Second, we are packing along 35 graduation tassels. Come & See Africa operates a Bible school for university students at the National University of Rwanda. On July 24, thirty-five young people will celebrate their graduation. We rent the gowns, hand-make the caps, but we bring the tassels from America.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Preparing to go to Africa
Second, we are packing along 35 graduation tassels. Come & See Africa operates a Bible school for university students at the National University of Rwanda. On July 24, thirty-five young people will celebrate their graduation. We rent the gowns, hand-make the caps, but we bring the tassels from America.
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Monday, June 28, 2010
Block Party
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Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Jeju Island
We sat in a row facing the windows, and looked outside. A man wearing his gear was luring fish with food, and all kind of tiny fish was following him around. The guide told us that the big fish are scared of people, but little ones are not afraid of. They are like humans. We learn helplessness and fearfulness, as we get older. Then we went to the deeper place and saw all kinds of underworld plants and corals. I saw flowers, trees, and vegetations under the water.
We visited Sam Bul Sa. Sam means three in Korean, Bul means Buddha, and Sa means temple. At the temple, we saw thousands of paper lanterns hung around the temple area, preparing for Buddha’s Birthday celebration.
We walked up a winding, steep hill that leads to a cave. Water drops were falling from the ceiling of the cave into a small well, people were lined up to drink water from a common cup. Again, a story tells us that this water is considered to be special. If a woman drinks this water, she will be able to conceive a child. I don’t know what happens if a man drinks this water, or a woman who passed her time to conceive a baby. I was afraid that I would be pregnant at my age, so I didn’t drink it.
There is lots of folklore about woman in this island. One particularly interesting story was about Halla Mountain, which Korean considers it as "Jeju Island is Hallasan; and Hallasan is Jeju." The mountain can be seen from all places on the island, but its peak is often covered in clouds. Any way, a really big old woman lived in this island; she was so big that she used Hallasan as her pillow. When she lay down at night, she used Hallasan as her pillow, and her feet reached to the ocean. She had five hundred sons. One day, she made red bean stew for her sons for supper. As she stirs the stew, she fell into the huge pot, and she died. When her children came back from the field working all day, they ate mom’s delicious stew. When they were full, they start looking for mother. Where is she? Oh, No, they found her at the bottom of the pot. They moan for their mother for so long and hard that they turned into rocks. People can see five hundred human figure rocks lined up in this mountain.
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Labels: Korea
Monday, June 07, 2010
Korea Prospering
It is wonderful to come home and see my friends are prospering. I noticed my friends prefer “made in Korea”. They also claimed that Korea is the most convenient place to live in the world. I believe them. Things are done fast, and even a bowl of soup from a restaurant can be delivered to your home within 10 minutes. Korea was not like this always.
Young people in 70’s wanted to get out of the country, seeking political freedom and economical prosperity. We were afraid of speaking out our minds. Some of my friends went to prison because they participated in student demonstrations against the government. But now people are free to speak, democracy is prospering.
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Saturday, June 05, 2010
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Labels: Korea
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Soul of Seoul
Last week I returned from a visit. Korea has changed so much that I can hardly recognize the place, especially the capitol city of Seoul. In fact, the shock I experienced in Seoul was similar to the culture shock on my first visit to America. This time I was a foreigner in my own homeland.
Seoul is the one of the most populous cities in the world. Almost half of South Korea's people live in the Capital Area. I was dropped off in the midst of the busiest part of Seoul; with a million people crowded within a few blocks. You can imagine my confusion. While I was looking for directions, I read hundreds church signs. It was comforting to see that Seoul has a soul. My friends told me that many Seoul churches have memberships of over ten thousand. I can believe her after seeing all those church signs.
I am happy to report that Korea has become a Christian nation. Korean Christians are passionate about winning souls and I can see the evidence of that. When I was in college many years ago, I was the only Christian among my eleven college friends. On this visit, I discovered that all eleven belong to either a Protestant or Catholic Church. I visited my alma mater which is a secular university. Yet Christ is lifted on campus by both Christian professors and students. They share a passion to declare the Gospel and to win souls. It was good to see my homeland become a prosperous nation, not only economically, but spiritually.
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Sunday, May 02, 2010
Children are our teachers
I have learned so much from my own children, here is a proof that children are great teachers if adults would let them. A twelve year old girl is teaching us how to be good teachers and parents. Here is some info about Adora:
"A voracious reader from age three, Adora Svitak's first serious foray into writing -- at age five -- was limited only by her handwriting and spelling. (Her astonishing verbal abilities already matched that of young adults over twice her age.) As her official bio says, her breakthrough would soon come "in the form of a used Dell laptop her mother bought her." At age seven, she typed out over 250,000 words -- poetry, short stories, observations about the world -- in a single year.
Svitak has since fashioned her beyond-her-years wordsmithing into an inspiring campaign for literacy -- speaking across the country to both adults and kids. She is author of Flying Fingers, a book on learning."
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Friday, April 30, 2010
Where do I shop for my snacks in Africa?
Whenever we are in Africa, we visit our friends in Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi. On our way to Brundi, we spotted this little shop on the road side. It takes about 2 hours from Butare, Rwanda to Buzumbra, Burundi, and I look for something to munch on during the travel. Here is my Safeway in Rwanda that I stop to buy my stash. Peanuts are tasty, just as finger bananas. And price is great. A little bag of peanuts costs a nickle, a banana costs a penny, and a piece of bread costs 50 cents.
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I am thankful for writers who put their heart and soul in their works.
Korean American Literature
The first wave of Korean-American writers consisted of two intellectuals who were born in Korea; Younghill Kang and Richard Kim. Younghill Kang was truly a pioneer Korean writer. He wrote two biographical novels in the 1930’s. His first novel, The Grass Roof (1931), took American readers into an unknown, exotic Korea. His second novel, East Goes West (1937), shed light on the lives of Korean intellectuals who were then living in exile from Japanese-occupied Korea. Three decades later, Richard Kim published his first novel The Martyred (1964)—about the Korean War experience. The Martyred was on the nation’s bestseller list for twenty consecutive weeks and was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature.
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Monday, April 26, 2010
Visit to Taiwan
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Safe Shelter
(May 2010 Newsletter)
The weather has been capricious lately. Yesterday, the afternoon sun warmed our condo up to 90 degrees, but this morning was chilly and damp. As I was settling into my armchair, enjoying my morning coffee with newspaper, I suddenly heard a noise from outside the window. I thought someone was scattering salt over our veranda. It was hail! But even before I stood to look, the hail turned into showers. This is a pretty rare happening in the Bay area.
Here in California, we are blessed with good year-round climate, but in many places, people live in the midst of harsh and unpredictable storms. Thunder, lightening, downpours, hail, and blizzards are commonplace. When I hear thunder and lightening, I know a storm is approaching. I quickly find the nearest shelter to weather the storm and stay dry. I know that if I ignore the signs, a storm might catch me and I might catch cold, or even suffer from pneumonia.
Just as we run into storms in nature, we run into storms in life. When you see a life storm approaching, what do you do? Do you run to a safe place? Or do you ignore the signs and suffer the damage it causes? As children of God, we are fortunate that we have a safe shelter – a hiding place – to run to in times of need.
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Korean Poetry class
I think Korean language is a poetic language. In our last poetry class, we read poems written by Mr. Kim who taught the class. The title of poems are byul 별 하나, 별 둘, 별 셋.... the Korean word "byul (별)" is "star" in English. When we translate the byul into the English word star, the poem loses flavor. If the word is a person, the effect is almost like losing an arm or a leg. When I hear the word "byul", it brings up so much more than the word 'star". Same as the word hanul 하늘 and the word "sky" does. I can say so much more with few words in Korean. This is why I prefer to write poems in Korean, and prose in English. It has been fun to play with Koran words for a few months.
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I miss my mother
I am planning to go to Korea in May. During this trip, I am going to visit my home town, a little village where I lived till I was 10 years old. My mother was a stranger to this little village. She was a refugee from North Korea during the 1950 Korean war, she fell in love with my father who was the first son of a rich land owner. His family rejected her with many different reasons; one of reasons was that she was a "modern woman" which means that she was exposed to the western thought. They called a woman a modern woman, if she was educated, wear a dress or skirts instead wearing a hanbok, wear a short-cut hair style, and she chose her own mate.
Mother has been gone for 5 years now, and I miss her more and more as the time goes by.
Modern Woman
You taught me how to walk
Like a lady
On our monthly outing to the village market
I would hop ahead of you
Hurrying to get to the bustling market place where
Vendors called my attention with their exotic wares
Pulling on your skirt
I was impatient with your measured walk
Instead, you stopped in the middle of the road
You told me to watch those scurrying people
Pointing how they walked
"Like a grasshopper, when a woman sways her hips and shoulder"
"Like a duck, when a women walks with her feet point outward"
Then you showed me the proper way to walk
"Step one foot over another as though you are walking on a rope in the air"
I watched you closely for the first time
On that dusty, gravel road
Lined with tall poplar trees
Wondering where the road leads
You were different even to my seven year-old eyes
You had schoolgirl hair-cut when others had rolled their hair up
You had a western dress when others had a hanbok
The villagers called you "modern woman"
With reverence and envy
Since that day, I have practiced walking straight
One foot over another like a tightrope walker
When I am afraid of falling
I think of that "modern woman" who showed me
A road out of that little village
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Wednesday, April 07, 2010
A surprise visit
Peter, one of my former students, surprised me last week. As always, he finds a time to visit me whenever he is in SF. One of the best gifts for a teacher is to hear from graduates. Surprisingly, not many of them would contact their teachers after they graduate.
Peter took a class from me more than 10 years ago. While he was an undergrad student in the Broadcasting Department, he saw the future with digital media. His department at that time taught radio and TV programming, but his keen sense told him that he needs to go outside of his major to learn about new media. When he showed up in my multimedia course, my class was full. We usually can’t take undergraduate students in our department due to the limited number of computers in the lab.
When I told him that there is no room in the class, he looked so sad. I told him he should come back next week, and check if any student might drop the course. No one dropped. I told him that he has to work with his own computer and also I told him that he has to work hard to keep up with graduate students. He worked harder than anyone I knew in that course. I still remember, for his final project, he turned in a movie length multimedia project.
I was impressed with this young undergrad. To make a long story short, after Peter finished his BECA degree, he came to our department for his master’s degree in Instructional Technology. In 2002, he went on to get his from University of Idaho. While he was working on his doctorate degree, we stayed in contact for a while. I didn’t hear from him for a few years.
A few years ago, I got a phone call from him and said that he became a professor in Taiwan. He wanted to invite me to his university. That was in 2008. I visited Taiwan for the first time, I enjoyed the visit immensely. He arranged me to speak at several universities, and he made a plan for me to see the beautiful island, Taiwan. I enjoyed soaking in the famous hot spring, hiked on the most beautiful mountain that I ever saw, met so many wonderful students, and his colleagues who became my Facebook friends now.
Peter called me last Friday (April 2, 2010), and told me he is in US for two days. I invited him to my home and we had a lunch together. Our conversation covered from work, research, family, electron gadgets, religions, travel, and food. What a blessing to have a friendship like this. We are planning to do a research project together, so I can visit Taiwan again. I hope that day will come soon. Mean while I need to pack my bag for a visit to Korea in May.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Nothing is forever
We had this orchid since January 1st. When I got it, there was one red flower on the skinny long stick like stem. The flower was red, so I thought it is red orchid. Then half red and half white bud popped a few weeks later, then several more half-breed, then finally white ones bloomed. Normally I don't care too much for engineered flowers, but this is an exception. This orchid graced our living room for the entire winter. I thought it is too beautiful to see it only by my husband and I, so we took it to our church a few weeks ago. Now everyone is enjoying it. One petal fell off from the stem last night, I am sure the rest will fall soon. Too bad that they are not going to last forever. Nothing does.
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Living Life with an Eternal Perspective
I have been blessed by recent sermons about the resurrection of Jesus and about what will happen to Christians after death. Pastor Chris began the sermon last Sunday by showing photos of ten church members projected on the big screen. The congregation was asked to guess their identity. Some photos were taken 50 and 60 years ago.
It was an interesting exercise. People I only know as elderly were vibrant and beautiful in the photos. Some people were hard to guess due to the time gap between past and the present, but eventually we were able to recognize each one of them. The point of the sermon was that someday we will have a new resurrected body; a body that may look 30 years old and a body we will still recognize.
Lately, more than ever, I have been aware of my body changing. I can’t do what I used to do. No matter how hard I try, my physical body continues to get wrinkled and broken. I am glad to know that God will replace this broken mortal body with one that is new and immortal. This brings me to an important point. What I do in this life each moment affects my life to come. I learned from the sermon that I must live my life with an eternal perspective, knowing what is important.
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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
EBBA Women's Retreat At Mt. Hermon - March 2010
Last year, I jokingly challenged Diane, if Diane do it, I will do it. I thought she wouldn't do it. But she was serious. When I got to the retreat at Mt. Hermon, she would not let me off. I try to give her all kinds of excuses including my recent foot surgery excuse. She would not back off. I arrived at the breakfast table on Saturday morning, hoping Diane would not be there, well, she found me. Before I even sit down, she hold my hand and led me to the registration table. I had to sign up. I am glad that I have a friend who challenges me and keeps me accountable. It was a great adventure. Check it out how much fun Diane, Latoya, Angie, Lisa, and I were having.
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Stonewall Jackson at DC
My East coast tour is ending soon. I had great time in New York with my younger son last week, and this week I am visiting my older son in DC, my sister in Virginia, my cousin in Maryland, and also visited Stonewall Jackson memorial site. Tomorrow I will be leaving DC at 7 am. It is good to visit loved ones, and also it is good to go home and see loved ones there. I am so blessed to have time to travel this Spring.
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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Waiting at SFO
I am writing this blog at USO lounge at SFO. Chris retired from Army a few months ago, now we can use USO facilities at airports. The set up is quite good; internet is free, coffee and snacks are free too. I wanted to catch up with news but there are young men with uniform are watching TV, so I decide to seat at a computer station. I am glad to see that the US government is taking care of people who serve the country. My husband served this country for 20 years and one day. While he was in the army, our family also had to move around every 3 or 4 years. I was often left with my children months at a time while Chris was doing oversea assignments. I didn't enjoy the militery spouse life at the time, but now I am enjoying the benefits of being a millitery spouse. I can use internet for free at SFO.
Time to go to the Delta terminal. We are going to see that cute grandson of ours soon. Our plane leaves at 10:30 PM and we will arrive at JFK at 6 AM. I can 't wait to squeeze Lorenzo.
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Now I know why I am not a poet
I was blessed to attend two workshops on creative writing this week. One was the local Christian writers workshop last Saturday in Castro Valley http://www.christianwriter.org/ and another one was a workshop given by a Korean professor/poet who teaches creative writing courses in Korea. He is on his sabbatical.
Last Saturday, I came home after all day workshop, giddy, inspired, and alive. I loved every minute of the workshop experience;listening accomplished authors' writing experiences, publishing tips from fiction and non-fiction writers, and finding ideas from everyday life. Somewhere, a long time ago, I acquired that I must commit words on the paper perfect at the first try, otherwise you are not a good writer. If you are a talented writer, you spin the words effortlessly. No matter how much you love to write, if you are not talented, you can't be a writer. I knew I couldn't spin my words effortlessly, so I became a teacher. These authors at the workshop told us a good piece of writing comes after many versions of editing. Words don't come effortlessly to them either. I was inspired to hear their struggles, and also I could related to their joy of writing.
Last night, I went to another writing group meeting, this was for Korean writers. Sixteen of us met in a Korean restaurant. For 3 hours, we listen to the teacher talking about famous Korean poets, and why the poet wrote this word and that word, and jumping from one topic to another. The teacher talked, students listened (in my case I pretended to listen). My enthusiasm for writing was ebbing away by the minute. After the three-hour lecture, I walked out deflated, and I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I finally realized why I lost my dream of being a writer. My dream was killed by teachers who talked too much.
I thought about these two different workshop experiences, and I remind myself two things, so I don't kill my students' dream. Don't talk for 3 hours. Don't treat my student as though they don't have brain to think.
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