Meme

Learned a new word tonight, "meme". It's kindda hard to explain, watch the amazing video to understand more. Plus, Tim's proposal is a tear jerker. The couples are both Malaysian bloggers by the way, perhaps one of the coolest fellas I've seen on the internet. Song by Christina Perri, A Thousand Years which also happens to be the OST for Breaking Dawn. So let's get inspired, much love :)

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.

The Secret World of Arrietty

Hayao Miyazaki is a living legend. Who knows better than Studio Ghibli and Disney? Since 1984 he has showered us heart warming stories and explicit animation. The last film he wrote and directed for Studtio Ghibli is Ponyo. Among all creations of Hayao, Ponyo will always be my favorite character. I think Ponyo is the epitome of the Japanese expression 'kawai' (かわいい) which means cute.  One of the most recent Hayao masterpeice is The Secret World of Arrietty although it is sometimes called The Borrower Arrietty. Just to emphasize, this film was writtend and produced but not directed by Hayao. Unlike Ponyo, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service and many others which are both written and directed by him.

The story of this 2010 film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi revolves around the girl named Arrietty who is living in a not-so-different world together with his mother and father. Their species are in danger of speedy disappearance so extra precaution not to be seen by humans must be taken. However a little boy named Sho sees Arrietty in the lawn for the first time and thus the journey begins. It is also called Borrower Arrietty because these small creatures often borrow tangibles from humans such as sugar, tissue and the like. Arrietty's first borrowed material was a pin which she showed off to her mother. All this time the family thought they were the only ones left, turns out there are others living in some distant land. Perhaps I had expected too much on this film, something as adventurous as magical and adventurous as other Hayao films. I must say the climax of the film was not clearly highlighted. I was neither able to see depth nor the complexity. To top it all, for me Spirited Away remained on the top list among all Hayao animations and Ponyo will and forever will be, the cutest.