This Morning

I went outside for a walk along the river. It's near the apartment complex across the street. There is some construction near the river.







I later went on the roof to do some stretching exercises. I started doing that for before I would start taekwondo. I haven't started in a dojang here yet. I found where one is two weeks ago. I have heard the instructor doesn't speak English well. That would be interesting. haha.




The wall is great for putting my foot up on it.

Namhansanseong

Today I went out to Namhansanseong (South Korean Mountain Fortress) for hiking. I went by myself. I had never gone hiking by myself before.
I found a nice barefoot park. I tried it for a short time. It felt strange, yet I'd try it again.





I found a beautiful Buddhist temple. I went inside and took pictures. I waited until two worshippers had left so I wouldn't be rude to them.






It was a nice walk up there. I liked all the streams I saw and small waterfalls.


The top!



The walk along the wall.



The note in the tree says something...



Another gate. Yes, that's some snow on the ground to the left. That was the only big patch of snow I saw. I saw some trace amounts of frost around the gate at the top.


The sunset I came for!

Church

Today I went to church. I had lunch with Peter, Wendy, and Corrie. I met Corrie last month. I think he seems cool and it looks like we will be friends. I spent some time talking with him. He is originally from Trinidad, which finally explains why he doesn't have a thick New York accent, just a slight one. I knew he studied theology, so I asked him if he wants an MDiv. He said he wanted to study at Stellenbosch in S. Africa because of their Hebrew programme, or else here. He expressed concerns that a degree here may not be useful for a PhD in the West. Peter said he knew a graduate from Sahmyook U that went on to get a PhD at Avondale. I have wondered the same thing. Corrie is the first non-SA person I have met that wants to study in S. Africa. I think it's good that he is thinking out of the box.
I later went for a walk with Wendy to the pond. We saw many coloured fish. I was surprised to see such large and beautiful fish. They ate a cracker I tossed them.

Native American Heritage

I knew I had some Native American heritage from my father's side of the family. I found that out when I was 15 years old when I met an aunt from that side. I only met my father once. That was in 2001. I have never been close to anybody on that side of the family.
I finally asked my aunt Diane (whom I met once) via email about my Native American blood. She said that my grandfather was 1/2 Huron, which would make me 1/8 Huron. My grandmother has both Iroquois and Mohican ancestry. Both grandparents have French blood to make up the rest.
I do think that it has showed up in myself somewhat. I have high cheekbones, almond shaped eyes, and I tan easily. I know I love to be outside and active. I live for the woods, lakes, mountains, etc. I do wonder if certain mindsets can be somewhat inborn.
I do want to visit those areas. I know the Iroquois come from New York. There is the Great Lake Huron. I now want to see "The Last of the Mohicans" again.

Physics Mysteries Y(4140)

I have been very interested in physics over the last few years. It started because I was stuck in an airport for 32 hours in March 2007. I wanted something to do with myself so I went to a bookstore and bought Warped Passages by Lisa Randall. It is a book that is good for laymen to learn about theoretical physics. I found it interesting that there are so many dimensions besides three, in fact there can be eleven. I bought some books by Brian Greene that I wanted to take to Korea with me, but I had to leave them behind unread.

I have recently heard of that Large Hadron Collider that is in Switzerland and France. They are trying to find out if a Higgs Particle actually exists or not. It would give people more information on how matter is formed. I am interested as to what the LHC will do for scientific discovery.

Today I went to National Geographic's website and found that in the Fermilab Atom Smasher in Illinois, USA, a new particle has been discovered. It is called "Y(4140)". It defies all the former theory on how matter is formed. Either three quarks get together to form a baryon (like a proton or neutron) or a quark bonds with its anti-quark and forms a meson. This particle has done neither of those. It is interesting, but time will tell what this means for physics.
By the way, I found a rap about the LHC. It's fun.

The Louvre Lesson

Today I am teaching a lesson on the Louvre. I have never been there, yet I would love to go there someday. Well, here is some of the lesson:

The Louvre has some of the most famous paintings and sculptures on Earth.
There is the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. About six million people see the painting every year. It is in an enclosure behind bullet-proof glass.



A famous sculpture in the Louvre is "The Winged Victory of Samothrace". It was made between 290 and 190 B.C. It is of the Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. It was found in Greece in 1863 and brought to Paris that same year. Unfortunately the sculpture has lost its arms and head. It is still considered to be beautiful and the missing parts make it look more like a ghost.



The Louvre has 50,000 pieces from Ancient Egypt.

Diffuse Attention and Creativity

I have been following a blog on theories about human intelligence. I found a post this morning that piqued my interest. It is about diffuse attention and creativity. The blog writer had read a post in another blog that said that people with high levels of creativity often don't have very focused attention.
The blog said that high I.Q. (>120)+ diffuse attention cause high levels of creative achievement. I believe that. I know that many of history's greatest creative geniuses were distracted individuals. What I did find interesting was the "cap theory" which says that once I.Q. reaches the 120s range, there is no more correlation between I.Q. and creative achievements. It is implied because of distractability. Interesting. I do think having a drive is the most important thing, once the potential is there.

Gwanghwamun, City Hall

Today I went out to the area around City Hall in Seoul. I decided to go to the art museum there. I didn't know what exhibits were showing and I found that it was on Arcadian art and "art synasthesia".
I saw lots of nice French art. I was very pleased with the exhibits. There was a lot of art that was of post-impressionism, cubism, and fauvism. I saw a few Picasso works, some by Henri Matisse, Wassily Kadinsky, Georges Braque, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Paul Klee, and Francis Picabia. There were many others. They mostly came from the era from 1890-1930, yet a lot of the paintings were from later dates. I find that time frame to be a great period for art.
I also saw lots of art from Korean artists. I particularly liked one artist named Chun Kyung-Ja. She had many paintings on display in her own wing. She is still living. She traveled to many countries like Peru, Jamaica, Italy, USA, various Pacific island countries, and India. Her paintings had lots of vivid colours in them. She had a few paintings of New York City and they reminded me of the times I have spent there. She first experienced Western art in Italy and she loved the styles. She is someone I would like to meet.
There was another exhibit on how art can stimulate different senses. They had luscious paintings of food. There were grapes that looked so real that I wanted to grab them. Some apples that looked so bright and shiny.
I later went to a nearby palace. It was beautiful. Deokso.

Pictures From Deer Mountain

Peter and Wendy are here. They are a nice couple from Australia. Here are some students with them.




This is a mine shaft.

Deer Mountain

I went to Deer Mountain with some Korean college students and some professors. I was with my friends Peter, Wendy, Bessie, Sanko, and Julia. I am thankful to have such nice friends here. I also got to meet up with some Korean faculty who were fun to be with. I met Chong-Hee who I talked to on the phone on Thursday night. I thought I was calling Peter to ask him where to meet the bus, but I got her instead. She was very friendly. That's a funny way to meet up with someone.

I went to Deer Mountain only once before. I had a good time. It was about 3 or 4 weeks before I left Korea. I remember feeling at a loss. I didn't want to leave Korea, yet some circumstances were making it that way. I walked off by myself and went up the hill that's there. The wooden cross was there. I knelt and prayed near it and asked God to bring me back there. I later walked further down the path and found some tomb mounds.

Today I went to the hill with the cross on it with Peter, Wendy, and Prof. Shin. We went to the cross and we decided we would split up and have our private prayers, then we would come together and have a group prayer. We walked to the woods a ways by ourselves. I then realised that I was facing those same tomb mounds and scenery I had seen just more than two years ago. I then realized that God answered my prayers well. He didn't just bring me back to Korea, but He also brought me back to that very hill.

Rondo Veneziano

I saw this group at Disney World's Epcot Center's World Showcase in 1998. I remember listening to them for a while. I love their music. I like how they use period costumes and play a lot of baroque music.

Suicide Forest

I found this article about a forest near Mount Fuji in Japan. Aokigahara Forest has been attracting many people who wish to get far away in order to kill themselves. Japan has a very high suicide rate. According to the article there were 2,645 suicides recorded in January 2009, a 15 percent increase from the 2,305 for January 2008. The slumping economy has been a major factor in the rise in suicides.

I have noticed that countries with high suidice rates seem to be those that put a big emphasis on financial success. Japan and South Korea have many people attempting to kill themselves. Both of those cultures put a big emphasis on family and honour. They don't want to be shamed or lose face, so they would feel worthless if they can't keep up with that. Former communist countries like Lithuania, Russia, etc also have a high suicide rate. It could be that their culture is one of conformity, so if people don't feel like they "fit in" they don't feel useful.

I follow a blog written by an expatriate in Singapore. He has been writing about some suicides that happened in Singapore during this year. One was a doctor who didn't like his job that he was bonded to, and he killed himself because he didn' want to spend another 15 years at his job. He was only 27. Another man was a student whose scholarship was taken away from him. He tried to kill a professor and then jumped out a window. The professor survived. I do think that these people felt they couldn't measure up. The doctor wasn't allowed to make choices with his job either.

I do think that societies with lots of suicide need to change. First, they can put less of an emphasis on making money. It seems that in those countries, those most likely to kill themselves are those that come from a higher economic status. Second, it must be taught that failure isn't always a dead-end. When people fail, that doesn't mean they have failed at everything. Failures can bring on new opportunities.

I do think that suicide is self-centered. I don't understand why it can be considered honourable by some people. People's loved ones have to live without them. Some say that it's best to die with dignity. I know I have had my own despair, when things didn't work out the way I wanted them to. I just had to know that I can't put my self-worth on approval, money, and material possessions.

quote

"Eccentricity is not, as some would believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd."--Edith Sitwell

Hiking in Korea

I love hiking. It is among my favourite things to do. Hiking is very popular in Korea since there are many mountains that are easily accessable. During the nice weather the Seoul subways and buses are filled with people in hiking gear taking the train to their destination. The last time I was in Korea I did some hiking, but not as much as I wished. I went to Namhansanseong (Nam-han-san-sung, and it means "south korean mountain fortress) which is on Line 8. The sunsets from the top are breathtaking. I also went to Bukhansanseong (north korean mountain fortress) as well. If I have it my way, I will climb every major mountain in this country before I am ever through with it. I'll see how much I can get done.
There is a term called "peak bagging" when hikers have a list of mountains to climb and they try to get as many of those peaks climbed as possible. There are special regional clubs just for that. In my area of the USA there is a list of "Four Thousand Footers" (imperial) in the New England area. There is also the Adirondack Forty-Sixers in New York state and many other peak-bagging lists around the world. For an unofficial peak-bagging list for South Korea I have:
1. Seoraksan
2. Hallasan
3. Bukhansan (I only made it halfway because it was getting dark)
4. Suraksan
5. Dobongsan
6. Jirisan
7. Seonunsa
8. Buramsan (that should be easy to do)
9. Manisan
10.Odaesan

I found out about Hwanseon Cave in Gangwon-do. It is in Samchok. I am interested in going there.

Magic Happy

Aimee Mullins on TED Talks and Tony Deblois, autistic savant

A few days ago I came across this video from TED Talks. I subscribe to them on Youtube. This video was added on 11 March. It is about Aimee Mullins talking about her prosthetic legs. She showed her legs to a group of schoolchildren and they were all curious. She wanted them to be that way, she didn't want them to be afraid of asking questions. She wanted them to feel that there was nothing wrong with her. I think this video is enlightening.



Seeing the video made me think of this person:



I find savants to be very interesting. They have trouble performing simple tasks, yet they can do extraordinary things like calculate large sums in their heads or play difficult musical pieces from memory. I had the privilege of meeting up with autistic savant Tony Deblois in 2000 when I worked at a camp for the blind. He is totally blind. He was very difficult to communicate with and spent a lot of time rocking back and forth and waving his arms. He has such a great gift with music, playing the piano like Liberace. I have seen him on the Science Channel. I think it's right to look beyond people's handicaps and see them for the people they are. I had such a great time with the blind campers. I loved their talents. We had a talent show where many of them read poems they composed, songs they wrote, played instruments, and more. They were a lot of fun.

Religion classes

I sat in on some religion classes at Sahmyook University today. I went to one that was by Dr. Nam. It was interesting. It was full of students who were writing a thesis. One of the students there told me that I should go sit in on something else, that wouldn't be for me. Well, I enjoyed it a lot. The professor had slides on biblical interpretation. He lectured about various subdisciplines of theology, biblical and other ancient languages, the differences between the Canon and Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (false texts), and many other things. I was very interested.

I found the ancient languages to be very interesting. He mentioned Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Arabic, Egyptian, Ethiopic, and Syriac. He drew a map on the board and showed where each ancient language was spoken. I knew Sumerian would be in Mesopotamia. I remembered going to an Assyrian exhibit and seeing their Akkadian language on clay tablets. I had never heard of Ugaritic before. The other languages were familiar. I was curious as to how much Arabic has changed since ancient times. The professor said the writing was the same, but he was not sure how much it had changed. I learned that Coptic was in use in the 3-5th centuries and it was Egyptian with Greek letters. It's like how Mongolian uses Russian letters.

I liked how he talked about various fields of theology. Archaeology, Biblical Languages, Comparative Religions, etc. Biblical Theology has many areas. Pneumatology (holy spirit), Soteriology(salvation), Ecclesiology(doctrine), and Hamartology (sin) were all new terms for me. There's all Christology, Eschatology, Angelology/Demonology, Sanctuary, Sabbath, Inspiration/Revelation, and Christian Ethics. I am willing to study those in more depth.

The second lecture was on Revelation. I was pleased to find out that I already have the textbook here in Korea. It is by Ranko Stefanovic. I brought it with me from the USA. I also have the book on Daniel written by his brother Zdravko, but that one is not with me.

The last lecture was on the book of Job. I was surprised to find out that the Syriac Pettria placed Job after Deuteronomy. Moses is the traditional author of Job. Interesting. I like religion.

Visiting

I went to Seoul today to visit some friends. I felt that I wanted to go visiting churches since I hadn't done that yet. I saw a friend from the USA that I met when I was 10 years old. It is difficult to believe that I met him that long ago. He has a nice wife and children.
Some of the other teachers and I stayed around and chatted. We talked about various stuff. They talked a bit about the academic office, their home country of South Africa, and various stuff. We talked about pastors O'Ffill, Doug Batchelor, and Walter Veith. I think those pastors are great. I think Walter Veith is extremely brilliant. He knows a lot about various religious groups and movements.
I later went to the COEX Mall. It was getting dark so it wouldn't be Sabbath anymore. I didn't want to buy stuff on the Sabbath. I figured I would walk around the area for a bit and then do some serious shopping. I mostly browsed Bandi & Luni's Bookstore. I like that place a lot. I also love Kyobo, but I haven't been to one since I left Korea the last time. I got a Korean phrasebook and some Korean verbs and adjectives. I need to learn Korean better. I saw some intersting books that I'll have to read the reviews on amazon.com later.

Classical Music

I know I like classical music. I especially love Handel, Beethoven, Faure, and Mozart. I have listened to a lot of Faure's Requiem recently. I decided to do a wiki search and find out about other requiems. I remembered a man at Andrews University who had a stack of at least 20 CDs that were all requiems. There was an open house in the men's dormitory and I got to see his room. I never met anyone that was that interested in requiems. I didn't understand then. Now I learned to appreciate them. I love Mozart's requiem a lot. In high school I sang the "Dies Irae" in chorus. Faure's requiem is beautiful. I told my roommate that I felt it was picked from the heavens. She thought that was a strange comment. I just find it to be so celestial, especially the "Pie Jesu" and "In Paradisum".
In my wiki search, I found a long list of requiems. I was surprised at how many there are. There is a long list of those from the 20th century and also the 21st century. I was surprise to find out about John Tavener's requiem that he wrote especially for Bjork's voice. There are also some requiems written by Chinese and Japanese composers. I have an interest in Eastern classical music. I have heard Yo-Yo Ma's "Silk Road Ensemble" and it's beautiful. Tyzen Hsiao wrote a requiem and this lovely piece
I think Canon in D is great. I have a CD of various arrangements of Canon in D. I didn't bring it with me and I didn't rip it before I left for Korea. I liked the arrangement by Isao Tomita called "Canon of the Three Stars". Canon in D is so simple, yet it can be made into so many arrangements. I love the simplicity of it.

Stuff I need to do

I really need to get a flash drive. I also want to get a book on learning Korean. I really want to understand and speak it better. It would be a good thing to do here. I also find Mandarin and Japanese to be interesting. I was told by my students that it would be easier for me to learn Mandarin as opposed to Korean or Japanese. The sentence structure of Chinese is the same as English and are no articles. I am thankful that Korean has an alphabet. It's very easy to read. Well, first things first, as I always say. I will try to learn Korean soon.

Religion Lecturer

Last Friday night I lead the vespers program at Sahmyook University. I used many scriptural texts to go along with my talk. My talk was about Philemon and the concepts that are in there. I used texts from Colossians, John, Philippians, Luke, 1 Peter, and Galatians as well as quotes from the Desire of Ages. I easily talked for 45 minutes with four pages of notes. I had people's attention. I liked talking in front of them. After my talk many people told me that it was very good.

The next day one of the professors from the religion department said that during my talk he was thinking that I should be a university lecturer in religion. He told me about the Sunday programs that are available on campus. He said that religion should be where I belong. He asked me what my undergraduate studies were in. I told him it was English literature. He said that I could easily add religion to my academic studies. I didn't tell him that I thought of adding religion as a second major when I was at Andrews University. He went on to say that it would be great to get a degree in religion from the East because most scholars get their degrees in the West. He said it would be a different perspective.

I am wondering if that is something I should do. I did look at the Public Health program. It looks interesting, yet I am not sure if that's something I want to do. I like the idea of doing certain things with public health, yet I wonder if that is something I would do well.

If I do decide to be a religion lecturer, I will do my best to be a good scholar. I will have to make sure that I know my subject well. I know that being a good researcher requires determination, patience, and the willingness to learn other subjects that intertwine with the main subject. Being a religion scholar would require knowledge of history, sociology, philosophy, and foreign languages. Being a scholar is a life-long commitment.

Vivo Per Lei with English lyrics

Who I Really Am in All Candidness

I know that I am a unique individual. Everybody is unique, yet I value uniqueness and independent thinking a lot. I am a strong non-conformist, so I fit into no categories. I float around from group to group and meet a variety of people. I don't limit myself to any circle of friends. I don't care if my ideas aren't popular. If someone doesn't like my ideas, then they can just stop listening to me.

I do know that I often come across negatively to other people. Sometimes I come on too strongly when someone piques my interest and I want to know them better. They then think I am rude. I do need to be more careful about how I approach people. I am just not shy. I don't want to be rude to anybody. It's just that "Hi, I think you are cool! Let's hang out!" doesn't always work.

Being a gifted individual has made things awkward. I like it when I can connect with people who are on my intellectual level. I have no problem in associating with people of various intellectual levels. Yet when I talk to other highly intelligent people, I feel that I have more to talk about. When I am with the average crowd, I don't always have something to add to the conversation. I then remain quiet, just listen, and people think I am being snobbish. I am not, I just have nothing to say. It's not always that way, I have found many people that aren't highly educated that are self-educated who are still interesting.

I don't care for most mainstream movies and books. I want to watch the better films and read the better books. I watch the best films of the year and some artsy independent things. I like to read biographies, classics, travel narrative, science, and educational magazines. I can't stand movies with badly formed plots, slapstick comedy, and too much action for taste. I also don't want to read cheap fiction.

I want to be known as a kind person. I want to be down to earth. I want to be considerate. I guess I am one of those that people that need some getting to know before I am figured out better. It has hurt me a lot that some people already made a verdict before scratching the surface.

I'm Getting My Hair Done

WOW! I am currently having my hair worked on in the Lotte Dept. Store in Jamsil. Yes, I can use the internet while having my hair done. I love Korea!

Vespers, 29th Birthday

Yesterday I did vespers at Sahmyook University. I was still working on it on Friday morning. I don't have a printer at home, so I was in need of someone letting me use theirs. I saw the English department's door open and went in there to see if anyone was around. Nobody was. Outside I met Professor Kim Kyoung Chul and he let me into his office in the religion dept. I was greatful.
The vespers went well. It started very small, but the group grew. I did my talk on Philemon, and how it is a parallel of the Cross. We were slaves to sin, but Christ has redeemed us, freed us, and we are reconciled. Paul had the hardship of being a prisoner, but that trial became a blessing because he witnessed to many people as a prisoner. He wrote many uplifting letters to the Christian church that are now in the Bible. I used some quotes from the Desire of Ages to talk about the church's mission to win souls. We are to use the gifts that are given to us. Many people told me my speech was good. I then spent the night at Peter and Wendy's home.
Early in the morning we went to Sabbath school. I met Simon, a Danish man I met a few years ago. I also saw Allou, who is sadly leaving soon. I was glad to see him again and am disappointed that he and his wife are going.
We had a fellowship dinner. The entire church sang "Happy Birthday" to me and they had prayer, mentioning me in it. I like this new family. I sat with Elroy, Allou, Adam, Victor, and a few others. I was given a small piece of cake by someone. I had it on the fork and called it "my birthday cake". haha.
After taking a nap we all went to the lake. We sang some songs and had prayer. We then went to the campus and there was a fire. We drank hot cocoa, ate brownies, popcorn, and potatoes. Some pizzas from Pizza School were ordered. Some people toasted marshmallows, but I didn't.
I am glad I had a good birthday.

Going Crazy

Yesterday I had a little girl in my class that had to use the toilet. She went because it was an emergency. I am only supposed to let them use the toilet if they have to use it badly. She went out the door and came back in a few minutes. Soon my children were shouting "ddong!" "ddong!". I knew that is Korean for "sh!t". The girl had diarrhea all over the back of her coat. It was smeared straight down the back. She seemed unaware of it and was trying to go back to her seat. She was also near my desk and I didn't want her stuff to get on my desk. I sent her out into the hallway and let the secretaries know what happened.
Back in the classroom, the students were holding their noses and still murmuring "ddong!". I stood on top of my desk and opened a high window. Of course the class was still in chaos for a while. Yet I wondered, "how does someone get diarrhea on the back of their coat?". I then decided that I didn't want to think about that anymore. This week at the hagwon has been like that every day. I am glad it's Thursday.

Pie Jesu

Master of Public Health

I stayed Saturday night at the apartment of an Australian couple. They are nice people. I then went to the Master of Public Health seminar. I am not in the programme yet, but I went to the seminar yesterday to see how it was. I took a seat next to my new friend Maike. We talked for a while. I also met up with Renata, another friend that I had met 2 years ago. I wondered about her, and she said she had wondered about me. I also met up with Grace, who I was introduced to online by my friend Jim.
I think the MPH programme looks great. I am wondering if it's good for a PhD at Loma Linda University in California. I do need to get in contact with LLU and find out. I do think that a PhD is something nice to strive for. A PhD has to be persued for the right reasons. It shouldn't be for the prestige, a plan B, or anything else like that. A PhD is a way of life. It is for the academic knowledge and the continuance of that. It is for the person to see how he/she can do for academia.