My Year-End's Movie: 변호인

I must''ve become so Korean-ized that I would not have felt this ease, had I not seen this much talked-about movie in Korea: 변호인 or The Attorney. Of course, I got to make up my mind when I decided to buy the ticket since I knew that the 2-hour movie would be full of Busan-dialect which surely tested my Korean language comprehension. ㅋㅋㅋ

But, boy oh boy...did I regret it? nope. I kinda liked the sensation of having to squirm my brain into 'understanding' the dialogues.

But..thank God..the well choreographed scenes did help me out in catching what's going on throughout the movie. 

Now I understood as to why so many Korean people thronged to the theater for the past two weeks to watch this movie. Even I saw lots of middle-aged women and men (some in groups) watching this movie. Well, I learned that this movie's background was (they say--loosely) inspired by the former president Roh Moo-hyun's life before he entered politics. hmmm..that alone kinda worked to urge me see the movie. and it did for lots of Koreans.

(Oh...Hobbit; The Desolation of Smaug was not even the runner up of box office in Korea). wow..that's simply showing how powerful this movie is. 

Starred by the famous Song Kang-ho (송강호) whom 99% of Koreans know well, this movie surely steal the hearts of movie goers by portraying how Korean society was back in the late 1970's and leading up to the early 1980's. Gosh..I was like "what-the-heck-was-going-on back then" I knew I had to brush up my Korean history class again.

If I am not mistaken, it must've had something to do with the then-president Chun Doo-hwan's military rule..which easily charged innocent people (as portrayed in the movie) by labeling them 'communist' so as to instill 'FEAR' within Korean society at that time.

and..THIS movie really scared the hell out of me...just by thinking of it. 

I was drawn into the characters (most of them) since they sort of immersed themselves in portraying the people affected by the then-dictatorial rule. But, what captivated me for the most part was simply by the sheer portrayal of how a materialistic lawyer (attorney) turned or changed 180 degree to become a socially aware attorney--of course after some internal conflict!!

but boy....the movie did bring about its premise: bring out the joy and tears to (some) audiences.

But, I only cried once: ㅋㅋㅋ 

when....the attorney (after his first success) brought his family to dine out in a small restaurant he needed to re-visit simply because he once ditched paying his meal 7 years ago--when he was still poor with no money at all.

The emotional meeting really overwhelmed me.

My verdict: (**** out of 5)

What I am now pondering about:

- that I should learn more about Korean history.

- that I should learn more and care more about my surrounding.

- 인맥 /인연 in good and positive sense is indeed important.^^

_ 임시완 (ㅋㅋㅋ)

(Almost) End of the Year's Petite Party

Yep, Eyra and Freya went to Lotte World (again!!!). This time, they went along with their sister, Subin eonni. She's been their big sister in Korea. Well, as an end-of-year's memorable gift for the girls, Subin eonni invited the girls to join her to splash in Wonder-land (again). 

Then, after spending like 6 hours at the park, they went home and we started our petite fiesta. hmm..let's see: nasi uduk (coconut milk-rice), rendang, tahu tempe (soy bean tempura), tahu tuna (tuna tofu), teri goreng (Korean style fried anchovies), fruti salad,...and.... 

Ice cream!!! 

yes, they all dug out 6-flavor of Baskin Robbins. Hmm...

indeed, the petite fiesta really began with me as the photographer.^^

Happy Birthday, Everyone.

야채라면 on New Year's Eve 2014

It's about midnight the shifting from 2013 to 2014. 

And...with the Google Doodle that looks to cute...especially with the anticipating number 4 to join in the party...I had a special menu for tonight: vegetable ramyeon. 

I wouldn't have been so eager to have this, had I not seen the ad which was so hilariously captivating. I mean...just look at it and the sheer simplicity and the mimic of the actors are really priceless. 

Happy New Year to Everyone.^^

새해복 많이 받으세요.

Cloned Me!!

If only I had a brother just like me myself...hahaha...that'll be cool. or will it be so?

I don't know and I'll never know coz it's just a wild imagination 

of what it'll be like to have one. 

I mean..the other me can watch movies while the 'real' me ...studying. or the other way around? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Gosh, it's the 31st of December, 2013..and 

this is what I've been pondering about. Not that I am not content of what I have achieved so far...it's just..again and again...a mere infatuation of seemingly wild-yet-cool idea of having a cloned-version of myself. 

so, to make up for it...I met my digitally cloned version of myself.^^

HAPPY NEW YEAR, suray.

& Happy New Year to all of you, my dear readers, who read this blog.

Thank you very much for being a part of our blog. 

새해복 많이 받으세요.

Uci's Birthday (part 2)

Oh, it was a surprise party for her. She knew that we were coming to have a sort-of-new year's fiesta...though we're actually preparing a simple party for her. 

Aci is just two weeks away before she has to go back home to Padang, Indonesia. So, this kind of get-along-together with other friends' families would surely bring a lot of memories for her. 

Now that she had a birthday cake on her hands, I am sure that she must've been very happy. We do hope so.

Mas Chairul's family with my daughters taking part in the picture...:) 

then..along the ladies' chance to take a pic with Aci. 

(oops, abang Ghazy was also there) 

Then, the whole family picture of subway line 6 neighbors.

It has been a splendid evening fiesta to celebrate Aci's birthday.

May Allah give you health and happiness, Aci.

* Thanks for inviting us mas Chairul.

Uci's Birthday (part 1)

 

Today is our friend's mother's birthday. Yup, it's our friend-neighbor: mas Chairul's mom-in-law or Mbak Dian's mother's birthday. Since we are subway-line-6-family which means that we are just a few minutes away by subway, mas Chairul invited us to come for a dinner over Uci (or Arnis Saber's birthday) oh..it's his Mom's name.

What would a traditional birthday without nasi tumpengan* be? 

*a mountain-shaped rice with side-dish surrounding it.

As for the other main menu that we had, since Uci comes from Padang, West Sumatra....any fiesta like this would not have been complete without the representative cuisine of the region: no other than Rendang.

I needed not to worry though there were more meat than usual, since there were also some side dish like vegetable saute  &.....this one: apple pie that my wife made.

It's scrumptious!!!!!! 

We so happened to have lots of apples at home (thanks to my friend Mr. Panjo who sent us a box of apples:)

Okay..these were (only some of the) dish we had today: fried eggs, anchovies sambal, nasi tumpeng, rendang, lalapan, lontong, lontong sayur, and apple pie.

and.... 

a surprise from om Wawan: molen pisang!! yeaach. .it's like a pancake with banana inside. 

This is om Wawan. He made these molen pisang!!!!

Wow, it must've taken a lot of time and energy to make these molen pisang.

About Time (어바웃타임)

Just as the date shows it's December 29,2013, I remembered a feel-good movie I watched this year. It's none other than '어바웃타임'  or 'About Time'. At first, never had I imagined that I would end up buying the ticket and see this turned-out-to-be a memorable movie I watched this year. 

At first, I wanted to see the Hobbit, but since it was not showing in Seoul, I got to console myself by deciding which movie to watch and I think I'd made a great decision. The story was like "whoa...what a minute..is this this-kind-of-movie? and yes..science fiction-romantic-comedy-drama-all wound up into one masterpiece of Richard Curtis who brought us 'Love Actually' and other British-esque movie--which 'encapsulates' its theme with...out-of-this-world trivialities.^^ 

Rachel McAdams who's now in the list of my -oh,she's great-actresses never failed to impress me throughout the whole movie. So did Domhnall Gleeson who's sure to paint 'a rainbow' on everyone's mind with his portrayal of a time traveler who pursues nothing but love.

Yes, for anyone who hasn't got a chance to see the movie, just go grab its DVD or go to your local theater..though the chances are that they're not showing this movie any longer, except in Korea...which deliberately made this movie into a Christmas movie or wait...well..a movie to celebrate the end of the year and to welcome the 2014 with much more optimism and positive view on the time we are living in.

--*--

oh, just for the sake of showing what it is all about:

Trivialities in Life: snow @ the back of our apartment

Too good just to left wasted. I mean..though practically almost everyday I see the backyard of my apartment, never have I been there. 

So, after the previous night was snowing, I thought that it would be a good idea to give it a visit:-) 

well, so as to 'capture' the memories and moment of what my own backyard would look like after snowing, why not just go there in person? 

The barren tree...well, not really...no-leaves-trees or used-to-be-green trees were standing there. 

Wished I'd be the first person to trample on the snow:-) 

So, this is what it looked like. Quite a different view from the 2nd floor where we live in. 

pure white snow dangling on the leaves of this short pine-tree(?!)  

since it's been a week since we took this picture, I bet the snow's melted now. 

That's the reason as to why it is at times good to 'capture' the moment like this....

no matter how trivial it may be. 

another picture of trivialities for some, but not for us...tropical person who happens to be in winterland. 

While listening to Doris Day's Winter Wonderland..... 

This picture of our backyard's snow will always be in our memories.

Let's Go To School, Freya!

It's winter and snowing. But, it did not mean that Freya was not going to school. In fact, she'd kind of expected or wait...insisted of going especially when the snow just whitened the whole neighborhood. 

With temperature below 0 degree Celsius, she was still as enthusiastic as she was on any other day;-). In fact, she loved making footsteps on the snow--which she described as making crispy sound on the snow. 

Luckily, we wrapped her in bright colorful outfit so as to give a contrasting picture. Otherwise, she'd be lost in the snow. Being a kid turned out to be having its own advantage of not having to worry of what to wear or  to think of what others might think of what we wear. :-) oh, well... 

It was taken on the deserted rail-track just at the back of our apartment.

So, this is your third winter in Korea, right, Freya?

It is such a memorable winter, right?

Bright Blue Sky+Cold Snap@Itaewon Masjid

Dark-Bright-Blue-Sky over Itaewon Masjid as I saw it today. 

Though my hands were trembling and shaking while trying my best to take this picture--due to the cold weather...I just wanted to capture the moment of having exposed to this beautiful day. 

Just loved the contrasting color of white and blue sky at the background. 

With some people still praying, it could give a more vivid look of what Itaewon Masjid looked like as of Dec. 27, 2013...as I finished the Friday Prayer.

Farewell Dinner for Our Exchange Students

January is coming and that means...most of our students who are currently studying at Kyunghee Univ, Woosok University, Gangneung University, and other universities...are about to leave Korea..and get back to Jogjakarta. 

another reason as to why we had this was because Pak Maman Mahayana is also about to finish his term of being a visiting professor @ HUFS.

so, Prof. Yang invited us to have a farewell dinner. 

Since there are a bunch of students who came from other cities like Chuncheon, Jeonju, and Kongju....Prof. Yang was a bit shocked and happy to know that they came all the way up to Seoul...to have a dinner together. 

Can't name them one by one..but one amazing thing about most of these students was that...I never taught them in classes since I was already in Korea when they got admitted at the university. So, I am blessed to know that they know me and regard me as their teacher, too.  

*Gosh..what's up with the V thing on most of the girls' fingers, anyway?:) 

Oh, my two daughters, too, were also here. Well, they're part of the family, too.

Thanks for all the good one year we share together, everyone.

Hope to see you again in Jogja or in Korea.