16. Sa Wa Ti Ca Bangkok!

  I choose a city Bangkok where I want to live. In 2009, I’ve traveled north side of Thailand for 45 days. At that time, I thought Thailand is the best country to live for me. Also, after traveling Thailand, I used to say “If I win the lottery, I will move to Thailand and run a guest house. It’s my dream!” I only have been the northern cities in Thailand, but I want to live in Bangkok. I heard about the city a lot and I regret that I didn’t visit Bangkok. From now on, I will introduce some reasons why I want to live in Bangkok, Thailand.

  1. Cheap and nice foods.   

  I didn’t know that foods can be a reason for emigration, but I love Thailand’s foods and fruits a lot. One of my favorite foods is Somtam. It is papaya salad and I’ve not eaten it before. It is sour, sweet and crispy. In Korea, law papaya is hard to find, so Somtam is very expensive. It’s about 14,000won for one dish.

  Second is Phat Thai. It is a dish
of stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce and so on. I love the harmony of the sauce, bean sprouts and cashew nuts. In Korea, we can see it often, but it also expensive.

  I would like to introduce a fruit which we can’t find in Korea. In Thailand, There are many kinds of tropical fruits. Passion fruit is my favorite tropical fruit. I knew the fruit for the first time in Thailand, too. One day my Thailand friend picked passion fruits from a tree, and I fell in love with the fruit. I always miss the fruits’ taste and flavor, so I bought many items like passion fruits’ flavor body lotions and lip balms.

 2.  Warm weather

  I really hate winter. I don’t like to wear heavy winter clothes and I don’t want to go outside or take a shower in winter, because it’s freezing! Southeastern Asia is always summer, so always warm. I love to wear light clothes and I don’t feel hot often so I love Southeastern Asia!

 3.  Kind people  

  A friend of mine has some Thailand friends, and he always told me “Thailand people are angels. I’ve never seen that pure spirits!” That was right. I also made some Thailand friends and they are angels! They are very pure, kind and warm hearted like Korea’s countryside’s children. Not only my Thailand friends, but every Thailand people on the street were kind, too. They were never hostile to foreigners, so I love Thailand!

 4. The last reason why I want to live in Bangkok is the city is a city of freedom. There is a world’s famous street of backpackers, Kaosan road. Many free spiritual backpackers gather in Kaosan road, and it is a shrine for backpackers. There is a very multinational place, so you can have fun with foreigners. Also, you can enjoy many things like massage with very cheap price.

  Like these, there are many reasons that why I want to live in Bangkok, Thailand. I have more reasons like nature's scenery and outdoor activities. The only obstacle is that I don’t know their language, but I always dream that I live in Thailand.

15. Marriage and Divorce

 1. What do you think is the biggest reason for the increase in the number of divorce in Korea compared to just 20 or 25 years ago? Discuss each of these possible factors. Tell why you think so.

★Korean women becoming more independent
  Right. In the past, women didn't work, so they should depend on their husbands. They had no money and no job, so they could not divorce. However, these days, many women make money by themselves. They have enough money to live alone, so they divorce.

★ Korean society becoming more liberal in their thinking about divorces
  Yes! Korean society is really changed. Many TV dramas dealt with the lives of divorced men and women, and sometimes medias like newspapers worship their cool lives!

★ Young couples rushing into marriage too fast
  Right. Our generation's views of love and sex are changed. Some people never mind about sleeping with a strangers and some people don't care of contraception. When young women have an unwanted pregnancy, then the young couple would marry. If there courting period is too short, they could not know each other deeply, and they would divorce.

★ Meeting people online in Internet chat rooms
 I don't know well about the culture of the internet chat rooms, so I have never thought about that kinds of stories. However, just a few minutes before, I saw a news about that on the internet accidentally. In brief, the story is a husband did sex with a chatting pal, and the wife knew it and got mad. Also, she chatted in Internet chat rooms, and slept with a man. The wife was caught in the act of adultery by her husband. Also, the family was destroyed

★ The change from arranged marriages to today's "love" marriages
  In my parents generation, many people do arranged marriages. My parents did love marriages, but many of my friends' parents did arranged marriages. I don't know why they did it a lot, but people do it these days, too. Some people who could not find proper partner in their nearby or some people who are very rich, so if they want to find a partner who also very rich, then they register for matchmaking agencies. In my case, I'm not a rich and I'm not a beauty, so I don't need to register that because I can find a man who are in my normal class.

14. Korea, The Most Lovely Country for Me

 
  Today I want to write some Korean cultures that I want foreigners to be known by.

  First, it is healthy foods. I think Korean foods are not proper to be global famous foods like Japanese, Italian and Chinese foods, because they are spicy and salty. However, there are many healthy foods like kimchi, Goryeo[Korean] ginseng, samgyetang in Korea. Korea's the most famous side dish kimchi is already known for many countries, but they may remember spicy taste and garlic smell. Korea's kimchi is more interesting food than their thinking. kimchi has several kinds. cabbage kimchi, young radish kimchi, chopped radishes pickled in salt water, and so on, but cabbage kimchi among them is the most representative and popular kimchi that Korean eat. Among the cabbage kimchi, the kimchi is divided into several varieties. Because all the way to make kimchi is different according to their family's and their ancestor's recipe. Sometimes westerns make kimchi instantaneously, but the most important thing for kimchi is fermentation. Fermented kimchi is rich in taste and nutrition. Also, Goryeo ginseng is is worthy of introduce to foreigners. It is more nutritious than Chinese and many researchers recognized the benefits and the effects through experiences.

  Second is Korea's security. Many people who have never been to abroad think Korea is a dangerous country. However, I think Korea is a pretty safe country. I have several real examples. Firstly, Europe has a lot of global popular travel destinations and illegal immigrants, so there are many thieves. When I traveled Italy, my tour guide said to me "All talented thieves in the world gathers in Italy every summer! Watch out your bags, don't bring much cash, and don't stare at gypsies!" Also, when a European friend of mine visited Korea, he worried that pretty public decorations on the streets and he surprised when I went to a toilet without my bag in a restaurant. That was a culture shock to me, too! Many Korean walk the streets in the night and Korean women also meet friends in the night without any worry. It is absolutely Okay in Korea, but I heard it's dangerous behavior in nearby country Japan, too.

  When I watch foreigners on TV show or talk with foreigners in other countries, I would felt 'Korea is not well known country in the world.' Many people think Korea is one country in Asia and similar to Japan and China. Some people even didn't know where is Korea among the 6 continents. Korea is a kind of big developed country now. We have lots of big companies like Samsung, LG and Hyundai. I hope many people in the world know what is Korea and understand our culture and people. Also, I hope many foreigners visit Korea and love Korea!

13. The Things That I Don't Want to Buy Online

Q9. Can you think of any items that you would NOT want to buy online? Tell why.

  First of all, I never want to buy pets from online shopping malls. There are many pet online malls and many people trade pets on the internet. They sell many kinds of pets like dogs, cats, birds, rabbits even chinchillas and snakes! I don't want to imagine that the pets' pain and fear in delivery boxes, and I also hate that I cannot check their body conditions and personalities before buying them. Of course I don't like a situation that pets are treated like artificial products, so I will never buy pets from online shopping mall.

  Secondly, I would not buy fruits from online shopping malls, though the reason is more normal than the formal ones. I heard many cases that delivered fruits were crushed during the deliver, because normally delivery men don't treat boxes carefully. Also, some bad online fruits sellers send rotten fruits to customers. Those are a few persons' stories, but I can buy fruits easily near by my house, so I won't buy fruits on the online malls.

12. The way I remember my history.

 Today, I would like to introduce one of my hobbies. It is taking pictures. I'm not familiar with DSLR cameras, but I like to take pictures with film cameras (analog cameras). On reflection, it effects from my grandfather and my father. Long time ago, my grandfather ran a photo studio in Busan. Also, about 20 years ago my father worked for the Kodak, so they enjoyed taking pictures a lot. My father loved to take pictures of me, so I have many photo albums as compared with other friends. Naturally, I was use to taking pictures and expressed an interest in using film cameras. When I was a fressman of this university, my father recommanded to join a photo club, and I accepted that idea. Fortunately, that was black and white pictures club, so I could use my fathers cameras. I enjoyed the activities of the club several years and I was a president of the club when I was a sophomore. During the photoclub I held 2 exhibitions and I put 5 pictures on the display. Let me show you the pictures!

              

I took this picture in Jagalchi fish market        It is taken in Childrens park in Seoul(2007)

in Busan. It's one of my favorite! (2008)

                                               My brother and me  (2007)

 I took this in the Jagalchi fich market in Busan.
I ate the live octopus with my brother!(2008)

Near by my Busan house, There are some board housed

along the railroad.(2008)

I enjoyed taking film pictures with special cameras,too!

The best camera of me is rolleiflex's and it is a medium sized camera from my grandfather.

 

 

The camera                                                               It shows us squre shaped pictures

You can see the scene largely from on the top of the camera

Most of all, the camera makes beautiful vintage colored pictures

eventhough it is older than 60 years old! :)

Lastly, I'm going to introduce my camera that I bring almost everyday. It is Lomo LC-A and it was born in Russia for maffias. Its' pictures borders are darker than the center, and it called tunnel effect. The camera is not expensive and it is very easy to take pictures so many people in the world love this camera. Also, I want to recommand this camera for you if you want to buy a simple small easy film camera!

 It's the camera. Apearrance is not that cute! :)             Sometimes I creates more amazing
                                                                                            pictures than my expect.

This camera is very good at pictures of people. Whether it is sunny or rainy, it help me super awesome pictures! Of coursely many of my frineds like to taken pictures with this camera.

 What do you think about my hobby and pictures? I think taking picture is a good hobby because you can remember your days with your pictures! It takes not much money and you can make your friends often! try it for your happiness~:-)

11. We Are the Same!

  Today's topic is so interesting to me. I saw many news and medias which dealt with the topic 'racism'. Also, I experienced not only I discriminated against other people but also I was discriminated against.

  First of all, I want to talk about racism of Southeast Asian in Korea. From when I was young, I thought Southeast Asian is poor, smelly, lazy and dangerous. No one told me like that and I don't know any of SE Asian. Now I can't understand why I thought like that, but the image of SE Asian was not good to me.

  In 2009, I travelled Thailand and I made some Thailander friends. One of them was really fascinated with Korean and Korea, so he used to tell me "I want to live in Korea" He is a good man, not poor, intelligent and obedient. After I met him, the image of SE Asian was totally changed and when I saw SE Asian in Korea I felt they are my friends. He lived in Thailand very peacefully and wealthy. I knew Korean discriminate against SE Asian a lot, so I didn't want him to be distinguish from Korean. However he came to Korea after all. I didn't meet him yet, but he called me and said "Korean always say fast fast! but I am doing my best! but blah blah...I'm so tired~". He just told me about his working stories, but I could imagine his Korea life which is worse than his life in Thailand.

  I also have experience that I was discriminated against. Sometimes during my travel I felt very little discriminations from white people, but one day I got it directly. I was in a restaurant with my Danish friend and 2 of his Austrailian friends came to us to talk with him. They were excited about the topic so they spoke English very fast. I couldn't understand what were they saying, so I just ate my lunch alone. They didn't care about me and I also. That was very weird experience because i've never felt the feeling from Asian. Also I realized the feeling of SE Asian who are discriminated against in Korea.

  I always cast a spell on myself 'All people are the same. They are my friends!'.  However, sometimes the spell doesn't work! I felt scared of very tough-looking faced black people even though I really want to have black friends! The situation will be changed when I get black friends. I really looking forward to make all ethnic friends, and I will really try to be a nondiscrimination person.

10. A Problem Child - North Korea

 When I was young, I thought the unification is quite natural. Of course I was unaware of Kim jung-ill's existence and how do North Koreans live, but my grandparents were from North Korea and there may be some of my relatives. Also, many of students used to sing a song 'Our wish is the unification of Korea'. At that time the unification was the most of Korean's wish and the natural goal.

 However, my thinking have changed as I grow. Many mass medias showed us the poor images of North Korea constantly, and some experts said our economy will be degenerated to 20 years ago if we do the unification. It means we should go back to 1990s. I may have to pay much tax for poor North Koreans and for development of the land North Korea. Furthermore, the advanced and innovative image of South Korea will be changed to one normal country in the world.

 However, recently I had a chance to think about North Korea again. On 25th June, some broadcasting companies was broadcast some documentaries about North Korea. Because on the date of 1950 , the Korean war broke out. I watched 2 documentaries seriously.

One was 'Holidays in Pyongyang' and the other one was 'Yoduk Story(Poland)'. 'Holidays in Pyongyang' is a documentary of 3 normal Canadians traveling in Pyongyang. As we talked today, the Pyongyang was very fake and artificial. The travelers wanted to see real North Koreans and feel the real North Koreans' life, but they couldn't do it after all.

 The documentary 'Yoduk Story' is story about North Korea's most infamous labor camps Yoduk. I haven't heard about Yoduk before and they said the size of the labor camp is bigger than half of Seoul and so many people died of hunger or beating everyday! Also, some people practised cannibalism and dogs ate alive people. I thought the last place of the cruel place was Auschwitz Nazi death camp, but it isn't! That is exist in the next country of my country! I shocked a lot for the testimonies from North Korean defectors.

Be that as it may, It doesn't mean I wish the unification and I want to pay my money for their living. I hope North Korea changed their policies like other countries even though we do not be unified. I want to go there freely as much as I likes like other countries Japan and China. North Korea should change the communism to the democracy and they should make their people to be understood the difference between other countries and North Korea. The people should realize not the nation indoctrinate to them but the truth of the world by themselves and change their North Korea. Of course it looks impossible to occur now because there are Kim Jung-ill and Kim Jung-un. However there was no eternal dictatorship in the history. There hereditary monarchy will not be maintained forever. I hope North Korea doesn't be recognized as a problem child or tomboy for a long time in the world.