Finding the dream...

the World #1 Korean skaters

2008-03-02T21:26:00.004-05:00

I've added four different videos here. They are all videos of Korean skaters.
When I started skating, I didn't even know there are elite inline speed skaters in Korea. And I wasn't even interested in figure skating and ice speed skating. Those are just sports I get to see during Olympic games or Asian games.
Now, I love all kinds of skating since Korea has the world top level skaters in all skating sports. They are just good. It's always exciting to see their all winnings and sometimes their failures.
There you go, enjoy the videos.

Korean Short track skaters

A Korean figure skater, Yu-na Kim(김연아)

Inline speed skaters, 2006 World in Anyang, Korea, Junior Women Relay Final

A long track skater- KangSeok Lee(이강석)

A fun indoor practice at Scooter's

2008-02-19T02:37:00.007-05:00

It has been for three and a half months since we started indoor skating.
For the first two months I missed some practices and I couldn't really skate technically. It means I didn't really enjoy skating at Scooter's and there was some frustration and disappointment about my skating at practices.
Tonight, I was so happy because I felt really good about my skating.
I am getting better and feeling comfortable with crossover now.
I couldn't finish our long warm-up until last month but from this month, I manage to do so.
I tend to stop skating during the warm-up when I feel that my technique falls apart ,which causes early tiredness. But it doesn't happen to me during the warm up recently and I am also able to push and lean more at the corner. In doing so, it allows me to get steady speed during the whole warm-up with less not-efficient strides.
Last night, the floor was awesome, I always thank to skaters who clean the floor. They know how to do it properly. It's unfair that the same guys do it most of times. I wish I could do it sometimes but I actually try not to do it because I am not good at it, so I try to do something else such as getting cones and pads, putting back benches and chairs. I know that's easy one compared with cleaning the floor but at least we can skate on the better gripper floor when it's done by better guys.

Anyway, I am so glad that I am improving my technique and has begun to enjoy skating at Scooter's. I am not really serious about speed or winning races but it's always good when you feel better about skating.
Hopefully, I can keep improving my technique until the end of indoor season, so that I can enjoy outdoor skating this spring.

It's like free education

2008-02-14T20:43:00.008-05:00

Since I stopped working last October, I have no income, so I try to spend money wisely.
In order to do that, I have been looking for free seminars or lectures instead of taking English classes which I need to pay for.
I recall three years ago, I went to a couple of free ESL classes to fill my free time. Now, things are different. My level of English is kind of beyond ESL level. I am sure I can still learn something if I go, but they don't catch my interest any more.
Anyway, I finally found something which can fill my free time. Since Tuesday, I have gone to seminars and lectures open to public in U of T three days in a row.
The first one was quite interesting and entertaining but yesterday's and today's weren't interesting as much as the first one. They were about environmental issues which I am not familiar with. That could be one of reasons I didn't get interested.
I can't actually complain about it because it's free and not ESL. But it would have been better that lecturers knew how to make their presentation interesting. Today's was worse. Some audience left in the middle of the seminar but I was there until the end. It was still helpful for me to pick up some difficult terms which I don't usually hear from my friends.
Seminars and free lectures continues until the end of March like three days every week, so I can go there and get some free education and learn more English for the time being.

Captcha lecture

2008-02-12T17:37:00.008-05:00

Today, I went to one of free lecture series in UofT.
The lecture began a bit later than it was scheduled which was good because my alarm didn't go off and I was late. Luckily, I was able to make it in time.
I asked my friend from ISM to go together. He was there talking to a Chinese girl who's doing her computer science PhD in UofT.
The lecturer was the guy named Luis von Ahn, who invented Captcha and is a professor in Carnegie Mellon University. I was surprised that he is very young like my age. He must be smart.
Even though I am not really into computer things any more, the lecture was quite interesting and entertaining. I didn't know This reCAPTCHA system is being used to aid in the conversion of scanned images into digital text. He said that because computer OCR system isn't perfect, so it makes some mistakes while scanning some texts. So reCAPTCHA system makes us finish that job. When you type letters of distorted image, the system keeps what you typed and uses to decode some images which computers didn't recognize.

Doesn't it sound different?
It's usually the other way, isn't it?
Since the computer was invented, it always assists and helps human get jobs done. With that system, we, human being, aid computers with an ability which human only has.
The lecturer told us about another project they are doing. That is image labeling.
If you use image search on Google, sometimes you can see some images which doesn't relate to what you typed. So, the team made an online game to improve accuracy of image search.
You can go to http://www.espgame.org to figure out how people contributes to that.
How the game works is player see images and types words coming to their mind.
I didn't get the fun part of the game but he said a lot of people play that game every day.
The words were typed are being collected and used for image labeling, so you play the game as well as you support image labeling.
I found it very interesting because image labeling itself would be very boring and repetitive job like typing and you also have to pay people for that.
But with that game and the background system, they can collect data for image labeling without paying them and people can also have fun with that game.
What an idea it is.

I thought the lecture was two and half hours long but it turned out it was just for an hour.
So, my friend and I went for lunch afterwards. He said that he's learned new words today since he's not young guy to follow all new computer words.
Sometimes, computer things evolve too fast, so even I can't catch up. But we don't need to know everything about computers. It's just too much somtimes. Haha.

Tomorrow, there are two lectures open to public. I think I will go at least for one. The one which is about environment issues.

Ahn hyun soo and a bit of subtitle work

2008-02-06T02:31:00.001-05:00

I found the video of Ahn hyun soo made by SBS, a Korean broadcasting company, on a Korean website yesterday.
Once I thought about making that kind of video and put it on Youtube to let people know how good Ahn hyun soo is but I've been just lazy to do so but not that lazy to download that video and put a little bit of English subtitle in that video and upload it to Youtube.
Here they are.

World #1 Short track skater, Korean, Ahn hyun soo

- part1

- part2

- part3 + subtitle

He broke his kneecap after he hit fences so hard at a practice. So, he had a surgery and is now recovering. The hospital said that he can get back to ice after 3 months or so.
I am disappointed that I can't see his 6 time consecutive winning at World but glad that the injury is not going to stop his skating career.

Subtitle work #2

2008-02-05T02:26:00.000-05:00

CEO of Apple, Steve jobs' 2008 keynote address part 1

Subtitle work #1 - MacBook Air

2008-02-05T02:21:00.000-05:00

MacBook Air during Steve job's 2008 keynote speech

< part 1 >

< part 2 >

An ordinary Wednesday.

2008-01-17T23:24:00.000-05:00

These days, my Wednesday starts from noon. I leave home at around 1 pm and head to OISE library. With a large Tim Hortons’ coffee, I sit there and read some books about teaching English, write a blog post, or watch some dramas with my laptop. I wish I could use a wireless connection in the library but I must be a UofT student to use it. I am asking around to see if someone let me know their account but so far I couldn’t find anyone. Anyway, I usually stay there until 6 and move to Bay&Bloor where the language exchange meeting takes place. There is an inside sitting area near Indigo bookstore. It’s a quite good place to have a meeting with around 10 people. I have been doing the meeting since last October. For the first a couple of weeks, I only got two or three people at the meeting but yesterday there were 12 people. It gets bigger and bigger.

I really enjoy being able to speak two totally different lauguages. I talk more than usual when I am with language exchange folks. I guess it’s because I am learning English like other international language students, so I understand them better and have a lot in common with them. That enables me to assist them to learn English with other English speakers and I aso learn from them while doing it. I am also a Korean speaker, so I can help Canadian learner of Korean. They ask me so many questions I haven’t even thought about them before. So, I look up my dictionary and try to give them right anwers every time it happens. I don’t know every Korean word and grammar. I also learn Korean at the meetup. With doing all these, I feel so happy that I have something to share.

The Wednesday language exchange meeting ends at 8 pm. While some go home and some go for dinner or coffee, I go to Travis’ place to get a ride with him for inline skating practice. So, I went to Bay subway station. While waiting a train, I found one drunk guy sitting on the bench and swearing. At that time, I was with two other Korean students. I asked them to move away from that guy. I walked away from him first and my two friends followed me. I heard about it later that one of my friends made a eye contact with him and talked to the other friend about something in Korean. The guy stood up with an angry face and followed us. I didn’t know why at first but I figure that out later. He said to my friend, “You laughed at me, huh, f****, blah blah blah”. He was very offensive and hostile towards my friends. I tried to keep them apart before something really happened. We walked away from the guy but he kept following us. I said to my friends, “Keep walking and don’t look back, just ignore him”. The guy eventually stopped following us and I heard the guy swearing to us but we just ignored him and kept walking to the other side of the platform. I knew that the guy wasn’t going to do anything stupid because we were three and he was drunk but I thought my friend would’ve done something bad. That was my first time involving the kind of situation here. I guess I coped with it well.

The thing didn’t get worse, so I managed to get to Travis’ place in time. It took us for around 40 minutes to get to Scooter’s in Mississuaga where we practice from his place. As soon as I got there, I got changed and put skates on and skated.

Last night, I didn’t sweat as much as I usually do for some reasons.The warmup was fast and tough enough to get me drop out earlier, so I didn’t skate long enough to sweat. It usually takes long for me to warm up. The drill afterwards was easy and short and the relay was not difficult since the first guy skated one more lap than we did which gave us extra time to rest.

I always put myself half step behind on the line during practice because I am not serious about races and I am safety-conscious due to absence of health coverage during stay in Canada. Skating is fun and exiting for me but as long as you are on the line, you put yourself in some degree of danger. Apart from that, I am happy to skate with my skating buddies and have fun. It makes me feel alive since my life here is more laid-back and relax unlike I had in Korea before. Every time I skate at Scooters, I feel like skating practice is like a miniature version of hectic life. We are at the line and start at the same time and compete and finish. There are also mistakes, falls and sometimes cheating. There are smiles and cries afterwards. There is the right track for winning and harder way to get around. It’s very similar to life we live in. So, the practice in the club is only I can get out of my daily relaxing routine and put myself in lively life.

It is almost 1 pm when I get back home from the practice. It's late to eat something but I do and I spend a couple of hours on the couch watching TV shows or news until I get sleepy to go to bed.

This is my ordinary Wednesday.

Stay hungry, Stay foolish???

2008-01-08T23:03:00.001-05:00

It was back in 2006 when I got to see the video clip of Steve jobs Stanford commencement speech in 2005 for the first time. Before I watched his video, to me he was a guy in the international news section who I can get to see from time to time. When I saw the video for the first time, my English wasn't enough to understand the whole speech without the subtitle, but I thought it was really great speech, so I got some phrases from his speech and have used one of them for the MSN id. It goes like "Keep looking what you love to do, don't settle."

2006년에 스티브잡스의 스탠포트대학 학위수여식 연설비디오를 처음으로 보게되었다. 그 비디오를 보기전에는 가끔씩 신문 국제면에서 보는 그런 사람이였다. 그 비디오를 처음으로 봤을때 내 영어가 자막없이는 전부 이해할 수 없는 수준이였지만 아주 훌륭한 연설이라고 생각이 되어서 몇몇 문장들은 따서 내 MSN ID로 써 왔다. "안주하지 말고, 네가 정말 하고 싶은 일을 계속 찾아라" 이렇다.

Today, one of my skater friends corrected that quote, so I've just changed it. Now, it's "Keep looking *for* what you love to do, don't settle". Anyway, a couple of days ago, I saw the video again with no reasons. There was no subtitle. This time, I understood most of the speech but missed some words and phrases, so I googled and found his speech and made a subtitle file with it. A little later on, I watched it again with the subtitle I made. With the help of subtitle, I was able to understand the whole speech. I think It is great and inspiring.

오늘 스케이터 친구 중 한 명이 그 문장을 고쳐주어서, 바로 고쳤다. 지금은, "안주하지 말고, 정말 하고 싶은 일을 계속 찾아라", 어찌되었던, 며칠전에, 그 비디오를 그냥 다시 보게 되었다. 자막은 없었다. 이번에는 연설에 대부분을 이해했지만 몇몇 단어와 표현들을 놓쳐서, 인터넷으로 검색해서 연설원문을 찾아서는 자막파일로 만들었다. 조금 지나서, 만든 자막파일과 같이 다시 보았다. 정말 대단하고 영감을 주는 연설문인것 같다.

I love the way he delivered his speech. It sometimes gives us laughter and is not too formal as it could be and there were three stories from his life, not from famous books or something, so It was like the movie based on a true story. I didn't feel bored.

그가 연설을 하는 방식을 나는 정말 좋아한다. 때론 웃음을 주고 그럴수도 있는데 너무 딱딱하지도 않고 다른 유명한 책이나 그런것들로 부터가 아닌 그의 인생에서의 세 가지 이야기라서 실화에 근거한 영화같다.

Somtimes, I found some newpapers articles and writings from the internet very wordy and figurative. So, it doesn't interest me and then I just stop reading them. It is partly because of my lack of English and partly because of my preference for writing, but his speech is just simple and clear. I like it.
가끔 신문기사나 인터넷에서의 글들을 보면 정말 말도 많고 너무 수식어구가 많다. 그래서, 별로 관심이 안 가고 그냥 안 읽는다. 영어실력이 부족한것도 있고 원래 취향이 그래서 인것도 있지만 그의 연설은 정말 간결하고 명확하다.

There are a couple of things in his speech that surprised me. He was adopted at birth and he dropped out college not to spend his parents' savings; as he said, he was lucky that he found what he loved to do early in his life and became a successful businessman but got fired at 30 which was earlier than other people could be, and then got back to the company which fired him before. What a turn of event it was. I remember the time when I had to see a half bunch of my coworkers getting fired from the company back in 2003. I had worked with them more than two years. It was very difficult time for both them and me. After that, I actually started to doubt working as a salaried man and the passion about my job. After that, I worked one more year for another company. That was it. I quit the job and came to Toronto in 2004. But as Steve jobs said, if you like what you do, it might be easier to get back to your track no matter what happened to you before. But I didn't like what I did. That's why I am here trying to find what I am good at and what I love to do with my life. It's still unclear but I will keep looking for it.

그의 연설에서 나는 많은 사실에 놀랐다. 그는 태어나자마자 입양됐고 부모님의 돈을 쓰지 않으려고 학교를 그만두었다. 그가 말한대로 운이 좋아서 일찍 인생에서 하고 싶은 일을 찾았고 성공적은 사업가가 되었지만, 다른사람들보다는 이른 나이 서른에 해고고되었다. 그리고나서는 다시 해고되었던 회사로 다시 복귀했다. 정말 인생반전이 아닐수없다. 2003년에 동료직원 대여섯명이 해고되는 것을 경험했던 것이 생각난다. 그 분들과 이년 이상을 일했었다. 우리 모두에게 정말 힘든 시간이였다. 그이후에 월급쟁이로 일하는 것과 내 일에 대한 회의가 들기 시작했다. 1년을 더 일했다. 그것이 다였다. 직장을 그만두고 2004년에 토론토로 왔다.

Some of the people I know keep advising me, "You've got to get married sooner and you've got to come(go) back to Korea and started working." I don't know I guess it's just not the right time. When Steve jobs said like below in his speech, I really liked it because it makes me forget about those things.

몇몇 아는사람들이 계속 충고해주는데, "빨리 결혼해라, 한국와서 일 시작해라". 모르겠다, 그냥 생각하기에 지금은 아닌것 같다. 그래서, 그가 밑에서 처럼 얘기할때 정말 좋았다, 왜냐면 저런 것들을 잊게 만들기 때문이다.

"Your time is limited. Don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"다른 사람의 인생을 사는데 시간을 낭비하지 마라. 다른 사람들의 생각에서 비롯된 삶을 사는 것처럼 고정관념의 덫에 걸리지 말아라. 다른사람들의 생각들이 너무 마음속에 있는 목소리리를 덥어버리게 하지 말아라. 그리고 정말 중요한 것은, 너의 마음과 직감을 따를 용기를 가져라. 그것은 어떻든 이미 너가 정말 무엇이 되고 싶은지 알고 있다. 그외 모든것들은 부수적인 것이다.

There is another part I like about his speech. He was diagnosed with cancer and faced death very close. So, with his experience, he gave us a very impressive message about facing death.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

그의 연설에서 내가 좋아하는 또다른 부분이 있다. 그는 암을 진단받고 죽음을 정말 가깝게 직면했었다. 그래서 죽음을 직면하는 것에 대한 아주 감동적인 메시지를 그의 연설에서 주었다.

"내가 곧 죽을 거라는 것을 기억하는 것은 인생에서 큰 결정을 내리는데 도움을 주는 내가 경험했던 가장 중요한 도구이다. 왜냐면, 거의 모든 형식적인 기대들, 모든 자존심, 곤혹스러움이나 실패에 대한 두려움 - 이런 것들은 모두 죽음의 직면에서 사라져버리고, 정말 중요한 것만을 남긴다. 네가 곧 죽을 거라는 것을 아는 것은 내가 뭔가 잃을 것이 있다는 생각의 함정에서 벗어날수 있게 하는 최고의 길이다. 너는 벌써 알몸이다. 너의 마음속을 따르지 않을 이유가 없다.

Like he said, it would be helpful to think about the fact that we all die someday when I need to make a big decision in my life. It would also help me not think about what other people think about my decision and leaves what is truly important to me.

그가 말한대로, 언젠가 우리가 언젠가는 죽는다를 것을 생각하면 인생엣 큰 결정을 내리는데 도움이 될 것 같다. 또한, 다른 사람들이 나의 결정에 대해서 어떻게 생각하지는 신경쓰지않고 진정 뭔가가 내게 중요한지를 남기는데도 도움이 될 것 같다.

I am still not sure when to go back to Korea, what I would do, where I start, and how. But, at least I am aware of that time is limited and I will do what I really love to do with my life. I will not make the same mistake as I did before. Until then, I really wish that I stay hungry and foolish like the last message from Steve jobs speech.

아직 언제 한국 돌아갈지, 무얼할지, 어디서 시작할지 그리고 어떻게 할지 확실하지가 않다. 하지만 적어도 시간은 한정되어 있고 정말 내 인생에서 내가 정말 하고 싶은 일을 할꺼다. 전처럼 똑같은 실수를 하지 않을꺼다. 그때까지는 스티브잡스의 연설에 마지막 문구처럼 배고프게 어리석게 지내고 싶다.

Feel tired...

2007-12-27T15:47:00.000-05:00

Having a party for three days in a row doesn't seem to be a easy feat. From Christmas eve to Boxing day, I had parties with my friends from ISM, a language exchange meeting and the skating club. Since I don't drink so often, I can say I drank a great amount of beer for three days consecutively. Even my gums were swollen yesterday so badly by drinking lots of sudden alcohol. It would have been worse yesterday but luckily, we couldn't buy any beer yesterday, so we just sipped Chinese liquor a tad. The swelling has gone down now but I think I need to rest and get some veggie and fruits for that.
3일 연속으로 파티를 하는 것이 쉬운 일은 아닌 것 같다. 크리스마스 이브날부터 Boxing day까지 ISM친구들, Language exchange친구들, 그리고 스케이팅클럽친구와 파티를 했다. 술을 평상시 별로 안 마시는 나로서는 3일동안에 엄청난 양의 맥주를 마셨다고 할 수 있겠다. 내 잇몸조차 갑작스럽게 많은 음주로 어제 심하게 부었다. 상황이 심해질수도 있었는데 어제는 운좋겠도 맥주를 살 수 없어서 중국술을 조금씩 입만 댔다. 지금은 붓기가 조금 가라앉았는데 야채랑 과일을 조금 먹어야 할 것 같다.

[ the boxing day party, from left Daniel, Jaison, me, Anais, Jason, Gina ]

I went downtown to read some books in the library today. As I expected, there were few people in there. I opened up the book and tried to read some, but whether it was tiredness or something else, I couldn't concentrate on reading at all. So, I left early and came back home. Maybe I will go for a cup of coffee to see my friend tonight.
오늘은 책을 조금 읽으려고 다운타운 도서관에 갔다. 예상한대로 도서관에 사람들이 별로 없었다 . 책을 펴고 좀 읽을려고 하는데 피곤함때문인지 아니면 다른 이유에서인지 도무지 집중을 할 수가 없었다. 그래서, 일찍 집에 돌아왔다. 아마 밤에 친구보러 커피마시러 나갈지 모르겠다.
It's been a while since I stayed home alone late afternoon. Almost every afternoon, I am downtown doing something. Maybe I can have some time to think of the plans for next year now. Whatever I decide, I've got to stick with that plan but this year, I haven't done anything I planned for some reasons. It was partly because of my lack of commitment to a specific plan. Anyway, I've got to grap something to eat now.
집에서 혼자서 늦은 오후에 있은지 오래된 것 같다. 거의 오후에는 시내에서 뭔가를 한다. 어쩌면 지금 내년 계획에 대해서 생각해볼 시간을 가질수도 있겠다. 뭐를 결정하던지, 그 계획을 계속 지켜야되는데 올해에는 몇가지 이유때문에 계획한대로 아무것도 하지 못했다. 한 가지 계획에 대한 믿음이 부족해서 그런해서 그런것이다. 어쨌든, 지금 뭐 좀 먹야야겠다.

Enjoying relaxed Christmas season…

2007-12-25T00:43:00.000-05:00

Christmas is mainly a romantic day for couples in Korea. I am spending my third Christmas here in Toronto, so I can say that Christmas is a family holiday here unlike in Korea. Most people spend time with their family at home around this time. You can’t see many people sticking around downtown Toronto except at some busy shopping places.

한국에서 크리스마스는 대개 커플들을 위한 로맨틱한 날이다. 토론토에서 지금 세번째 크리스마스를 보내고 있는데 여기 크리스마스는 한국과는 다르게 가족휴일이라고 말 할 수 있다. 대부분의 사람들은 가족들과 함께 집에서 크리스마스시즌을 보낸다.

My first Christmas was rather miserable. It was back in Oct, 2004. Not long after I came here, I could see lots of people and decorations everywhere and heard carols while walking on the street. I guess there are some people who enjoy early Christmas here but I couldn’t enjoy it. It actually made me feel more depressed and lonely. Because of lack of language skill, being in the middle of adapting to a harsh winter and living here and absence of family and friends, I stayed home all day long around Christmas time. It wasn’t a pleasant time.

나의 첫번째 크리스마스는 정말 비참했다. 2004년 10월이였다. 여기온지 얼마 지나지 않아서, 거리를 걸으면서 많은 사람들과 크리스마스장식들을 볼 수 있었고 크리스마스 캐롤들도 들을 수 있었다. 이런 이른 크리스마스를 즐기는 사람들도 있겠지만 나는 그런 분위기를 즐길 수 없었다. 사실 그런것들이 나를 더욱 우울하고 외롭게 만들었다. 부족한 언어능력, 힘든 겨울에 대한 적응, 가족들과 친구들의 부재때문에 나는 크리스마스시즌을 하루종일 집안에서 보냈다. 그렇게 즐거운 시간은 아니였다.

But this year, things are different. I had a party yesterday with my friends from ISM and a language exchange meeting. We had a simple dinner and a nice chat over beer at one of my ISM friends’ place. Kindly, he has let me use his place while he’s away for the trip to Europe.

하지만 올해는 상황이 다르다. 어제는 ISM친구, Language exchange 친구들과 파티를 했다. ISM 친구들중 한명의 집에서 간단하게 식사를 하고 맥주와 함께 즐거운 대화를 나누었다. 친절하게도, 그 친구가 유럽에 여행 있는동안 자기 집을 사용할 수 있게 해 주었다

Now, Christmas day, I am sitting down and sipping coffee at a coffee place and writing this post and I am looking out the window from time to time to relax my eyes and watch people outside. There aren’t any responsibilities to attend to; you got enough sleep last night; no one bothers you; you feel cozy warmth inside contrasted with coldness of winter’s day. I love this kind of relaxed time.

지금, 크리스마스날, 커피숍에 앉아서 커피를 마시면서 이 글을 쓰고 있고 가끔 창문밖을 쳐다보면서 눈도 쉬게 하고 지나가는 사람들도 구경하고 있다. 어디 가야하는 곳도 없고 , 지난밤에 잠도 충분히 잤고, 귀찮게 하는 사람도 없고, 겨울의 추운날씨와 상반되게 실내에 따뜻함을 느낄 수 있다. 이런 느긋한 시간이 나는 너무 좋다.

I have left a picture to recall this moment.
이 순간을 기억하기 위해서 사진 한 장을 남긴다.

I wouldn’t be able to do these things on Christmas day if I were in Korea. Most of the coffee places in downtown Seoul are full of couples this time of year, so it’s not a good place to go and relax around this time of year. The funny thing is now there is a group of mid-aged Korean people sitting here and chatting; Without their voices, the room would be silent. Oh, good, they’re taking off. Anyway, I have another party with ISM folks tonight. I have just bought some shrimp and kimchi in Koreatown to make Congee. It is going to be our starter to warm up our stomach before drinking beer. I expect other folks will also bring some food to share. It should be fun and enjoyable. It is always good to be with friends.

한국에 있었다면 크리스마스날 이런 것들을 할 수가 없었을 것이다. 크리스마스시즌에 서울시내에 대부분의 커피숍들은 연인들로 가득 차 있어서 그렇게 가서 쉴만한 좋은 장소는 아니다. 웃긴것은 지금 여기에 중년의 한국사람들이 앉아서 이야기를 나누고 있는데 여기안에서 그 사람들 목소리밖에 안 들린다. 아싸, 그 사람들이 자리를 뜨고 있다. 아무튼, 오늘 밤에 ISM 친구들과 또 다른 파티가 있다. 한인타운에 가서 죽을 만들려고 김치랑 새우를 샀다. 아마 오늘 밤에 위를 가볍게 하기 위한 첫번째 코스가 될 것 같다. 다른 친구들도 같이 먹을 음식들을 가져오리라 기대한다. 아마 즐겁고 신나는 파티가 될 거다. 친구들과 함께 하는 것은 언제나 즐겁다.

You know what? I have actually begun to like the winter here. Before the winter came, I actually felt so depressed about the fact I had to spend another harsh winter here but so far so good. It's not too cold and coldness actually invigorates me. It may be the signal of getting used to living here in Toronto.

새삼스럽지만, 여기 겨울을 좋아하기 시작했다. 겨울이 오기전에는 사실 여기서 추운 겨울을 다시 보내야 한다는 사실에 조금 우울하긴했지만, 지금까지 별 문제없다. 별로 춥지도 않고 한기가 나를 정신 바짝들게 한다. 아마 이것이 토론토 생활에 적응하는 신호가 아닌가 싶다.

Back to XP...

2007-12-21T01:06:00.000-05:00

After two day struggling to install Windows XP, I am finally sitting down and writing this post with a XP running new laptop. It came with a Windows Vista which is very famous in not good ways. I had not had a chance to use Vista before I got my new laptop, but I heard it is not a very pleasant OS(Operating System) to use.

When I ordered my laptop online, I actually wanted to have a XP for my laptop but I had to pay extra $59 US to get it which I found it funny because Vista is the latest and so called a better OS. Anyway, I decided not to waste money for that, and the day I got my laptop, I tried to install XP but I saw a blue screen during installation saying I need a diskette drive to install SATA type hard disk driver. “Shoot, forget it, I have 2GB main memory which is good enough to run a hefty OS”.

It seemed all to work out okay before something happened a couple of days ago. What happened was I was with my friend at a coffee place showing my blog draft which is in both Korean and English. I wanted him to correct English part, since he understands Korean. But, all of sudden, Microsoft word program stopped and it caused the Vista dead. I rebooted the laptop but I could not open the file. It was quite annoying moment. That night, after reading some post about how to install XP without a floppy disk driver for a SATA hard disk, I started installing XP.

During the installation phase of copying files from the XP CD to the hard disk, the installation program failed to copy some files and it showed an error message saying it could not continue installing, so I tried the other XP CD I have but faced the same problem. I thought it was a CD problem, so I asked my friend to rent his fresh XP CD next day and tried it again, but ironically, the same files couldn’t be copied. I was pretty sure that It was definitely not a CD problem but something else. Since, my old laptop is still alive ( I have to jump in the air and put my all weight on my left thumb and press the power button down to turn it on, which I always do to wake up my old buddy), I ordered him to show me something to find out what the problem really is and I found what the problem really was shortly after.

I am not sure whether it is intentional or some kind of system conflict but the guy said from the internet that I should remove all partition on the hard disk to install XP, which means I am not able to see my all afternoon effort draft, and he also mentioned it is the Microsoft’s dirty intention to give a hard time for users who want to downgrade to XP from Vista. As a result, I had to waste a great amount of time to sort things out.

Now, it’s all over and while I am in the library writing my new post. I am not going to see my latest post-to-be draft but the fact that I can use some programs which I couldn’t use on Vista compensates my loss of the file and time and frustration I had.

Right before I sat down here, I found a cool short-track video on Youtube. It is a must-see video I think. I put it on my blog so that I can see that later.

Windows XP 를 깔려고 이틀 고생한끝에, 마침내 지금 앉아서 XP 가 돌아가는 새 노트북에 이 글을 쓰고있다. 이 노트북은 별로 좋지 않게 유명한 윈도우즈 비스타와 함께 왔다. 노트북을 받기 전까지는 사용해 본적이 없었는데 듣기로는 별로 사용하기에는 좋지 않은 OS라고 한다.

노트북을 온라인으로 주문했을때, 사실 노트북에 XP를 원했었는데 Vista가 최신이고 소위 더 나은 OS 라는데 XP 를 위해서 59불을 더 지불해는것이 내가 생각하기에는 웃기다는 생각이 든다. 어쨌듯, 그것 때문에 돈 낭비를 할 생각이 없었고, 노트북을 받은 날 XP를 깔기를 시도했는데 까는동안 블루스크린이 떠서는 디스켓 드라이브가 SATA 타입 하드드라이버를 위해서 필요하단다. “젠장, 그만두자, 무거운 OS를 돌리기에 충분한 2기가 메모리가 있잖아”.

며칠전에 무슨 일 생기기까지는 잘 동작하는 것 처럼 보였었다. 뭐였냐면 커피숍에서 블로그에 영어와 한국어로 되어있는 올릴 글을 친구에서 보여주고 있었다. 그런데, 갑자기, 마이크로소프트워드 프로그램이 멈춰버리더니 비스타가 죽어버렸다. 컴퓨터를 다시 부팅했는데 파일을 열수가 없는 것이다. 진짜 짜증나는 순간이 아닐 수 없었다. 그날 저녁에, SATA 하드디스크 드라이버를 위한 플로피 디스크없이 XP를 까는 방법에 대한 글을 읽은 후에 XP를 깔기 시작했다. 파일을 XP CD에서 하드디스크로 복사하는 인스톨 과정동안, 인스톨 프로그램이 몇몇 파일을 복사하는데 실패하더니 에러 메시지를 보여주었다. 말하기를 더 이상 진행할 수가 없단다, 그래서 가지고 있는 다른 CD를 해봤는데 똑같았다. CD문제라고 생각해서 그 다음날에 친구에게 깨끗한 CD를 빌려달라고 부탁해서는 다시 시도했지만 웃기게도 똑같은 파일들이 복사하는데 실패하였다. 이건 CD문제가 아니라 뭔가 다른 문제라는 생각이 들었다. 오래된 노트북이 아직 살아있어서 뭔가 문제인지 검색해보았더니 뭔가 진짜 문제인지 바로 찾게 되었다.

고의적인건지 아니면 시스템이 충돌한건지 확실하진 않지만 인터넷에서 XP 를 깔기위해서는 하드드라이브에 있는 모든 파티션을 삭제해야한다네, 그건 내가 더이상 오후내내 공들인 파일을 더 이상 볼 수 없다는 것을 의미하는 것이였고, 말하기를 마이크로소프트가 고의로 Vista에서 XP로 다운그레이드하려는 사용자들에게 어려움을 주려는 것이라고 하였다. 결과적으로, 엄청난 시간을 그 문제를 해결하는데 낭비해야만 했다.

어찌되었건, 지금 다 끝났고 도서관에서 새 글을 쓰고 있다. 나의 최신 글의 후보가 될 뻔한 글을 보질 못하지만 Vista에서 사용하지 못했던 프로그램을 사용할 수 있다는 사실이 잃어버린 시간과 파일들과 그리고 짜증남을 대신 때워주는 것 같다.

지금 여기 앉기 바로 전에 유투브에서 괜찮은 쇼트트랙 비디오를 찾았다. 다음에 계속 볼 수 있도록 내 블로그에 올렸다.

I don't mind vs I don't care.

2007-12-10T21:05:00.000-05:00

It is always hard for second language learners of English to show appropriate level of politeness.
It is because of either lack of language proficiency or a difference between their mother tongue and English. I am not an exception, so I am quite sure my friends have experienced my rudeness. Sorry guys, it wasn't intentional.
What is ironic is the fact that I've experienced the same thing from other international students. Once, After ISM, I asked other students where to go for dinner. I said "Where do you want to go for dinner?” one Korean guy said "I don't care". At that moment, I was quite unpleasant but after a while, I realized that he wanted to say like I don't mind. Since in Korea, both meanings can be expressed with the same phrase but a different intonation.

At the language exchange meeting last Sunday, I happened to explain the difference between two to Korean students. One of them told me that 'mind' is a quite tricky word for him, so he preferred using 'I don't care' when 'I don't mind' is appropriate. That reminded me of three years ago when I was killing time by myself at a coffee shop. One girl came to me and said "Mind if I take this chair?” I said, "Yes". I meant "yes, you can take it". As a result of inappropriate response, the girl got puzzled and hesitated to take it. A moment later, I realized something was wrong. I signaled ‘go ahead’ by using my hands. That was quite embarrassing moment to me. Ever since that little incident, I smile whenever I hear the word 'mind'.

Time is always solution to many things. Now, I guess I am okay with that but I still see other brand new international students make the same mistake as I did.

- In Korean

영어를 제 2 외국어로 배우는 학생들에게는 적절한 공손함을 보이는 것이 항상 어렵다. 왜냐하면 언어능력에 결여나 모국어와의 영어의 차이점 때문이다. 나도 예외가 아니라서 아마 내 친구들이 나의 불손함을 겪었을 것이라고 생각한다. 미안 친구들, 고의가 아니였다.

웃긴것은 내가 똑같은 경험을 다른 학생들로부터 한다는 것이다. 한 번은 ISM을 끝내고, 저녁으로 어디를 가겠냐고 다른 학생들에게 물어보았다. “저녁먹으로 어디로 가고싶어?” 한 한국학생이 말하기를 “I don’t care”. 그 순간에는 아주 기분이 나빴지만, 잠시 후 그 친구가 I don’t mind라고 말하고 싶었음을 알아차렸다. 한국에서는 두 개의 뜻이 하나의 구문으로 다른 톤으로 표현될 수 있기때문이다.

일요일 language exchange 모임에서 우연하게 두 표현의 차이점을 한국 학생들에게 설명하게 되었다. 그중 한 명이 ‘mind’가 아주 헷갈리는 단어라 ‘I don’t mind’가 적절할 때 ‘I don’t care’를 사용하기를 선호한다는 것이다. 그 얘기를 들으니 3년전에 내가 커피숖에서 혼자서 시간때우고 있을때가 생각났다. 한 여자얘가 내가 와서는 얘기하는것이 “의자가져가면 꺼리겠어요?” 내가 “예”. 나는 “예, 가져가세요.”를 의미했는데. 부적절한 답변으로 그 얘는 멍하게 있다가 의자를 가져가기를 망설이고 있었다. 잠시후에 뭔가가 잘못됐다는 것을 알아차리고는 손으로 가져가라고 신호를 보냈다. 나에게는 정말 부끄러운 순간이였다. 그 사건이후에 ‘mind’라는 단어를 들을때마다 웃곤한다.

시간이 항상 답이다. 지금은, 나는 괜찮지만 다른 Brand new 국제 학생들이 내가 했던 같은 실수를 하는 것을 볼 수가 있다.

The new toy -> a mouse potato?

2007-12-01T23:49:00.000-05:00

- An English entry -

I got a new MP3 player from Korea on Friday. My 4 year old 128MB mp3 is in the drawer now.
A month ago, I was actually going to ask my friend ,who went on a trip to Korea and Taiwan, to get me it on the way back to Toronto but I changed my mind because I am getting a new laptop soon.
However, I got a friend of mine something from Korea, so I just ordered the mp3 player as well.
So, the package arrived here on Friday and I dropped by my friend's office and picked up the mp3 player and came home earlier than usual. After quick dinner, I connected the mp3 player to the computer putting videos, songs and flash games and changing setup. I forgot how much time passed and realized I had spent about seven hours using the computer.
Since I have worked as a computer guy for five years, I am trying to spend as more time as possible reading or doing something else instead of spending time in front of a computer. But, I was completely a mouse potato at that night.
By the way, the word, a mouse potato has registered in dictionaries recently which derived from a couch potato. Likely a couch potato who spends a lot of time in front of TV surfing channels and watching TV, it refers to a person who spends a great deal of time surfing the Internet with a computer mouse.
I am getting a new laptop next week, I will need to be a mouse potato again inevitably.

- A Korean entry -

금요일에 새 MP3 플레이어를 한국에서 받았다. 4년된 구형 128MB mp3플레이어는 이제 서랍속에 있다.
사실 한 달 전에, 한국에 들러서 타이완에 가는 친구에게 부탁해서 다시 돌아오는 길에 가져와 달라고 부탁했다가 노트북을 곧 살꺼라서 그냥 마음을 바꾸었었다. 그런데, 여기 친구가 한국에서 뭐를 사달라고 부탁해서 그냥 MP3 플레이어도 같이 주문해버렸다.
여하튼, 금요일에 한국에서 물건이 도착해서 친구 사무실에 들러서 MP3를 받아서는 평소와는 다르게 일찍 집에 돌아왔다. 간단하게 저녁후에 MP3를 컴퓨터에 연결해서 비디오도 다운로드하고 CD음악도 변환해서 집어넣고 여러가지 플래쉬게임도 다운로드해서 집어넣었다. 정신없이 하다보니, 거의 7시간동안 컴퓨터를 사용했다.
5년동안 컴퓨터 직장에 다녀서 되도록이면 컴퓨터 앞에서 시간보내는 대신, 책을 읽거나 다른 것을 하면서 시간을 보내려고 노력하고 있는데, 그날 저녁에 완전히 mouse potato가 되어버린것이다.
그러나저라나, mouse potato라는 단어는 최근에 사전에 등록된 것으로 couch potato에서 유래되었다. 리모콘으로 채널을 돌리면서 TV를 보면서 많은 시간을 보내는 couch potato와 비슷하게, 컴퓨터 마우스로 인터넷을 서핑하면서 컴퓨터 앞에서 많은 시간을 보낸다는 의미를 가지고 있다.
다음주면 새 노트북을 받게 되는데 어쩔수없이 다시 mouse potato가 되어야겠다.

Lots of pizza~

2007-11-27T01:19:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted about skating last time.
There was a the-end-of-year party and indoor practice afterwards tonight at Scooter's.
I was a bit late due to bad traffic. I and Travis had more time to talk in his car on the way to practice. Since I hadn't had dinner, I was a bit disappointed that pizza wasn't ready to fill my empty stomach when I got there. I was starving to death. As soon as pizza arrived, I rushed the snack stand where the pizza were put on and had five pieces of pizza. It was so good. Hunger always stimulates good appetite. I would have had more pizza if there were more but I got some cookies which Travis brought instead. There was the award right after the party. Some skaters who did a good job through this year got awarded. The regular Monday practice followed after the award.

< The group picture after warmup, courtesy of Peter Doucet >

We did pretty much the same drills we have been doing. Because of the free pizza(?), we had more skaters on the floor than usual. The floor was a bit slippery I even slipped during the warm-up drill. I always hesitate for the first crossover right before the corner. However, during the drill which we are supposed to do nice one lap technical sprint, I skated a bit wider before the corner and did the first crossover confidently but I slipped at the last corner and went down. I am not sure whether it is my technical issue or the condition of floor but I felt good both at the corner and the straight.

< During the dropping back drill, courtesy of Peter Doucet >

I was stable and technically settled tonight. Despite of fall and some light scrapes from that, I am happy about tonight's practice.
I will skate more aggressively and technically for the next practice. I will see how I feel.

The story about 'cold' vs 'called'.

2007-11-22T15:37:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, I was on the way to have dinner with a half bunch of students after Fee's open house. It was a quite cold and windy day compared to a couple of days previous. I overheard one of Korean students talking to another. "!@#$% called" he said, "called who?" I interupted their conversation. But shortly after I listened to him more about the story, I realized he meant it was cold.
That story reminded me of my story three years ago. It was this time of year on cold and snowy day. I just got in my friend's car to head to practice and said. "it's cold/kɔld/". My friend said, "called who?" it was the same lines as the Korean guy, haha. I didn't know why my friend misunderstood me at that time. Now I know why it happened. This is the common mistake for Korean students who learn English, especially this time of year with cold weather; should say and hear the word cold many times every day . Since we don't have diphthong vowels, the second sound of which is /w/, such as /aw/ as in bow or /ow/ as in cold or as in holy cow /howlikaw/. In many cases, it doesn't really matter to get a main point of a message but in this case, producing /ɔ/ for /ow/ caused misunderstanding. It might cause something else such as communication breakdown or an awkward moment depending on situations or who you speak to if you speak to a person who you do not really know or have not talked each other before. Without any background information, it is not that easy to guess a main point when second language learners make a mistake. However, Some are sensetive enough to their mistakes, so they use different strategies to cope with that situations and they finally get their message accross successfully without communication breakdowns.
According to the book I read (Teaching Pronunciation), mispronunciation for vowels is main cause of foreign accent. Regardless of all possible problems, it is inevitalble for the second language learners to have foreign accents, especially adults learners like me; I have been learning and speaking English since age of 32. There is no simple solution to get rid of them but if you keep practicing, talking, and interacting with people, you can reduce your foreign accent. Personally, I think it is okay to speak with foreign accents as long as people understand you. It sometimes depends on who you hang out with, though. There are some people who are familar with foreign accents but some are not who have a problem to understand people who have an accent. English is not just a language for American, Canadian, and British people anymore. It is used by many people in the globe. It's meaningless to talk about foreign accents too much in that sense but there is a standard accent which is used by majority. Thus, I can say it is good to have a standard like accent to make your friends' life easier.

'U' is a 'Q' stalker?

2007-11-21T14:40:00.000-05:00

The letter 'q' is almost always followed by the letter 'u'. Can you name any words in which there is a 'q' followed by other than 'u'? As a nonnative speaker of English, I can't think of any words in my mind. Can you?
For 'u', he stalks 'ng' combination as well. When he follows 'q' and 'ng', he changes his face. what I mean by that, phonetically, U is pronounced as a /w/ after 'q' which is not final and 'ng' as in qustion, Quebec, language, and penguin.
Like this phenomenon, the letter of English alphabet doesn't represent one sound all the time and one sound doesn't represent a particular letter as well.
What I want to say is Korean alphabet doesn't work like that. Even though there are sounds variation like other languages, one consonant and vowel represent one sound as far as I know. Maybe I am wrong because I didn't study Korean seriously after high school but it is not as crazy as English.
I do a language exchange with some English speakers here. There are some very beginner learners. Although they don't know meaning of sentences, they can at least read as long as they know the Korean alphabet.
There is an extreme example of irregularity English spelling system. Do you know how to say 'ghoti'? It is pronounced the same as 'fish'. 'gh', /f/ as in laugh; 'o', /ɪ/ as in women; 'ti', /ʃ/ as in nation.
I remember I read a article about English spelling system. It said that English spelling system needs to be reformed. To support their theory, they gave a number of examples. I only remember one which is children in English spoken countries spend more time to learn word spelling. One day I turned on the TV and watched some kind of a word spelling quiz show. The host asks guests to spell very long and difficult words. The more they can spell, the more they score. That kind of show wouldn't exist in Korea because as soon as you say words, you can spell them unlike English.
This difficulty doesn't just apply to people in English spoken counties, because now English is an international language, people all over the world are suffering to learn English. I wish Korean would be one so that we don't need to have a hard time to spell words at least.

'q'는 다음에는 거의 항상 'u'가 따라온다. 'q'가 있는 단어중에 'u'가 다음에 오지 않는 단어를 말할 수 있어요? 영어가 모국어가 아닌 나로서는 지금 생각나는 단어가 없다. 너는?
'u'는 'ng' 조합을 또한 따라다닌다. 'u'가 'q'와 'ng'를 따라다닐때 그는 그의 모습을 바꾼다. 무슨뜻이나면, 음성학적으로 'u'는 마지막음절이 아닌 'q'와 'ng' 다음에 qustion, Quebec, language, and penguin에서처럼 /w/로 발음이 된다.
이런 현상처럼, 영어의 각 알파벳문자는 하나의 음을 나타내지 않고 또한 하나의 음이 특정적인 알파벳문자를 대표하지 않는다.
내가 말하고 싶은 것은 한국어 알파벳은 영어의 그것과 같지 않다는 것이다. 비록 다른 모든 언어들에서처럼 음의 변화현상은 있지만, 내가 아는 한, 하나의 자음과 모음이 하나의 음으로 소리난다. 한국어를 고등학교 이후로 공부하질 않아서, 아마 내가 틀릴수도 있지만 영어처럼 그렇게 헷갈리지는 않는다.
내가 여기에서 language exchange를 몇몇 영어스피커들과 한다. 몇몇은 한국어초보이지만 알파벳을 아는 한 문장들을 이해를 못하지만 읽을수는 있다.
이런 불규칙적인 영어철자를 보여주는 극단적인 예가 있다. 'ghoti'를 어떻게 말하는지 아는가? 이것은 fish가 발음되는 것처럼 똑같이 발음이 된다. 'gh'는 laugh에서처럼 /f/로 ; 'o'는 women에서 처럼 /I/로; 'ti'는 nation에서 처럼 /ʃ/로 발음이 된다.
신문에서 읽은 영어철자시스템에 대한 기사를 기억한다. 그 기사에서 영어철자시스템은 다시 고쳐질 필요가 있다고 했다. 그 주장을 지지하는 여러 예가 있었는데 지금 하나만 기억나는데, 영어국가에서 어린이들이 철자를 배우는데 더 오랜 시간이 걸린다고 했다. 어느날 TV를 켜서 보는데 무슨 철자맞추기 쇼가 방영되고 있었다. 사회자가 게스트들에게 아주 길고 어려운 단어의 철자를 묻는 것이였다. 더 많은 철자를 맞출수록, 더 많은 점수를 얻는 것이였다. 이런 쇼는 한국에서는 아마 존재하지 않을것이다. 왜냐하면 영어와는 다르게 단어를 말하자마자 철자를 맞출수 있기 때문이다.
이런 영어철자시스템의 어려움은 이제 단지 영어국가의 사람들에게만 적용되는것은 아니다. 영어가 이제 국제어이기 때문에 세계의 모든사람들이 영어를 배우는데 고통을 받고 있다.
그런 연유로 한국어가 국제어가 됐으면 하는 바램이다. 그러면 적어도 더이상 단어철자때문에 힘들지는 않을 것이기 때문이다.

My TOEFL is Tofu...

2007-11-20T17:03:00.000-05:00

Phonetically, there are two L sounds in English. I am pretty sure people who didn't study phonetics in university don't agree with that. If you are one of them, you can test yourself saying the list of words below.

badly late clear wool bulk

Say them with focusing on the production of /l/ sound in each word. When you say 'badly', you definitely feel your tip of the tongue touching just behind the upper teeth(alveolar ridge). On the other hand, when you say 'wool' or 'bulk', you may or may not touch the same spot as you do when you say 'badly' in your mouth but raise your back of your tongue close to somewhere further back and up inside of your mouth(hard palate). In phonetic terms, these two different way for l sound are called light 'l' and dark 'l' respectively. The more you go to right in the list above, the more becomes dark. The tendency to use so-called dark /l/ varies depending on speakers and in different position of /l/.

The dark quality of /l/ is one of ways to tell foreign accent but it doesn't really contribute misunderstanding of speech. However, it did to me. Like one day I was in my friend's car heading to skating practice, a friend of mine and me hadn't talked each other so much beforehand, so we didn't really know each other. I was talking about TOEFL test but she thought I said 'tofu' instead of 'TOEFL' because I was at stage of trying to produce dark /l/ not touching the tip of the tongue when I pronounced l in TOEFL which sounded like 'tofu'. As a result, my friend got puzzled and lost.
Now it sounds like a very funny story but looking back it was quite embarrassing moment. But if I think of my friend, I can imagine how hard it was to put words all together in order to make sense of it. Talking about tofu? and totally unrelated words like reading, writing, score and test not like cooking, dinner or something.
I guess the degree of dark 'l' is not the thing I can learn with books or in class but from talking to and hearing from people. Sorry my friend.

음성학적으로, 영어에는 두 개의 l 발음이 있다. 확신컨데, 대학에서 음성학을 공부하지 않은 사람은 동의하지 않을 거다.
만약 너가 그런사람들중에 한 사람이라면 아래 단어들을 말해보면서 스스로를 테스트해 볼 수 있을 것이다.

badly late clear wool bulk

각 단어에 L 발음에 집중하면서 발음해 보아라.
'badly' 를 발음할 때 분명하게 혀끝을 윗니 뒤부분에 대는 것을 느낄 수 있을 것이다. 그와 반대로, 'wool'이나 'bulk'를 발음할때는 같은 지점을 닿을수도 안 닿을수도 있지만 혀 뒤분을 입속의 입천정 뒷부분에 올리는 것을 느낄 수 있을 것이다. 그래서 영어에는 두 개의 l 발음이 있다.
발음용어로는 각각 light 'l' 과 dark 'l' 로 불린다. 단어목록의 오른쪽으로 갈 수록 점점 dark 'l' 현상이 심해진다.
dark 'l'을 사용하는 경향은 사람이나 'l'의 위치에 따라 달라진다.

dark 'l'의 정도는 외국인 발음을 구별하는 한 가지 방법이지만, 그렇게 오해를 유발하지는 않는다. 하지만, 나에게는 그랬다.
예전에 스케이팅 연습가는 길에 친구 차에서 내가 한참 TOEFL시험에 대해서 얘기하고 있었는데 내 친구는 TOEFL을 tofu(두부)라고 잘못 이해한 거다. 그때 내가 한참 dark 'l'을 연습할때여서 혀 끝을 윗 니 뒤부분에 안 댔더니 tofu처럼 들린 것이다. 결국, 내 친구는 멍해서 촛점을 읽어버렸다. 지금은 정말 웃긴 얘기처럼 들리지만 그 때는 정말 창피했다. 하지만 내 친구를 생각하면 모든 단어들을 짜 맞춰서 이해하려고 얼마나 힘들었을까 상상이간다. 두부얘기? 근대 전혀 상관없는 읽기, 쓰기, 점수 그리고 시험, 요리 저녁 뭐 이런 단어들이 아니고?
dark 'l'의 정도는 책이나 수업에서 배울 수 있는 것이 아니고 친구들하고 얘기하고 들으면서 배울 수 있는 것 같다.

Two ways to say English /r/

2007-11-20T16:51:00.000-05:00

It is very tough for Korean and Japanese to pronounce English /r/ sound since in their languages, there is no /r/ sound. I am a Korean so like other Koreans I also have a hard time to pronounce English /r/ sound. So, I have read some books and asked my friends about it to fix the problem. The books I recently bought say that there are two quite different ways to produce English /r/ sound. First, the tongue tip curls back into the mouth behind the alveolar ridge with the lips slightly rounded. Second, the lips are more rounded and the tongue tip remains low in the mouth, and the body of the tongue(the middle of the tongue) bunches up near alveolar or alveopalatal area. They say the first way is more common and described in more pronunciation texts but the second one is less common but some still use the second one.
I really don't know which one I use because I can't see inside of my mouth. Some of my friends who I asked about it don't know either for the same reason.
I really think that if you think about it too much, it gets more difficult, so just say it.

Which one are you?

The Phonetics Animation Flash Project

영어 r 소리는 한국인과 일본인에게 아주 어렵다, 왜냐햐면 r 소리가 한국어와 일본어에 없기 때문이다. 다른 한국인들과 마찬가지로 나도 r 발음을 하는데 어려움을 겪고 있다. 그래서 문제점을 고쳐보려고 책도 읽고 친구들에게도 물어보았다. 최근에 산 책들을 보면 r 발음을 하는데 두 가지 방법이 있다고 한다. 첫번째는 혀끝을 말아서 올려서 뒤로 빼고 입술을 약간 동그랗게 만드는 것이고, 두번째는 입술을 더 동그랗고 만들고 혀끝은 내리고 혀 중간을 윗니 뒤 부분이나 조금 더 뒤 근처에 올려주는 것이다. 첫 번째 방법이 조금 더 일반적인 방법으로 여러 발음책에서 찾아볼 수 있는 방법이고 두번째 방법은 조금 덜 일반적이지만 여전히 여러사람들이 저렇게 발음한다고 한다.
입속을 볼 수 없으니 내가 어떻게 발음하는지는 정말 모르겠다. 내가 물어본 다른 친구들도 같은 이유로 알 수가 없단다. 내가 생각해보건데 너무 신경쓰면 더 안되니까 그냥 내 뱉어라.

너는 어떤거냐?

Got up so late...

2007-11-14T16:22:00.000-05:00

I got up so late today because I stayed up till 4 am.
I ran into my roommate, Dale, shortly after I open the door at my place yesterday, he was on the way to school, he goes to evening art school three times a week. "You got so early here, I've just locked Sandy(his dog) up in the cage" he said. "I will let him out, I'm not going anywhere". Sandy has been behaving bad recently, so he sometimes locks him up while not home. Anyway, I got back home early around 5 pm. it was rather early for me. Because I wanted to relax and think about my next plan. I made myself Korean pancake for dinner and sat in the chair. Think, think, think until 4 am except the time I played Starcraft with Dean Arndt and finished reading Monday's newspaper(The Globe and Mail, I followed Michale Cole's advice). I couldn't decide anything but ended up having an idea of giving myself more time to think about my next step.
The first thing I did today was going to Korean agency to extend my stay by changing my status into a visitor one with which I can stay here for a couple of months more. I was told that I need a plane ticket to Seoul, and a balance statement which says how much money I have left in my bank account. It was funny when she told me that if there is money in my account between $4000 and $5000, it would be better because If I have money more than that, immigrate officers might suspect me that I work and make money here. I have money more than that actually but I don't think that could be an issue.
I checked the Canadian immigration website last night to do it by myself. But like the last time when I did it to extend my study permit, it is quite tiresome preparing papers, mailing, waiting for a long time, checking a mailbox everyday and got disappointed and worried. So I've decided to ask an agent to do it for me by paying $20. Afterwards, I went to Christie to buy a plane ticket and got one and headed to the TD bank to get a balance statement. I asked the lady there. She seemed like she had a problem with giving me the paper and tried another computer. Finally, she came to me telling that the system was down and she couldn't issue it for now and asking me to come tomorrow. It's not a big deal for me anymore, I am so used to it; Two thumbs up for Korean bank system, I didn't notice how good it is when I was in Korea. Anyway, I couldn't get it done today as I planned. However, I guess I'm now okay either staying more or going back to Korea. If I want to leave here next month, I can just fly to Korea; If I want to stay more I can just wait for my visa and stay until an expiry date which I am not sure about.

I'm getting a new lenovo laptop from States. My friend, Micheal Cole has a friend there who is planning to come over here sooner. The reason I get it from States is the same reason as canadian shoppers who cross the border to shop in States. It's really cheap in States, The same model costs $1700 here, $1000 in States. I don't know why. If I want to leave next month, I have to hurry for that. Maybe, I can go over to Micheal's place this week and order it online.
There is another issue which is about indoor skating at Scooter's, until I decide to stay more, I can not go skating, because I have to pay club fee for this whole indoor season which ends next March, April?. There is no point paying money if I leave here next month, unless I consider that money could be donation to my club, hehe.
I am actually worrying about how I tell my roommate If I leave since I told him that I would stay here until next year when I moved in. Because he was looking for someone who could stay longer. Telling my friends is, oh, well, not easy as well. But it's not the end of the world and I went through it last time when I left here two years ago and I can also come back for study or a short visit. I went over to Fee's, who is a leader of ISM(the meeting I go to every Thursday), and did something for her, computer thing which could be hard for her, but easy for me. Anyway, I stayed there until the moment she had to be ready for the dinner out. When she told me that she might need help next month again, I told her I might leave next month and not be able to help her . She said that she wants me to stay more and made a joke about she needs me because I can be a personal computer guy who can come over every time she needs my help for her computer. I sensed why she told me that. I guess she wants me to be a christian and she wants to see it here. She always brags about how her non christian friends became christians. I heard the same story tons of times every time a new student shows up but I can't blame her because I guess telling that stories is a great deal of joy for her as a christian. Sorry, Fee, I can't be one of them becoming a christian but I can be a guy you can make a joke with.
I recall one day I emailed her saying that I am okay with the one life I got from my parents and not going to heaven. Thanks for praying for me, though. You gotta do what you gotta do. I respect you and understand what you believe in but people are just different. Because she has started telling more about Christianty which I am not really into. I just like hanging out with good people. That's all. You guys are just good people to hang out with. That's why I go to ISM every Thursday and throwing stupid questions in the bible study for fun, even though some DEVOUT christians take my questions seriously and raise their tone while they try to give me their different view of Christianity. I guess because they don't know that I am serious about studying the bible and am a DEVOUT atheist(Thanks Michale for letting me know that term).
Okay, I gotta read some today's newspaper before a language exchange. I will ask my language exchange partners some questions about newspaper articles. I am actually so happy about I can read newspaper. Looking back 2-3 years ago, I tried to read Metro in the subway but I gave up shortly after because it was full of words I didn't know and just looked like sequence of letters for me. So, I should be proud of myself about it. Am I ready to go back, full geared? I don't think so, The more I learn a language, the more I face challenges.

My brain is all over the wall...

2007-11-12T14:44:00.000-05:00

As my visa expiry date approaches, my mind is all messed up. I am so tempted to go back to Korea next month. Since I've changed my plan which is going back to University to study English education in Korea, the time is just around the corner. The process to accept students starts next month. It's so tight, though and I'd also like to stay more here to get more confidence of my English. I have to decide by this month. However, I found some good information while I was browsing the university's website about EXP(Exchange Program). The university I want to go to have a program which allows me to come back here to study in UofT. They only select 4 students for UofT regardless their major. I have so much things to do for that. First of all, I have to be accepted first from that university. Secondly, I have to finish one semester to satisfy their requirement to apply as a EXP applicant, then I can apply for that. It would be great I could come back as an exchange student in UofT for one year. I can benefit from that for my next study here. The reason I changed my plan was mainly because of notoriously expensive tuition in UonT for international students. I was hoping to go to UofT. but, I don't have enough money to study there for two or three years. If I could come here as an exchange student, I only pay tuition in Korea, I don't need to pay anything in UofT. What a smart move could be.
Last night, I managed to talk to my friend online. I was asking her to send something to me. During conversation, age thing came up, saying she is turning 30 and I am 36 next year. Actually, I'm one year younger than I really am. My birth certificate says I'm one year older and also Korean age is always one year older than Canadian age or even two since we change our age on the first day of year. I am 33 now, but it can be 35 because of mistake of the birth certificate and Korean age counting thing. It's really bothering me. If I go back to University two years later from now, I will be 37 in Korean age. I have to study with guys who are 15 years younger than me. I don't know that's not a strange thing here but I'm sure it's not very common in Korea. On the other hand, many of my friends keep saying that they want to change their job and career but can't do it for some reasons. I'm so lucky I'm still doing what I dream of. It's because I'm the youngest in my family and have no family yet. My plan is settling down before 40. After 40, I will still have half of life left If I keep my health ( I should keep skating to stay in good health). If I think of my life back, it's really long time. If I could do what I love to do for the half of my life, it would be really awesome. I would go for that.
Anyway, My life is getting boring here. I gotta get out of my boring routine by either getting myself out of this country next month or simply doing something which keeps me busy not to think of boring things.

it's been an year...Already?

2007-11-06T13:48:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I went to Crawford lake with ISM(International Students Ministry) folks. That was my second time to be there. First time for me was almost the same time of last year after a number of days since I came back last October.

< The group picture of last year(2006) >

< The group picture of this year(2007) >

There is the other thing that reminds me of that One year passed since I came back is getting back to Scooter's for indoor skating practice. A number of week later since I came back last October, indoor practice had started. Time really flies. It's been actually three years since I came to Toronto for the first time in 2004. I can not say that a lot of things happened to me in the last three years other than I went back and forth between Korea and Canada.
Last night, on the way to Scooter's I joked to Michael Cole that I can't believe myself spending two winters in a row without any clear intention to stay here. Not looking for a job, not going to University or College. For that reason, I really wanted to go back to Korea last month. Since a couple of my close friends left here recently and I am always depressed in October. Moreover, the desire of English got weakened since I've started understood better my friends and everyone here. Everything signaled me that I should go back to my home country. However, Things got better. Depressing October is over, it's November, now; the indoor practice has started that makes me feel alive; I am applying for TESL(Teaching English to a Second language Learners) course which enable me to extend my stay here at least for five or six months and also keep me busy. I am unsure after six more months of stay, though. I will see how confident I am about English and my future.
I have been spending most of my free(??) time at OISE library which is one of UofT organization located St.George and Bloor since I don't work and go to any schools. I found some books about Teaching English there, I've started gone there and sat down and read. There are a bunch of computers in there but I couldn't use them because I don't have any account which I can have it if I am a UofT student. Oh, well, I used to go up to 4th floor where I used to take a speaking class for one month. There is a computer room. Sometimes, there is computer activities going on there which makes me turn around. I had started been annoyed about not being able to use a internet connection there. I emailed a friend of mine, who used to be one of ISM volunteers and went to UofT; now he studies PHD in UBC in Vancouver, and asked him to know whether he could let me know his UofT id or not. Kindly, he let me know his account, right now, I'm writing my post at OSIE library. Thanks my friend.(When you come back to Toronto around Christmas time, I'll throw a party for ya. I promise)
Since I haven't posted anything in October, I want to write down about what happended as much as I could so that I can compensate absence of posts in October, like this time of next year, I can look at this post and think of my memories in this time. Oh, yeah, I can write about my ISM friends who went back to Korea recently. I remember that one guy came and said to me at Crawford lake, "Hi, Are you Kevin?". We had not talked each other before. I wondered that how he knew my name. He basically, went to ISM regularly and got to know me from some volunteers who are my friends now. He is also around my age, a bit younger than me, and quit his job and came to Toronto to learn English. We got a lot in common we could talk about. So we talked a bit. That is how I know Andre. The other friend I want to talk about is Emily. She moved to Canada from Macau when she was 11 or something. She is very outgoing and active and funny girl unlike Andre. I liked her as a friend. She was a regular ISMgoer like me. We usually went to a SecondCup after ISM with other ISM folks and talked about nothing but fun. One day, I was with my Korean friend chatting at a coffee shop. We started talking about ISM folks. So, she came up with Andre and Emily telling me that she saw them holding hands walking on the street. I guessed that they had started going out. Things got serious I think once Andre went back to Korea early this year but came back in the summer to see her. Now, they went together to Korea. Emily told us that she is going to learn Korean for two years or something but I strongly felt that they are going to step up for the next phase.

< Emily and Andre when they dropped by my place before they were going to the airport >
The picture above is the one I took when they dropped by my place on the way to the airport. They dumped some blankets for me which I asked for. Emily lived Canada for 15 years, so she sold her house, technically her parents', a car, funiture, and many things. A week before they flew, I went over to her place and grapped things I needed which she had to get rid of. It was like a free fleamarket.
Anyway, they were so close to me, even though, I did not have many chances to hang out with them, because most of time, they were busy spending time together just two of them, I guess, but I felt so strong friendship with them. After they took off, I changed meaing of ISM to 'International Students Marriage'. ISM has actually produced a couple of couples so far. There are the wedding photos at Fee's place who is a leader of ISM. I wonder why that couple thing is not happening to me. Am I too old or bad looking? I guess I am not serious about it, yet. One of my friend at ISM told me that it is time for me to find a girl at ISM. I joked that you guys are so young and I feel like they are my little brothers and sisters. To some extent, that's true, they're in their early 20's except some. By no means, I am a person who minds age thing. I can say that I'm too sensitive to what people think about what I think about it.
I bought the book name 'TEACHING PRONUNCIATION' from Amazon.com. When I ordered, they said it was going to take for three weeks to be delivered.

Teaching Pronunciation
Marianne Celce-Murcia

This course offers current and prospective teachers of English a comprehensive treatment of pronunciation pedagogy, drawing on both current theory and practice. The text provides: - an overview of teaching issues from the perspective of different methodologies and second language acquisition researc...

One week later, I found the book on my door step, I was rather happy about it. I am still reading that book, almost done, though. I can say that this book is the best book I have ever read about English pronunciation. It's not too academic and not too practical. It is mixture of both which is very good for me not to be bored. I had so many questions about pronunciation which I couldn't find the answers to them. There are all answers in that book. I joked about that book to my friend. That book is the bible for me like the real bible for you guys(my christian friends). I am always happy when I read really good book, it's really hard to find good books, though. One of books I got before (My friend Michale cole picked them up in States and gave me) is horrible. The name of the book is 'TEACHING BY PRINCIPLES'. I checked the comments on that book on Amazon. It was quite positive but I should have known that principles is principles. I tried to read that book a number of times and I alomst fell a sleep. To some degree, I can blame my lack of reading comprehension but I found it quite boring. I heard that book is used for English education in Univ and TESL course. I can imagine how hard to stay awake at that courses and understand why a lot of university students carry a big mug cup full of coffee before their class. I can say to many academic and textbook writers, "Damn, please think of your /styupid/ readers, don't think of showing off how sophisticated and intelligent you are".
I got my job done for this month. I don't know when I will post, again.

Wow, that was an awesome lecture for me~~~

2007-09-19T17:24:00.000-04:00

I got an email from Jay saying that he wanted to skate this morning. If I really want to do something in the morning, I can do it but I chose sleeping a bit more and going to take Phonetic lecture with Benji in UofT at 2 pm.
I met Benji a prior to the lecture but we were a bit late, we sat down at the back, it was kind of the second floor classroom. The funny thing happened a moment later.
The professor couldn't show his slides all of sudden, and called somebody to get it fixed. That was a dejavu of the previous attempt to sit and listen to lecture. Last time, a week ago, I went to another lecture with Benji but we couldn't get anything because of the same problem. Benji and I laughed and telling it's time to get up and leave. Fortunately, it turned out the best lecture I've ever had in Canada. After Benji took off for his class at 3 am. I finally solved my mysterious phonetic curiosity. As a Korean, the English /r/ sound is very difficult to pronounce. I've read many books and articles on the internet and asked many teachers and friends. They said different stories. Some couldn't figure out how to pronounce it simply because they just say it and can't see their inside of mouth. During the lecture, the prof showed us the video clip about /r/ pronunciation which was stunning to me.
There are two version of /r/ sounds. Some pronounce it this way, some do the other way. When I learned pronunciation from Eileen, who was my tutor two years ago. She taught me one of /r/ sounds which didn't work for me. So, I was trying to figure out why I had a trouble when I pronounce /r/. That's why I have read a lot of books and articles and asked many friends and teachers. Today, I finally figured that out simply by seeing that video clip. It showed us the vocal folds and the side view of tongue, which was black and white as same as the one when you see a baby inside women's body, and lips of a native English speaker when he pronounces /r/ sound. It really works for me, really. I felt like I found gold and the textbook they use for that lecture is the book I would like to read about phonetic. Two years ago, Richard, who is my skating buddy in the club, gave me a bunch of books which he studied English with here many years ago. One of books is named 'Teaching pronunciation'. It is a very good book and I got a great deal of Phonetic knowledge from it but it is published in 1980's. So, I need a new book about Phonetic so that I can get contemporary knowledge of it. After the lecture, I went to the U of T bookstore to check the price of that book. Gee, it's almost $50. Why books in Canada are so expensive. I will check out Amazon website to buy it, anyway.

The Sounds of Language : An Introduction to Phonetics
Henry Rogers

The Sounds of Language provides an accessible, general introduction to phonetics with a special emphasis on English. Focusing on the phonetics of English, the first section allows students to get an overall view of the subject. Two standard accents of English are presented: RP (Received Pronunciatio...

There is another thing which I found very interesting. The prof is a Russian native speaker. He is very fluent in English. I thought he is a native English speaker. He is teaching Phonetic of English in U of T, so I realized that non native speakers can teach English even in university in English spoken countries. That's what I would like to dream of.

Thanks Benji for taking me there. I really appreciate that.

I will go home soon to see Emily and Andre. They will drop by my place to give blankets and pillows on the way to the airport. They will fly to Macao tonight.

the long busy Sunday..

2007-09-17T15:11:00.000-04:00

Since I have started working again, I get up late like 10 or 11 am. However, yesterday, Sunday, I woke up at 7 am and had quick breakfast and meet Ed at around 8 am. He picked me up at Yonge&Sheppard where I live. We planned to skate 80k with Jay.
When we got to Hamilton beach path, Jay was already there and a couple of minitues later, we saw Scott and Eric. While many skaters were in Duluth, I didn't expect we could see other skater folks there. It was nice to skate with more people. We put skates on and started skating after chatting a bit. Honestly, I had not skated for the last 10 days for some reasons, I felt like I was so weak and out of shape. If I am out of shape, my right leg is always troublesome. I can't support myself when I setdown with my right leg. Two laps of skating on the path was O.K. but I couldn't pull as much as Scott and Ed did, though, They did a great deal of work. After skating on the path, Ed, Jay and I got out of the path and started skating on the road. Scott, Beth and Eric were with us for a couple of km's. When they turned around and I wanted to tell Ed I couldn't skate any more but I just kept going I thought I could manage to finish 80k, but shortly after, I started feeling I couldn't support myself with my right leg. So, I had to tell Ed and Jay that I needed a rest. Because of me, we stopped skating and turned around. It was a bit early than we planned. I felt sorry about it. On the way back to the path, I got a bit better but still uncomfortable pushing with my right leg. Ed and Jay pulled me all the way back there so thankfully I got back to the path without any mishaps, Thanks guys. Ed and Jay skated again to complete their goal, 80k of skating. Meanwhile I took my skates off and got changed and lie down on the bench and enjoyed the weather. The breeze was so good, that was the moment of happiness for me. Even though, I had a bit hard time to skate but I skated with my nice friends and laying down and enjoying the weather. I don't remember when was the last time I felt that kind of feeling. I gave a hi-five to Ed and Jay when they finished their skating. Good job guys~.
We had lunch at Lick's which is my favorite hamberger place, I love the hamberger there. Every time I go there with Ed, he buys me a hamberger, he has a buy one get one card. It's so nice of him. I bought Ed a french fries instead, hehe.

Anyway, I learned lesson from yesterday's skating. I will keep in mind that lesson.

Jay dropped me off at Islington subway station which is close to his place. Thank you Jay, and I headed downtown. I met Shery who came here four months ago from China.
She has a very interesting background. She is a Korean Chinese Canadian will be(make sense?). She's from the area in China where many Korean people live called Yeonbyun.
A hundred years ago when Japan invaded Korea, they forced some people to move to that area. I don't know exactly why( I need to learn more about Korean history ). So, she speaks Korean with her mom and also speaks Chinese, as well and she said she studied Japanese in school. So, she speaks Japanese, too. But, I don't know how fluent her Japanese is. Anyway, she goes to high school now which she said is very overwhelming and stressful because her English is not enough to keep up her study in school.
A couple of days ago, she asked me to teach her English which is very funny to me.
What she said, basically, is she can't take tutoring from Canadian because she can't understand what they say, so she needs Korean English tutor so that she can study English in Korean. Gee, I never thought about that I teach English here. I couldn't say yes or no. I just promised that I would meet her. I spent time with her for about two hours and helped her writing and speaking which was very basic. At this point, I am not sure I can keep helping her English.
While I was there with her, I got a call from Emily. She wanted to had dinner with me and others. She and Andre are leaving here on Wednesday. I will talk about them later. They are very interesting guys I met here. Anyway, I wanted to buy something for them, so I went to the bookstore near Bay&Bloor and bought one book which I read all. I found it very useful for Emily because she wants to learn Korean. The book is about effective and practical theories to learn foreign language. I hope she enjoys reading that book.
I met them in one of restaurant near Bathurst subway station. Emily, Andre, Nenry and I have nice dinner there and moved to Emily's place which is sold a month ago. So, there are not many things left there, it's almost empty place. Two more friends came over there and we had snack and talked till 12 when one of us told us, she was very tired. I said to them 'See you in Korea' because some day not too long from now, I will leave here too and can see them in Korea. I was a bit sad but not as sad as when I sent off other friends who I can't see them any more.

It was a long day. I was able to fall asleep without any difficulty to sleep

What language should I speak?

2007-09-13T16:29:00.000-04:00

I'm kind of in a pensive mood since yesterday.
I do a language exchange every Wednesday, so we gathered yesterday as usual.
Since it has been chilly, some wanted to have a lesson inside rather than at the park where we usually do. The confusion had started. We tried the community center near Christie subway station and were told that we were not supposed to have a lesson there. One member offered one restaurant which is less busy that time of day. We walked there rather long time but there wasn't enough space for us. We tried one of bars near there afterward and asked the owner to keep the music down, but he told us that he didn't want to do it because he wants to keep their atmosphere as usual. After wandering for 30 mins, two people took off. We decided to just have dinner and talk about the place for the next time. We got two new people but they were headed home after short staying at the restaurant. I felt sorry for them. Anyway, I wasn't in a good mood but practically as a leader of that meeting, I couldn't express my feeling directly. I hid my feeling and I was heading the place where one offered to check out for the next meeting. He is a Korean and wanted to speak English with me, so we were talking in English, then I got an unexpected call from my friend, who is a landed immigrant from Korea and I talk with him in Korean, actually he is the only person I speak Korean with. I had spoken in English all day long, so I started talking English with him simultaniously over the phone and a moment later, I realized we speak Korean each other but I though it wasn't a big deal speaking English even though he spoke to me in Korean. He wanted to hang out with us. So, I just wanted to let him know that I was with someone who is Korean but we had been speaking English and if we speak Korean, it might have been awkward. But on the way to the place we were going to meet, I talked to the guy that I and my friend talk in Korean, so if he wants to speak Korean, we should speak Korean.
As we got there, I got very angry and sarcastic reaction from my friend. He talked to me in Korean that he got pissed off because I kept speaking English during the call and he might have to speak English with us. He thought I intended to avoid him and that's why I spoke to him in English. I was just a bit disappointed about his reaction at first but tried to calm down myself and explained what we were talking about on the way there.
As an international student, we are here to learn a new language and trying to speak a target language as much as possible even with Korean speakers, Time is limited for us, I don't have many close korean friends here, anyway. Yesterday's is very rare occasion for me. However, for him, he is a landed immigrant, he's not serious about a language; he always speak Korean to us without any consideration which I found it a little annoying. He has a plenty of time to pick up a language unlike us. He may not notice about this and has a different standard of it.
Anyway, I hid my upset feeling and had chatting with them for two hours, trying to make it up. When I got home, I was so stressed out and depressed about what I experienced before. I have no idea how I can handle that situation. I guess it would be better to speak Korean with Koreans. I don't have many chance to hang out with them anyway.
Did I make a mistake or that is just the thing every student face with every day.
Spending time with Korean is the most challenging thing here which seems to sound
weird because I am Korean and like Korean.
It is time to throw my skates on and forget about it.

No title...

2007-09-10T17:14:00.000-04:00

I haven't post any since the early August. I feel like I've got to write down something. August for me, it was uneventful month while others go somewhere out of city for vacation. However,there are something I can write down about. I have started doing two language exchanges, one of which is with one person, the other is the group of people through the website called 'Meetup'. It is very new for me. I am learning new language, so I know how hard it is. But I didn't know how hard it is to teach the language I speak. I had no chance to speak Korean before that because, firstly, I don't want to, secondly, I don't have to. Make sense? I'm here to explore new language and culture. What is the point I speak my first language in Canada as long as I can interact with people. Sometimes, I don't understand what my friends say but they are so nice enough to say that again and explain to me. Sometimes, I meet Korean, it is quite challenging not to speak Korean.
Anyway, I am teaching Korean, so I have to speak it sometimes which I found it not a big deal but difficult.

There is one more thing I can mention about. I've got back to work. My company, technically, I quit before I came back to Toronto, asked me a week ago. The boss and manager there are my old coworkers which got fired from the company which we worked for together for two and half years. They struggled for about one year and started new company. When I went back to Korean, their business was on the track. The day I visited, the boss asked me to work for him. I wanted to teach English at that time, despite my lack of confidence of teaching English. I said yes to him and I worked there for one year, accomplished nothing, hehe, until I got on the plane to Toronto again. The relationship between my boss and I is not the same as the relationship between a boss and an employee. We sometimes fought and argued about the project in the late night which I am still working on. You can not fight with your boss unless you are a friend with him.
We are so close to share our feelings and everything, we both have a hot temper but are warm-hearted person, maybe I'm not.
Anyway, We made a deal before I came here, I promised him that I work four hours a day from Sunday to Thursday. However, something happened to my company about two months ago. My company has online stock investment system which is quite different from others. However, the new stock system prevent my company to do it any more. The profit from the business model was not only only source of money but also cash-cow for my company. Since they lost it, they have been suffering from that change, it also caused me not to work. I did not work for the last two months because of that. There are some people out there who are optimistic and enthusiastic. My company has some like that people. For the last two months, my company has been trying to make new business models and waiting for the result now. One of my coworker who is in charge of what I do asked me to get back to work after finishing other projects, but he said that I am not going to get paid until the company makes profit. Since I got my new study permit which allows me to stay until this year, I am so relaxed and not doing anything special to write TOFEL test to take TESOL course. I felt like I needed some pressure to balance my life which is so relaxing. So, I'm working now. I feel like I am alive and do something for someone, hehe. That's a good feeling. Since I've begun working at mid-night, I get up late again. Sometimes, my skater friends ask me to skate somewhere on the weekend but the time they want to meet me is so early in the morning, I had to say that I could not make it. Once I really wanted to skate, so I stayed overnight after working and was able to meet them to skate in Hamilton. It was quite tiring, but it is always good to wake up early and do some skating.

I haven't decided when I take TOEFL test again and try to apply for the TESOL course in University Of Toronto. Everything is up in the air, but there is not much time left, I ought to decide sooner or later. Every time I am asked about my plan , I make an excuse like learning language is different from learning other subjects. It needs more time and efforts to put every pieces together I have learned. If I study TOEFL for 8 hours a day, I might be able to get high score in a couple of months and take the course but my point is even though I am able to get high score soon, if my English is not enough to understand and get as much as possible from the class, it is kind of waste of money. $15,000 is big money for me, so I am just waiting for the right time to go for it. I am unsure about it, though, but I am the only one who should decide everything I need to here which is sometimes so overwhelming to me. However, except that, I can not complain about my life here, it's once in a life time opportunity for me. Before I came to Canada, I was an ordinary person, doing the same thing everyday, get fed by salary every month, not passionated and enthusiastic about my work. But now, at least, I am doing what I should do for what I love to do in the future, which keeps me going to approach to my goal.

What a wonderful time in Toronto~

The race weekend.

2007-08-06T23:01:00.000-04:00

During the long weekend I skated and raced on Sunday and Monday in a row.
Sunday one was a fun skating on Hamilton beach trail which is my favorite one to skate.There were less people than usual and we spent more time chatting than skating. It was fun, though. After skating Candy, Jacky and I went to Eric's place to do some dryland workout. Eric videotaped Candy and Jacky while they did dryland. I didn't do it, not keen on doing exercise in a warm condition. I did some slide board thing a while, though because we did it inside, kk. We cooled down a bit with drinks and snacks. We stayed at Eric's till 4.
The next day, today, I went to Mississuaga to race for 10k. I was the last one finished the race. I dropped out after one lap of 10 laps and skated by myself the rest of the race. Some skaters finished their race in Fitness category earlier today. So, there were only 11 skaters out there in elite category. It was good to be out and skated with my friends but I couldn't enjoy the race. No matter whether I finished the last or not. It is not a good feeling you found yourself so weak during a race. I think there is no point that I race competitively without training. I'd better prepare If I want to race and enjoy. I am not sure I should keep racing, though. I can just enjoy social skating like Friday night skating, Hamilton skating for fun. I am here to study and learn English, not racing seriously. On the other hand, skating is so fun and I get to see lots of skater friends and socializing with them by skating here. However, I found most skaters in the club enjoy races and go to many races taking place in States and Canada. Therefore, There are not many chances If I don't race except the regular practice every Tuesday and Thursday. That's why I sometimes get to race. It's such a dilemma. I guess I need to exercise more to hit two birds with one stone. Anyway, regardless of some disappointment about myself, the long weekend went rather quickly.

Back to Montreal...

2007-07-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

I did Montreal 24 hours relay race 2 years ago. I was in the winning team in elite category. All I remember about that race was tough and tough. I was so weak at that time and the slowest skater in my team, it was so really hard race mentally and physically. This year I skated in the team which belongs to recreational category. Most of members are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s from TISC(Toronto Inline Skating Club). There wasn't much pressure to win and our team was supposed to support Eric's solo skating at some point which we did. Human being is very greedy sometimes. It was fun and enjoyable race but, on the other hand, I wanted to compete and push myself. All members weren't serious about winning and did what they could do, so I didn't feel like I was racing. Basically, I took it easy and sometimes I pushed myself to break my time. In general, I just enjoyed skating on the surprisingly smooth F1 track.

It rained and stopped on and on most of time on Saturday. Track was wet all night and I had to skate in the puring rain a couple of times. Skating in the rain itself isn't bad but we got completely soaked after skating in the rain and had to put on soaked skates again after a break. It isn't a good feeling at all.

Our team consisted of 8 members. Each skater skated one lap and took a little more than an hour break while other 7 skaters skated. We divided into two sub-groups to get some sleep at night. I was in the first shift. For some reasons, I did 2 laps of skating twice during the night shift. It was hard but okay. After finishing our shift till 2 am. I cleaned the bearings and got two hours of sleep. As soon as I opened my eyes, I looked up the sky. It was clear. Even though, I got exhausted, I was so happy about the weather because I didn't need to skate in the rain any more. Sunday skating went well till the last turn.

< approaching to the relay zone >

For some reasons, I was an anchor to finish the race. When I got the baton from Calra, it was at 12:42 pm. I was supposed to skate till 1 pm. My time for one lap was 9 minutes something, so I thought I needed to skate for just two laps. I slowed down at first because I had to do two laps. "Kevin, pick it up~". It was Nick, who I skated with at RSO #2, passing me. I knew it was his final lap, he was doing his best. Pace was a little tough but I followed him and we pulled each other. I think it was pretty fast lap for me, could be 8 minutes something. He exchanged with his teammate and I had to keep going.

< With Nick >

I tried to chase his teammate but I was already tired. So, I just let him go and skated by myself. When I approached to the finish line, I checked my watch. I slowed down and waited for 1 pm. I passed the finish line at 1:01. I thought I was done skating. "Kevin, one more lap", I heard Richard cheering me up. Oops, I had to do one more lap. I forgot my watch is 2 minutes faster than normal. I should not have skated with Nick. It was late to regret, so I got to skate 3 laps for the last turn. I was dying but it turned into an awesome experience.

< The last lap >

I broke the my personal time and got hi-five from many skaters when I finished the race. It was really really awesome. The skaters standed on the both sides of the track and gave hi-five to finishers. I was one of them having chearing and hi-five.

I didn't win anything at this race but was so happy about myself finishing the 24 hours relay race and closing the race with the awesome experience.
I am not sure I can do it again next year at this moment, but I am quite sure that it is so worth it to try.

< After the race with TISC Skaters >

Dim Sum twice in a row.

2007-07-11T10:49:00.000-04:00

I remember the day Stephen took me to a Dim sum restaurant for the first time two years ago. I didn't even get the word 'Dim sum', so I asked him again and he explained it to me but I don't think I understood well at that time. However, now I know what it means because I had Dim sum twice in a row last Sunday and the next day, Monday. My friends, Nozomi and Nenry explained the meaning of it to me. If I got it right, 'Yum cha' is an actual term that literally means 'drinking tea'. Basically, you can have many small dishes in a small steamer bamboo basket or on a small plate with tea like Jasmine tea. You can get various dumplings, bans, rice, noodle, congee, deep fries and so on.

I went to Hamilton to skate on Sunday. It had been a week since I donated my skin to the track at RSO #2 race. I felt totally out of shape. We ended up skating a little earlier than usual due to rain. My friend, Carolyn caught rain on the way to the start line. She dyed her hair red the day before, so red thing came out and she got that on her skin suit. She wore her white skinsut for the first time. She worried out that red stain come out easily. I saw her wearing the same one last night's practice. I didn't see any red stain on it.
Anyway, we headed to the Dim Sum restaurant in Mississauga after skating. It is always good to have lunch with friends after Hamilton skating. We were a little hungry and happy about the fact that we were out early in the morning and skated. Chatting was the most fun part of it.

We ate tons of dumplings and many different dishes. It was so fun to have many dishes at once. Carolyn got the wet bearings, so Ed and I went to her place afterwards to help her clean them and Ed and I went to the SilverCity near Yonge & Eglinton and saw Micheal Moore's new movie, Sicko, which I really enjoyed. We ended up having a hamburger with Ed at his favorite hamburger place. I love the humburger there. Meat is really juicy and thick. Ed has a card which he can get one free hamburger with, so he got me a free hamburger. I bought him ice cream instead for a desert.

The next day, I got a call from Nozomi and heard ISM friends were going to have Dim sum lunch. I decided to join them. When I saw Nozomi at Finch subway station, she had a card with her for Junwoo. I realized that lunch thing was Junwoo's farewell lunch. There were ten of ISM friends there and we all enjoyed Dim sum. Later that night, I heard that Nozomi got a upset stomach. Maybe she didn't enjoy as much as we did. Even though I had Dim sum in a row, it didn't matter to me because it's not important what to eat but it's important and good to have friends you can enjoy a meal with.

"See you Junwoo in Korea, stay in touch with me".
That was what I wrote on the card for Junwoo.

< Junwoo in pink >

Race weekend and teaching Korean.

2007-07-04T23:28:00.000-04:00

Another crash last Saturday during the 500m sprint and got a big scrape and burn on my arm. It was my first race since I came back. I found myself not good at races and need to do more races If I want to perform better. However, that's not what I am here for. I have something else I have to focus on.

< the crash in the 500m sprint - photo by Eric Gee >

Anyway, I got some very good pictures of me during the races. Thanks Peter and Eric.

< 10k - photo by Eric Gee >

< 10k finish - photo by Peter Doucet >

The next day, I did a 42k marathon. I took it easy and finished without a crash. hehe. There were some crashed, though.

< After the marathon >

Recently I have taken over language exchange meeting from Youngin whom I met at ISM. He is going back to Korean, soon. Therefore, he can't continue that meeting. He asked me to take over. I said yes. Today was the first meeting which I was in charge to teach. Less people showed up because we couldn't find any places where to meet. At the very last minute, Dan suggested us meet at his place. Even though there were less people than usual, I really enjoyed teaching Korean language and culture. I have also started language exchange with Hilary. One of members I met at Yougin's meeting, Steve, introduced me to her. I met her last Tuesday. She is around my age and I found her very nice person. we sat down at a coffeehouse and started talking about ourselves first and we then started our first Korean lesson. I had never taught Korean before, so I found it very tough and felt that I need to know how to teach but I had fun while teaching.

I think teaching might be the thing I really want to do, at least I can enjoy. I couldn't enjoy working as a computer programmer. Sometimes, I felt a little joy after solving harsh problems but It didn't mean I loved that job.
Life is once and too short to do what you don't like. I will keep looking what I want to do to pursue my happiness.
By the way, Am I happy now? Sure, I am. kk

Skating at Rondeau again...

2007-06-24T00:29:00.001-04:00

I've just got back from Rondeau Provincial park, which is three hour drive from Toronto. There is a beautiful 15km long trail. I got there yesterday at around 4 pm.
I didn't skate, though. I woke up at 9 am next day as usual and started skating 30 mins later while Eric was already skating on the trail. I started with Candy but she turned around after a while. After that I did four laps of solo skating totally. Pace was fairly fast, say 30kph when I skated solo. It was hard but I tried to keep a steady pace. After solo skating, I skated pretty much with others skaters. Sometimes easier, sometimes hard. I did totally 9 laps, 120km. It is kind of too much skating in one day. However, it was quite fun and enjoyable. When I skated alone, I looked at the scenery and took a deep breath to get some fresh air. It was good.
Somehow I'm not so tired right now, maybe tomorrow will be. Sometimes I feel like I'm here to skate and train which is not the reason I'm here for.
Anyway, I will take a rest tomorrow. I will get sleep as much as I want and get up; do some chores and go to library to read some book. It was a long day, today.

Falling in a row...

2007-06-21T23:46:00.000-04:00

I went down again tonight's practice at CTK. After falling I was so frustrated and upset myself. I threw my helmet (it's okay; it's broken from last Thursday's falling).
I should not have done it. This time it's nothing compared to last time. It should be fine. I am going to Rondeau Provincial park again to skate with other 4 skaters. I will skate as harder and much as possible, so that I can be in a good shape again. There will be two races next weekend. I've got to prepare for that.

Hopefully, My confidence of skating is not shaken from falling in a row.

I've been reading books in Reference library recently. I've finished like 4 books in 4 days. Technically, I finished one book and I found other three books boring, so I went through and read some interesting chapters. After TOEFL test, I haven't decided yet what to do. I got my TOEFL score today. It's way lower than the score I need, but I can do something with that score. I will try it again sooner If I have to, otherwise I will do it before I go back to Korea. I think my life is getting boring. I should do something to forget that.

I'm getting faster and a little mishap...

2007-06-14T23:32:00.000-04:00

Recently I've been feeling good at skating. I've fixed some technical problems and been eating well. I guess that is why. However, sometimes, I forget that skating is a risky sport. Today, I went down so hard but luckily I didn't break any bones except my helmet and got some scrapes and burn on my bum. It's burning, so hot. I hope it doesn't bother too much so that I can keep skating next week.
It's so worth buying a good helmet. It saved life again. kk
Gotta go to bed, have to rest...

What a day~ (June.9th.2007)

2007-06-11T14:18:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday was one of the eventful days since I came back to Toronto. It started with skating in Hamilton. There was a TBN(Toronto Bicycling Network)monthly marathon. I was tired a bit, so I decided to take it easy and doing half marathon or something. Intentionally, I didn't start with fastest guys and skated solo. It was quite a good feeling, According to Jacky, it was 28-29 kph and I stayed that speed for 12km, which is the length of the trail. After finishing one lap alone, I was waiting for the first pack and joined them as they finished the second lap. I saw Sarah got bloody knees and elbows and heard she went down and Ed rolled over her. Recently, I have been seen a number of crashes but luckily I wasn't always there and managed to avoid those crashes. Get back to the story, There were Peter, Robert, Sarah, Morgan and me in the pack, I wasn't sure how fast it was but felt so comfortable until Peter broke away at the very end of the trail. It was so fun and I really enjoyed it.

< right after skating, photo by Peter Doucet >

After skating, we went to the restaurant nearby and had lunch with a wonderful scenery.

< At the restaurant after skating >

I didn't have enough time to enjoy my lunch, though because I got a call from Nenry and heard that he wanted me to help him buy chairs for the party that evening. Thus, I hurried to finish lunch and was heading back to Toronto. On the way, I got a call again from Taizo and he told me that Nenry was too busy to buy food and cook, so he wanted Taizo and I buy chairs together. However, Taizo wasn't sure when he can meet me and I was told he can meet me at 4 to 5. Things were getting complicated because I was supposed to meet Nozomi and buy things together and head to Nenry's place. So, I simply decided to buy 4 chairs by myself before Taizo call me. I went to Canadian tire and bought 4 stools and headed to Spadina and Dundas where Nozomi and I was supposed to buy beer nearby and fruits at Kensington market, however, when I saw her, she had already fruits with her. It was disappointing a bit, because I expected that we were going to Kensington market where I have not been to before. So,instead of going to Kensington market, I explained her why I had four stools with me and bought some beer at LCBO and took the streetcar and headed to Nenry's place. It was early, so when we got there, Nenry was still cooking and didn't want us to see him cooking, but we were tired and we just stayed there, however, he kicked us off and got us to buy something. Taizo arrived shortly after and we chatted until the rest of company comes. The party started at around 7 pm.

< Right before we eat >

Food was awesome and seemed that Nenry spent lots of money for that, even there was the lobster on the table. Anyway, we had so much fun and I drank a lot of beer ( two cans and three bottles of beer). Taizo and Nenry were so funny, so I couldn't help stop laughing with them. The party ended at 11:30 pm. It was unusual that I drank a lot but I liked friends there and comfortable atmosphere, so it made me drink a lot. It was okay, though. I didn't get any hangover next morning, honestly, a little bit but I managed to wake up early and skated on MGT(Martin Goodman Trail) next morning.

What a day, huh?

What's up with me?

2007-06-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

Over the last few days many things happened to me.

I wrote my first TOEFL test last Saturday. It was harder than I had expected.
I went to the wrong place but luckily was able to be in time to write the test. I found the test hard because it was difficult to concentrate on the test due to the circumstances which I am not comfortable with. I guess that is one of aspects of TOEFL test and I've got to prepare for that for the next time. I will try it again three months later or so.

I moved in a new place near Yonge&Sheppard; it is still uptown. I used to live in the house near Yonge&Finch. There were many people (10-11 people) in the same house. Sometimes I found it difficult to use common areas like a bathroom or kitchen. The funny thing was we didn't talk each other so often at home but we knew what was going on with others because we could hear them through the walls when they talked to someone over the phone. Isn't that funny? kk. Anyway, Now I live with just one roommate named 'Dale' and his dog 'Sandy'. I think he is a reasonable guy, and I haven't found anything uncomfortable with living with him so far. However, I should be careful till we know each other well. Last night, we talked about our country; what are differences between Canada and Korea. It was fun and good to know him through the conversation.

I finished my TOEFL class the day before the test. I met Tim, my teacher, and one classmate, Oriena from Colombia. I had so much fun studying with them. Oriena is going back to her country this month. I wish she enjoys the rest of time in Toronto and safe trip back to Colombia. My teacher Tim likes Korean food a lot. We went to Korean restaurant a couple of times and he likes everything even Kimchi. He is planning to run his own school sooner. I hope there is something I can help him.
Anyway, now I should figure out what I can do next. If I get a good TOEFL score, I will apply for university but my test didn't go well. I'll see what I can get. Another thing I'm thinking about is working. I'll put my resume on job websites like 'monster.ca'. Maybe I can work and learn English at the same time. Since all I want is being a fluent English speaker, so that I have confidence of English and teach English in Korea or do something to serve my country. I've never though about my country before I came to Toronto but since I've been here in Toronto learning English; I've been exposing to many international issues because English is international language, so if you know English, you can get to know a lot of international issues. It makes me think about my country. I will keep thinking what I can do for myself and my country.

There is one thing left. I've just got an email from Korean agency about tax refund.
I will get my tax refund today. I'm so happy about it, kk.

A long weekend...

2007-05-21T21:59:00.000-04:00

My long weekend started earlier. I went to see a movie to Ontario place with my teachers and classmates Friday morning and we had lunch together, afterwards.

After reading some books at the Reference Library, I headed to Fee's house to see my friends. It is always good to chat with friends there. I stuck around there till 5 pm and went back home and grabbed one more jacket. I met Emily, who is one of my ISM(International Student Ministry) friends, at Finch passenger pick up place nearby home. We had dinner together and I helped her write Korean on the card which she will send to her Korean boyfriend's Mom in Korea. After dinner, we went to a school where Emily's friends play basketball and badminton once a month. I played basketball a bit and spent most of the time teaching Emily Korean and got back home at around 11 pm.

The second day of the long weekend, Saturday, I went for a skate to Port Credit with Ed. It was fun and pretty tough because there were some rough parts of the course and it was about 45k. We ended up having the best popsicle I have ever had, kk. Thanks Ed. After skating, I picked up some Korean food at Korea town near Christie and went back home.

On Sunday, I took the first subway at 9 am to go to Dufferin mall where Jacky was supposed to pick me up. I hadn't had breakfast yet, so I got a hamburger and fries at Macdonalds in Walmart. We headed to Harriston where the Provincial and the Pan Am trial was taking place. It was a two hour drive. We got there at around 12 pm. It was fun to watch races. After all the races and podium, Candy, Eric, Jacky and I went to a Korean restaurant near North York Center and had a nice meal.

The last day of the long weekend, Monday, I went for a skate to Hamilton. We usually skate there on Sunday but due to the race on Sunday, we decided to skate there on Monday. A bunch of skaters showed up and enjoyed skating and nice weather.
Because I got blisters from Saturday skating, I felt some pain on my foot and found some blood came out after two laps of skating, so I didn't go for the third lap while some did. I just sat on a bench and enjoyed the scenery and watched Holly, who is Stephen's daughter, playing with Candy.

while enjoying something not related to skating, Mike came back and told us that Jacky went down. He clicked skates with Ed and went down. When I got there, he was still lying there. Paramedics came and took him to the hospital nearby. I got an email from him later that day. He said he is okay. Inline skating is an exciting sport but sometimes it reminds us that we are doing a risky sport.

It was quite a long weekend considering what I did and I am so happy I wasn't a mouse potato at all for such a long weekend.

The skating day trip to Rondeau Provincial Park.

2007-05-14T22:42:00.000-04:00

Candy picked me up at around 8 am (May 13th) and we headed to Rondeau Provincial Park. It was a three hour drive from my place. When we got there, Eric and Jacky looked like they were in the middle of break after some skating. Candy and I put our skates on and we started skating all together. The trail, which goes around the park, is so smooth, and it was perfect weather to skate. As I skated, I enjoyed fresh air and the sight. The trail was 15k long. We ended up all together for the first lap.

Eric told us we took a turn for pulling after 50 left leg stride right after we started skating for the second lap. When it was my turn, I just paid all attention to counting strides and focus on basic techniques, but I didn't notice that the pace was not good enough to skate all together. Thus, Candy dropped out and skated back to the starting point, where our camping site was. I pulled the pack again and I kept the same pace as before. However, I didn't think about the fact that Jacky had skated a lot since last Thursday. The pace could be tough for him. Thus, Jacky dropped out as well. Eric and I waited for him for a while but he didn't seem to join us again. We just kept skating, just two of us. We pulled the pack longer than before. Skating behind Eric was quite good. His cadence and mine were almost the same. So we ended up with quite a fast lap. Technically, I didn't focus on DP because I recently noticed that I lose some power when I push with my left leg because I transfer my weight to the right side before I finish my push. Basically, it is brutal. The last moment of push is very important; it makes most of the speed when we skate. Moreover, my left leg is stronger than my right one. As I skated with Eric, I just focused on fixing that problem and I felt really good. In general, I really enjoyed skating there. After 2 laps of skating, we had lunch. I brought Bulgogi and Kimchi, so we had Korean cuisine, kk. After the long lunch, we took a long walk and hit two beaches. Rondeau Provincial Park looks like a small peninsula surrounded by Erie lake, which is one of the Great Lakes. The first one we went to faces to the land, so it has a quite calm atmosphere.

The other side of Rondeau looks quite different because it faces to the main lake. It appears to be the ocean. There are wind and waves and a long wide beach. The lake is so huge, so I couldn't see anything from the other side but horizon. Since I came to Canada, I have realized that I love nature. Whenever I spend time in nature, I feel so calm and comfortable.

After the long walk, we just sat down and talked, and Jacky started packing. When he finished packing, we talked about skating techniques for a while, and then Jacky and I took off at almost 7 pm and we got back to Toronto at around 10 pm.
It was quite a long and memorable day. I really enjoyed skating and everything there. I hope I can go there again this season.

The photos:click here

an ordinary day...

2007-05-09T23:00:00.000-04:00

I got back home earlier today. It was an ordinary day for me. There was a class in the morning, and then I worked at school afterwards. I stayed at school till 5 pm and went grocery shopping at the Food basics nearby home. Oh, it reminds me I bought an ice cream. I'll go get some right now, kk. It's so sweet~. Back to the story, bascially, I was supposed to busy today because I have another class in the afternoon which starts at 3:30 and ends 6:00 pm. However, I've been skipping that class and staying at the school for the morning class instead of going to the afternoon class. I wanted to be busy, so I registered for two class a day, but I found I can not handle two classes a day because I also have to work. I was trying to work in the evening but after finishing two classes, I was exhausted and didn't have any energy left to work at home. This is my excuse. I chose a little of relax rather than being busy, I paid $120 for the afternoon class, though. There is another reason I've been skipping the afternoon class. It is just boring and there are many students who want to get their a piece of writing corrected, so I should wait for my turn. I don't want to say this but the teacher is just soso and she isn't a native speaker. Moreover, her pronunciation is a little bit weird to me. Such as, she pronounce "all right" like "all light" which she says hundred times every class. As an English teacher, that is brutal. If she weren't an English teacher, it wouldn't be a problem and I wouldn't mind at all. Thus, I chose staying at school for the morning class and review what I've studied and work and then do something else in the evening like a skating practice or other Free ESL class which I really enjoy ( because of less pressure and no homework).
Anyway, tomorrow, it is going to be a little bit busier than today. The class in the morning, work, the skating practice, and ISM. I like my Thursday schedule. hehe.

the nice and easy practice...and ISM

2007-05-04T09:13:00.000-04:00

It has been a nice weather. It's a good news for skaters like us. I went to the WT track yesterday for the Thursday regular practice of TISC. As I approached that track, I saw one skater skating on the track. I noticed who it was. It is actually a funny thing. I couldn't even see his face but I noticed him by how he skates. Anyway, weather was so nice and track condition wasn't too bad except many twigs all over the track.
While I warmed up, I saw Travis on skates. It was so nice to see him again. He said he rolled skates for two laps last Sunday. I hope he sooner joins us for practice.
I was told to skate with Morgan. We did a five laps drill. for the first 2 laps, we speeded up and sprinted for one lap and cooled down for the last two laps. I couldn't keep up with Morgan for the interval lap, but I just kept skating and did my own drills focusing on DP for the most of time and skated with others occasionally. From the last practice I don't tie my laces on my skates because I feel pain on my ankle and I also feel comfortable skating with loose skates except sprinting.
I saw a couple of new skaters yesterday. It is always fun to skate with more skaters. However, we can not skate on WT any more, which is located downtown, that is only track accesible by public transportaion to get more skaters from Toronto. The other track where we practice is not accessable by TTC. Every time we practice, I have to get a ride from someone. I always appreciate them who give me a ride. However, I found sometimes uncomfortable because I lose my time to do other things. I wish we find another track downtown so that skaters in Toronto can show up and skate with us and I also don't need to get a ride from someone. I will see what it is going to happen. It is just out of my hands
After practice, I headed to the church where ISM meeting takes place every Thurday, It ends at 8:30 PM. I hurried so that I can see my friends before they leave. I made it and went to the Second cup near the church with some of them and had a fun chatting. I met one girl who lives close to my place. I found she is so funny and always smiles. I like that kind of person. Hopefully, I get along with her.

TOEFL test, one month to go~

2007-05-02T22:23:00.000-04:00

International students whose first language is not English have to prove their English efficiency to enter university here. There are a couple of tests which they can write for that. I chose TOEFL(Test Of English as a Foreign Language) and have been taking TOEFL class for a month. There is one month left for that class because I am going to write the TOEFL test on June, 2nd. I have just one classmate from Colombia (Our school is quite small). Recently, she finds the class very difficult and seems to give up, yeah, new TOEFL test (IBT) is quite tough to get a good score. The score I need is 106 out of 120. It is very high score and I think I am not that level yet but someday I will be. This time, I will do my best and see where I am. I have been studying English for one and half years. I didn't take any English class in a private school and a tutoring session in Korea and over ten years of studying English in school isn't helping because when I first got here, I was not able to speak English at all, just greeting people was all I could do at that time.
I am kind of in slump these days. Preparation of TOEFL is tough and I realized I am not ready yet. It makes my goal vague. However, I am not giving up. When the time is right, I will be on the rail. If I dream it, I will get it.

See you Angel~

2007-04-27T23:49:00.000-04:00

May.13th.2005, the Dinner with int' students at Tony's place

My friend, Angel, left Toronto yesterday to China to help disabled children in an orphanage. I've known Angel for three years and so. I remember the time I met him for the first time. I asked his name twice(Some Korean students here use English name for some reasons). He told me that his name is Angel. To be honest, I thought it is a funny name to be called. However, now, I definitely think he deserves to be called as an Angel. He used be the wheelchair basketball national team coach in Korea before he came to Toronto and what he did while he stayed here is mostly volunteering. I gave him a new nickname recently, "the King of Volunteer", because he always helped physically challenging people. He always told me that language isn't a problem but the important thing is your heart to help people. I found some Int' students looked down on him because he had been here over three years but his English wasn't improved a lot. Most of the int' student's main concern is English. Thus, sometimes they tend to judge other int' students with English level. Although, Angel wasn't valued well in int' students group, he got a good reputation from the volunteer world and I'm sure that the people who Angel helped love Angel.
Last Friday, the last day with Angel in Toronto, we went to Nenry's place after Fee's open house.

<April.27.2007. Angel's last visit to Fee's place. From the left, Emily, Angel, Fee, Nenry(late night?), Kayo, and me>

Nenry cooked Jajangmyun(noodles with blackish bean sauce) for us. It was so good. I remember that we had jajangmyun after graduation ceremonies in Korea. So, I thought it could mean to him that he graduated from living in Toronto with success. Afterwards, I said good-bye to him and wished him to have a good life in China. I gave him two keychains with my words, which are one from my cellphone is for him and the other is for his future fiancee(he hopes he marries in China). Last time I was here I collected 20 Cadadian quarters which has a maple leaf on it and went back to Korea with them; and I got them have a hole on it; and I also bought keychain rings and strings in Korea. So, I give one of them to people who were close to me when they leave here, but not two of them. Angel is a big person to me. I just wanted to give him two of them. Oh, he gave me a lot of more valuable things than keychains. kk. It was last Wednesday after dinner with a couple of mutual friends at St.Louis.

Last dinner with Angel in Toronto. Apr.25th.2007, From the left, Jun, me, Angel, Max, Isan

After dinner, I went to his place and stayed there until three AM. His place is 20 minutes far from my place on foot, so I walked back home with the things he gave to me ( Some Korean food, a pack of rice(8kg), a sun screen, a tennis racket and balls, 20 packs of ramyun, and etc).

He has left to China but I will see him some day in Korea and keep in touch with him. He is such a nice person who I can meet once a life time.

See you in Korea, Angel~

Another subway shutdown

2007-04-23T12:16:00.000-04:00

After three days of skating from Friday to Sunday, I had a chance to execise more early in the morning Monday. I walked from York Mills to Eglinton subway station for 50 minutes. It was just crazy. I heard a TTC worker died by a working train last night and they shut down two subway stations for investigation. To be honest, I don't get it. As a result of shutting down subway stations, thousands of people were stuck in the subway station and couldn't be in time for their commitment. When I got out from York Mill subway station to walk to Eglinton, OMG, what a chaos, tons of people were waiting for the bus and I saw a long line of cars without any movement. It could cause another accident; maybe, it has already happened. I am being negative but I have to say that the way an accident is handled and a post response are different from the Korean way. Oh, well, what can I do; I live in Toronto, Canada; I just walked for almost an hour on Monday morning. When I got to school, I was already exhausted. It is going to be a tough day. I have two more classes in different places. I am not sure I can handle it.
However, I feel sorry about the worker who died in the accident.

Skating on Hamilton path

2007-04-22T20:20:00.000-04:00

photo by Daniel

What a day~

It has been outstanding weather since Friday, so I have been skating with TISC skaters three days straight. It never happened before while I have been in Toronto. Today, I skated on Hamilton path with lots of(??) skaters. For the first lap, I did it with my zip pants and jackets on but it got warmer, so I took them off after the first lap. It is my first time skating with shorts and a short jersey this year. It means it was just beautiful weather.
Hamilton path skating is always fun because the surface of the trail is, needless to say, fantastic and there are no obstacles, unlike other trails. I did 3 laps as most other skaters did. Most of the time, I took it easy, focusing on DP. It was so fun skating with others with gorgeous weather on a perfect trail. After 45k skating, we headed to a restaurant named Emma's Back Porch. We all had a breakfast buffet which was so tasty and it is a reasonable price. Everything was just good.
I hope I can skate on Hamilton path a lot this year.

photo by Mike

More photos :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7999897@N08/tags/hamiltonbeachinlineskatesunapr22/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55871871@N00/sets/72157600111424752/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wscwong/tags/hamiltonbeachinlineskate/