2011427 Love Art, in Europe

When I was in Germany in the last half of the year 2010, I traveled most Euope countries, Germany, France, Italy, UK, Spain, and etc. When do I think about the image of Europe, firstly I come up with the image of a European town; small houses, river, and an old castle on the hill. However, I found that there is an another common image among European countries. It is an Art. The beautiful scenery in Europe can be an art itself, but there is a real art such as music. Although they are not famous, it is easy to find the artist such as musicians and painters in the street. And most Euoropean can understand and enjoy their arts.

When I was in Frankfurt, Germany at first, it looks similar with Seoul like tall building and modern environment because this city is a commercial district. However, when I went to downtown for a sighteeing, I could hear various type of muisic that were performed by musicians in ther street. More surprisingly, many people were around them and enjoying his or her performance. When the performance was over, people clapped for his or her performance and gave him or her a small money to show their thank for a good performance. Although it was not a big performance in Opera house, people can admire musicians' efforts for their small concert in the street.  

For classical music, most Koreans think that it is hard to understand and it is an expensive music. However, in Europe, classical music is very common to everyone. There is a story that I experience in Wien, Austria. I was travelling  in Wien. When you visit Wien, the Opera House is very famous for a performance of Wine Philharmoic Orchaestra. The price of ticket is not expensive as in Korea, and there is a student discount price. But I coulnd't get a ticket so I was sorry that I couldn't see the performance. So I went to Opear House just to see the 'Opera House' itself. However, when I get there, I couldn here the music sound of the Opera. Alhtough it was a little bit cold outside, there were seats for audiences with big screen that were showing its ballet performance lively FREE. There was no empty seat too, and many people were standing there to enjoy the performance. When the 1st session was over, there was filled with the clapping sounds by bystanders. It makes it sense that classical music is very common to Europeans.

Like this, whenever I walked on the street in Europe, it made me feel that I was walking in the scene of movie with background music. And these musics are not an electronic muisic from audio, but a live music by musicians. Every town has a harmony with its beautiful scene and art and it makes its scenery more precious. The 1 euro for performers in the street has more values than its price.  

20110414 English as a second language

In this semester, I am taking a class for English Education & Teaching Methode.  It is true that it is difficult to communicate with a second language. Yesterday, I had a small presentation and discussion test in another English speaking class at Sungshin Women's Univ. Especially making a speech in front of a lot of people fluently is more difficult than just talking with friends.

To have a great speech, a speaker needs a connection with audience. I think that it is the most important factors. To make a common connection with audiences, a speaker needs to build credibility between them.

As an ESL person, sharing each others culture can be a strong point for them. Language is a part of culture. To speak English fluently as a second language, people need to be familiar with the culture in America. To be familiar with different culture, people should have an open mind to accept other cultures. If people just keep their culture and do not understand others culture, they cannot fully understand other language.

Therefore we need to be active to learn others culture with hanging out with foreign friends who is a native spearker of English a lot and try to learn their communication culture.

Second tip is using media. When you watch the TV, there are a lot of sources that you can feel American culture through a Sitcom, Soap Opera, TV show. Especially watching news or reading newspaper is a good way to learn current issues around the world and then make common issues to share with foreigners. 

To be connected with audiences  just understanding others culture is not enough. As a foreigner, we have a strong point that we have another culture to share. Nowadays is an era of globalization. The world becomes one village. When I share my culture with other people it can evoke an interest on other cultures and it becomes a base for wider communication. Each person can others opinion each other through sharing their culture.

For Example, When I was in US as an exchange student at University of Mary Washington,  we held a Korean Day there in last semester. In that event, we had a presentation on Korean culture; Korean housing and clothing. We also introduced them Korean traditional game with serving Korean foods. Many American students joined our events and they enjoyed and shared Korean and American culture each other. With sharing culture, the presentation became more effective than just presenting with words and slides.

20110406 My Favorit City in Korea

Today I want to introduce a city in Korea. When I asked people about the name of city in Korea, most people answered Seoul, the capital of Korea. Actually, it is a capital in Korea, but today I want to introduce another city in Korea, Ulsan. Although I am living in Seoul now, I lived in Ulsan for over 6 years so I had a lot of memories in this city. This city is famous as a beautiful east sea coast, the city of whale, 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, one of the biggest industrial cities in Korea that has many global businesses such as Hyundai Motors, Hyundai Heavy Industries, SK Complex and so forth. But today I want to introduce this city as a city of culture and history with several cultural assets in this city.

First, there were various dinosaurs in Ulsan before people could live on the earth. Especially in Ulsan we can see many footprints of dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. The footprints show the same direction, indicating that the dinosaurs were peacefully rambling over the area. These fossilized dinosaur footprints are in a good shape and thus, it is regarded as significant for the study on various fields such as the geological history of Ulsan.

Second, there are two kinds of petroglyphs that show us the prehistoric lifestyles: petroglyphs of Bangudae and petroglyphs in Cheonjoen-ri. Petroglyphs are prehistoric pictures carved on rocks showing various kinds of things that the prehistoric people did. Petroglyphs were usually carved on the huge rocks considered a holy place and people gathered there to perform their ritual ceremonies for fertility and abundance. In these petroglyphs, there are about 270 figures of sea animals including whales, various land animals such as tigers, deer and also very lively described human appearance. In particular, it shows clearly the aspects of fishermen in the whaling ships with the characteristics of many whales, such as sperm, gray and killer whales, so that we can understand that Ulsan has been the base of hunting whales since ancient times. Therefore not only can these petroglyphs show us the natural environment and the ecology of the long prehistoric age but also they show us the outstanding aesthetic sense and the lifestyle of prehistoric people who hoped for richness and large productivity through the existence of the carved figures.

Third, it is easy to find the historical remains of the Shilla dynasty in Ulsan because Ulsan is not far away from Kyungjoo, capital of the Shilla dynasty. The representative property is Cheoyongam. The rock island on the screen is Cheoyongam. It is called so because of its reputed connection with the mythical prince, Cheoyong. Cheoyongam has a historic tale. A long time ago, King Heon-gang, 49th king of the Shilla dynasty was taking a rest on the shore with his officials. Then suddenly thick clouds and mists appeared even though it was daytime, so they couldn't find the way to go. One minister said the dragon in the east sea made this strange phenomenon, so they should do good things for him. As the king gave his ministers order to build a temple there for a dragon, surprisingly the clouds and mists disappeared. The mythical King of the east sea came out from the sea with his seven sons and performed music and dance with joy. One of the princes, Cheoyong followed the King of the Shilla dynasty and went to Kyungjoo. King Heon-gang gave him a beautiful wife as a gift and also a politically important position in the Shilla dynasty. However, the goddess of smallpox loved Choeyong's wife, so he changed his appearance into a handsome guy and finally slept with her. At that time, Choeyong came his home and found this scene, but he wasn't surprised by even this situation. He danced and sang a song rather than got angry with the intruder. Just then the goddess of smallpox was deeply moved by Cheoyong's generosity and swore that he would not approach the place that has the picture of Cheoyong's face. Since then Cheoyong’s face became a symbol of protection from bad luck. Nowadays, we also hold the Cheoyong cultural festival in Octobers every year to pay a tribute to the mind of Cheoyong.

As I mentioned, there are various cultural assets of many periods in Ulsan. They are our valuable properties that will bring glory to Ulsan forever. Now, if someone asks you what sort of city Ulsan is, You can answer without hesitation like this, "Ulsan is the city of glorious civilization as well as the center of soccer and industry in Korea".