I'm saying good-bye to Vancouver

Yesterday, I had two appointments with my Korean friends, Soo and Jung-Min. Soo invited me to her place and she prepared for amazing lunch. She is very good at cooking, so I already expected that the food would be great. However, it was beyond my expectation; she made a steak, a salad, and a salmon pasta like an Italian restaurant. After lunch, she brought me to the cafe "Agro" which is ranked the 2nd on the list of the most popular cafes in Yale town. We used to hang out around Yale town before I moved to the place where I live now. She told me she wants me to be her neighbor again when I come back to Vancouver. I had a lot of fun with her while I felt pain on my heart because of sadness.

At dinner, I met Jung-Min who is my parents' friend (she is now my friend, though). She brought her son to introduce him to me. He can't speak Korean very well, but he speaks very formal Korean all the time. It was very impressive. Eventhough Jung-Min and I are not in the same age group, but we always had fun whenever we hung out with each other. She helped me get used to Vancouver life, so I could enjoy Vancouver without any difficulties. I don't know how to thank her enough. I want her to visit Korea as soon as possible, then I will treat her as a V.I.P.

How sweet they are!
I'm so lucky to meet them.

It is so difficult for me to say good-bye to people in Vancouver.
I still don't know how to say good-bye to Vancouver where I feel like it is my second hometown.

My last Mid-term exam

To tell the truth, I haven't prepared for any exam. Or I have prepare for exams all the time because I think it is amazing to study English at ELI; so I don't need to do something more just for an exam. However, I always want to improve my writing skill since I'm such a writing lover. I was very interested in classes of the last week because we could learn many different kinds of essays.

I think it is very hard to learn how to write an essay in Korea. We learn how to get a high score in a multiful choice exam not write an essay. That's why I was very surprised when I first joined Francis'class. It was all about an academic essay and research paper. I had kind of a hard time in class, but I didn't give up writing. I suppose this made my writing better.

Today, I want to review what we are done last week and I will use what I review in my reading assignment. I should write a reading response journal, so I can practice writing while I do my homework.

The more I do something related to school, the more I feel sad..because it reminds me of that the time is running out.

Being.

I had been very busy being someone cool, important, worthy or beautiful while I had kept myself busy, competitive and thirsty. When I look back on my past, I can find out that I achieved a lot of things I wanted to be but I never complimented myself on what I had done. It was like a never-ending hunger or endless task of life.


I was hungry and thirsty.


Something was always missing.


I kept asking myself "What should I do?", "What do I want to do?", "Why am I here?", and "Who am I?"
No answer. No way. No ending.


However, I couldn't give up questioning on those "Self-argument" (this word hasn't existed yet, though)
To make a long story short, I found the answer. I realized that it was not necessary to find the answer.


I make a question, therefore I can make an answer as well. All questions and answers are from myself, thus I am just aware of where there are from which is myself, no matter what my questions and answers are.


The truth really set me free.
I'm here. I have been being here. I will be here no matter who I choose to be.


There's no problem. Paradoxically, the only problem is that we procrastinate being aware of who we really are, so we keep thinking that we have a lot of problems we have to deal with. Nevertheless, we will realize that there is no more room to put it off when we face "death" which is an inevitable reality.

Thank you for "Being There"

   I was really touched and inspired throughout the movie. Being there. I think the title explains and implies a lot of things we should think about insightfully. People see what they want to see and they know what they understand. We think we live with people around me now, but I think it is kind of misunderstanding. We always use our own point of view when we think or react towards a certain situation, so it is easy for us to make up our mind differently no matter what is true or unture.
  People around Mr.Chance understand and accept him in their own way even Mr.Chance's name. Whatever he behaviors and says, people want to interpret based on who they are, what they want and what they know. All is truth. This is how the world works becuase life is a state of mind as the last saying in the movie. There is no doubt for the truth that everyghing is one's own creature.

A Comparison of "Hills Like White Elephants" and "The CLOD & the PEBBLE"

   Ernest Hemingway and Willam Blake show us the different aspects of love in their short story and poem. When we think of love, it is easy for people to come up with "romantic love". We like to believe that love is pure, innocent, and happy; however, we cannot avoid to facing uncomfortable facet of love. In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants", Ernest Hemingway make the reader imagine what attitude the characters have towards the unromantic situation by describing the conversation between an American man, who tries to induce his "girl"friend to follow what he wants to do, and a girl, who struggles for going through the disadvantageous situation. On the other hand, William Blake expresses what love is like in the poem "The CLOD & the PEBBLE" from his point of view. He portrays two angles of "love" metaphorically: "And builds a Heaven in Hells despair" and "And builds a Hell in Heavens despite". This shows how contrasting his point of view of love is.    
   Love changes as things change. Falling in love is sometimes like riding a roller coaster, so we might get ready to be brave. We can be in a Hell. We can be in a Heaven. We don't know which one we are going to be in.  It is the beauty of love, however, even if it becomes a tragedy at times. Nevertheless, being in love is such a pleasure because at least it means that we are breathing and have a chance to go on a way to where we wish for.

Hills Like White Elephants: Personal Response

     Whenever I read Ernest Hemingway's writing, I feel like I have met him before in person because his writing I have read is very realistic. I don't mean his stories seem to be real or a non-fiction, but the way he created the conversation makes me feel familiar as if I heard the conversation right next to them. I could imagine the situation the American man and the girl argue with each other like a movie or soap opera scene because of the vivid dialogue. The conversation between the man and the girl is very typical and classic, but it is not, either. That is because the writer show us things that can happen to anyone but nobody wants to know the uncomfortable aspect of love; he doesn't make the story fancy like a Hollywood romantic movie girls mostly like.
     The girl, who is probably very young, faces the truth that makes her confused and upset, but she seems to grow up by going through the tough moment at the end of the story. Actually I cannot be one hundred percent sure whether she became more mature or not, but I can tell she already knows it is time to move on even though she doesn't know what to do yet. On the other hand, I don't think the man doesn't have responsibilities because he knows what he can do and what he can't do. I think he is not responsible if he let her give birth despite he is not ready to be a father or at least support her.  We can see hills as white elephants when we are full of emotions, but we can see them as they are when we realize that life goes on no matter how ready we are to deal with things we don't want.

Hills Like White Elephants: Setting

      In the short story "Hills Like White Elephants", Ernest Hemingway describes the conversations between the American and the girl. The story happens in Spain and this setting makes the story exotic; even though it shows us a quite typical conflict that anyone can face in life. However, we can find this story atypical because of the setting. The writer informs us that the American guy can speak Spanish and see the situation simply and clearly; on the other hand, the girl cannot speak Spanish and see things she faces indecisively. The man seems to be relatively familiar with this kind of situation like he is able to do something in other country by speaking other language without difficulty. In contrast with him, the girl is a stranger in both the place and the situation. She actually seems to know what she wants, but she is not strong enough against his no-pressure pressure like she can say only "thank you" to the woman in Spanish although she might have to go through a new experience she doesn't want.
      The reason why the setting is the most important part to understand this story is that it shows us how different the way these two characters think about the same problem; and it helps us imagine what the place is like and how the characters feel like by picturing in our mind. This gives the reader strong impression in spite of the short length and the short conversation; we can see the inside meaning of each person's lines despite the fact that Ernest Hemingway doesn't give us so many details. Like he said himself, he nailed how great he is as a writer by giving us a chance to understand the story with our imagination from the small piece of the whole things that he showed us.