Thursday, August 30, 2007

People of Korean Folk Villages


Acrobats show their skill on a teeter-totter, throwing the other into the air where they do flips or other moves.














Farmer Ribbon Dancers showed some acrobatic ability as well as synchronized dancing. A ribbon fastened to their hats trailed behind gracefully. People watched from around a small enclosed arena.

Horses were a big part of early Korean lives. Some riders showed their acrobatic ability.

In this early society men were often entertained by women as dancers or musicians. Others showed their talents as pottery makers. Below is a man who walks on a single tightrope doing simple acrobatics.





A big part of Korean life is Kimchi, even today. Below you can see that early Kimchi was prepared in pots and placed in the ground where it fermented.

Today this is done artificially.




The traditional Korean dress is the Hambok. Here you can see the female version of the clothing.

At the gate to the village are placed wooden totems.


Education during this time largely followed Confucian style.

Korean Folk Village

The lives of early Koreans, just like the lives of all early people's was tied to agriculture. Many of the practices of the Koreans resembles that in China and Mongolia, due largely to the connected early histories of the nations.

A small grinding mill for a home, and and early "desk."






Villages were surrounded by walls and homes were primarily lit by what ever sun entered the home.






People's lives were simple. They farmed their fields, made their clothes and followed their religious/superstitious beliefs.







Sunday, August 26, 2007

Day of the Dead




Remembering Ancestors

Ghosts are a big deal in China. You have several rituals or observances that are connected to ghosts. There is the hopping ghost, a ghost who hasn't quite made it to the afterlife.

Thee are countless Chinese movies that deal with ghosts on some level.

Chinese people will sometimes say of ghosts, "If you believe it, there will be, but if you don't, there will not."

Coming up soon is the the Chinese Ghost Festival (you can read the borrowed article near the end, from Wikipedia).

Chongqing, China is a place where tradition has it that this is where hell is at. On Hell Street you can buy ghost masks.

For three days in July people in Japan observe Obon お盆, which once was an ancestor remembrance holiday but has turned into a family reunion time as more people set aside superstition. Obon お盆 was shortened from urabon'e which came from the meaning "hanging upside down in hell."


In Korea there is a tradition that you should not leave your chopsticks sticking up out of your rice. This was sure to draw in old family ancestors who were roaming around the spirit world feeling a little hungry. I don't now much about their festival, but I guess it is not too unlike what you have in China or Japan.

The Chinese Ghost Festival Zhongyuan sounds interesting. A friend of mine told me that recently her mom had her folding up gold paper into the shapes of things and fake paper money in billion RMB denominations. They were also collecting pictures of clothes and expensive appliances.

Her mother is going to burn these things for her parents who have passed away. This should be done in the right attitude and in the right condtions (a sunny day) lest they not be well received by the spirits.

A quick search of the internet found the following article below, detailing the reasons for things and comparing it to the Mexican day of the dead.

My feeling about this sort of thing is that it is a way to remember lost relatives. There are certainly enough people who believe that someone is handing around out there as some sort of a spirit after they have died. Whether I believe doesn't really matter. In my mind observances like this are akin to weddings and funerals and some other passage of life ceremonies. They are often more for the observers of the ceremony than those whom are the subject of the ceremony.

Obviously a funeral or a wake have very little to do with the dearly deceased, and much more to do with people saying goodbye, getting closure. Maybe my views about weddings are a little callous, but if two people love each other the ceremony is just fluff. Mothers and Fathers let go of their families. Friends wish them well and give them a gift to help them start their lives out right. I suppose it is a bit of a stretch to say that a wedding ceremony is not that much for the couple being wed, but only really for the families.

However, I will not bend on the whole ghost thing. I say the only ghosts are in people's minds and in Hollywood.

In Chinese tradition, the thirteen day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called the Ghost Day and the seventh month in general as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower world. During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on the Ghost Day the deceaseds visit with the living. On the thirteen day the three realms of Heaven, Hell and the realm of the living are open, the Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic offering food, and burning of hell money and bags containing cloth to pay homage to the visiting spirits of the ancestors, treating the deceased as if they are still living, elaborate meals would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family. Other festivities may include, burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.

The Ghost Festival shares some similarities with the predominantly Mexican observance of El Día de los Muertos. Due to theme of ghosts and spirits, the festival is sometimes also known as the Chinese Halloween, though many have debated the difference between the two.


I cam across this very interesting little story:

Zhuxi was a famous scholar in the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279). He believed there were no ghosts in the world, so he decided to write an essay "No Ghost." It was said he was a great sage so even ghosts were afraid of him. If he said no ghosts, ghosts could no longer exist. When ghosts knew he was writing the essay, they gathered together to discuss this and decided to send the smartest ghost to entreat him abandon the writing.

So one night, the smartest ghost appeared at Zhuxi's desk and kowtowed towards Zhuxi repeatedly. Zhuxi was surprised and asked:

    "Where comes the ghost? H
    ow dare you disturbing me at night."
    "Yes, I am a ghost, but ..."
    "Why don't you leave and why do you come in my study room?"
    "I am here to entreat ..." replied the ghost.
    "People are in the Yang world and ghosts are in the Yin world. We are in the different worlds so there are no way I can help you."
    "I have very important things to entreat you, Sir."
    "Ok, say it!"
Then the ghost told Zhuxi the reason and beg him to abandon the writing to save them. Zhuxi laughed and said:
    "You, the ghosts have been worshipped in the human world for so long. Isn't the time for you go away all together."
    "We also have good and bad ghosts..."
    "Well, I heard you can do anything. Can you move me to the outside?"
    "Certainly, Sir."
Zhuxi was moved to the outside instantly without even noticing it. Zhuxi was astonished by the ability of ghosts, but was unwilling to say it. Then he asked again,
    "You can move my body. Can you move my heart?"
    "That is impossible to do, Sir." "But we can move things or a person's body so that it proves we exist." "We exist in illusion. If you believe it, there will be, but if you don't, there will not." "Can you say something like that in your essay, Sir?"
Zhuxi felt the words did have some merits so he promised the ghost he would do that. The ghost left happily. Therefore, Zhuxi wrote the words, under the title of the no ghost essay, "If you believe it, there will be, but if you don't, there will not."

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Visa Run to Fukuoka

Living in Korea and needing to go on a "Visa Run."
The process is relatively straight forward. You have to get yourself to Japan. An easy place to go to is Fukuoka, a smallish coastal city which is the closest location to Korea. You can get there one of two ways: ferry boat from Pusan (approx: 200,000 won round-trip) or by Air (approx. 400-450,00o including all the taxes, round-trip from Incheon).

In the past if you had arrived at the consulate before lunch they would process your visa by 3 in the afternoon. However now it can be picked up on the following day at 10 am.

DOCUMENTS NEEDED
You need:
your passport
Your employers certificate of job offer
5400 yen processing fee
A single passport sized photo
The completed application form (gotten from the desk in the consulate)
An address and phone number in Korea

The Subway costs anywhere from 200 to 5-6 hundred yen depending how far you go. The underground area near Tenjin (3 stops from the Tojinmachi) is very nice. It has a lot of shops and restaurants in the case that weather drives you for cover. Taking exit #11 at the Tenjin subway stop and going to floor "b-1" will take you to a currency exchange office of a bank, in case you are funning out of funds. Also, if you go to the "Media Mall" there is an internet bar at the b-1 level. Internet Bars/Cafes are hard to to locate here. There seem to be none anywhere near Tojinmachi.

FILLING OUT THE FORM
The address and phone number is required for the form as well as the entrance slip you fill out when you come to the embassy gate. Be aware, the guard is Japanese, not Korean. Speaking Korean to him seems to annoy him.

GETTING FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE CONSULATE
You will land in the International Terminal in Fukuoka. You must take the shuttle bus (Bus No. 1 picked up right outside the terminal) to the Domestic Terminal. The subway can be gotten at the Domestic Terminal.

You can buy a subway ticket from one of the machines. The machines take 1000 yen bills (the smallest Japanese bill). The subway from the airport to Tojinmachi Subway (see a pdf of the subway map, requires acrobat reader) stop (where the consulate is) will run you 490 yen as of 8/2007. The trip won't take more than 20 or 30 minutes.

Once arriving at the subway station go all the way down to "exit 1/2." Exit 1 exits on the right side of the street and exit 2 exits on the left side of the street.

On the right is a sign. Turn right at the next intersection going toward Seaside Momochi.


When you come out of the subway keep walking directly in the same direction. On the left side of the street about 150 steps is the Haiwadei Hotel. It runs 6,000 yen for a night. The Haiwadei is less than 15 minutes walk from the Korean Consulate. As you continue down the street you will see a traffic sign for the first coming intersection.

At that intersection turn right. Eventually you will want to be on the left side of the street. You will come to the next big intersectionn. At that corner you will see a Shell Gas Station. The Korean Consulate in Fukuoka is directly across the street. If you get there during lunch time the gates will be close and you will have to come after lunch. The day I went only the side gate was open, while the main gate was closed. Be sure to check both.

In the picture above you can see the Korean consulate on the left, behind it the JAL Seaside Resort and to the right, the Yahoo! Dome.
The second picture is from inside the consulate.



Once you've dropped off your paperwork you need to burn some time. Just down about 5 minutes from the JAL Resort Building is a free public beach. You can go for a swim or go buy a drink and lounge on a deck in the shade.

Get your bearings. Looking at the consulate, behind it you can see the JAL Seaside Resort Tower. To the right you can see the Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome (home of the Fukuoka Hawks).

You can go to a baseball game if one is scheduled. A game in the cheap seats will run you 1000 yen. Games are usually, but not always, scheduled in the evenings (Fukuoka Hawks Schedule).

Just across the street from the consulate you will see a building called Wonderland. There are some lockers that you can rent to get ride of things you are carrying around. They have many restaurants near their including a Hard Rock Cafe and a McDonald's.

This is just some information. Look for it to be updated.

A good website to find out about events in Fukuoka is Fukuoka Now
who publishes a monthly events magazine in English and maintains their website.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Japanese Escursion

Fukuoka, Japan. I nice little city.

On a little visit to Japan. Everything seems almost brand new, almost artificial. It was really hot yesterday as well, so most of the people seemed to be out of sight. I got to go to a baseball game which was exciting and interesting. I searched the whole day yesterday to find an internet cafe. I finally found one today. I guess most people have comptuers at home or whatever.
My first impression is that I am at Disney Land or something. I really know almost no Japanese at all so it has been a little challenging. I`ve been able to say thank you and do you speak English, but even then I get puzzled looks half the time. I guess my pronunciation isn`t quite up to snuff.]
Everything is quite expensive here. The cheapest meal you can find here is about 150 yen (9 rmb) for a very poor cup of instant noodles. A fast food meal is the next most affordable. You can get a meal for 580 yen (38 rmb). The baseball game was 1000 yen (66 rmb) for the cheapest seats very far from the actual playing of the game.
A subway ticket runs anywhere from 200 yen to 500 yen to go somewhere like the airport, but taxis are much more expensive and walking gets old really quick. :)

There are several beachs here and so I am going to try to check that out if I have time before I have to get back to the airport tonight.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

(원래) 스위트박스의 (Ash) - Superstar



This is a pretty good version of a somewhat famous song in China, some of you may have heard it. :) You can follow this link to hear the song. There is a video out there somewhere too. I am working on getting the MP3 so you can download. If anyone knows where I can find it, please let me know. I tried to buy the CD but It was unavailable in the three places I went to.

애쉬 한(한수연) (Ash Han), R&B/Pop Solist




Korean version of Superstar
This world is looking for a hero a superstar~
안될꺼야 너는 못할거야
그들은 말했지 (시간 낭비 말라고)
끝난거야 이미 늦은거야
다 소용 없다고 (넌 혼자 이니
까)
전쟁 같은 하루하루 포기하지 않고 가는
너는 hero You are my superstar
새로운 내일은 내가 만든는 거라는
oh 멋진
You are my superstar (yeah yeah)

돌아 보지 않고 달려만 가는 너
모든걸 걸었어 (널 멈출 수가 없어)
두려움 앞에 흔들리지 않는
환한 너의 미소 (세상을 밝켜줘)
전쟁 같은 하루하루 포기하지 않고 가는
너는 hero You are my superstar
새로운 내일은 내가 만든는 거라는
oh 멋진 You are my superstar (yeah yeah)

날개를 활짝 피고서 가져봐
네가 꿈꾸는걸 너는 나의 빛 shining star!
늘 새롭게 또 다시 도전해
기다리고 있어 (네 안에 있는 너를)
어떤 말에도 자유롭길 바래
틀에 묶이지마 (닫힌 세상을 깨)
전쟁 같은 하루하루 포기하지 않고 가는
너는 hero You are my superstar
새로운 내일은 내가 만든는 거라는
oh 멋진 You are my superstar (yeah yeah)
전쟁 같은 하루하루 포기하지 않고 가는
너는 hero You are my superstar
새로운 내일은 내가 만든는 거라는
oh 멋진 You are my superstar (yeah yeah)

English Version of Lyrics

This world is looking for a hero a superstar~
It will not become and to put out you will not be able, well! Oh!
Them end [hayss] [ci] (as waste of time end)
It ends and well! Oh! already it is late, well! Oh!
That there is not a multi use, (it is one person whom it spreads out)
Warfare it is same and it does not abandon day by day not to be, thin you hero You are my superstar
The new tomorrow took out and it made well! oh where is beautiful You are my superstar (yeah yeah)


It does not try to go round it is not and only runs and you who are thin
All it hangs and to walk (the board there is not a possibility of stopping)
It does not shake on the afraid front
Exchange grudge your smile ([palk] it lights the world and it gives)
Warfare it is same and it does not abandon day by day not to be, thin you hero You are my superstar
The new tomorrow took out and it made well! oh where is beautiful You are my superstar (yeah yeah)


The wing widely from the defendant
It will have and it will see and you will dream and you whom you will hang my light shining star!
It increases and to be new also again it challenges,
It will be waiting and (it will be inside you and)
What kind of end Edo freedom [lop] route it fades,
It is not fastened together in the frame E (the world which is shut the sesame)
Warfare it is same and it does not abandon day by day not to be, thin you hero You are my superstar
The new tomorrow took out and it made well! oh where is beautiful You are my superstar (yeah yeah)
Warfare it is same and it does not abandon day by day not to be, thin you hero You are my superstar
The new tomorrow took out and it made well! oh where is beautiful You are my superstar (yeah yeah)


Monday, August 13, 2007

Learn Korean II

学会阅读韩国 II

한국사람을 읽는 것을 배우십시오

See Learning Korean 1


The more you familiarize yourself with the various Korean letters, the easier reading the language will get. Rembember, just think of each letter as a simple conversion from one letter for one Korean symbol.

Some important words to lear are those that have to do with money. The Koran from of money is the won, like Chinese rmb. Unhaeng sounds a lot like yinhang, you might notice. The Korean word for bank is very similar to the word in Chinese.

This is the old 10000 won korean note. The new bill is smaller and green, and the picture of King Sejong looks pretty much the same, bot the bill is much brighter.

10000 won is about $10.75 or about 81 rmb. On the top of the bill, in the center it says, "한국 은행." Under that is "만원." The romanization of the words is, "Hanguk Unhaeng," and "man won." Each syllable here contains three strokes or symbols. You can see the chart to look at the entire korean alphabet romanization. For these three words, these are the letters you need.

ㅎ=h , ㅏ=a ,ㄴ=n (han); ㄱ=g, ㅜ=u, ㄱ=k (guk);

ㅇ=silent, ㅡ=u, ㄴ=n (un); ㅎ=h, ㅐ=ae, ㅇ=ng (haeng).

ㅁ=m, ㅏ=a, ㄴ=n (man); ㅇ=silent, ㅝ=wo, ㄴ=n (won).

Hanguk = Korea/Korean
unhaeng = bank

man = 10000
won = korean money

Happy Korean language learning. That's all for now.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Pics on the Web

图片网站

Using Your Bandwidth Wisely

Coming from someone who loves to surf the internet, let me tell you, pictures are where it's at. Don't get me wrong, I do love words. But throwing up a bunch of text will send people running from your website. It's like reading the old Wall Street Journal. People who read that do so because they want money or are trying to maintain what they have. The Journal didn't need to gloss things up very much. Though in recent years they have discovered color. Probably because of newspapers like The USA Today. Notice on the right, the newer look Journal with images at the top spotlighting stories inside, the shaded text box and a color graph. Big deal you say? On the right you can see an older edition with it's buttoned up look. In the dictionary under "Drab" it says see the Wall Street Journal of old. The USA Today, which (for my international friends) is a satellite delivered national newspaper, delivered around the United States, and only printed Monday-Friday. It is full of color and pictures and all sorts of things that catch your eye and organize your reading. You can see the paper uses much bolder colors. Life can be dreary enough without our help. It used to be that the main reason papers didn't use color (and some still don't) is because of the extra cost in printing. Full color print jobs require four press runs (Cyan-Yellow-Magenta -K-black) to get the effect of the full spectrum of colors. You've heard of a red letter day? This comes from the days when the main story headline in a newspaper was printed not in bold black letters, but in bold red letters. This costly event was saved for such things as VJ-Day or Roosevelt Wins.

Welcome to the age of computers. While the first computers where just white text on a blue or black screen, we are now in the age of color monitors. The first web pages were designed to look like newspapers. You might recognize the characteristics. A headline at the top of the page. Stories often in columns. Links are placed along the top of the page (like the spotlights of further content, something initiated by the USA Today I believe). Interesting additional content is place on the left or right side of the page. This mimics the sidebar story.

So, being that nothing adds color to our lives like color in the form of colorful pictures, my word to you is to use colorful pictures on your blog/websites. It costs nothing more than black text on a white background.


But you say wait a minute. There is a limited amount of memory I am aloud, or there is a limited amount of bandwidth to upload content. Let me click upload, and then go and
fix a cup of coffee while I wait for it to complete. There is something you can do in Photoshop which is a wonderful thing. The folks over at Adobe have done a great job on this program. If you have it then you should use it to its fullest.

I was looking at a photo online. The size online was 167 KB. The photo was placed in a blog where it was just sitting there sucking sweet bandwidth. The person very rightly had adjusted the pixel size of the photo to 72 dpi. This is about as small as you want to go before you picture starts pixelating (spreading out, looking ugly--this is a work despite what Webster's has to day).

The problem was that the picture's original dimension were like 8 inches by 5 inches or something. The HTML code of the page was telling the photo to fit into a space half that siz
e. So, the larger document was being downloaded, then the viewers computer has to resize the picture to fit it into the space. This is just piling on web page load time.

In Photoshop I resized the picture to about 60 percent of the original. That dropped the file sized form 167 KBs down to about 103 KBs.

But that is not the last step. The geniuses over at Adobe have this magic wizard save button. Under the File tab, there is a choice "Save For Web." I think the new Photoshop calls it "Save for Web/Mobile Device" or something like that. Anyway, it is just under the normal "Save," "Save As," "Save Version" choices. Choose this and a working box will open up. You can choose "two up" or "four up," and then decide which version is best for you. Play with the choices and see what you get. This final adjustment reduced the pictures file size to 36 KBs.

Look at the 3 photos on the right. To be honest, at this point I am not sure which is which after moving them around a couple of times, but it doesn't matter. I don't think you can
see a difference. One is the original photo which I simply linked to, another is the 103 KB file, and one is the 36kb file.

The message here is use color, use photos, but do it smartly. Save everybody some bandwidth.


Korean Flash Cards