Fun Facts in South Korea

Famous Figures in South Korea

  

They are just some of many famous South Koreans who have lifted South Korea’s name worldwide and made a difference in our world. Their purpose and stories inspired awe if not greatness. (Listed in no particular order)

1. Lee Myung-bak was sworn in as the 17th President of the Republic of Korea on February 25, 2008. Prior to his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai and the mayor of Seoul.

2. Kang Soo-jin was born in Seoul, South Korea. After initial ballet lessons in Korea, she went to Marika Besobrazova at the Académie de Danse Classique in Monte Carlo. In 1985, she won the Prix de Lausanne. In 1986, she became a member of the Stuttgart Ballet, where she was appointed Soloist in 1994 and Principal Dancer in 1997.

 3. Ban Ki-moon became the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. At the time of his election as Secretary-General, Mr. Ban was the Republic of Korea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

4. Bae Yong Joon (born August 29, 1972 in Seoul, South Korea), is a South Korean actor best known for his roles in numerous television dramas and one of the first kkonminam icons. He is known as Yon-sama to his Japanese fans.

5. Park Tae-hwan (born September 27, 1989) is a South Korean swimmer. He is a member of the South Korean national swimming team, based in Taereung, Seoul. He won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle and silver in the 200 meter freestyle events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is the first Asian swimmer to win a gold medal in Men's 400 metre freestyle event, and the first Korean to win a medal in swimming.

6. Kim Dae-jung (3 December 1925 – 18 August 2009) was 8th President of the Republic of Korea from 1998 to 2003, and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He came to be called the "Nelson Mandela of Asia"for his long-standing opposition to authoritarian rule.

7. Kim Yuna (born September 5, 1990) is a South Korean figure skater.

She is the 2010 Olympic champion in Ladies' Singles, the 2009 World champion, the 2009 Four Continents champion, a three-time (2006–2007, 2007–2008, 2009–2010) Grand Prix Final champion, the 2006 World Junior champion, the 2005–2006 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a four-time (2002–2005) South Korean national champion.

Kim is the first South Korean figure skater to win a medal at an ISU Junior or Senior Grand Prix event, ISU Championship, and the Olympic Games. She is the first female skater to win the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships and the Grand Prix Final. She is one of the most highly recognized athletes and media figures in South Korea.

8. Lee Byung-hun is most famous for his roles in Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area, Kim Ji-woon’s A Bittersweet Life, and Korean TV Series IRIS, All In and Beautiful Days. He made his Hollywood debut in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra as Storm Shadow.

9. Myung-Whun Chung is one of the leading conductors of his generation. Also a multi awarded and prize-winning pianist.

10. Sarah Chang (born December 10, 1980) is an American classical violinist. Her debut came in 1989 with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shortly thereafter, Chang was recognized as a child prodigy. She enrolled at Juilliard School to study music, graduating in 1999 and continuing university studies. During the 1990s and 2000s, Chang had major roles including being a soloist with the New York Philharmonic. She has also performed in countries such as England, France, Germany, Netherlands, China, South Korea, and Japan.

11. Park Jae-sang ( born December 31, 1977), better known by his stage name PSY, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and record producer. He is well known for his humorous videos and stage performances, and for his hit-single "Gangnam Style", a song about where he came from and which talks about the life of the people of Gangnam, which is a neighbourhood in Seoul, South Korea. The music video for "Gangnam Style" is the most viewed K-pop video on YouTube, and also the most "liked" video on the site. Published on July 15, 2012, the video has over 530 million views, and more than 4.3 million "likes". Psy has appeared on numerous television programs, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Extra, Good Sunday: X-Man, The Golden Fishery, The Today Show, Saturday Night Live, Sunrise and The X-Factor.

12. Jung Ji-Hoon (born June 25, 1982), better known by his stage name Rain, is a South Korean singer, dancer, actor, model and designer.

Rain's musical career includes seven albums (six Korean, one Japanese), 19 singles and numerous concert tours around the world. His acting career began in 2003, when he won the KBS Best New Actor award for his role in the drama Sang Doo! Let's Go To School. In 2004, Rain won the KBS Excellence in Acting award for his role in the drama Full House. After starring in A Love To Kill, he acted in his first Korean film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006), which won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Rain has acted in the American films Speed Racer (2008) and Ninja Assassin (2009), the latter of which made him the first Korean to win an MTV award.

13. Nam June Paik (July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist.

14. Park Ji-Sung ( born 25 February 1981) is a South Korean footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Queens Park Rangers, for whom he serves as captain. He was also the captain of the South Korean national team until his retirement from international football. He is the most decorated Asian footballer in history, as the first Asian player to have won the Champions League trophy and the first Asian to have played in a final of the UEFA Champions League. Park is able to play anywhere across the midfield and is noted for his exceptional fitness level, discipline, work ethic and off-the-ball movement.

15. Choi Min-sik
Choi Min-sik started his career as a theatrical actor before adding film roles, first with parts in Park Jong-won’s films Kuro Arirang and Our Twisted Hero and later in the 1990s by appearing as a police investigator in No. 3 and as a North Korean agent in Korea’s most successful film ever at that point, Shiri. In the 2000s, aided by the success of Shiri, Choi continued to get versatile lead roles first as a gangster in Failan and then as a 19th-century painter in Chihwaseon. In 2003, he took on the role that brought him international attention as revenge-seeking Oh Dae-su in Oldboy.

16. Yi So-yeon (born June 2, 1978) is a South Korean scientist and Ph.D. graduate of KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). On April 8, 2008, she became the first Korean and the second Asian woman (defined as a female resident of a country in Asia at the time of her spaceflight)to fly in space, after Chiaki Mukai. 

づ｡◕‿‿◕｡) づ

----

source 

wikipedia

google

korea.com

hancinema

Street Food Trip

I love street food well, who's not?

More often than not, whenever i visited a place , I explore the place by trying their food, from local street foods to their best delicacies.This is not limited to out of towns or out of the country visits but even to city visits too. Hey our cities here have something to offer too! I bet on that! My town, Angono have many unique foods like its neighbor town. Also someone said that " food is a window into culture " so I traveled around greater Manila and neighbor cities and tried some of their street foods. I wasn't disappointed, so lets hop and see what are those -
First stop : Quiapo
Lumpiang Sariwa or Fresh Spring Roll  

I went at Hidalgo Street, Quiapo, and tried Lumpiang Sariwa or Fresh Spring Roll is a vegetable dish composed of different vegetables with a soft (unfried) wrapper garnished with sweet sauce and crushed peanuts.

Second Stop : UN/Taft Avenue
Banana Que

I don't know but its the only place I saw that has long lines of street vendors of banana queues.
I tried one and its oh so yummily hot.The sugar coating was so sticky then unbelievably turned crispy.    

Third Stop: Teresa, Sta Mesa
Kwek kwek

Where else you can see this popular variation of Tokneneng?A pinoy delicacy made of quail eggs and some orange batter, it is best eaten with lots of vinegar and pipino tidbits.This is my "pamatid gutom" when I was in college (I studied at PUP Mabini Campus).

Fourth Stop: MRT Boni, Mandaluyong
Tik-Tilaok foodstand along the rails 

I saw this new food card at MRT-Boni Station. It is quite intriguing but obviously it sells chicken foodies! They offer chicken burger, chicken skin, chicharon, chicken siomai and chicken neck.


Fifth Stop : UP Diliman
Isaw @ Mang Larry's in front of the Kalayaan Residence Hall. 

Just like the tagline of Mang larry : "sa UP lang. Masarap. Malinis. Sulit"
It is really deliciously mouth watering grilled pork and chicken intestine dip in special sweet and sour vinegar sauce and once you taste you'll ask for more! 


According to a listing made by Cable News Networks' travel website CNNgo, their lists of the country's top ten street dishes as follows: chicharon, taho, balut, kwek kwek, silog, isaw, kikiam, banana cue and fish balls.

While the article identifies Manila as the center of street food haven in the country, some of the street food it mentioned can be found in other cities too and of course, you can see and buy most of these street foods anywhere and anytime but eating it at different place makes it much more special and unique.

Tara kain tayo!

Etude House Moistfull Aloe mask Sheet

기러기 아빠 (Goose Daddy)

기러기 아빠 (Goose Daddy) 

I believe this topic is sensitive especially that Koreans are so family, custom and culture oriented. It is about a phenomenon in South Korea that I was not aware of and it is a - wild goose father phenomena. I don’t know this term, goose father, until my Korean teacher told us in one of our sessions of Korean Language. What I know is the rising numbers of Korean students in the Philippines. Who’s some are simply studying English and some continued their studies up to college. This Goose Dad phenomenon caught my curiosity, so I’ve done some research to learn and to have an in-depth knowledge about this topic.

South Korea’s government today is not only busy branding their country but also serious in shaping their future society, maybe to be the next ‘English speaking country’ was not on their list but if the country’s current rate of English students in and out of the country continues, there’s a possibility that they would be someday, not to mention their advance education and technology

English education in Korea stayed in mainstream since it was first introduced way back in 1883, when the Joseon government opened an English language school in order to train interpreters. Since then, English has enjoyed the status as the most popular foreign language during the greater part of its existence in what is today South Korea and most of its development has been led and shaped by the educational policies of the highly centralized government.¹

I admire Koreans for their endless thirst for excellence and their continuous pursuit of English education.  To have better English education, Koreans sent their children together with the mother to English speaking country while the father was left in Korea to work as hard as he can, living alone, to finance the living and children’s education expenses abroad.  Everyday more and more Korean families were separated, living apart, to learn this universal and hegemonic language called English. Parents, mostly fathers sacrificed themselves to give their children better education and more advantages in life.

 Their main destinations of studying English are United States, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand and recently Philippines. Mostly Koreans preferred Philippines among other English speaking countries because of some advantages like a. cheap school fees, b. English speaking country c. cheap cost of living d. close in South Korea and f. less stress ( compared in South Korea, where competition in school and work is sky high ).

This phenomenon form the term - Giroegi Appa (Romanization of 기러기 아빠² which literally means “goose dad"). This term is inspired by an iconic bird, Giroegi -that has a natural devotion on its partner and its offspring, Korean fathers showed their absolute and unconditional love by staying in their homeland for the sake of bright future of their children.

But is it really worth it? What has forced to these loving fathers to be on this state that so lonely and miserable?

Fathers, living alone they become lonely, isolated and restless. Newspaper reports say that some of them often die of heart attacks from overwork at night in their deserted homes or lonely offices, trying to fulfill their main goal in life of sending as much money as possible to their beloved families abroad³. While others suffer from malnutrition due to poor and irregular meals as no one was tending their personal needs.  Like migratory wild geese, these geese dads only visit their families during holidays, because frequent visit and travel expenses would be expensive.

Lately, this scenario became the Korean society’s problem as annually numbers of Giroegi Appa rises tremendously as more and more fathers walked on this fate. Ironically, it was the same society that pushes them to be on that situation. A nation where competition is high and inevitable, where social status, education and reputation are highly valued, the English language almost became the society’s standard, and prerequisite for everything, school, work, and even partner in life. In short, education is highly valued as the path to status, money and success.

According to Kim Seong-kon, a professor of English at Seoul National University and president of the American Studies Association of Korea, ``The unnatural phenomenon of wild geese daddies is a clear sign of something wrong in our society,''  ``Tragically," says Professor Kim, ``the only consolation for lonely Korean fathers is that their children are living in a better place. The equation is simple: If Korea was a good place to live, wild geese fathers would not exist.⁴"

--------------------------

 ^{1, 3 and 4}. - History of English Education in Korea by Kim Eun-gyong

²                   - 기러기 아빠 (Giroegi appa)

image by http://blog.daum.net/josephlee54/2313