February 2012
6 posts
2012, Vacation, Year 3
A week and a half ago, I was busy getting lazy and sunburned on a beach in the Philippines. A week ago, one day after I returned to Korea, the country experienced the coldest temperatures in 60 years, dropping below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Right now, I’m sitting at my desk, sick, wondering where the first month of 2012 went, where my second year in Korea went, and where this next year here...
January 2012
2 posts
December 2011
5 posts
“For me, Christmas is a strange event, so I will remain very calm and quiet.”
– 사부님
Kim Jong il..
..is dead. People here are strangely calm about it. I can’t yet tell if that calm is genuine, or really a nervous, unspoken anxiety. Probably the latter.
“We have entered an uncertain moment with North Korea.” — Michael Breen
November 2011
6 posts
This Too Shall Pass Away
The Story Of King Solomon’s Ring
This is a story of a famous Jewish wisdom folktale as told by David Franko from Turkey.
One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah Ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, “Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it.”
“If it exists anywhere on...
A Folk Tale
Nolbu and Heungbu/놀부 와 흥부 Long ago, there were two brothers, Nolbu and Heungbu. Nolbu, the elder brother, was rich and greedy. Heungbu, the younger brother, was poor but generous. One day, Heungbu found a swallow with a broken leg. He took care of the bird. The bird got better and flew away. The next spring, the swallow brought a gourd seed to Heungbu. When the gourd grew, Heungbu cut it...
“The master holds the disciple’s head underwater for a long, long time; gradually...”
– Buddhist Koan
October 2011
10 posts
“Prepare for the difficult while it is still easy.
Deal with the big while it is...”
– Lao Tzu
September 2011
5 posts
Watchjwillisclan:
Passerbys, customers, students, teachers, and merchants to boot. Daily life in Korea. Day in. Day out.
Here’s another gem from my friend, Justin. This video captures half of a divide in Korea. There is the bright, shiny Korea that is becoming standardized, full of chain stores and restaurants and big shopping malls, much like the West. But the older generation doesn’t...
Watchjwillisclan:
Another TL vid for the archives.
My good friend Justin bought a new camera last week, and he is already blowing my mind with his time lapses. Here is the sunset in his city, Anyang.
August 2011
6 posts
Beijing
Beijing is to Shanghai as China is to the USA. The former is full of living history, ancient relics, and ghosts of the past while the latter is new and sparkly, but under the shiny exterior it feels kind of empty.
In Shanghai, the “old city” is a small and tourist developed area, but all of Beijing is the “old city”. Each of the thousands of back alleys tells a story. The...
Shanghai
Fourth day in China, immensely interesting country. Where Koreans all look similar and follow the same fashion trends, Chinese all look completely different and unique. Shanghai is vibrant and full of international shopping, totally unexpected. Took a train outside the city and the landscape is a vast, empty, industrial desolation.
No Facebook. Chinese can’t leave the country to travel unless...
July 2011
8 posts
Japan
An astounding look at Japan. Such a vibrant and beautiful country.
A Day in English
Look up ^^
I’ve been MIA lately because I’m in the middle of an insanely awesome summer camp, and all my free time from that has been put into this video.
Last Saturday, Julianna, Justin, and I stormed Suwon Station for 8 hours to make this beast, which shows our own most commonly used slang in some simple situations. We each used this video and a printout of the phrases and conversations to make some...
Last Official Week
It’s Thursday morning on my last official week of school, and I am drowning in boredom. Except for Monday, this entire week has been spent at my desk staring at the glare of my computer, half dead and half stressed about my summer camps. I have to get up occasionally and walk aimlessly around the school to avoid going crazy.
Nothing cool to report about last weekend, just made a trip to...
June 2011
13 posts
Samcheok-si, Gangwan-do
Last week, Justin and I felt it was high time for another overnight trip in a random city, so after combing through a few Korean websites we chose Samcheok, a small coastal city in Gangwan-do, the northeastern most province in South Korea. Samcheok is known for mountains, caves, cliffs, and raw seafood. We were fortunate enough to see 3 out of 4.
The entirety of Gangwan Province is known as the...
