blog entry 2

While a lonely island in the ocean was floating, nobody neither living in nor visiting, an art museum combined with lodging facilities called the "Benesse House" was constructed. Now the population of 50 times more than the original population of the island is visiting the island to see this abandoned island. However, the island is not just an 'abandoned' island, but is an island newly-created with the construction of the Benesse House, which is proudly called 'the underground museum.'

The reconstruction of the island has been done for years, since 1998, from gaining materials such as wood from collapsed buildings. Called a 'house project,' the construction was done by many workers in many different fields, including nearby residents and some of the most famous artists and architects in the world. They not only built the house but also volunteered to clean up the streets.

While there had been such efforts to make a secluded community be born again as an island of art, Korea is suffering from lack of places for tourism. However, it's not that we are lacking the places but is lacking the innovativeness to change the traditional tourist places into unique ones. Moreover, the goal of making all these changes should be the improvement of artistic value and development in those fields; we shouldn't focus our efforts only on the financial benefits that the nation gets from tourist businesses.

blog entry 1

Juyeon Kang
Eng 10B
11 June 2007

While there are a lot of problems related to foreign laborers especially those from Southeast Asia, another kind of trouble has been arising on the other side of the nation. The focus now moved from the laborers to the white-collars: those foreigners who speak English, and who teach English in private institutions, or so-called Hagwons.

In the Gyeonggi Province foreign workers who are engaged in teaching jobs in Hagwons turned out to be unpaid so often. They insist on exercising proper rights of themselves. The foreign workers say their rights should be protected while there is no way for expatriates to guard the safety of receiving payment mentioned in the contract. Due to these lack of legal protection and unawareness of the laws for foreigners, the contract frequently doesn't do any good for the workers. On top of that, he owner of the educational institution is charging the tutor even more, for disrespecting the institution for spreading bad impression of the Hagwon.

In spite of difficulties which foreigners encounter in various situations, the labor office covering Gyeonggi Province and Incheon decided that the institution pay for one of the workers 6.3 million won. Letting this be the starting point, foreigners would start to get easier in resolving such problems. It is the best for expatriates be aware of the laws that may protect themselves over their bosses, and be aware of the validity of the contract before anything happens. These small changes would then make people in the nation regain morality towards all the people around the world.

Topic No.4

I was a quiet and an introverted girl even until I turned into 13. I would talk only to a few kids in the class because I was too shy to start talking to another person. My only wish at that time was to get along with as many friends as others did.
Then on the last day of the art exhibition at my elementary school, I had to clear up the exhibition place after the displaying days were over as I was 13 then, and thus I was one of the oldest pupils at school. Then I happened to encounter the picture with the power of changing my life.

I found a strange paint that stunned me, while I was taking off a shoulder-wide picture from the wall: I noticed the paint I was holding was drawn by one of my classmates. What made me startled was that the girl who drew the picture was such a quiet one that some students in the class didn't even get to know her name until at the end of September. I was rather indifferent of her during those days. On top of that, it was even more astonishing that in the portrait, there was a young, cold, and inconsiderate girl staring, somewhat scarily, at the person looking at the portrait. Soon I admitted that the girl was myself.

The portrait somehow linked the painter and me. It obviously made two of us be friends, and her realistic depiction of me helped us be good friends as I got a lot of chances to talk to her especially about the paint. Later this girl told me that the portrait was supposed to express her first impression of me.

This almighty picture turned out to be powerful at last. It definitely made me look back on myself of how I behaved toward others. Although a young girl, I could recognize that how other people think of me is affected by how I behave. From then, an introverted and selfish girl slowly turned into a considerate and extroverted friend of everyone. The picture still influences me on everything I do. It has been inscribed in my mind since then, that I should be friendly and kind towards people. Therefore it is no wonder that the portrait of inconsiderate myself does have a power which would influence me through my life.

Topic No.3

Someone Who Has Affected My Life
-My friend Julie Park-

I was an inconsiderate young girl, always complaining about everything that happened to me even until I first entered middle school. However, there came a big hail of change in my second year at school. I often feel a year was not enough for me to learn as much as I could from Julie, a friend of mine whom I met when I was 15.

March 2nd, 2005 was when I first encountered Julie. Being in the same class but not aware of each other, we kept glancing at each other curiously. The first day of our second year in middle school started so. Coincidently, we were in same sports group and study group. We then became close friends. She played multiple roles for me. She was my teacher, my parent, and my counselor, all at the same time.

I gave her a lot of information about school work and exams. Even so, I feel like I learned from her much more than she did from me. Though it was merely a piece of knowledge that I could tell her at best, she told me lots of her experiences and helped me cope with things difficult to handle by myself. I lived in a much better environment than she did, but I had to learn a lot from her, especially attitude towards others. For example, I could receive private tutoring if I wanted to, while she couldn't afford to do so. She was a teacher who taught me how to treat other people, ever since she met me. She was similar my parents, in that she would console me when I'm depressed, or give advices for me when I need help.

Julie was born in a poor family. Both of her parents wanted Julie to study without financial support of themselves because they couldn't afford it. Julie went on delivering newspapers every morning and earned money from that. She bought books and paid for the school by herself. She studied and worked at the same time for three years. Her experiences like this made me think about the past days again. She never hesitated talking about her past days with me. Since I heard many stories about her, I have rarely complained about anything. I noticed that I was living in such a great environment.

Although it was only a year that we were in the same class, she was somebody who affected me the most as a friend of my age. Julie changed an inconsiderate romping girl into a girl who now has vivid dreams of helping mentally or physically inferior people.