쓰기숙제 - 제3, 4과

For chapter 3, we are required to write a letter to our friend or teacher to talk about our experience in learning Korean. Guidelines were provided. In the letter, we are required to cover our motive of learning Korean, the difficulty we faced, the differences between Korean and our mother tongue and to introduce a good method of learning Korean.

편지쓰기

빌리 씨,

안녕하세요? 그동안 잘 지내셨어요?

저 에게 보내신 편지를 잘 받았어요. 저는 축복을 많이 해 주신 빌리 씨덕분에 즐겁게 잘 지내고 있어요. 이제 강추위가 와서 서울이 꽁꽁 얼어 있어요. 저는 몹시 추위를 타서 이번 주말에 하기로 할 계획을 다 취소하고 기속사에 있으면서 편지를 쓰기로 했어요. 다음 달에 빌리 씨는 첫번째 한국어 능력 시험을 볼 것이지요? 많이 걱정하지 마세요. 무엇보다도 중요한 것은 얼마든지 어렵지만 최선을 다하겠다는 것이지요. 어쨌든 이번 능력 시험 잘 보기 바랍니다!

아시다시피 저는 한국어 배우게 된 주요 동기가 한국어를 통해서 한국 문화를 더욱 알 수 있는 것이지요. 한국어를 오랫동안 계속 배우고 싶으면 배우게 된 동기가 아주 중요해요. 동기가 잘 못되면 한국어를 잘하는 가능성도 높지 않을 뿐만 아니라 중간에 포기할 가능성도 높게 되더라고요. 결국 한국어를 잘 할지는 동기에 따라 결정됩니다. 빌리 씨도 한국 문화에 관심이 많다고 하셨지요? 그렇게 하면 한국어를 재미있게 배울 수 있겠지요.

저 는 한국어를 처음 배웠을 때 가장 어려웠던 것은 발음과 듣기예요. 예를 들면 '오', '어', '우'와 '다', '따', '타'의 발음을 말할 때도 들을 때도 분명히 구분하지 못했어요. 또한 한국어 숫자중의 ‘이’ 와 중국어 숫자중의 ‘일’의 발음이 엄청 똑 같아서 헷갈린 경우도 많더라고요. 빌리 씨도 초보자이니까 이런 어려움을 겪으면 신경 많이 쓰지 마세요. 한국어를 꾸준히 공부하다가 보면 모두 다 차츰차츰 구분할 수 있을거예요.

한국어와 중국어가 비슷한 점이 많지만 그것이 장점도 되고 단점도 돼요. 저는 원래 한국어와 중국어가 비슷한 점이 많아서 한국어를 쉽게 배울 수 있다고 생각했어요. 하지만 공부한 후에 그게 아니라는 것을 알게 되었어요. 그래도 한국어에 한자가 많이 나와서 중국어를 잘 아는 사람들에는 어느 정도 도움이 돼요. 그 것은 장점이에요. 한국어는 한자가 많이 사용되지만 어떤 한자와 중국어 중의 의미가 조금 달라요. 예를 들면 한국어의 ‘인간’의 뜻은 사람이에요. 중국어로 설명하면 ‘인간’의 뜻이 사람이 살고 있는 공간이에요. 중국어를 잘 아는 사람들이 한국어를 배울 때 헷갈린 경우도 있는 점이 단점이에요.

한국어를 잘 하고 싶으면 발음과 말하기, 어휘, 쓰기, 읽기, 듣기 등 다 골고루 배워야 되어요. 틀려도 꼭 한국어를 많이 사용하고 한국어로 많이 말하세요. 열심히 엽습하는 수밖에는 달리 방법이 없는 것 같아요. 그럼 우리 같이 노력합시다.

오늘은 여기서 줄일게요. 항상 건강하시고 행복하게 잘 지내세요.

다음에 또 편지할게요. 안녕히 계세요.

2009년 1월 11일

한국에세

아름다움 드림

선생님의 콤멘트: 글에 정성이 많이느껴지네요! 빌리씨가 좋아하겠어요 ㅋㅋ

For chapter 4, we are required to write about our thought on gender equality. The deadline for the essay was one day before mid-term test. Fortunately, we were only required to write 300 words. The normal requirement is 600 words.

내가 생각하는 남녀 평등

남 녀가 몸의 구조가 다르기 때문에 전통 사회속에서 역할도 다르게 되었다. 전통 사회는 힘든 일이 대부분이라서 남자가 여자보다 더 중요하는 의식도 저절로 형성하게 되었다. 그렇지만 정보시대덕분에 여자의 사회적인 역할은 빠르게 변할 수는 있다.

남녀 평등이 내생각에는 기회평등, 대우평등, 인정평등 등 3가지 필요한 조건이 있는데 직장과 사회에서 능력과 성적대로 성 차별이 없이 평등적으로 기회, 대우, 인정 등 남자만큼 여자에게도 주는 것이다.

남녀 평등이 실현될 경우는 장점도 있고 단점도 있다. 장점은 국가의 경제가 필요한 노동력을 확보하는 데 도움이 된다. 단점은 가정의 문제가 점점 많아진다. 그래도 남녀 평등이라는 주장이 계속 제기되고 있다.

선생님의 콤멘트: 이주제로 생각을 표현하기에는 원고지가 좀 부족하죠?

산천어와 화천강

After leaving the World Winter City Plaza, I crossed the street and walked back from where I came from. Not too far down the road, there was a alley to my left that leads straight to the Hwacheon River. Actually, I didn't really know where the river was. I just followed the crowd into the alley but it turned out to be the correct route. Anyway, Hwacheon River isn't very far from the World Winter City Plaza. Ten minutes of leisure walking was all it took for me to get to the 제1털너 (First Tunnel) of Hwacheon River. I shall let the photos do the talking.

At the 제1털너. I could already feel the festive mood.

Crossing the tunnel. You can see how crowded it was.

Finally arrived at Hwacheon River. The Hwacheon Bridge is at the far end.

I can't believe I am standing on a frozen river. The feeling is so surreal. I have been dreaming of seeing a frozen river. Just the sight of it makes the trip worthwhile. The ice surface is slippery but I enjoy walking on it. I think it will be really fun if I can skate on it. Now I yearn to learn ice skating.

There are snow sculptures on the river bank for photo-taking.

Sancheoneo on top of Hwacheon Bridge. You won't leave Hwacheon without knowing how Sancheoneo looks like. Models and images of the fish are almost everywhere. That shows the importance of the fish to Hwacheon's economy.

Festival concert banner. There is concert every Saturday evening. Typhoon, FT Island and Mighty Mouth performed at the festival opening concert.

Ice sledding is fun. It can be enjoyed individually...

... or enjoyed by linking up like a caterpillar.

... and it is not meant for the children only. Adults can also have a lot of fun.

If the ice sled is too small, there is the ice sleigh for rent. The weekend queue is very long so be prepared to wait.

I was looking down on the slide from Hwacheon Bridge. There are two slides. This is the 30m slide for bobsleighing. It should be extremely fun if you don't mind waiting. I think the ride is free because I didn't see anyone waving their tickets.

The kids look bored waiting for their turn at the stairs leading to the slide.

Motorcade racing on ice surface should be more difficult than it looks.

From the riders' expression, you should guess that the ride is very fun.

The section of the river marked for Sancheoneo fishing is packed with people.

If there is a large group of people, playing ice football should be quite fun.

It is interesting seeing top being played on an ice surface. They just sweep the line across the tip of the top and it continues spinning.

Rickshaw being pulled by a mechanical walking teddy bear.

There are many tentages set up on both sides of the river bank. Food, snacks and local products are sold in them.

Free Korean beef given away at the festival fair.

Before leaving Hwacheon, you may want to leave your wishes behind at this pavillion.

Inside the pavillion. Wishes are written on a "Sancheoneo" and hang up on the rope.

The two wishes read: I wish for Lego toys. I wish to be a wealthy man.

Let's hope that we can all become more happy.

I returned to the Hwacheon Bus Terminal at about 5:00pm. The next bus leaving was at 5:30pm. I spent my 3,000won voucher which I was given earlier at a convenience store since it can't be used outside Hwacheon. The journey back to Seoul took almost four hours. The road was slippery so the bus has to move at a much slower speed. As I was half-asleep inside the bus, I overheard a Caucasian, apparently an English teacher, asking his new-found friend, "What is the difference between "I will do it" and "I am going to do it?" Ya, what is the difference?

세계겨울도시광장

After exiting from the Asia Ice and Lights Plaza, I re-looked at the festival map placed outside the exit door and found my way to the World Winter City Plaza (세계겨울도시광장). The plaza is somewhere down the main road. It took me about 10 to 15 minutes to get there by walking.

In contrast to the sculptures at the Asia Ice and Lights Plaza, the sculptures in the World Winter City Plaza are carved out of compacted snow. Also, they are huge, placed outdoor and in only one colour - white. Before I went around marvelling at the outdoor sculptures, there was this LED Tunnel which I visited. I am not too sure what LED lights got to do with snow sculptures but since it was free I just walked through it. The LED lights display was beautiful but nothing to shout about. A walk-through won't take more than 5 minutes.

Cheery styrofoam snowman illuminated by LED lights.

A view of the colourful LED Tunnel.

Big LED TV installed on the wall screening animation.

The snow sculptures at the outdoor plaza are huge but only 6 of them are displayed in a not so big open area. It took me only about half an hour to complete my visit. The highlight of the festival was actually over at the frozen Hwacheon River so it didn't make sense for me to spend too much time here. I shall be covering Hwacheon River in the next post. Here are the photographs taken at the World Winter City Plaza.

Namdaemun burnt down in fire, re-born in snow

The sculpture is not only huge but solid enough for people to walk on.

Sculpture of the Colosseum. The size of the work is simply amazing.

Inside the Colosseum. The sculptor probably has some sense of humour.

A frowning face. The door leads to an exhibition room which introduces the world winter cities like Harbin and Sapporo.

A snow village with mushroom houses and cartoon characters.

A full view of the snow village from the top of "Namdaemun".

A close up of the mushroom houses and the cartoon characters.

A village girl with two bagful of goodies.

This photo is meant to show the light effect of afternoon sun on white snow.

The largest waterwheel in Korea with a diameter of 15m. The sight of icicles was quite captivating. They are like crystals and jewels that sparkle.

A giant mural of dragon and phoenix carved out from snow. As the mural is too big, I couldn't capture everything in one photograph. This is the dragon part of the mural.

This the phoenix part of the mural. After viewing this mural, I exited.

얼음나라

I crossed the 38 parallel yesterday. No, I was not in North Korea but it was quite near to the border. I was at Gwangwon Province, Hwacheon County (화천군, 華川郡) for the Sancheoneo Ice Festival. Hwacheon is to the north of Chuncheon. It should be quite close to the border because there were quite a number of off-duty soldiers walking in the town. As for Sancheoneo (산천어, 山川魚), it is a species of Trout that spawns in the Hwacheon River. Besides seeing and playing with ice and snow, one of the festival highlights is fishing for Sancheoneo beneath the frozen Hwacheon River.

To get to Hwacheon, I took the Hwacheon-bound bus at the Dong Seoul Bus Terminal (also known as Guui Dong Bus Terminal) which is located beside Gangbyeon Station (Line 2). One-way ticket costs 12,600won and the journey took almost 3 hours. The bus stopped along the way to drop and pick up passengers. If it is a direct bus, the journey would probably take only 2 hours. The view up north is supposed to be quite scenic because of the mountains and rivers. But on the day of my trip, the sky was misty and there was a lot of condensation on the bus window so I didn't quite get to enjoy the view.

As the bus was making its way to Hwacheon, I saw one big rock erected by the roadside with the words '38선입니다' engraved on it. It means I have crossed the 38th parallel after passing that. It was a good feeling knowing that I have crossed that psychological line without even having to step foot on DMZ. DMZ is one place in Korea that I will never want to visit because it reminds me of human stupidity in its extreme form. Anyway, the road to Hwacheon was gently sloping up. I was imagining myself to be a Sancheoneo swimming my way up the stream to the clear water of Hwacheon River.

My bus left Seoul at 9:50am and reached Hwacheon at 12:45pm. At the bus terminal, there was a big festival map to show me the way to the various festival sites. There was also a big banner that hang across the road which showed the direction. My first stop was the indoor Asia Ice and Lights Plaza (아시아빙등광장). The ticket costs 5,000won which also includes admission to the outdoor World Winter City Plaza (세계겨울도시광장) located some distance away. I also got a 3,000 voucher in return which I could spend at the festival fair or any shop in Hwacheon. Effectively, the admission fee was only 2,000won. It was so worth it.

The Asia Ice and Lights Plaza is like one big freezer but not a very big one. Since it was my first time seeing ice sculptures at such a scale, I was really excited about it. The coolest ice sculpture is the replica of Gyeonghoeru (The famous two-storey pavillion that sits in the middle of a pond in Gyeongbokgung). The building can change into different colours which makes it very beautiful to look at from any angle. For amusement, there are two slides which visitors can have fun sliding down on. I tried sliding down one slide but I didn't go down as fast I as I would like. I guess jean is not slippery enough a material for the slide. Since the place is not very big, it only took me slightly more than half an hour to complete my visit.

My next stop was the World Winter City Plaza (세계겨울도시광장). I shall write about it in my next post. Meanwhile, below are the photos taken in the Asia Ice and Lights Plaza.

A replica of Gyeonghoeru (경회루, 慶會樓) in Gyeongbok Palace.

The ice Gyeonghoeru can change into different colours.

Ice sculptures of duck and fish in the pond of Gyeonghoeru.

A big ice cauldron at the centre of exhibit hall.

An ice pavillion on top of a small hill made up of ice blocks.

A colourfully lited ice slide.

Sliding down the ice slide. Its a favourite with both children and adults alike.

Another ice slide. Sliding out from a canon mouth.

Inside a mini igloo but I didn't feel a bit like an Eskimo.

Looking through an opening framed by blocks of ice.

An ice dinosaur glowing in blue light.

An ice Triceratop glowing in green light.

A choochoo train in cool lights. The last sculpture I saw before exiting.