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Hi. I never imagined this happening. I am talking about the  #occupywallstreet protest in the U.S. And not about the protest itself, but about how the NYPD police react to this. Given that the freedom of speech is a protected right over there, I think, the police should help the protestors voice their opinion in a peaceful manner. Instead, if some protestors' claims are true, the policed tricked them on the Brooklyn bridge  so that they violate the law. Hundreds are arrested as a result. hmmm... hope this is not true. Anyway, the mainstream of society doesn't usually want a revolution. They rather want gradual changes. So this protest may not get a big support from the majority. 1987 is the most important year in the history of democracy in South Korea. That year we achieved the direct election of the president after so many years of tyranny. And the victory was possible only when the tens of thousands of office workers join the protest. We called them " 넥타이 부대 (necktie ...

Hi. I have been living in an English speaking country for about ten years now. But the language barrier is still high. I tried to pick the best way to say something before I open my mouth, however too often I sound awkward. So I understand when other people make similar mistakes. I trust their good intention. Like today, someone whose English is not very good asked me "Are you still working?" after saying hi. I assumed she was asking if I worked today. It was a lot better than hearing someone asking me "Are you still single??" out of nowhere. :) Today, someone asked me on facebook how to say "What do you do for a living?" And I was trying to think of the most safe expression for most situations. What do you do for a living? 하시는 일이 뭐에요? 하시는, hasinun, polite form of 하다 meaning do 일이, yli, work or job + suffix 뭐에요, muoeyo, what is it 하시는 일이 뭐에요? hasinun yli muoeyo 하시는 일 means "work that you do" with politeness because of -시- variatio...

Hi. Sometime ago, I was thinking why I hadn't been reading much in the last few years. Having thought of the reason seriously, after a while, it became obvious. I wasn't reading because I didn't have a Amazon Kindle. Who reads paper books these days?! ( Borders closed ) I ordered a Kindle the next day and it arrived within a few days. I loved it. I "downloaded" a bunch of "e-books" immediately. And I loved it more! Since I don't like my gadgets being scratched, I decided to buy a cover for my Kindle as well. I went to amazon.com and browsed the covers. There were many at different prices with some covers as expensive as $125! A $125 cover to protect a $139 device? If I bought that one, I would need to get another cover to protect the cover. It was definitely much more than I needed. That is way more than needed. 배보다 배꼽이 더 크네요! 배보다, baeboda, belly + suffix for comparison 배꼽이, baeggobi, belly button + suffix 더, duo, more 크네요, kneyo, big 배보...

Hi there. I am following news in IT industry as part of my job. Recently, patent lawsuits are increasing a lot between mobile phone makers namely, Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, HTC and so on. At this point, no one seems to be completely innocent because they are suing each other. Some months ago, Apple sued Samsung claiming that the offender copied their unique form factor, a black square with rounded corners to be blunt. What do other companies have to do not to copy black square form factor? A phone of a yellow triangular shape? Anyway, later one claimed that Apple had manipulated the evidence so that Samsung products look more like theirs. Hmm... Isn't that mean, or what? That is really petty. 정말 치사하네요. 정말, jeongmal, really 치사하네요, chisahaneyo, petty/mean/shameful (치사하다) 정말 치사하네요. jeongmal chisahaneyo. 치사하다 is to accuse someone for being mean or petty.  To say someone is acting petty, you can say "치사하게 굴다". Here, "-게 굴다(gulda)" means acting...

Hi. I went to university in Korea when there were a lot of anti-government activities among students. I was never that political before but somehow I got involved heavily. During the summer of the second year, there was a massive protest in Seoul. It went on for three days and we were roaming about the city to avoid the police. The event ended without a big drama but our luck ran out there. On the way to our hometown, we all fell asleep on a chartered bus. And when we woke up, the bus was conveniently parked in front of a police station. D'oh!! All of us were arrested and sentenced to a few days in cells at the back of the police station. I was locked up for five days and it was enough to feel what it was like to loose freedom. I still remember the freshness of the air when I got released. And I swore to God that I would never do anything that could risk my freedom again. Never! But then, news like this  (constructing a military base on a tourism island and suppressing people who w...

Hi. When I was a little girl, I fell sick quite often. Sometimes I had more serious conditions like pneumonia but most of the time, I was just weak. My skin complexion was pale and any physical activities were out of question. It wasn't all depressing though. There were some funny moments because of my lousy health. I remember one day when I was in fourth or fifth grade. That day, one boy was teasing me a lot and it got one of my friends really angry. My friend pushed the boy hard and yelled at him. "Stop teasing her! She is going to die soon!"... I was like O.o "Thanks dear, but I didn't know that I was going to die..." I don't remember who she was any more. If I did, I would love to meet her and say that I still exist. :) What do you mean that I die?! 내가 죽기는 왜 죽어요?! 내가, nega, I 죽기는, jukginun, dying (죽다) 왜, whe, why 죽어요, jugoyo, do I die? 내가 죽기는 왜 죽어요?! nega jukginum whe jugoyo?! 죽다 and 죽기 is kind of the same relationship as die and dy...

Hi. I have been learning a lot about a compassionate lifestyle in the last year or so. I read a lot of books, saw many spiritual teachers including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, went to retreats, did a lot of meditation, became a vegetarian(except a few occasions including tonight), and made quite a lot of donations to various organisations. I was helping others as much as I can but I was still carrying a big bag of guilty feelings. And the reason was, because I haven't been sending letters to the child that I am sponsoring through World Vision. World Vision send Christmas cards, birthday cards to me and all I need to do is write something and send it off in the enclosed return envelope. But still I managed to put it off to miss the deadline for the last couple of years. I don't know how to describe the feeling when I got her Christmas card last year. I felt shame, guilt, frustration and anger towards myself. It was terrible. Thankfully, World Vision was kind enough to give me a...