The Korea Blog

I was the 3rd batch member of WSK (World Students in Korea) blogging program. And now I am selected as one of members of the first batch of The Korea Blog. Happy ^^

Congratulations for the other selected winners :)
http://blog.korea.net/?p=1767

About The Korea Blog --> Here.

2011년 2월 27일
ㅏㅇㄱ

Another Story Has Just Begun

February 25, 2010

Finally moved to Inha University in Incheon. I am gonna live with other 3 people and all of them are Korean. Two of them are majoring in Business and one of them is majoring in Electronic. I met one today, he likes basket ball and other sports. His name is류형훈 and he is one of the two whose major is Business. I played basket ball with him for 20 minutes today.

So far so good, despite the fact that the shower room is public which I find it kind of uncomfortable, but I will get over it. The area is really nice, the view is awesome, food is really close. I like my dormitory even though CNU dormitory is still better. But socially, I think it would be better in here, knowing that I will live with other 3 people.

I want to go around the universities ... I'll post the report later :D

2011년 2월 26일

ㅏㅇㄱ

Congratulations for the Noonas

February 25, 2011

That day was the graduation day of Chungnam National University's students. Before going to Incheon to move, I went to meet one of my friends who graduated that day. And unexpectedly I also met my other friend who is also graduated.

It's weird ... I am supposed to graduate this year, too ... hahah, but far from being graduated, mine has just begun.

Me and 은정누나

Mas Edvan and 혜진 누나

Congratulations ...
for making me envy you ㅠㅠ

2011년 2월 26일
ㅏㅇㄱ

Good Bye Chungnam National University | 충남대학교 안녕!!

Main gate of Chungnam National University

March 30 2010 is the date of my arrival to Korea, I started my study of Korean language in Chungnam National University. And now, February 23 2011, I left Chungnam National University (CNU). Here, I would like to write something about CNU.

As a language student, I studied in Language Center of CNU. Located near by the main gate of CNU, it's a five stories building with I think a really nice lounge room, but ... most of PCs in the lounge room is not working. For Korean classes there are up to 6 level offered. From my experience some teacher are really cool and easy going, but just like a coin, there are also some teacher who a lil bit insufficient in bringing up the class to be lil bit interesting. There are also good staff who will help foreigners who need help.

CNU Language Center

Overall, CNU is a large scale university and the dormitory is really good, but then for me I am not really satisfied with the food that they provide. Since I am a muslim and I can't eat pork. Some Koreans that I know said that the fee to study in CNU is cheaper since it is one of national universities. There are also some exchange students from several countries come to CNU to study for at least 1 semester.

Anyway, I am leaving CNU, I decided to continue my bachelor study in Inha University in Incheon. Enough for CNU ... let me leave the good memories and the bad ones, too ... just there.

2011년 2월 24일

ㅏ.ㅇ.ㄱ

3 Days Ski Tour: Gangneung - YongPyong Ski Resort

Hosted by The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, supervised and run by Korea Ski Resort Business Association, and sponsored by Gangwon Province, Asian students who study in Korea got a chance to experience Ski in YongPyong Resort. Not only ski, we also visited some tourist attraction places in Gangwon province. But before, when we arrived at Gangneung city, I was so shocked by the thickness of the snow. It is so thick that the parking lot turned into car graveyard.

Alright, let's go to the first stop, which is 문화예술관 [Munhwayesulgwan] where we enjoyed Gangneung Gwanno Mask Drama, a kind of play without verbal action and the players wear masks. The story was like romance story where a guy falls in love with a lady, but then the other guys interfere their relationship.

You don't go to Gangneung if you don't watch this :).

The next place is Gangneung Songyojang, I don't know why we went to this place, because I think there was nothing special with this place, maybe it was because there was nobody explained about what kind of place is this. Anyway, the whole place was covered by thick snow, it was kind of cool, though.

The next place was kind of cool and like not Korean style at all. It was a museum of Charmsori Gramophone Museum. There were a lot of sound instruments, but also there were Edison's inventions like lights, etc. It was something.

and Finally we arrived at YongPyong resort where we spent 2 nights there. The place was really good and cozy. The room was very big and comfortable. And we were ready for the next day to play ski :)

Green Pia, where we stayed for 2 nights

I stayed with 2 malaysian, they were nice roommates. The next day was the day! we played ski. Actually it was not the first time for me, but I took the lesson anyway because it's been 2 years since the last time I played my first ski. The arena was ok, nothing really special though, just a regular ski arena. If you don't have clothes for skiing, they rent it for KRW15,000 and if you need gloves, they sell it for KRW10,000. There are also restaurants and other facilities like game center, PC center, convenience store, it's kind of cool.

This is where you borrow the ski equipment

This is Ski wear rental

Ski Pole

Ski Plate

Learning to play ski is not that difficult, you just have to be brave and believe that everything is gonna be ok -even actually sometimes it could be really not ok- hahah.

At night, we were having this contest, so everybody could participate but just some of us are brave enough to participate. Most of them sang a song, I think just one person danced. Anyway, one of Indonesians sang Umbrella which is sung by Rihanna, and she actually got KRW100,000, the winner is the Philippine team^^.

Anyway, it was a really nice experience. The one who organized this trip actually said that even though we are from different countries but still we are Asian, and it makes us a family :).

The person in the middle is the one who organized this trip

More pictures here.

Links:

Korea Ski Resort Business Association

YongPyong Resort

Gangwon Province

2011년 2월 20일

앙가

WSK Stories of the Month - Korean Mushrooms Occupies the Tables of the Swiss

The superior species and high production quality of Korean mushroom is proved through its great texture and taste, already having been renown overseas. Today Korean mushrooms have attracted the Swiss people being one of their favorite dishes.

Korean mushrooms spotlighted as high-quality food

Jelomli, a grand department store of Zurich, the largest city in Swiss has Korean mushrooms on their sales list, sold at the lower ground grocery section, along with a variety of other raw mushrooms. Here Korean king oyster mushrooms are sold by 30-40 franc per kilogram, quite expensive which is equivalent to 35,000 ~ 47,000 won in Korean dollars.

Swiss people, on sunny days, often enjoy barbeque parties with their family and friends sharing grilled meat and sausages, and the Korean king oyster mushrooms as the only vegetable to be added on the main grill list. Taken as a high-quality food item, the king oyster mushrooms are enjoyed for its bigger size and thick texture that is much suitable for a grill party compared to button mushrooms.

In Swiss, now it is not that difficult to meet these mushrooms from Korea in Swiss as they are not only supplied to department stores but also to Migros, the largest supermarket franchise in Swiss.

King oyster mushroom and filet mignon, a menu of Alt Swiss Chalet,

a Swiss restaurant in Itaewon, Korea (Photo: Naver blog)

In Swiss, mushrooms are widely enjoyed by the people being one of the most popular food often used as an ingredient for sauces or even as main dishes. Regarding the sales of button mushrooms the amount of its consumption are 13,000 tons annually; 8,000 tons of raw mushrooms and 5,000 tons of cooked mushrooms. Here 7,000 tons of raw mushrooms are produced in Swiss and the import! rate of the total market consists of 15 percent. The Swiss people do seem to favor mushrooms a lot!

Cannot imagine a life without mushrooms!

  The Swiss people in love with mushrooms

Even the economic crisis did not stop the Swiss fondness for mushrooms. In the second half of 2008 when the economic situation was not favorable, consumers did not cease to spend money on mushrooms. In 2009, rather the total consumption increased adding 300 tons compared to the former year. In fact, the fastidious Swiss customers looking for the best qualities seem to continuously increase the needs for fresh mushrooms.

Button mushroom is the most largely produced and consumed one in Swiss, which is a very traditional kind. However, Asian kinds started to receive attention along with the rising popularity of foreign mushroom species. These days foreign mushrooms that have been introduced during the 1980~1990s including shiitake, king oyster mushroom, grifola frondosa are now receiving some spotlight. Especially shiitake is enjoying popularity being ranked second in the consumer preference.

It may be no surprise that Korean mushrooms with high quality and taste has successfully created its market in Swiss. It had past 3~4 years since Korean king oyster mushrooms joined the dishes of the Swiss dining table.

Now the annual amount of mushroom import!s are over two hundred million Korean won. This was possible by both continuous efforts put to improving species and through quality control.

In 2009 renowned chefs from all over the world have visited Korea to participate in the ‘Amazing Korean Table,’ and Korean mushroom was used by all chefs. A variety of mushrooms were grilled or slightly boiled to be used as ingredients or become the main dish itself.

The taste and flavor of Korea mushrooms seems to prove its real worth no matter where it is. As the Swiss fondness for mushroom continues the future of the Korean mushroom overseas market is expected to be positive; we hope to create a broader international market, in addition to Swiss, for all consumers who want high quality mushrooms.

.................................................................................................................................  

                                                                                                          ⓒ코리아브랜드

PS: This article is taken from the WSK Newsletter #35. I was one of the members of WSK batch 3 and I would like to continue sharing their articles through my blog.

www.koreabrand.net

WSK Stories of the Month - The Medical Service Project Shares New Life and Hope!

Do you know much about the congenital heart disease? The disease is due to abnormal heart development before birth that requires postnatal medical treatment. It may lead to premature death if no appropriate surgery is operated, however a successful surgery can grant a new healthy life to a child.

Regrettably, there are many people who are in need of medical surgery but not all receive the opportune treatment. The high costs and lack of professional medical hospitals are doubling the burden. Fortunately, movements of medical support for the global neighborhood have been started, the ‘Korea Medical Service Share Project’ being one of them.

The Korean government financially supports children of neighboring undeveloped regions suffering from the lack of medical facilities by paying all expenses on their visit to Korea for medical treatment; Private medical institutions support the medical expenses by offering voluntary surgical operations. This year’s first patient is Danilya, a young boy from Russia.

A new life to a six-year-boy Danilya

The level of medical treatment of Korea is well recognized on the international level. The number of foreigners visiting Korea for medical surgery or treatment is increasing and every year new surgery method of Korea and its successful cases are introduced overseas.

The Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare has developed a project to position Korea as a global healthcare leader and promote voluntary services overseas.

The project is significant for being a public-private collaboration case while the Korean government provides financial aids covering flight fees and expenses during the stay and medical institutions covers the medical expenses. This year’s budget is 250,000,000 Korean won, which will be used to cure fifteen patients from the neighbors of Korea including China, Russia, Kazakhstan and so on.

Danilya, a six-year-old boy from Havarovsk, Russia was the first patient to meet the Korea Medical Service Share Project. Danilya was diagnosed as congenial heart disease and ventricular septal defect however the family could not afford a surgery and in fact no hospitals specializing in heart disease could be found near the village. It was grateful to receive Irina’s - the mother’s joy and appreciation when she heard the good news from Korea about the medical and financial support.

Sejong Hospital, specializing in heart disease, was responsible for the young boy’s surgery this time. The hospital has conducted about 900 free medical operations for children from twenty nations including Russia, China, Vietnam, and Iraq for the last twenty-nine years bringing new life to them. The hospital explains that it is time for Korea to give back the help it has received from their neighbors in the past and this medical service project could be one example of it.

Sharing the advanced medical technology of Korea with Russia

Doctors from overseas for training, observes liver transplant and heart surgery

conducted by Korean surgeons at major Hospitals of Korea

The operation process of Danilya was covered by RTR, the Russian public broadcasting media and will be broadcasted across Russia in March. ‘Pulse,’ RTR’s self-produced medical documentary program that usually deals with new trends in the medical field e.g. modern medical science, diagnosis and diverse diseases, and new medical treatments, will feature the story on Danilya in three parts. This may as well be a good opportunity for Korea to introduce its advanced medical technology.

In fact, RTR did not only take report of Danilya’s surgery but also covered the current medical technology for cancer, cardiac and vascular diseases, oriental medicine, brain and spine treatment of Korea in depth, introducing the excellence of Korean medical technology.

The medical team of Korea University Anam Hospital is attaching a robot arm

to a patient that will work as a real arm (photo: The Joongang Daily)

The Korea Medical Service Share Project will actively continue to support the young patients of China, Kazakhstan and so on. ‘Medical Korea,’ a medical institution to operate free surgery, will be established and promoted through the local media. ‘Global Medical Service Share Corps’ program supported by Hanlyu celebrities will be carried out as well. We expect the project would gradually expand its activity reaching out to more regions and covering more diseases to be cured.

The project embraces the idea of coexistence and the global community. It is grateful for both, Korea who can be help and its neighbors who calls for help – the young children suffering from illness, and the parents who need support to afford medical treatment. A better global community can be upheld by being help for those who need a hand, and this project can be one way to practice the idea. We hope to see more medical institutions willing to donate their excellence in medical technology to bring new lives to our neighbors.
..................................................................................................................................  

                                                                                                           ⓒ코리아브랜드

PS: This article is taken from the WSK Newsletter #35. I was one of the members of WSK batch 3 and I would like to continue sharing their articles through my blog.

www.koreabrand.net

Busan Trick Art

Yup, I went therer :) ... 1 hour and around 30 minutes by KTX departing from Daejeon to Busan. The real purpose for us to go to Busan was actually to perform one of traditional dances of Indonesia in the opening ceremony of Indonesia Counselor Affairs Office in Busan, but me and two of my friends went to Busan earlier to visit Busan Trick Art. KRW 12,000 worth ticket, we spent 2 hours and it wasn't enough ... what's in there?

Do you think those pictures are fake? photoshoped? not possible? hahah in Busan Trick Art, those are possible ... they painted the wall, or made some certain situation so that those are possible to do :). Curious? go there and have some fun!! Hurry ... because it's only until 27th of this month!

Information : http://www.mbctrickart.com/main.html
How to get there : http://www.mbctrickart.com/sub05_2.html

if you use navigation:
부산 진구 부암동 55-6번지 or 일성인포아파트
Busan Jin-gu Buam-dong 55-6 or Ilseonginfo Apartment

Subway:
Get off at Buam Station, take exit number 4 and walk straight for around 10 minutes

Shuttle Bus:
Take shuttle bus at the side of Lotte Hotel

Bus : as in the chart

More pictures here.

2011년 2월 10일
앙가