I’ve always wondered…

Link to article: “Plastic surgery in North Korea: More common than you’d think” 

 

PHOTO CREDIT: David Guttenfelder/AP
Source: The Telegraph

 

But you know what, pretty NK women that I’ve glimpsed in photos or on NK state television always come across to me as having a certain simplistic natural beauty that perhaps plastic-surgery-mecca SK is losing.

oppa’n masri style

전 세계 사람들이 사랑하고 따라하고 소화하는 ‘강남스타일’의 패러디는 이집트까지 왔다. 대-박.

며칠 전 동네에서 한 무리의 젊은이들이 지나가는 나를 향해 여느 날과 같이 뭐라고 소리를 질렀다. ‘강’? ‘강’? 지나가면서 자세히 들어보니 “강남스타일”을 외치는 것이였다. 싸이 덕분에 이집트에서 나는 ‘강남스타일’이다. 푸하하

________________________________

‘Gangnam Style’, the song by Korean popstar ‘Psy, which has enraptured and been parodied by people worldwide has also reached Egypt.

A couple of days ago as I was walking past, a group of young guys in my neighborhood were yelling something at me like any other day. It sounded something like ‘gang.’ It was only after I passed them that I made sense of the words: ‘Gangnam Style.’ Thanks to Psy, in Egypt I am ‘Gangnam style’.

(Note: Gangnam is a posh upper-end neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea that Psy was being cynical and making fun of in his song and music video.)

________________________________________

A great insight into ‘Gangnam’ and the latest ‘Gangnam Style’ phenomenon by my friend Juliet: 

“Everyone’s talking about “Gangnam Style” lately. It’s got catchy tunes and surprisingly I love it. But what in the world is Gangnam style?

Gangnam is the wealthiest district/neighborhood in Korea, sort of like the Beverly Hills of Korea. As somone who lived in Gangnam for a couple of years where the rampant consumerism and materialism is nothing new to Koreans, I have a few stories to share. This comes from personal experience and I don’t intend to overgeneralize.

Your “social status” is different once you’re from Gangnam. It’s invisible, noone talks about it, but it’s there.

One time I went to a counseling session at my college, totally unrelated to Gangnam. The counselor noticed my file records and asked me “Do you live in Gangnam? Wow! that’s great! What does your father do?” and she went on and on about how she loves Gangnam. I’m not sure why she asked me what my father does for a living but I doubt she would’ve asked it if I was living somewhere else.

When you have a social ID card with the words Gangnam written on the address you get better service. Cranky employees (esp in banks) start bending over backwards, to exaggerate a bit. Of course not all employees are like this and I hate to overgeneralize but I am sharing what I’ve seen.

Even on the telephone with a phone bill company they treat you like a VIP and once you feel that they’re not doing their job properly you could probably shout at them “Do you have any idea who I am? Or who my dad is? Do your job properly!!” and they will probably start to because some Gangnamers are influential figures.

It is no wonder (some) people in Gangnam are pretentious and ostentatious and wear that “superior” attitude with them. It is personally a huge wonder why people who live outside of Gangnam ironically dislike the Gangnamers and at the same time wishes to be “one of them”.

 Things are highly overpriced, not to mention the crazy real estate situation of Gangnam. Even tiny houses can cost you a fortune. And yet it continues to entice Koreans just like PSY’s “Gangnam Style” did.”

“You’re no Jack Kennedy”

AHAHAHAHAHA I found this video while trying to catch up on the latest U.S. presidential debates. Don’t you just love good zingers ;)
________________________________
Dan Quayle: “I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice-president of this country. I have as much experience in the congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration if that unfortunate event would ever occur.”

moderator: “Senator Bentsen?”

Lloyd Bentsen: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine, senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

Quayle: “That was really uncalled for, senator.”
LOL

2:28 a.m.

10 Best McDonald’s meals to get you drooling
Copyright: Foreign Policy

 

“The 10 Best McDonald’s Meals You Won’t Find in the U.S.”: what I’m drooling over at 2:28 a.m. I’ll have to follow up on my immense hunger pang by visiting the nearest ‘Maakdunaaldz’ and checking out the Egyptian burgers.  Come morning, come.

top left: Turkey’s Köfte Burger, top right: Morocco’s McArabia
bottom left: Thailand’s Samurai Pork Burger, bottom right: China’s prosperity burger
Copyright: Foreign Policy Magazine

 

14 days, the limit to my tolerance level

Day 14

I have been keeping in good company many things in my room from bed bugs to mosquitoes to ants, but the most trying of all has been my broken AC. I think my tolerance and patience for living without air conditioning for the last 14 days deserves a mention in the guiness book of world records, but now my tolerance level is plummeting fast and furiously. I also think I’m starting to go a little bit cuckoo in the head. @$-&;%#^*<€£+

!عايزة تكييف دلوقتى، كل ليس تمام..:( ياللا، ياللا

방에 있는 에어콘은 고장났고 선풍기도 없고 집주인은 카타르 갔고 집주인 여동생은 나몰라해서 너무 더운데.. 덥다고 공부가 안된다는 것은 핑계뿐이겠지..?ㅠㅠ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 그래두 아덥다- 집에 따뜻한 물이 안나오는게 다행인건 같다ㅎ 내 인내심은 정확히 2주간 천정부지였다. 하지만 2주가 넘는 이 시점에서 처음에는 뭣도 모르고 견뎠던 고난이 절망과 정신줄을 놓는 현상으로 변할려고 한다.. 얄라 얄라 에어콘…….!!

fii mushkila, ana 3ayizza tekeef dilwa2ti, kulu mish tamam, yalla yalla…! give me air conditioning…!

National Intelligence Service

The morning I left home, my dad gave me one of his watches to switch for the one I had been using because he said carrying an expensive watch might be dangerous. It wasn’t until I got on the plane that I took a closer look at what appeared to be an ordinary watch.

Dad, not that intelligence agents would publicly go around wearing a watch from their top-secret workplace but, don’t you think me wearing a watch that says ‘National Intelligence Service'(Korea’s equivalent of the CIA), is a tad bit more dangerous, not to mention suspicious? Of all the watches you could’ve given me. And if people ask me where I got it, saying I got it from you only increases suspicions.. But it did stir my imagination for an action-thriller scenario where I had lived a life of lies only to finally discover my dad’s true job and how I was now being given a secret mission by the NIS- and my, the protagonist’s dilemma whether to choose the red pill or the blue pill. lol

But seriously, dad- is there something you’re trying to tell me?

TOEFL SPEAKING

Getting prepped for my one-month summer job teaching TOEFL speaking (and to sub for Grace’s class for a day).

Question: “What is the most difficult experience you’ve ever had?”

Grace asks the class, “What if your life has been easy and wonderful? What do you do then?”

The kids in unison, “LIE.”

 

One girl answers the question, “Riding a scary ride at an amusement park.”

Grace asks her, “Did you throw up?”

The girl: “No.”

Grace:  “Just say that you did.”

 

Grace, we’re teaching the kids to be “creative” right, not the art of lying? ;)

it’s the small things

<2012.05.27> 오늘의 일기

오늘 교회 가는 길, 왕십리에서 중앙선으로 갈아타는 플랫폼으로 가기 위해 늘 가던 계단 쪽으로 향해 다친 다리 끌고 계단 하나하나 힘겹게 올라가던 도중, 연세 있으신 아저씨께서 그런 내가 안쓰러웠는지 나에게 엘레베이터나 에스컬레이터를 권유하시며 그 쪽으로 친절히 인도하신다. 절름발이인 내 모습이 장애인 같아 보였는지, 자신도 팔이 없다며 자신의 의수(prosthetic arm)을 보여주시며 연대감을 형성하신다 혹은 위로를 해주시는 거였는지. 여튼 그 분의 친절함에 감동 받아, ‘아직 한국은 낯선 사람들 사이에도 친절함과 정이 있는 나라 군’이란 생각이 들어, 안심하며 왠지 모르게 기분 좋았다.

my funny valentine

My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you’re my favorite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

But don’t change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day

The Story of the Genius Refugee: Albert Einstein

Translation of pNan’s webpage – the original article can be accessed at http://blog.naver.com/pnan/60153129465

I’m a refugee too <Albert Einstein>

Welcome to the first story in the “I’m a refugee too” series.

Today we are introducing someone whom everybody knows – the infamous Albert Einstein.

silvieandmaryl.com/author/bosslady/page/3/

‘I’m a refugee? Why don’t you prove it with a mathematic formula?’

Did you know that the scientist Einstein whom we are all familiar with, was a refugee? Let’s take a look at his life to see what happened.

Einstein was born in Munich, Germany in 1870. He was born into a Jewish family. It’s said that he liked music and math from a young age. He went on to a university in Switzerland and after graduation began work as a technical officer at the Bern Patent Bureau.

guidedmunich.com

This is the city where baby Einstein was born – Munich, Germany.

In 1905 Einstein published his paper on what would become the basis for the theory of relativity which would bring him international fame as a scientist. The research paper that was published argued that time and space was relative, which would get the whole world talking.

Afterwards Einstein received a doctorate degree at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and taught students there. In 1909 he taught students at the University of Prague, and in 1914 he moved to the Prussian Science Academy as a researcher. And finally, in 1919 (when South Korea was having its March 1^st independence movement..!!), Einstein proved his theory of relativity mathematically. This is when he received international acclaim as a scientist and went on to receive the Nobel Prize in 1921.

Now starts the Einstein’s life as a refugee.

Einstein who was on a brief visit to the U.S. decided not to return to Germany when Hitler gained power in 1933 and Nazism and anti-Judaism began to spread. Such a case is referred to as “refugee sur place.” This means that although one may not have personally been persecuted, the possibility of persecution when one returns to one’s home country establishes the criteria for being a refugee. Einstein was a Jew and because massive persecution had begun within Germany against the Jews, this meant that a death threat was awaiting him if he chose to return to Germany. So, he inevitably remained in the U.S. and became a refugee. At this time Einstein’s books were burned and he was blacklisted by the German government for treason against the state.

http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds/exhibit/legacy_of_war/war_as_illness.cfm

Many books that were anti-Nazism were thrown into the fire, including Einstein’s.

Having gained U.S. citizenship and having become a professor at Princeton University, Einstein created a U.S. visa application format for Jewish refugees in Germany and began to be involved in vouching for the identity of applicants. In other words, he helped refugees in Germany escape persecution.

Einstein did a lot to help refugees.

http://www.unhcr.org

Einstein was a refugee.

Afterwards, Einstein, a refugee who worked to help refugees, put up his papers for auction and donated the $6 million he received per paper for war funds.

And after sending a last letter to his friend, the pacifist and philosopher Russell, about his stance against nuclear weapons, he bid adieu to the world in 1955.

Einstein’s life as a refugee began with the huge persecution of his ethnic group, the Jews, within Germany. After this point, he worked to help refugees.

Refugees temporarily become refugees not by choice but because of surrounding circumstances that cannot be helped. A refugee is a person who flees the threat of persecution because of their political, religious, racial ideology or identity. Even in South Korea, around 3,300 refugee-status applicants have come to pNan fleeing persecution from all over the world, from places such as Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Iran, Bangladesh, and so on. But when most people view refugees from economically poor countries, they assume by their looks and country of origin that they are people deserving sympathy. But, have you ever thought that the future leader who will change the world could be a ‘refugee’, like Einstein?

Let’s emulate Einstein’s warm attitude towards refugees, and embrace the refugees who have come to pNan and South Korea.

http://www.jokelibrary.net/xOtherAtoM/b_to_e/bicycle-einstein.html

Visit pNan’s homepage for more information on the work that it does: www.pnan.org