It's like free education

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

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.

Stay hungry, Stay foolish???

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...

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…

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.

The new toy -> a mouse potato?

- 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.

Got up so late...

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.

the long busy Sunday..

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

No title...

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~

Dim Sum twice in a row.

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.

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

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

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?

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...

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.

an ordinary day...

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.

TOEFL test, one month to go~

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~

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

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.