the nurse that she could not take care of it because it was so loud. So the nurse said "Bring in the dog". However, she did not come in for a while. Then, suddenly, the mother came and said that she could not take care of it and brought the dog to the hospital. But the nurse found out that the dog's mouth was swelled and asked her what had happened. She said that, "I tied her mouth with an elastic rubber band for 3 days because it barked so loudly."
At that time because the blood could not go through, the dog's mouth was rotting. So as the nurse said, "we should start the operation right away." she said, "it was okay until last night when it was taking the bath so why don't you just euthanize it." which made the people around her very surprised. After the operation, the nurse said that "the dog cried because of the pain though we gave it medication." And told the woman "please get a doll if you're going to treat a dog like this."
I was really amazed and couldn't believe my eyes that people can mistreat animals like that. It was ridiculous to see. I'm really curious what she can teach her children because she doesn't seem to know the equal importance of life. Some people say that we should let the police or the animal protection agency know about this and punish her. I’m not entirely sure that will prevent future happenings of this nature. But I am sure that I'm embarrassed that a human could do such a thing as what that woman did to that dog.

Kelly

Chocolate for only 2 million won

2009-02-26T18:32:00.003+09:00

C-news and Umbrain made a survey for 1,012 people about getting chocolates on Valentine’s Day. According to the results, 58.1% of people answered that giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day allowed them to have a better relationship and become closer. Only 7.2% of people said it was useless.

Also, 64.9% of people will buy chocolate for this year’s Valentines Day. Most of the people want to pay about 1.5million KRW ~2million KRW for chocolate.

Valentines Day is a very special day for most couples in the entire world. And because companies know that people will buy chocolate on Valentine’s Day, increase the price of the chocolate. So even if giving chocolates makes their partners feel better, too much chocolate or expensive chocolate can affect consumers, especially, couples. I wish companies lower the price of chocolate for Valentine;s Day so more people can enjoy it.

Hamish

One of these things is not like the others...

2009-02-24T20:11:00.003+09:00

Korea is a divided country. Many people are very depressed by that fact, and I am one of those people. When I was looking for news related to Korea, I saw this picture and became interested. This picture shows Korea at night. South Korea has many spots. However, North Korea is completely black. This looked like as if someone splashed some paint on paper with some parts covered. This shocked me because it shows a big gap between North Korea and South Korea. This dark North Korea shows that North Koreans are held tightly under the government’s fists. They make North Koreans deny the truth. I feel that it is time for us to put more effort on unification. We should first help the North Korean people open their minds by helping them, and that will also lessen the gap between South Korea and North Korea. We should try harder to understand each other’s differences. If we do perhaps the time will come when foreigners call all of us “Koreans.”

Jasmine

Rest In Peace

2009-02-24T19:54:00.001+09:00

Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou hwan died on Monday(2/16), at 86 after suffering from pneumonia. He was a religious leader respected by everyone.
Many Koreans gathered at his funeral, where they wept and prayed for him. There were about 800 people there, including Presidents Lee Myung Bak, Kim Dae Jung and Chun Doo Hwan. There were hundreds of people who didn’t get to go inside the building. Other people watched it on TV. The broadcast garnered a 19.2% rating. They stood outside despite the cold weather, and the snow that fell the previous night. He donated his eyes to two people. According to the Korean Organ Donor program, the number of people who volunteered to donate jumped more than 6 times after the Cardinal’s death. He also gave the entirety of his wealth to the poor.
The cardinal was also a person who could speak out even against political leaders for being unfair. The cardinal strongly supported democracy, and he fought against the authoritarian Korean government. He was loved for his fairness and kindness throughout Korea. In fact, some people were even close to fainting at the funeral, like he was a family to all of them. He was like a father for Koreans. 400,000 people visited his resting place over a 4-day period.
I didn’t know him very well before, but after he died I realized what a great person he was. He was almost a political leader for some Koreans in the past, and came to be a very famous spiritual leader. I think I didn’t really get to know him because our family’s not religious, but now I do. He was a very generous and humble person- he even said he wanted a simple funeral in his will. Even though he didn’t really influence my life, it’s sad that he died. But, I’m also quite glad that he didn’t die very painfully despite his disease.

Racist Abe?

2009-02-24T18:55:00.001+09:00

People around the globe are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. The world recognizes and respects Lincoln as an abolitionist who strongly opposed slavery and as the president that lead the country through great political turmoil. Abraham Lincoln is considered a hero in the United States for taking an early step towards abolishing racial discrimination. Numerous figures have, such as Martin Luther King Jr., have followed in his footsteps.

However, as the US encounters Lincoln’s 200th birth, there are some doubts concerning Lincoln’s achievements. Lincoln’s achievements are thought to be very complex and contradictory to many Americans. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a professor at Harvard had an interview in his new book “Lincoln on Race and slavery”. He believes that Lincoln actually thought of Whites being superior to African-Americans. One time, during a speech, Lincoln mentioned banishing African Americans in America to a remote island. Because of this, some view Lincoln as an extreme racist, and a weak supporter of the anti-slavery movement.

There might be many who negatively view aspects of Lincoln’s belief in racism, but I disagree with those who are doubtful about what he did. He was just normal at that time. That is, until he became the 16th president of the United States. When he was elected president, he shared his view on race with other renowned politicians, such as Stephen A. Douglas, who opposed slavery. Soon, he changed his view towards African Americans and worked to free them for the rest of his life. Lincoln is a great man to even think about risking the country for the slaves, especially since he lived during a time when racism raged. Nowadays, people think it is natural to respect people of different color, but during that time, it would have been difficult to feel pity for African Americans. He was actually one of the first to suggest a country that embraced multiple races. Therefore, Lincoln is and always will be one of the greatest figures I respect.

Esther

To Spite Your Face

2009-02-21T19:36:00.003+09:00

Because of too much plastic surgery, Michael Jackson(50) has developed a medical complication that is breaking down his nose. This time, London reporters told everyone that he had a disease called ‘super bacteria’. He went to a hospital in Los Angeles with black sunglasses, a mask, and surgery hat. But others could still see his pale face, swollen cheeks, and hand with red inflammation. “When he was getting surgery to fix his nose, staphylococcus went into his body, and the disease started” doctors said. Super bacteria is bacteria that doesn’t disappear with medicine. It has appeared in recent times.
This article made me think more that plastic surgery can harm people’s health very easily. If he had not gotten plastic surgery, he wouldn’t need to go to fix his nose, and that disease wouldn’t have attacked him. People’s faces are a present from their own parents. If they try to change their faces with knives, that is same as cutting off their parents’ love. If my child got plastic surgery, I would be very upset. Parents must have tried hard to make their kid and give them their genes. So, plastic surgery mustn’t be done too often.

Original Link

Kid from Ulleungdo Gets Into Top High School Without Cram Schools

2009-02-21T19:13:00.007+09:00

There was a person who was admitted to the Jeonju Sangsan high school. He is very special because he came from Ulleungdo. Sangsan high school is one of the best high schools in Korea. It is believed that children have to attend a lot of academies to get into such a school. Min Huak Park, passed the Sangsan high school exam just by attending online lectures. That seems surprising on its own, but Min Huak Park got an 820 on the TOEIC.
I think that this person just broke through all the rich people’s sense of exclusivity, and gave some intelligent, but poor people hope. I hope that more people like Min Huak Park go to the best schools. People can work harder by hearing this kind of news.

Say It Ain't So

2009-02-21T18:34:00.003+09:00

On February 7th, Alex Rodriguez, a renowned professional baseball player, was unveiled by Sports Illustrated to be using steroids. People thought: “A-Rod wouldn’t do that,” “Please not Him,” “He is not that kind of guy.” A-Rod has taken anabolic steroids for years because of the pressure around him to hit many home runs. Anabolic steroids are drugs that help players gain strength, so they can hit many home runs. However, the MLB (Major League Baseball) doesn’t allow its players to take steroids. A-Rod has played very well through the years with 553 home runs and a .306 batting average. He is the youngest player to hit 500 home runs, and he could potentially break the Major League record. Alex Rodriguez is not the first person to take steroids. Barry Bonds, the all-time career and single season HR record holder (762,73), and Mark McGwire, the former single season home run record holder, have also been caught taking steroids. In the 21st century, drugs became common amongst home run hitters. Many Americans don’t accept their home runs because they consider it cheating. President Obama had recently made comments saying “It might leave a bad impression on kids”.
The reason for choosing this article is because this is a very controversial issue in the U.S., and Americans are thinking very deeply about the broken morality that baseball players show. The home runs hit by Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and McGwire must be erased from the record books. They did not do the work themselves. Furthermore, I think it is a very foolish, stupid, and embarrassing action. If others take steroids, anybody can do the same. When morality is not kept, there is no meaning for doing anything. Considering this problem out of baseball, A-Rod must be punished for not following the law, and for giving a bad image to kids who admire him and disappointing them. Players must play for the fans, not for the record books. They should role models for kids, not embarrassments. And they should be real, instead of fake.

Then Kenyan Conspiracy

2009-02-19T17:21:00.003+09:00

Earlier this year, there was a guest from Kenya. The jirani is a Kenyan singing group formed by several kids who live in some the poorest villages of the world. They came to Korea and gave performances to give hope and show hope to the people that think there is no hope in their lives. In my perspective, they have achieved something more than they expected. In spite of what others say, they performed at places where they can receive donations such as universities, TV programs, and churches. I guess the purpose of the performance weren’t to make a profit, but it seemed like they were people singing for money. This is just my thought, but singing might make the kids happy, but it will not make every member of society happy.

Bahrain vs. Korea

2009-02-19T17:00:00.005+09:00

I watched this game at night. However, the result of game was not good. There were no players who play in the European leagues, and it was not Korea's best squad. There was just K-league players and one Russian league player. Also, Lee Cheong-yong (21, Korean soccer player of promise) had just come back from injury, and GiSung-yong (20, also soccer player of promise) is injured.
I think steady teamwork and precise plays were needed. In looking at peoples’ perspectives, it was a very stuffy game. Good teams never play hard with teams like Bahrain. I think Korea can be a stronger team with Lee Cheong-yong and Gi sung-yong. I hope Korea gets better soon.

Jin Young

Obesity Promotes Global Warming

2009-02-19T16:01:00.009+09:00

Obesity is known to cause many diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. However, I never heard of the idea that obesity promotes global warming. This is why I'm interested in this article and wanted to write about it. Obesity doesn't really seem to have a relationship with the environment. But I found out that this was reported based on the fact that obese people use transportation more than average people which increase the temperature of the earth by using much more fossil fuels. This made me think that this idea that obesity promotes global warming is believable and that we should help reduce obese people. I think that we should find more efficient ways of reducing obesity rates.

Jasmine

A Fool and His Money...

2009-02-17T20:26:00.003+09:00

Around 11:40 p.m., February 10, a female bakery owner was kidnapped by 2 men when she was closing her store, located in Naebalsan-dong. The 2 men also stole money from the store. With her mouth and eyes taped shut she was locked in the trunk. Soon after, her husband, Yu, received a call demanding 70 million won in cash. The kidnappers also added specifically to not contact the cops. However, Yu called the police at once. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency provided him with a golf bag filled with counterfeit money and a tracking device. Yu handed the golf bag to the suspects the next afternoon at a parking lot near Seoul’s Sungsan Bridge. Although the police chased the suspects, they failed to capture them. 2 hours later, the police found the golf bag abandoned in Sindorim-dong. Park was released in the streets in Gyeonggi. It seems like the suspects did not realize that the money was counterfeit.

Anyway, I think this case shows how the Korean police is getting cleverer day after day. I am also very relieved that the woman was not harmed, although the emotional trauma will last for a while. This case shows that a kidnapping can occur anywhere, and that we all must be careful.

E

Rated PG

2009-02-17T20:07:00.005+09:00

Ever since English became the most commonly used international language, Korean parents have been putting a heavy emphasis on English education. It is difficult to find people who do not go to any English academies or receive any kind of English education. Sure, such an emphasis may benefit the students if they excel, but is there such a thing as too much? What if their parents are attempting to take unlawful actions to make certain that their children receive what they believe to be the proper amount of English education? Despite the advantages of mastering a foreign language, parents are focusing too much on English.

Though controversial, it is apparent that many Korean parents are making their children learn English by using inappropriate, and illegal methods: adoption. In order to make their children eligible to go to SAHS, a school in Korea for the US military soldiers’ family, some Korean parents are making illegal deals with Americans by giving them money to actually “adopt” their child. Thus, Korean students are able to go to American schools to learn English, while still living with their biological parents.

Why are we taking such risky actions just in order to learn a second-language? I believe this was predominantly caused by Korean parents being careless about our country. We were born in this country in order to develop it into one of the most affluent countries around the globe. However, we are only putting our focus on other wealthy countries such as the US, Europe, etc. Many of us, I think, have a prejudiced view of thinking that developed countries are superior, and that we should try to follow their ways of doing things.

First things first, it is mandatory that students get an adequate education on the native Korean language and its culture. We need to know more about our home country before receiving education on a foreign country. In order to do so, parents need to try to create a native language-speaking environment for their children.

Esther

Let the Sunshine In

2009-02-17T19:26:00.006+09:00

Samsung and LG Electronics have exhibited solar-powered and eco-friendly mobile phones at a telecommunications fair in Spain.

Samsung said the industry's first "Blue Earth" handset features a solar panel on the back of the phone's battery, producing power to charge its battery. Also the phone case is made by PCM which was made by reusing plastic water bottles. In process of making, they didn’t use any chemical materials that are harmful to human and nature.

“We will present many other bio phones following Blue Earth,” said a Samsung Spokesman.

LG Electronics will also present "eco-friendly" phones in its specially-designated "eco-zone" there. LG Electronics is going to sell this product about an year. Also, LG Electronics will use green package in all the product case they provide in 2009 for decreasing waste and VOC exhausts.

"The phone is equipped with solar cells on the phone's battery cover, allowing the phone user to make a three minute call with a 10-minute charge," LG spokesman said.

Phones are getting smarter and more innovative every year. However, some companies are not looking back, but are racing towards new technologies. Environment and technology must cooperate in order to make our world more developed and our environment preserved.

That’s why these phones are special. However, phones are not alone in terms of innovation. There are laptops and MP3 players that are becoming bio-friendly. Still, more and more products will have to be bio-friendly. We should live in the world where everything is compatible with nature.

Jay

He Pingping

2009-02-17T18:31:00.004+09:00

This is the world’s smallest person (in Guinness), He pingping, is probably the shortest person in the world-he’s about 73 centimeters tall. The man beside him in the picture is Bao xishun, who at 2.36 is the world’s tallest living person. He pingping is 20 years old and he’s Chinese. He wasn’t supposed to be like this-being this short has to do with a disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which hinders normal bone growth and bodily height. (–that’s what the doctors diagnosed him with.)
I pity him even though he became famous, because he became famous for being weird, not for being good at something like celebrities and athletes. Being too tall should be better because being taller than most people allows you to tower over people-that should be fun, though you might only see people’s heads and not their faces. However, He pingping probably can’t go around alone since it will be hard for him to see things. For instance, he’ll probably have a hard time pressing buttons on elevators. In fact, many things are probably not within his reach.
People can’t help staring at these kinds of people. Even in Korea, some people, usually old people, touch blond hair. If they saw a 73 centimeters tall person, people will take pictures, try to hold him, and do other scary things.
He might not be the shortest person, after all. A Nepalese boy will be considered when he becomes 18. Also, a Jordanian, Younis Edwan wasn’t officially measured yet. Still, he’s the shortest person in Guinness World Records.

Lauren

Glittering Friends

2009-02-11T16:53:00.004+09:00

Ilwoo Jung and Minho Li have been best friends before they became the entertainers. Though they are very busy because Ilwoo Jung is now on and Minho Li is on , they out with, text message and call each other to cheer each other up. Also they send each other good food for health.
Recently Minho Li watched fourth round of with Ilwoo Jung though he was dying because of the schedule of his filming.

I choose this report because I like Minho Li very much. Actually I didn't a lot about him before he was in , but as I saw the drama I liked him more and more. All the girls in my school class watch and like him very much. We like to talk about this drama especially Minho Li and Bum Kim, who is another member of F4, which is a group in this drama which contains 4 members who are very handsome. Before we had a spring vacation, all the girls are excited for Mondays and Tuesday because this drama is on Monday and Tuesday. We are eager to watch the next story and some of my friends search the public homepage of for the trailer. I did this with my sister sometimes too and I can't wait for next Monday!

Extra~~ I read in the newspaper that while Minho Li was in the hospital after he got into a car accident, Ilwoo Jung was filming , Minho became more determined to get back to filming like Ilwoo. At that time they constantly cheered each other, too like these days. What an awesome friendship!

Big Bang Book

2009-02-10T16:18:00.004+09:00

Bigbang is the most famous music group in Korea. Bigbang is a group of 5 members; G-dragon, Top, Tae-yang, Dae-sung, and Victory. After Bigbang come out with the song called “Dirty Cash”, they have swept the world of music. Now with great popularity, they published a book of themselves and where they describe their own story of becoming stars. This became the bestseller book in a short time. They planned to stop the group activity and are going to work on their solo activities.

I wondered: What was so special about them? I thought, not their appearance. I've seen other groups who have good looking members but not famous. Ultimately, I decided that the key to their success was their songs and individual qualities. They have very catchy songs. They are exciting, and while you are listening to their songs, you will find yourself following the words. Their song is for everyone, from young children to adults. And interestingly, the leader of this group writes these songs. He was talented since he was young. Next, they have their own individuality. Unlike other singers who try to be cool all the time and manage their image meticulously, Big Bang is more real. For example, Dae sung is part of a variety program called Family Outing, and there he acts like he isn't a star or an idol. He shows his inadequacies to everyone. I think they deserve much love and interest from fans and I expect they will be successful in many parts of Asia for a long time.

Subin

Technology Kills

2009-02-08T23:44:00.004+09:00

Google Earth which was invented by Google, now enables human beings to explore Mars on their computers. We might be looking at the Lord’s bed soon by using Google earth. Google has updated the Mars mode by cooperating with NASA who was very interested in what Google was doing. By using the Mars mode, users are able to see all of the mountains and the deep valleys of Mars in a three dimensional image. Do we actually need to look at Mars and see how it looks like? When I was a little kid, I had an imaginative image of the surface of Mars and the possible creatures residing there. But the kids today cannot even dream about those things. They can use Google Earth to easily utilize the Mars mode by clicking the Saturn shaped icon on the top of the program. Why did Google use the “Saturn” icon in order to access the mode? Google claimed that the program will increase the chance of the civilians and the workers of NASA for communication. I think that the use of the Mars mode wouldn’t increase communication, but will show intelligence, which is one-sided communication.

David

“SORRY. PLEASE GIVE ME ALL YOUR CASH.”

2009-02-08T23:16:00.003+09:00

“Sorry. Please Give Me All Your Cash.”

A convenience store robber showed this memo to workers behind convenient store counters. Police say that the robber went into a couple of convenience stores and showed a memo that was saved on his cell-phone. Some workers at the counter thought it was a joke and ignored him, so the robber showed his weapons and robbed them.

By using the same trick in Dongjak-gu and Kangsu-gu he stole about 100 million won. Police say that he didn’t wanted his identity to be exposed so he chosed not to speak and instead showed the memo.

We can see that the world is being digitalized. If there were no cell-phones, this kind of robber would have written the memo on paper. So being digital isn’t really all that good. There will be more and more “digital crimes”. A good example can be found in the movie “DIEHARD 4”, where they show how digital stuff can be used as weapons. I think only going digital isn’t always good. We should also preserve the old things and need harmony between the old and new.

Hamish

original source: The Hankyoreh

Voices from Afar

2009-02-08T21:24:00.004+09:00

“Professors! Let me into universities!!”

According to the Kang Won News, a 20 year old girl named Jun Yeo Bin, got into all three universities that she applied to by using the Gang Neung dialect. She recently changed her major. Therefore, she had little time to get ready for the practical examination. However, she thought about using the dialect as a talent.

The professor who conducted the interview said “She made a script that combined music and the Gang Neung dialect. This was the first time any applicant had done something like this.”

Miss Jun said that she had been living in Gang Neung for 20 years but she was never interested in the Gang Neung dialect. However, her acting teacher said to try a skit that included the dialect. The teacher was a great help. She said “I thank my teacher because she led me to a unique way to enter the university that I wanted.”

Before she got used to the dialect, she had a hard time learning it. She learned from a man who won an award from Gang Neung by using the dialect of Gang Neung. She received a file in the Gang Neung dialect by e-mail and heard the intonation by phone.

Finally, she said she was proud of her hometown and in the university, she would tell her friends about the dialect of Gang Neung. She will enter Dong Duck girl’s university and she wants to study lots of fields like music, movies and acting.

When I first saw this article’s title, I thought that she was a very weird woman. Also, I thought the professors who let her in because of the interview were weird too. Later, after reading the article, I changed my mind. I think that Miss Jun’s acting teacher is clever, and Miss Jun is clever and confident because she accepted her acting teacher’s opinion and she really took a risk to try the dialect in front of the professors although it could have been disastrous.

Hyo Joo

Yongsan Massacre

2009-02-08T21:15:00.004+09:00

To summarize the Yongsan Massacre briefly, it was a conflict between the police and the protesters. If the building companies redevelop the building, people will lose their homes, so what they decided to do was to fight with force and disrupt the plan. The police decided to get into the building and let the people out of there. The people started to throw bricks and paint thinner and fight ferociously. Suddenly there was a fire and then all the police teams had withdrawn. It is known that 5 people were dead and 24 people were injured. They are still not sure whether the police used violence to overcome them. If they had used violence, the police would have caused the deaths. In addition, the cause of the fire is still unclear. The police claimed they saw liquid coming out of the building. They suspected that it might be paint thinner, but nobody knows what it really was. They still need to investigate the case further to truly understand the Yongsan Massacre.

Danny

Where Have All the Walleye Pollacks Gone?

2009-02-08T21:06:00.001+09:00

Global warming has been a major international problem, and recently, the effects are revealing themselves in Korea. Meteorologists show an increase of the annual average temperature by 3 degrees Celsius for this century. Even though this might sound trivial, it can cause a huge change in the everyday temperatures. Take an example of January’s average temperature where it has climbed over 10 degrees Celsius compared to last year’s average. It is becoming even harder to distinguish between seasons.

There have been numerous signs of ice melting at the poles and sea levels rising rapidly, even in Korea. The Walleye Pollack, a species of fish that once resided in the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan – but only in Japan), has long disappeared. Instead, the octopus and other animals that have adapted to warmer currents have been showing themselves in those areas.
Why is global warming happening in Korea and other places around the globe? Industrialization of the 18th century made humans use fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. Carbon dioxide and gases produced by fossil fuels prevents the radiation from getting out of the atmosphere, thus, the heat stays in the earth. This is the ultimate cause of global warming. The amount of carbon dioxide that we humans let out has been increasing during the past 300 years.

We cannot blame anybody but ourselves for global warming, because we were the ones who used an excessive amount of fossil fuels. Humans are the main cause of global warming. Earth is where we will have to live for another 5 billion years, and the deterioration of the planet means impending doom for every living creature on Earth. Because we made our earth sick, we need to help Earth resuscitate it from its illness.

The head chief of the meteorology department, Won-tae Kwon says that if we try to use less fossil fuels and instead, try to develop more renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar energy, not only will we be able to prevent global warming, but also have a chance of becoming a developed country.

Esther

original source: Joongang Ilbo

Invasion of Fangs

2009-02-08T20:13:00.008+09:00

“Twilight” made many people get hooked on a fantasy of an unbelievable love between a girl and a vampire. And I was one of those, who got hooked. That is why I chose to talk about this New York Times movie review. “Twilight” made me think more about the life of extraordinary people like Edward who is one of the main characters in this movie. “Twilight” changed my bias towards vampires. I began to think that they may not always be as pale as we think they are. Vampires also might not fear crosses and not sleep in coffins as the Cullens have shown not to do.

The movie “Twilight” made me know more about the Twilight saga including: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and Midnight Sun. The stories are all connected. I will always be cheering on “Twilight” for further success from here in Seoul, South Korea.

Jasmine

STIR-FRIED RICE PASTA=TTEOKBOKKI

2009-02-06T16:01:00.007+09:00

Most Koreans will be loyal (단골) to a particular TTEOKBOKKI store if they think it is delicious or if it suits their taste. There are lots of TTEOKBOKKI stores, one of which is Sin-Dang Dong. I would like to introduce some other famous TTEOKBOKKI stores in Korea.

First, there is the Apple House. It’s sort of a “on-the-spot” TTEOBOKKI place. Usually, most of the TTEOKBOKKIs are made by the cooks. But here, customers make their own TTEOKBOKKIs. You can choose certain extra items like noodles, ham, eggs, etc and It takes about 5~10 minutes to make.

Second, people who love SPICY things usually frequent a TTEOKBOKKI store, which is called Spicy TTEOKBOKKI. Like other TTEOKBOKKI stores, it is a truck TTEOKBOKKI stand which is placed at Seolleung station. By only looking at it looks spicy and one piece of TTEOKBOKKI inflames your mouth. You will seriously be paralyzed. It truly is spicy TTEOKBOKKI.

Last of all, there’s circle shaped TTEOKBOKKI, which is different from other TTEOKBOKKIs. The name of the store where they sell this is 동병상련(同餠常戀) Dong-byung Sang-Lyun which means to love Rice Cakes. This store’s TTEOKBOKKI is fusion TTEOKBOKKI which is kind of different from the original kind. If you want to try a different TTEOKBOKKI, try this place out.

I have introduced and recommended some TTEOKBOKKI's stores that are well-known in Korea because I think TTEOKBOKKI represents the essence of what it is to be Korean. As we chew you cannot help but feel the heritage of Korean culture. To top it off, the spicy flavor is like the spirit of being Korean. I wish TTEOKBOKKI becomes an international food and wish to see TTEOKBOKKI trucks on street corners from Dubai to New York.

Hamish

Y U N A

2009-02-05T23:31:00.013+09:00

Yuna Kim won at the International Skate Union Four Continents Championships Short program at Vancouver, Canada. Her rival, Mao Asada, came in sixth place. Also, the margin between her score and Joannie Rochette(2nd place)’s score was 5.34, which is a wide margin of victory in figure skating.
Korea is very proud because not only did she come in 1st, but she also set a world record. She was very confident and energetic because she was healthy, and she did moves that she failed to do before and even a new one. Nowadays, you can see her in almost every channel on TV. She does a lot of advertisements for school uniforms, water, milk, makeup, and even air conditioners. To tell you the truth, I’m a little bored of watching her on TV. She’s not only a sports star, but a celebrity.
BUT, I cannot deny Yuna Kim motivates me to work hard not because she earns a lot of money, but because people can see that she practices a lot. She’s made huge progress and she gets better each time she goes to a competition. When she skates, she looks like a crane since she has long arms and legs. Also, I envy her courage. She skates in front of huge crowd sand performs very well.
Yuna Kim represents Korea and she is doing it perfectly. She faces her challenges and hurdles head on. She overcomes them with beauty and grace. I, too, would like to do that one day the way Yuna does now.

Lauren

original source: The Korea Times

The Boy Who Dared

2009-02-05T14:50:00.004+09:00

In China, this boy who is 2 years old smoked while being carried on a motorcycle. When he was asked if smoking felt good to him, he replied that it was good. He cursed adults who were watching him. People were shocked to see this picture.
Some people said that this child’s father is crazy. In my opinion, I believe that this child’s father is crazy. Cigarettes are very harmful for children, especially, for babies whose immune systems haven’t even developed yet.

Alvin

The Face of the Flag

2009-02-05T14:32:00.003+09:00

At the 60th Sapporo Snow Festival opening, the Korean flag(태극기) was hung upside down.
According to Reuters, there was a ice-shaped Soog Rae Moon(숭례문) which represents Korea. It is 15m tall and it is 4/5 the size of the real Soog Rae Moon(숭례문). 3000 people were required and 3000 million Yen was used to make this.
But at the opening festival, the host organization hung the Korean flag upside down. By looking at the picture the Great Absolute pattern of the blue(음) and the red(양) is placed upside down. They are expecting much criticism if they don’t correct their mistake.
This festival will be held on the 5th and end on the 11th of February. They are expecting 300 million people around the world to come to the festival.
This happened because of us: Koreans. If we had cared enough about our flag as much as we cared about ourselves this wouldn’t have happened. Also, some Korean students don’t even know how to draw their flag. It is a serious problem. I wish this could be a good opportunity for us, Koreans, to think about our flag and love our country.

Hamish

Original source: http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/02/04/2009020401476.html

Hosun the Hero

2009-02-04T22:08:00.005+09:00

-A café of people on the Internet who think Killer Mr. Gang’s rights gets criticized-
In Naver, a café which tries to protect Mr. Gang, who is 39, and killed at least 7 women, was made and was strongly criticized by netizens. Right now, there are 6250 members in this café. The manager of the café had an ID named ‘i_love_akple’, and his nickname was ‘The Great Killer’. Even the café site was titled as ‘café.naver.com.ilovehosun’. ‘Hosun’ is the name of Mr.Gang. Apparently, the manager of the café wrote an article on the bulletin board that ‘Murderer’s rights are also important, even though he killed people.’ In the café, there were also articles proposing their opinion to discard punishment by death, protecting Mr.Gang’s rights, and Jo-Sung-Hi, a woman who studied at the University of Virginia newspaper article protecting the murderers’ rights. Internet users say that they never thought about these kinds of crazy ideas. They also think that if we continue to think this way, criminals will think that it’ll be ok if they stay for a long time. At first, the café manager told others who criticize their café that it was a total misunderstanding, but soon he told others that he would choose to close the café after considering it deeply. The citizens’ opinions are right. Korea has never used the punishment of death for 11 years, and for 11 years, crime of murder happened 47% more than before. However, everyone must be careful to keep safe!

Ashley