Happy Birthday, Suray

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SURAY.

A HAPPY 39 y.o. AJEOSSI, STUDENT, DADDY!!! ^-^

생일 축가해요, 아빠!!!!

My Rants & Ramblings....

 Let us think of a very simple and yet funny example of 'seeing' things. Now, suppose we have three apples right in front our eyes. 

What can we say about them?
 Well, we might say that they are having differences or/and similarities in color, shape, weight, smell, quality, etc..etc…etc.

Well, of course, saying that they have different gradation of color, shape, and weight is also one part of comparing. Or…we could also say that they share similarities, e.g. the fact that they share quite similar color!

Okay, now let me take another example. Suppose there is an alien spacecraft hovering over our earth and it is so camouflaged that no earthlings are able to spot it. Thus, it gives the aliens to ‘scrutinize’ and to ‘observe’ us from above. 

My first question:

“What would be the aliens’ reactions as they see us?”

Hmmm, it’s a tricky question since we have to put ourselves on their shoes. (that..if they even have ones^^). Anyhow, they could be so aghast and so perplexed as they see us. It is their first time ever to spot and have a closer look at us—human beings.

BUT….

The question is….do you think they alien call us ‘human beings’? or they have decided to come up with their own term to address us?

NOW…

Let us go back to the apples, first. The first thing we got to do when we are asked to compare is that we need to find the similarities. By doing so, we are trying to find the common properties or the shared properties that the apples have.

Can you answer what their common properties are?

NOW…

Let us go back to the aliens, again. The first thing that we need to do as an alien is that we need to tell others about what we see on earth. In this case, supposed we (remember: we are pretending to be aliens) must make a report to our ship commander.

Express yourself in explaining or retelling what you saw on earth!!!

We could say things, like, say:

“THEY have two visual optical balls on their visage” (our eyes:))

“THEY have developed some sorts of branches with ten sub-branches on both sides of their bodies” (our arms and hands:))

“THEY have funny fibers grow on their heads” (our hairs:) )

“THEY walk on their long pipes” (our legs:))

“THEY do not wear any masks and their membranes are of varied colors” (we probably do not wear any astronaut-like helmet to aid us breathe:)  and our skins are of different colors:) 

OK….simply put, those are things that they might say when reporting to their commander in chief.

Interestingly: they started their report by saying “THEY!!!!”

WHY is that?

Anyone could answer that?

THE PROBLEM is….

“Do YOU think the aliens call us ‘humans’ or ‘human beings’?”

Probably NOT. After they gathered some information about us, they might call on a meeting with other fellow aliens to DECIDE what to call us ^-^.

After a while, they ended up calling us DOODOO
Well, it is all up to them what to call us, right? 

Why Not?

WHY Not? Yes..why not. After all, it's free. 

A great companion for a movie experience. 

I didn't expect it when I was buying the movie ticket. 

One ticket attendant g presented me with a free coupon for this set of movie companion on my birthday.^^

On what occasion? 생일이야!!!~.~

One of the privileges of being a member of CGV Cinema.

"Thanks CGV" from a movie-freak on his birthday!!!

New Semester - Early Spring 2013

New Semester. Spring Semester. I was walking towards the gate of my campus when I caught a glimpse of the stretched banner hung over the gate. 

The banner congratulates and welcomes all incoming freshmen of 2013 to our campus' HUFS'

Just out of my curiosity and out of fun, I took a picture of it just before crossing the intersection when the traffic lights turned green. Should have taken a closer look, though.

Anyway: Spring 2013: I'm now at my 2nd semester.

Bismillahirrohmanirrohim. 

STOKER: Mesmerizingly Twisted!!!

On March 1, I was somewhat lost in CGV Cinema as which movie to watch. I was coming with an expectation to see "Jack the Giant Slayer" but to no avail. No tickets were available at that time. All's sold out. And not a minute too soon ...I spotted one seat left on the screen. STOKER had one more seat and the movie was about to start in 5 minutes.

Without further thinking, I bought one ticket and got myself sulkily lured into the dark theater....with no anticipation of what would come ahead.

I was uneasily beaten right through my heart and felt restless throughout the movie.

I heard about this STOKER film before. The buzz on the internet was going on. It is Korean director--Park Chan-wook's English-language debut in Hollywood. 

A lot of Koreans were talking and making it one of big headlines over the weeks.

So...there I was. seated at the back row of the dark room when the stories began.

Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Mia Wasikowska.....gave chilling performance that I more than often got on the edge of my seat and squirmed.......

I came without knowing at all what the movie was all about and..I came out....speechlessly dumbfounded in sheer trembling of what the movie was all about.

"TWISTED"

"DISTURBINGLY NAUSEA-TIC"

"HAUNTINGLY PERVERTED"

That's all I could say.

@ Mr. Pizza: A Dinner

Did you have fun, gals? Sure they did. 

They were so excited when we told them that we would dine out. Especially..as they found out that we would have pizza over dinner. Hmm...having pizza is actually a bit hard right here in Korea where most of the ingredients are meat that we cannot eat. So, the only safe choice we could have is (chuckles) always to make sure that we have either vegetarian pizzas or seafood pizzas. 

So, the other day (Monday night), we met our two students who happened to be also studying in Seoul. Diana (white jilbab): arrived a year ago to start her MA at Hanyang University. And Hesti (black jilbab): just graduated a week ago from Ehwa Womans University.

So, the occasion: was to welcome Diana and at the same time to congratulate Hesti on her graduation.

Once again: Eyra and Freya could not keep themselves quiet for a while. They kept on moving about the place: Oh, they loved seeing the cook make pizza live. Yes: one of the characteristics of Mr. Pizza is that customers have a chance to see the pizzas being made right in front of their eyes.  

Now it's a picture where my wife's in it^^. See all the girls are clad in jilbab. And I was the only man in the group. One man with three women in jilbab and two kids:)^^ I wonder if there were other customers who might have misunderstood the situation like: 

"Wow, that man has three women!!!!^^^ hahahahahahahahahaha

Of course...I was just making fun of myself.

But, with more and more Moslems students coming to Korea or Seoul in particular, I am hoping that more and more people are more accustomed and welcome to seeing women in jilbab. 

After all, Korea is transforming itself into a multicultural society. 

And we are a part of Korean society at the moment. 

Oh..ah..about the pizza: We loved it. We love Mr. Pizza.!!!!

한정식 Korean Food

Hmm..It was one of the best nights to have dinner. My friend and I had a great feast. A feast so great that it soothed both my eyes and tongue. ^^

한정식: A Korean food served in all varieties and imaginable colors; served one by one, one dish after another until we felt so overwhelmingly and happily full^^ 

I could not keep up number of foods being served right in front of our eyes, let alone the names of them. 

But, one of the things that I loved the most was this rice. Being a vegetarian, this 한정식 really served my appetite. I surely could not touch the meat but luckily...most of the food were those of seafood origins: a plus advantage. 

It would be one of the best things of having a chance to crave over Korean food.^^

Alone at the Toys' Corner

It was not weekend. I guess it was on Tuesday or ...I forgot. But, that's not important. We just wanted to get out and had some fresh air..and it was so cold...that we we finally--again and again--decided to go to Lotte just around the corner where we live. As it was not weekend, not many people were seen inside the mall. As for Freya, this was surely a great time for her since she could just 'eat' every toys she could grasp and play with at the toy corner.^^

"신났다"

Iranian Day at our Multicultural Center

Indian Day, Bangladesh Day, Indonesian Day, Philippines Day, Nepalese Day, Iranian Day....well..we have numerous festive days held at our neighborhood Multicultural Center.

Last week we held "Iran Day" 

Sure, lots of people ranging from kids to adults and even halmeonies were there.With the looming spring is coming, this kind of festivity was held to celebrate the cultural diversities we have right on the very spot of our neighborhood. 

As we are also the member of the community, we surely did not miss this chance of getting to know what Iranian people do in their daily lives: it was through this endeavor that we learn and respect about others.

So, what's next in our agenda: which country?

Eyra's School Textbooks

 It's amazing to think that Eyra managed to 'survive' the first year of her Elementary year in Korea. She never learned Korean before prior to coming to Korea. But, amazingly she sort of managed to weave herself through the rigorous but cheerful learning at the Korean elementary school.

This is her 2nd year at the elementary school. 

And this is the 2nd Korean language textbook or 국어 that she has to master, again.^^

It's a relief that one thing this textbook emphasizes is how to 'lure' and 'make' the students be creative in expressing themselves.

Eyra is now used to using, learning, reading, writing in Hangeul than in English alphabets...: frankly speaking this is something that makes me puzzled+perplexed at the same time.

She's now exposed to all things Korean: either in math or language. She has to learn maths in Koreans' perspective. The environment where she is now living gives a somewhat an additional advantage to this phase. But surely, I have some worries as she will only be staying in Korea until her 4th grade...and by then..we'll have to move back to Indonesia.

Oh, well..I am sure that she'll manage it again.^^ 

I just love the books: first: my impression as I got these books was like" wow, this is what a book should be like: well, although we can't just judge the book by its cover...I think the colorful covers do indeed reflect the colorful arrays of activities being offered to the students."