See You

        Tomorrow is the last day of STEP BEYOND. I remember a day before the first day of the camp. I was excited and little nervous. I wanted to do my best and learned whatever that could change my life positively. Now, I am not sure about the improvement of my English skill, but I know that I got a lot of good friends, and I became more comfortable with English. Also, I got to know my weakness of English, so after going back to Busan, I will fill holes. I am thankful for all of your kindness, and I enjoyed your aspiration to English a lot. We have different majors, so I can't expect meetings as much as thesedays. However, we can make a appointment frequently. I hope you had good days and good luck. See you.

        Especially to Erika, thank you very, very much about your passion and generous. I think your classes were the best. I want to take your class in coming-semester too. I promise that I will do better than this time. In addition, I wish you have a good time on your vacation next month.

Au Naturel

         Before answering the first question, I want to let you know that I am a anti of GMO food. However, if changing plants were proved to be safe, I would like to change a part of a strawberry. I love strawberry, but there's a one thing that I don' like. That is a crown of strawberry. It really bother me when I am biting strawberry. Because of these green crowns, I can't eat strawberries at one bite. I think it's decrease my satisfaction of strawberries. I need strawberries that eliminating crowns.

        I think both question 2 and 3 are difficult to answer. I've never thought about animal cloning with ethics. I was just surprised how science and technology are developed. However, if human cloning is not right, I think that logic should be applied to animals. Someone might say, humans are more intelligent than animals, so humans must be respected and animals not to be. It does not make sense. Humans are also animal and animals also alive lives that must be respected as humans.

Wings of Typhoon

        In Korea, we can usually watch news about flood. However, I've never experienced any horrible disaster, so I don't really get scared. Of course, I feel pity of disaster victims when I see a news about them. Since I was born, I have lived in Busan but never lived near the beach. There were no tsunami. However, every summer, typhoon come to Busan. It's not harsh as much as foreign news's disasters, but still strong wind and heavy rain attacked people. When I was in elementary school, a big typhoon came to Busan, a name was Memi. It hit the whole city very hard. At first, I didn't consider it seriously and I thought it just annual general typhoon. However, windows started to shaking. It became worse and worse then the body of a apartment started to shake. I knew that buildings can shake, and it protects from break. However, I was scared when the apartment was shaking like a swing. I was living at the top of a apartment, so the movements were the worst. Also, I thought it could be collapsed like a wooden chopsticks by shaking. Suddenly, all the lights in the city went out, and I experienced real darkness. I was really surprised, and I couldn't control my emotion. I made a little fuss, and I expected my parents would be worried about me and tried to make me calm down. However, they got angry and scolded me because they thought I was old enough, but I didn't keep calm and acted like a child. Actually, I was a child, but after that I regained my composure quickly. I was little embarrassed, but I understood it was emergency. I could hear other houses' windows were breaking by wind, and the lights didn't work. It took a long time to be finished, and my family had to sleep at center of living room all together for being away from windows.

Dreams Need Money

        There is my dream plan if I get a great deal of money. First of all, I would bank a billion won, and I would live with its' interest for food, clothes, and taxes. Second, I would invest the most of money in some interesting performing arts businesses that can affect to me and other people for living affluent lives. For example, I would make my own businesses in movie industry, performing industry, and Korean traditional instrument industry. In movie and performing industry, I would like to discover unknown talented people and help them to achieve their dreams. I would like to support restoration of Korean traditional instruments financially. For instance, there are lots of beautiful traditional instruments in Korea such as bipa and walgeum. After restorations, I would do my best to make the instruments to become popular in the world. Lastly, I would buy a broad area and built my gorgeous house that is designed by myself. In addition, I would buy some farms of tangerines, peaches, and strawberries and raise them in organic. Some extra fruits would be provided for free to the poor.

Helpful Help

         I'm going to introduce you about my meaningful experiences. From middle school, school has required volunteer career. When I was in middle school, I usually volunteered at a post of office near by my home. However, I couldn't find a purpose of volunteer. It made me feel that I was just wasting of my time and energy. I didn't think that is worthy. Therefore, I grew a dream of volunteer that is really helpful for other people. A chance came to me in the summer, my first grade of high school. There was a camp that is running by a disabled welfare facility. I participated in that camp with one of my close friend. I received a education about disability generally, and then I helped mentally retarded people for few days. I helped their eating, walking, and washing. It was very tough work, but I impressed of these new experiences. I kept thinking about them for several days. That thought came over to me, and it made me considering what I am. For a long time, I was stuck at somewhere in my head, but I'm not telling you it was bad. I'm sure it affected to me for a good way.

        Next year, I joined in a volunteer club. Therefore, on weekends, I had two kinds of volunteers for kids in need. First, I was in charge of one kid who has some difficulties. She was second grade of elementary school, but she was different from other same age kids. She had a mental problem, so she couldn't follow her class. Also, her family has a financial difficulty. I worked hard to make her read and calculate properly. I felt like I became Sullivan. I had to wait with patience, and I had to rid myself of greed. Although, I thought I was a master of patience, it took a long time to be comfortable. However, each time I saw her developments, I received huge overwhelming rewards.

        Second, I volunteered at a child welfare facility. I took care of about 30 kids for more than 5 hours. I played with them under the hot sun and helped preparation of meals. It sounds easy, but after those activities, I couldn't do anything except sleeping. However, during the time with the kids, I felt very happy innocently. They acted like little cute evils, but they were angels. I love them, and I missed them a lot.

        These three kinds of volunteers gave me all the different lessons. Also, they made me grew up with balance and deep depth. I thankful for these precious experiences, and I hope it help me to be a big plate that can put the world in.

A Manager of Your Body

         Have you ever raise a pet in cyber? You feed it, take it a walk, and put it to sleep. Sometimes, you inject for it's health. All of these caring are easy for us because they show us the amount of needs. How about applying these system to human in reality? If we know the requirements of nutrition, sleep, and exercise and just follow the information, our lifes are going to be easy. Here is a expecting someone's day-life who uses that system.

        Getting up from my bed, I check my one-day needs. It includes needs of nutrition, exercise, and sleep. In the nutrition part, you can choose food and organize your day diet to be correctly with day amount of calorie and nutrition. Next, I check the exercise that I should do today. Today's exercise schedule insists of swimming for 1 hour and aerobic for 40 minutes. After a day, I check a need of sleep, and I set a alarm.

        Isn't it cool? You don't have to worry about obesity, adult disease, and tiredness at all. This system will prevent you from all these kind of your health's enemy. There are many people who want to be in well-being. However, they are too busy to take care of their body carefully. With this system, it will be much more easier than before. Therefore, this system would be new trend of the future.

Become What You Believe

         Adults are not superpeople. They can make some mistakes like children. Nevertheless, they are separated from children because they are responsible of what they do. Even a fifteen years old girl could be a adult, if she takes a responsibility and people around her watch her with trust. I think Quinceanera perform a role that gives official approval she choose her life by herself.

        In Korea, every third Monday of May, coming-of-age ceremony is held for celebrating twenty years old people. Next year, people born in 1992 will be celebrated on this day. They are congratulated by their family and friends for becoming adults. Also, they get some gifts from their parents or lovers. Usually, a present consists of flowers, a perfume, and a kiss. However, after that ceremony, Koreans still depend on their parents for money. I think the ceremony in korea is held for fun just like a Valentine's Day.

My Day in Seoul

         My birthday was in the week before the last week. It's 6th of January. My family doesn't care of anniversary, so we don't have a party and don't eat any special food such as sea mustard soup or cake. Usually, I meet my friends and receive some gifts from them. It sounds little boring. I came Seoul for English camp. In Seoul, I don't have any friends to meet, so I just expected some congratulation text message from my friends. However, on the last birthday, I had a very good time. I didn't have any plan on my birthday, and I wanted to keep quiet to my cousin. Accidently, my cousin and her husband knew my birthday, and they thought 18th birthday is very important. Also, they didn't want me to pass the day with no meaningful event. They prepared beef steak for me and invite my uncle, Sung여. He lived in Itaewon, Seoul. First, they sang a birthday song for me. Then we ate some salads and well cooked steak. It was really delicious. With great meals, we talked about a lot of things. Also, my cousin gave me a surprise present.

Freeze Break

        On Thursday, I went Inchon Airport to say goodbye to one of my best friends, Sora. We knew each other since elementary school. When we were in middle school, she went to Canada for study. At that time, I did so mean to her, and I even didn't meet her when she was leaving. That stupid memory always pressed me. Last Thursday, I have an opportunity to make up my past fault. However, there was a third period left. I had a conflict between a class and a friend, but I chose Sora. That's because I don't want to be sorry for her and don't want to regret for a long time. Until now, I believe that was a right choice completely. She was supposed to go through the departure process and had a tons of baggage. If I were she and alone, I would feel very sad and feel like be in the middle of the desert. I appreciate that I was helpful for her last day of Korea.

        On Friday, I catched up some sleep until noon. Then I ate budaejjigae with my cousin's husband. It was little funny, because budaejjigae is the kind of soup that was popular at the Korean War, and he is American soldier. At midnight, my cousin's sister, Jaebin came from Ulsan. I was really glad to see her. She told me a awful story that she experienced. She took a escalater at a substation in Seoul. It was a steep slope, and she wanted to look down. Surprisinly, there was a man who took photos the inside of her skirt with his cell phone. She wanted to take him to the police, but he ran away quickly.

        On Saturday, I and Jaebin went to Myeongdong to meet her friends. I didn't know them at all, but we had a good time though it was so cold. I ate ricecombo and seafood shabu shabu at restarants in Myeoungdong and drank white tea at Caffebene. I tasted white tea for the first time, and I failed.  Also, we did a crazy thing. We did skating at the outside of City Hall square. It was freezing cold, but also it was a unusual fun though I complained of arthritis after skating.

        On Sunday, I got up late and I ate a big brunch at a restaurant in army with my cousins and a brother in law. I ate a lot of various western food such as a peice of turkey, a eggs benedict, and a waffle with strawberry jam. They were not familiar to me but all of them was so delicious. I loved to eat them.

Talk Play Love, The Play

        I am going to introduce one of my high school clubs I joined. Before I entered a highschool, I had some plans for my high school life. Joining in a play club was one of them. However, my high school was a new born high school, so there was no senior and no club. I had to make a play club by myself. All of my friends said that it was a ridiculous idea but I was brave. Luckly, at a student union, I met a partner who was interested in making a play club. Then, we searched for a teacher who could help us and we made our play club, The Play. It was easy to recruit new members, because many students wanted to enjoy their high school lifes with something unique activity. After recruitment, we started to prepare for our school festival, Wonhwa Festival. We choose a script that deals with some problems of high school students and we rewrite the script. I took a role that is a high school boy, a trouble maker. During the busy for school schedule, we couldn't practice perfectly. Therefore, I really worried about the play, and I didn't invite my family and friends at all. I think other members felt fear same as me. Until the day of right before the festival, we practiced hard, and I couldn't sleep well because of stress. However, we played successfully at Wonhwa Festival, and we received an ovation thankfully. Also, The Play became popular and I got a special nickname, Terius. After festival, we went to a restaurant and we celebrated ourselves.

We are having a curtain-call. Can you find me? I am wearing a fake short blond hair.

We had a lot of fun at the closing party. I couldn't put off the fake hair untill I got home, so it was

so itchy.

        We became third grade and we had two years juniors. Recently, they played a their own play at Wonhwa Festival under the name of The Play. I hope my juniors make The Play continue to exist and develope it. Also, I wish they have a lot of fun and enjoy their school lifes through that club.

Flat Fish Sashimi

        My favorite dish is a flat fish sashimi. I have never seen a alive flat fish, but I have seen sliced of raw flat fish many times. Near my home, there is a restaurant which is specialized in flat fish sashimi. I usually go there with my family when I want to eat sashimi. I have eaten almost all kinds of sashimi in Busan, but I think flat fish sashimi is the best. It is sliced longer than other kinds of sashimi, and it's length is about 10centimeter. Also, you can chew some thin bones of it, but they are not too solid. Therefore, you can chew it with dynamic texture. For appetizer, steamed eggs and sea mustard soup with shellfish. I always eat steamed eggs in a hurry, so I am scald my tongue. Flat fish sashimi really get along with sesame leaves and ssamjang. Also, we eat a fish stew and rice after sashimi. It is a common course in Korea. For dessert, fish eggs fried is served, and even I hate fried food, it taste really good. Before I came to Seoul, I had eaten these dishes approximately more than once a month. However, I am in Seoul, and I think sashimi restaurants are rare in this area. When I go back to Busan next month, I would eat flat fish sashimi at first.

Cappadocia

         In Busan, there is a islamic restaurant, Cappadocia, next to a mosque. I went there with my mother last year. All cooks are Turkish and interior design is exotic. I think decorations came from Turkey. I was so excited to experience new culture and dishes. And it didn't disappoint me. It was really great. For appetizer, I ate broccoli soup and some breads, ekmek. At first, broccoli soup tasted really strange and little bit salty, but it was fit with ekmek. Main dish was lamb kabob which is pieces of lamb and some vegetables with stick. I ate it with a bread, lavash. It looks very big, but inside of it, it has air, no bread. I tore lavash, and put a piece of kabob in that, and ate together. Before I ordered, a waitress had warned about a smell, and she said it might be disgusting to some Koreans. However, it suited my taste and I didn't smell any odd. After main dish, I ate pudding, sutlac and Turkish red tea. The sutlac was really interesting. It is white and looks like other puddings. However, you can chew some rices because it's made of milk and rice. If you go to Busan, try these Islamic dishes. You would experience that you never have.

 

Short Vacation

         On this past weekend I really enjoyed my short vacation. On Friday night, I was at home and suddenly one of my friends called me. He said he was at Seoul Station waiting for a train and there are plenty of time to see me. We haven't met for a long time so I was very glad to see him. Also, he made me feel so comfortable and we had a very good time. When we have to say goodbye, I was so sad, and now, I missed him a lot.

        Next day, I went to Dr.Park Gallery in Yangpyeong. I've really wanted to go to that gallery for a long time, but I couldn't go to Yangpyeong from Busan just for a gallery. However, I didn't know it's also hard to go to there from Seoul. I thought it would be close to Seoul but it was not. It took me about more than three hours to go to that gallery. Also, it was really freezing in Yangpyeong, and what was worse, it was snowing. Anyway, I arrived at Dr.Park Gallery before the close time. I enjoyed many paintings. It was really great. Especially, a painting really impressed me that woman is standing next to a blue car and drawing her hair when the skies are colored by the setting sun.

        Finally, on the last day of my vacation, I watched 'Battle B-boy' at Hongdae with my cousin and her husband. In show, they didn't speak at all, but they show us their situations and emotions only with dancing. Also, combination of b-boying and Korean traditional dancing was really interesting. After a show, I could take pictures with b-girls and b-boys. Also, when we got to home, we had a samgyeopsal party at home. Before that samgyepsal party, I had no idea with grilled green papers and fried garlics. I was shocked about that. I think fried garlics are better than grilled garlics. It was really delicious. If you haven't tried that, try it.

Ssam and Sweat, SSAMDDAM

        I would like to introduce my company, 'ssamddam'. About six months ago, I was tired of everyday studying. So, I did other many things at school's self-studying time. I watched a lot of movies and dramas and drew somethings. Also, I usually read books and newspapers, because it made me feel I was learning but it was not study for a test.

        One day, I got a lot of newspapers from a teacher's office and I was reading them. Suddenly, one advertisement came into my eyes. It was advertisement of Busan Sightseeing Advertising UCC Competition. At that times, I was really interested in advertisement but I was not sure for University. But I saw that advertisement and I thought it was great opportunity to experience. Luckly, there is one of my best friends, Boram, who is interested in media as me. She and me made ssamddam and got two more friends who wanted to help us. Then, we had four members for ssamddam and we had many idea meetings. Sometimes, we had some conflicts between differences of opinion, but we could get through problems with a lot of conversation. After we decided a continuity, we went around all over the city, Busan. We went Haeundae Beach, of course, and also we went Sajik Baseball Ground, Jagalchi Market, and Gwangalli Beach. It was very fun. Especially, watching a baseball game at Sajik Baseball Ground was really exciting. I hope you watch Lotte Giants' baseball play at Sajik, Busan. Anyway, we complete a pretty good UCC, 'Be Dynamic!', and we won a prize. Also, we won one more prize for another UCC competition before the College Scholastic Ability Test.

        The pictures above are captures of 'Be Dynamic!'. A girl in the pictures is a main character of this UCC. Her name is Eunhwa. Also, she is one of my best friends and ssamddam's members.

        This picture is at the awards ceremony. You can see all members of ssamddam. From left, Boram, Jinhyung, me, and Eunhwa.

        I want to run this company as long as possible. We drank a bitter cup at recent UCC competition, but I am sure we can produce good results at other competitions in the future.

Blood Types Tame Korean

In Korea, stereotypes of blood types are very popular. People trust that blindly. My blood type is AB. People believe that AB type people are geniuses or idiots. People say that they are visionary, fastidious, projective, analytical, and calm. But, they can’t do two things at once and they are insensitive. Also, they have an excellent understanding, a cool-headed, and a high self-esteem. I think those are close to my personalities. However, I do not believe blood types decide human's personalities. All explanations above almost fit with my personalities, but that's because I am tamed by those definitions. Since childhood, I have heard about blood types' personalities and naturally I have followed those rules. Even, I wanted to be a perfect AB type person for no reasons. There is another interesting example. My younger brother has also AB type blood. However, the other family mistaken his blood type when he was a child. Then, when he acted like a shy boy (people believe A type person is shy), we told him like "Oh, you just like A type!" As time passed, his introspective nature became stronger. Thus, I believe people, especially Korean, are following their blood type’s characteristics.

However, if there are 4 type guys in front of me and each of them follow each blood type’s personalities, I will choose O type. O type's personalities are humorous and optimistic.

Relation between Faces and Characteristics

             My face looks like a round face but that's because I got a lot of weight. Originally, I have a pointed chin. Although I do not have a narrow forehead, I chose the diamond type. I hope the diamond face is the closest shape to my face. The article describes that people with diamond faces are warm but they have a strong will. It’s not describing my personality accurately. Usually I am warm, but sometimes I am changed to a cold-hearted person. Moreover, I have a very weak will. I do not do something for a long time. I can be sick of things easily. However, I should do something that I want to do. 
Another example, one of my friends has a round face. The book says she is very intelligent and she prefers to work with her brain instead of her body. Also, it says she is confident and usually lives a long life. In fact, she is very smart and she wants to get a job that needs high intelligence. Until here, it seems correct. However, she is shy rather than confident.  I can't conform she has a long life or not because she is alive.

I think there are no relations between type of face's shape and personality. Basically one's personality is very complex so it's hard to predicate. Sometimes it's changed to the opposite and sometimes one person has both different sides of characteristics. Also, there are more shapes of faces than eight types.

Smart People

Gene affects intelligence, of course. However, not only gene but also environment affects a lot. Moreover, I believe environment is much more effective than gene. I have a good example for supporting my opinion. When I was in middle school, there is a twin. They really looked like same. That means their genes are almost same. However, they are exposed to different environment. One of them (A) started hanging around with bad students. They just made trouble and didn't study at all. However, the other (B) was not really good at study but she did her best. Finally, B could go to an academic high school and A couldn't attend. If A was exposed to good students and she did study, the situation was probably changed. 

Introducing Myself

I am going to introduce myself to you. My name is Yewon Lee. I am from Busan, the warmest city of Korea. For Step Beyond Winter Camp, I came Seoul last night and I live with my cousin now. My cousin is very kind and I am really thankful for her hospitality. I am supposed to major in Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering. However, I am not good at math and I do not like it. I prefer watching dramas, movies and plays than calculating. Last Christmas, I saw a musical 'Hwa Rang' with my friends in Busan and it was my first time to see a musical. It was very good. I expect to see a lot of plays and musicals in Seoul.