Dreaming in Everland

Ride all you can at 60, 000 Korean Won. One of the best places in South Korea! Everland Resort only spells fun, fun and fun. The theme changes every season, a flower festival during spring, winter wonderland for the snowy months, falling in fall and under the sea adventure during summer. Plus, around the world in one day... prepare for a very long one.

Don't murder me

Everybody is having the Korean craze, from the drama series to fashion to gadgets to language. OK. I'm no fashionita or techy so I'm gonna get a point to somewhere I mastered more or less. A lot of people had been murdering the Korean language, blame it to ignorance, mistranslation in subtitles and habitual use. So today let us start the new year with an improved knowledge on Hanguk-mal (hanguk: korea; mal:language). First, one must know that each Korean character (called Hangul) has an equivalent English letter in the alphabet. Therefore mispronunciation starts from this confusion because more often an English translation is misspelled thus changing the way it is spoken. 

Here are the commonly used/mispronounced Korean words by foreign speakers.

1. Ramen

    Correct spelling: ramyeon (ramen is a general term for a noodle originating from Japan, when talking about an instant noodle in South Korea you are 

    actually referring to ramyeon)

2. Unni

    Correct spelling: eonni (should be used only by a younger girl when calling an older female)

3. Nuna (should be used only by a younger boy when calling an older female)

4. Hyung 
  Correct spelling: hyeong (should be used only by a younger boy when calling an older male)

5. Oppa (should be used only by a younger girl when calling an older male; may also be a form of endearment by couples but not all the time)

When to use "yo", "imnida", "imnika"?

Korean language is similar to Japanese, where there are terms to signify different levels of honor. All the time, yo, imnida and imnika is used by anybody when talking to someone older regardless of sex or even with a 1 year gap.

"Yo" is the same as "imnida" but it is more friendly and less formal but still tags respect. It is often used by students when talking to a professor they are very comfortable with, to a freshman talking to his senior or when talking to a street vendor (e.g. Annyeonghaseyo) "Yo" could also be used when asking questions. For example, olmayeyo (how much)?

"Imnida" on the other hand is used when talking in front of the class, when attending a conference, when talking to the university president, to a politician or to someone you first met (e.g. Annyeonghashimnikka). "Imnikka" has the same degree with imnida but only used when asking questions and is found at the end of the sentence. (For example, Myot (what) shi (time) imnikka (is it)?

   

3 things to do in Jeju Island

So far, the travel experience to Jeju Island was my best. I can't believe reading the results of the new 7 wonders of the world. Somehow I felt proud to have gone to one of the 7. It's quite sad tough, the irony of life strikes hard. Been in the Philippines most of my life but never been to the underground river of Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Well, looking back, conditions had been more favorable for a Jeju adventure. It was winter and our university's training ship was off to Jeju for the maritime student's monthly drill. I was lucky to rode for free plus the meal which was more like of a naval taste.

To be biased about it, Jeju is one, if not the most, beautiful place in South Korea. I bet Koreans agree with me on this. In fact it is favorite among drama and movie directors alike. It has a very windy summer, array of flowers during spring, pronounced deep blue waters during autumn and a mixture of everything during winter. A complete Jeju experience could be best defined by three things.

Of all places in the country, Jeju-do (as Koreans call it) is relatively warmer during winter because it is positioned lowest. We took off at Seogwipo, the part of Jeju where the falls and large stone formations were. It had numerous displays of a statue called "hareubang" which means grandfather (to-do number 1). We only had a map, a good walking shoes and a camera to keep the memories. We were clueluess about the rest. We did not plan where to sleep, where to eat, in fact we did not know anything. We were asking questions all the time and that was the key for any carefree expidition.

After walking around, we decided to ride a bus off to Jeju City which is the center for most of the activities in the island. We were strolling in the biting winter until sunset. We decided to take a taxi and asked the driver to take us to any public bathhouse. Things like these are not dangerous to do in South Korea, especially in Jeju where people are generally friendly and crime rate is zero. Like most wandering Koreans, we warmed ourselves into the hot pools of the bathhouse and slept to regain energy for the next day's adventure. When we checked out early in the morning, we found snow scattered all over the streets and Halla-san (the highest mountain in the country excluding that of North Korea) was pure white. From Jeju City, we took a bus and visited some historical village at the foot of Hala Mountain. Unluckily, it was closed for renovation, which left us wandering again. We were walking for more than 2 hours until we decided to make a detour in a remote tangerine farm (this should be second on your list). Our pure intent were only to take pictures but to our surprise the owners handed two bags full of tangerine. We had too much tangerine on that day, believe it or not up to now I feel as if I had enough tangerine for the rest my life.

We were on our way back to Seogwipo, exhausted and cold as we finally head home. We got a second surprise. We found a horse ranch and the scene was simply irresistible. Lots and lots of horses and lots and lots of snow. The place was bright all over, we were so overwhelmed. The place was very quite, it was just us and the horses. We were busy making some snowman when suddenly we lost track of our tangerine. Just in the nick of time we saw notorious crows munching on our precious citrus. My friend ran as fast as he could to scare them away but the ground was so slippery with ice. He decided to take a handful of snow on the ground and throw right at the fiery birds. I followed him instantly but I was useless. I could not help myself from laughing out loud over our ill fated tangerine. Lucky day for us, those crows only managed to have a few and left us with still a half full bag of the seedless fruit. 

Later that day we found ourselves chasing the bus, hoping to catch up with the training ship. We can't afford to be left behind. Our 2 day ramble had mostly long hours of walking, very few gobbles with food and a whole sense of the unknown. Jeju is quite small and buses are available in an hourly bases. The population is not large, very few establishments and the rest is beauty. I will definitely go back, very soon.

Eat like Koreans do

A typical Korean meal is composed of rice, the main dish (which is usually meat) and lots and lots of side dishes termed as "pan chan" (반찬). We were on our way to Busan to attend the gala night of World Ocean Forum. It was past noon so we decided to munch on food available in one resto at the bus terminal. We had 5 side dishes mainly composed of beans, radish, lettuce and one leafy vegetable each picked differently. 

Contrary to common knowledge, kimchi does not only refer to pickled lettuce. In fact the word "kimchi" means "pickled" itself. This means there could also be types of kimchi other than lettuce. The fifth side dish was the soup which is often considered a side dish too. Last August 2009, I went to the countryside of Anda and experience the traditional "chuseok", also called as thanksgiving day. My labmate's mother stated that historically,  Korean side dishes are usually picked using chopsticks while spoon is exclusively used for rice and soup. Modern practice uses chopsticks for rice too. Korea's chopstick are unique because they are made of metal and flattened, opposite to the round and wooden chopsticks of the Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese.

According to my Professor, Koreans suffered a lot during the 19th century. During this time people barely eat and life expectancy was very short. To make up for the hard times, the all new extravagant Korea made each meal into a feast. The many side dishes made them feel they eat like the kings. Since they are served to people in excess, most of these are wasted indiscriminately. There had been notions by the government to pass an ordinance to minimize the pan-chan served in restaurants, food shops and the like. Food establishments worry that costumers may give negative feedback, thinking they were not served right. This lifestyle became a tradition up to the present. Maybe Korea has little to worry since solid waste management is prioritize in the country. Part of the scheme is a heavy out pour of funds on bioethanol production. The solid waste management lab in  MMU, a lab next to ours, was doing the exact thing. My friend used to gather food waste from the school cafeteria. Ingenuity indeed.

71: Into the Fire

I always thought that PS I Love you was the best movie of all time, the setting was perfect, the story was perfect. I cried my heart out watching that movie, feeling the imperfect yet undying love of Holly and Gerry. Until last night I watched 71: Into the Fire  (also known as 보화 속으로) and found myself in a fetal position sobbing. I downloaded this movie last summer but never paid attention because it appealed to be dragging in the beginning. This Korean movie was released June 16, 2010 which became a major box office hit and had a gross revenue of around $20 million.  

It was based from a real-life story of 71 student soldiers who defended the Pohang Girl's Middle School and slowed down the advance of North Korea soldiers for 11 hours. The fact that they were student soldiers, they lack the skills and war tactics. The 71 soldiers were lead by Oh Jung-bom which was played by the Bigbang rapper TOP who had only been to the real combat once.

The rest were teenagers, untrained men and few criminals who wished to see a real battle. Kwon Sang Woo played the role of Kap-Jo whose parents were killed by communists and chose to live a life without regard. Cha Seun-won played as Park Mu Rang,  commander of North Korean forces who wishes to advance to the Nakdong River. Colonization of the Nakdong river spells the end of South Korea and is therefore on top priority. Most of the South Korean troops and its American allies defended the river, leaving the 71 student soldiers all by themselves. 

For me endings are as important as beginnings because it could either spoil or stride the movie and I think I just saw the most heart-warming ending. It's all embedded in my head now. I must say TOP was the most impressive because he was the most amateur in terms of acting but he kicked himself gracefully. The picture shown below was a tear jerker, watch to movie and find out why.