Monday, October 1, 2012
Martial Arts Demonstration @ Dae Jang Geum's Palace, Hwasong Castle, in Suwon
This was a very impressive demonstration of 24 martial arts!
Dinner @ Chunju Han-il Kwan...
The Hallyu Surfers enjoyed a great dinner at Chunju Han-il Kwan on Sept. 27th. I really did try to show my photos and video from my trip to Korea, but once the menus came, I was reminded that I can post all that on facebook and the blog == LOL! We went there for the FOOD! Very good -- and the service was great, too! They kept bringing out more tables for our group! It was fun to answer Linda's questions -- got me to focus on particular parts of the trip again. I definitely have to write more about that wonderful trip -- to remember it as well as to share with others! I'd definitely go back to Chunju Han-il Kwan! :)
Chasing Lee Byung-hun at LACMA Premiere of "Masquerade"
Now that I've actually seen "Masquerade" for a second time (at CGV Cinemas in LA), I thought I'd better capture some of the video I took at the premiere at LACMA two weeks ago. I know it was two weeks ago because I tried to see "Masquerade" at CGV Cinemas last Saturday night, but it was SOLD OUT! I really loved the film -- and Lee Byung-hun is so great in it! This video doesn't show you that the 20-minute Q&A was really very interesting. I'll try to edit that later, or I will summarize it in a future post. However, for "eye candy," this isn't so bad!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
My 꿈, My Dream, Came True: My Amazing Trip to Korea!
It still feels a little like cheating to have been able to attend the 4th Global Conference of Excellent Korean Language Learners, sponsored by the King Sejong Language Institute (Sejong Hakdong), held August 22-27 in Seoul, South Korea. Sixty-seven participants from 28 different countries arrived in Korea to experience the culture first-hand after successfully studying the Korean language. Even though my efforts to develop fluency in Korean have not proved to be so successful (I still rely on Google-translate a lot), I think I qualified because of my deep love for Korea, the Korean language, Korean culture, and my Korean friends! My persistence for the past five years in studying Korean and organizing gatherings related to Korean food, films, concerts and other cultural events resulted in this great opportunity – a week in KOREA!
I arrived at Incheon Airport and walked through the sliding doors that I’d seen in so many Korean dramas! There they were -- all the people waiting for family and friends and business associates. I paused a little too long to take it in while looking for someone holding the sign that I’d seen in the orientation papers that had been emailed to me. No one - so I walked to door #7 and found conference attendees who’d just arrived from Australia and the Philippines and a very handsome and helpful staffer from the conference. As I walked out the door to the bus, I was enveloped by a moist embrace from the hot and humid weather-- just as promised! We got on the bus to Kyong Gi University in Suwon, where we’d be staying, and headed across the looooonnnng Incheon Bridge. (When I was leaving, exhausted from the exciting week, I would amazingly take three (3!) short naps and still not finish crossing that bridge!)
Conference participants were housed in the beautiful Dream Tower of Kyong Gi University. I was so impressed by the key card we were given: it let us through security to the stairs and elevators, was a key to our room, and activated the power for the room when we slid it into the slot by the door. So efficient! My roommate, Alyssa Donovan, a high school senior from Maine and a TEACHER at her Korean language program, and I settled in and found out that we both had the same yellow “Of course, it’s the carrot!” bag (당근이지 tang geun ee jee) from my friend’s online shop, www.okitokki.com. Each day was filled with events and tours, led by our beautiful and patient team leaders, Sunyoung Kim and Yujin Kim!
Day One seemed like a week in itself! We started with the Opening Ceremony at the National Museum in Seoul in the morning (attended by the First Lady of Korea as well as the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports!), then enjoyed a modern take on my favorite bibimbap at the restaurant there, had a guided tour of the historical exhibits on the first floor and then of the Buddhist sculptures on the top floor.
After that, we got on the tour buses (three for our huge group) to go to Gyeongbok Palace.
I couldn’t believe I was actually there – not only amidst the history going back to King Taejo in 1394, but also because of my own emotional connection. How many historical dramas – sa geuk --had I seen that took place there? It looked just like the place where the crown princess – or so we thought – drowned in the reflecting ponds in the past-present fantasy Rooftop Prince. I didn’t feel guilty at all that my connection to the 5,000 years of Korean history was made by crawling through the window of Korean dramas. (At first I’d just peeked in, but Kim Sun-ah of My Lovely Samsoon and Bae Yong-joon of Winter Sonata invited me in a long time ago, and I’ve been addicted ever since!) After our visit to Gyeongbok Palace, we strolled down Sejongno to the immense statue of the Great King Sejong. In every photo with our new friends from all over the world, King Sejong’s hands raised to bless us in our studies and cultural experiences in the Land of Morning Calm.
If you can imagine, each day was as jam-packed as the first with the sights and sounds of Korea right there! One of the highlights was when we visited Hwaseong Haenggung , where Dae Jang Geum was filmed. One of the KBS photographers that was traveling around with our group asked me what I thought, and to my surprise, I started crying. I tried to explain in my limited Korean that I couldn’t believe I was actually there, walking through the places that I had come to love so much as I watched Dae Jang Geum.
We also visited Magoksa temple, where the beauty of the temple structures blended with the natural beauty of the location. The global cultural experience the participants shared in visiting Korea was brought home again as the two Buddhist participants from Sri Lanka knelt in front of the three Buddhas. Nadeesha Ma said that the temple was the same in some ways, but different.
The program also included a two-day side trip to Jeon Ju, where we visited the palace, stayed at a guest house and slept on the floor, saw traditional Hanok architecture, and visited the cultural center for special classes in cooking bibimbap (yum!) and made hanji fans - much needed!
Hanok Rooftops in Jeon Ju
However, it was the intense experience of participating in one of the five Korean cultural groups – traditional Korean dance, K-pop, drama, Tae kwon do, and Samulnori – that helped all the participants bond and truly appreciate the amount of training, technique and passion that goes into developing skills in these expressions of Korean culture. I was in the Samulnori group and raised my hand for the Buk. I was surprised to find out that I would be playing the big barrel drum. I told everyone that maybe it seemed easier than the other instruments, the Changgo (hour glass drum), Kkweng guari (small gong), and Jing (large gong), but so much technique was still involved that it was a real challenge.
Our three Samulnori instructors were world-class, as were the instructors for the other cultural groups. Choi Chan-qyun sonsaeng nim tried to teach me, but I was a nappun haksaeng (bad student)!
He limply hit the drum and made a face; then he did it right, and it sounded so different! I pounded out the rhythms enthusiastically and suddenly, I loved my Buk – and Samulnori! The teacher tied the drum on me so that I could carry it as we ran into our spiral and then out to our positions. Doreen Lee, from China, and I were the two Buk players, and we started the group with “Tong! Tong! (pause) Tong! Tong! (pause) Tong! Tong! Tong! Tong!”
We all learned our “Ari Ari Rang” lyrics and six of our group mastered the dance. We also practiced “Arirang,” ending with a rousing shout of “Dae han min guk!” Our group – from Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Algeria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, LA, San Francisco, Poland/Washington, D.C., China, Indonesia, and Taiwan -- went from zero knowledge to being able to perform at the group competition that was part of the closing ceremony for the conference. All the groups had appropriate costumes and in the dress rehearsal, the teachers tied our red, yellow and blue sashes so we looked great!
One of the five honorable judges was Mr. Kim Duk Su, who had actually created Samulnori as a performance art, transforming it from the traditional farmer processionals it had always been. Our Samulnori “Dream Team” came in second – after Tae kwon do. We took lots of group photos with our teachers and with Mr. Kim Duk Su, photos that are now posted on all our Facebook pages! My꿈, my dream, really came true! Now I miss Korea, I miss my Buk, I miss my new friends from all over the world. However, I’m so thankful that I had this unforgettable and amazing trip! My new dream is to go back to Korea! In the meantime, I will keep studying and hope to actually become an excellent Korean language learner! Fighting!
I arrived at Incheon Airport and walked through the sliding doors that I’d seen in so many Korean dramas! There they were -- all the people waiting for family and friends and business associates. I paused a little too long to take it in while looking for someone holding the sign that I’d seen in the orientation papers that had been emailed to me. No one - so I walked to door #7 and found conference attendees who’d just arrived from Australia and the Philippines and a very handsome and helpful staffer from the conference. As I walked out the door to the bus, I was enveloped by a moist embrace from the hot and humid weather-- just as promised! We got on the bus to Kyong Gi University in Suwon, where we’d be staying, and headed across the looooonnnng Incheon Bridge. (When I was leaving, exhausted from the exciting week, I would amazingly take three (3!) short naps and still not finish crossing that bridge!)
Conference participants were housed in the beautiful Dream Tower of Kyong Gi University. I was so impressed by the key card we were given: it let us through security to the stairs and elevators, was a key to our room, and activated the power for the room when we slid it into the slot by the door. So efficient! My roommate, Alyssa Donovan, a high school senior from Maine and a TEACHER at her Korean language program, and I settled in and found out that we both had the same yellow “Of course, it’s the carrot!” bag (당근이지 tang geun ee jee) from my friend’s online shop, www.okitokki.com. Each day was filled with events and tours, led by our beautiful and patient team leaders, Sunyoung Kim and Yujin Kim!
Day One seemed like a week in itself! We started with the Opening Ceremony at the National Museum in Seoul in the morning (attended by the First Lady of Korea as well as the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports!), then enjoyed a modern take on my favorite bibimbap at the restaurant there, had a guided tour of the historical exhibits on the first floor and then of the Buddhist sculptures on the top floor.
After that, we got on the tour buses (three for our huge group) to go to Gyeongbok Palace.
I couldn’t believe I was actually there – not only amidst the history going back to King Taejo in 1394, but also because of my own emotional connection. How many historical dramas – sa geuk --had I seen that took place there? It looked just like the place where the crown princess – or so we thought – drowned in the reflecting ponds in the past-present fantasy Rooftop Prince. I didn’t feel guilty at all that my connection to the 5,000 years of Korean history was made by crawling through the window of Korean dramas. (At first I’d just peeked in, but Kim Sun-ah of My Lovely Samsoon and Bae Yong-joon of Winter Sonata invited me in a long time ago, and I’ve been addicted ever since!) After our visit to Gyeongbok Palace, we strolled down Sejongno to the immense statue of the Great King Sejong. In every photo with our new friends from all over the world, King Sejong’s hands raised to bless us in our studies and cultural experiences in the Land of Morning Calm.
Juifong, Great King Sejong, and me
A formal dinner with an awesome musical performance took place before we were taken back to our dorm to sleep and rise to a very busy morning, which started with a American-Korean fusion breakfast at the breakfast buffet in the Foodteria of our Dream Tower.
If you can imagine, each day was as jam-packed as the first with the sights and sounds of Korea right there! One of the highlights was when we visited Hwaseong Haenggung , where Dae Jang Geum was filmed. One of the KBS photographers that was traveling around with our group asked me what I thought, and to my surprise, I started crying. I tried to explain in my limited Korean that I couldn’t believe I was actually there, walking through the places that I had come to love so much as I watched Dae Jang Geum.
The program also included a two-day side trip to Jeon Ju, where we visited the palace, stayed at a guest house and slept on the floor, saw traditional Hanok architecture, and visited the cultural center for special classes in cooking bibimbap (yum!) and made hanji fans - much needed!
Hanok Rooftops in Jeon Ju
However, it was the intense experience of participating in one of the five Korean cultural groups – traditional Korean dance, K-pop, drama, Tae kwon do, and Samulnori – that helped all the participants bond and truly appreciate the amount of training, technique and passion that goes into developing skills in these expressions of Korean culture. I was in the Samulnori group and raised my hand for the Buk. I was surprised to find out that I would be playing the big barrel drum. I told everyone that maybe it seemed easier than the other instruments, the Changgo (hour glass drum), Kkweng guari (small gong), and Jing (large gong), but so much technique was still involved that it was a real challenge.
Our three Samulnori instructors were world-class, as were the instructors for the other cultural groups. Choi Chan-qyun sonsaeng nim tried to teach me, but I was a nappun haksaeng (bad student)!
He limply hit the drum and made a face; then he did it right, and it sounded so different! I pounded out the rhythms enthusiastically and suddenly, I loved my Buk – and Samulnori! The teacher tied the drum on me so that I could carry it as we ran into our spiral and then out to our positions. Doreen Lee, from China, and I were the two Buk players, and we started the group with “Tong! Tong! (pause) Tong! Tong! (pause) Tong! Tong! Tong! Tong!”
One of the five honorable judges was Mr. Kim Duk Su, who had actually created Samulnori as a performance art, transforming it from the traditional farmer processionals it had always been. Our Samulnori “Dream Team” came in second – after Tae kwon do. We took lots of group photos with our teachers and with Mr. Kim Duk Su, photos that are now posted on all our Facebook pages! My꿈, my dream, really came true! Now I miss Korea, I miss my Buk, I miss my new friends from all over the world. However, I’m so thankful that I had this unforgettable and amazing trip! My new dream is to go back to Korea! In the meantime, I will keep studying and hope to actually become an excellent Korean language learner! Fighting!
Samulnori "Dream Team" with honorable judge Kim Duk Su
Monday, May 7, 2012
LA Asian Pacific Film Festival Starts Thursday, May 10!
This year's LA Asian Pacific Film Festival
starts this Thursday, May 10, running through May 20. Our group, the Hallyu Surfers, is a community co-sponsor of the Korean film, "Secrets, Objects," which will screen this Saturday at 7:15pm at CGV Cinemas on 6th Street (north of Wilshire). More information about the film festival can be found at http://asianfilmfestla.org/2012/.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Korean Music Festival 10 @ the Hollywood Bowl 4/28/2012
From our bird's eye view, I just captured some video of the crowd and the music -- even though this doesn't show the performers, this does show the fans' love for them!! This is another Flip "Magic Movie." I will try to edit some of the video with more of the songs. Better yet, I'll search other people's videos of the event and share them here! I loved Lena Park, MBlaq, Bobby Kim, g.o.d., and Brown-Eyed Girls!! Lots of slow ballads this year -- not the energy of previous KMFs, but still great! So glad I went! My son and his girlfriend went, too! And about 25 people attended our pre-concert potluck picnic! So much fun!!!!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Have to Share This -- Enjoy Rooftop Prince on DramaFever!
Sharing from DramaFever to the blog just means this link and brief statement:
Enjoy Rooftop Prince on DramaFever!: Watch Free on DramaFever! NEW SERIES! EPISODE 2 ADDED! A Joseon era Prince travels to modern-day Korea in order to solve the mystery of his Princess's death.
I had to share since I am eagerly awaiting Episode 3!
Enjoy Rooftop Prince on DramaFever!: Watch Free on DramaFever! NEW SERIES! EPISODE 2 ADDED! A Joseon era Prince travels to modern-day Korea in order to solve the mystery of his Princess's death.
I had to share since I am eagerly awaiting Episode 3!
Korean Dramas: On the Road to Understanding Sticky "Cheong"
What follows is my essay for the essay competition in the Korean language classes at KCCLA's King Sejong Institute. I did it wrong, starting out in English rather than Korean, so I owe my language partner, Won Tack Kim a huge debt of gratitude for working with me so closely to translate these thoughts! She is awesome! Gamsahamnida, WonTack ssi!
Korean Dramas: On the Road to Understanding Sticky “Cheong”
The first Korean drama I watched was “My Lovely Samsoon.” I found “my” Samsoon by accident on a hot summer night and was totally delighted by her humor, her foul language, and her passionate connection to both love and pastries. She amazed me! However, she and her family and friends and love relationships also confused me. Why was she worried about being 30? Why was a younger guy such an issue? Why did her boyfriend’s mother have such control over him and, thus, her? Why did her sister fear going home a divorced woman?
The plot, the wonderful acting, and this desire to find answers to my many questions kept me watching, addicted to this “virtual” Korea that I had found a way to sneak into. Other dramas that I watched – and there have been many in the last five to six years!! – offered other windows through which I could crawl and catch a glimpse of Korean culture and family life. As a good friend of mine from Korea explained, I have begun to understand the Korean connectedness, “cheong,” that underlies those family relationships. In fact, it is not just a connectedness but a “sticky connectedness – kkeun kkeun han cheong” that I’d begun to experience. It’s that sticky connectedness that draws people together in deep bonds that might be a little beyond an American’s comfort zone.
There used to be a shout-out about family values in American television. I think that recently that has given way to reality shows and crazy competitions. However, I still think that the family values mixed into American television is like a thin layer of frosting smeared on a cupcake of a appeasement for the more conservative viewers. Most Americans understand that the bite-size morsels of life that 30-minute sitcoms offer can add in only a few images of so-called family values. On the contrary, Korean dramas of 60 to 90 minutes per episode and sixteen to over fifty episodes per series provide a much better opportunity to delve into characters’ lives, their relationships, and their conflicts, and to create, finally, after many, many hours of story-telling, a resolution, that maybe was not a neatly tied up Hollywood happy ending, but was still satisfying and often thought-provoking.
As I’ve watched more and more Korean dramas, week-end and daily family dramas, historical dramas and historical fusion, romantic comedies, and action thrillers, the story lines and characters have almost always captured me and smeared me with a wonderful, tasty coating of sticky, sticky cheong. This addiction to Korean dramas that I have experienced really has changed my life and my approach to relationships and conflicts. Just like a classic novel that touches your heart and enriches your life, Korean dramas have broadened not only my understanding of the world at large, but also my own personal world.
Now I know that love isn’t just the American-style rush to pleasure but is built up and reconsidered in terms of what one has to offer the loved one. However, the sticky cheong is in conflict with the individualism that is the Americans’ view on the world. I’m sure Koreans also wonder, “What’s in it for me?” However, there are other connections that need care and monitoring. The focus is on the garden, not on one particular plant.
In the years that I’ve been watching Korean dramas, especially family dramas, I’ve noted exciting changes: plots revolve around some different conflicts related to HIV, homosexuality, single parenting, adoption, and divorce. Women’s lives are also being re-examined in many dramas – women of every age take time to reconsider their choices and those family relationships that require so much hard work and sacrifice, sometimes even leaving the family, like in “Mom’s Dead Upset.” Just like American TV, however, just because certain issues are brought up within the context of a program doesn’t mean that the issue is resolved in the society at large. Yet, what I thought might be taboo topics are treated with warmth and respect in the Korean dramas I’ve seen, giving viewers a way to think about those issues and still maintain that sticky connectedness.
My Korean friend said that some things in the dramas are changing and thus are surprising to her and other Koreans, but that sticky connectedness has just gone a little deeper. I know it’s still there – I can feel it, and it still provides a strong foundation on which the relationships can grow. Maybe that’s why every American I’ve told about Korean dramas and actually watches them does become addicted. That sticky connectedness appeals at a deeper level, beyond a Cinderella story, beyond cultural differences.
I know I still don’t understand sticky cheong completely, but I’m more comfortable with and appreciate the issues that arise within families and loving relationships in Korean dramas. I am also more comfortable with the more realistic ambiguous ending that allows for some things to work out in the end, but not everything. Life is like that – not everything works out the way we’d like it to and not every situation is perfectly resolved at the same time. So, thanks to Korean dramas I’m learning to go deeper, be more patient and enjoy some of that sticky, sticky connectedness.
Korean Dramas: On the Road to Understanding Sticky “Cheong”
The first Korean drama I watched was “My Lovely Samsoon.” I found “my” Samsoon by accident on a hot summer night and was totally delighted by her humor, her foul language, and her passionate connection to both love and pastries. She amazed me! However, she and her family and friends and love relationships also confused me. Why was she worried about being 30? Why was a younger guy such an issue? Why did her boyfriend’s mother have such control over him and, thus, her? Why did her sister fear going home a divorced woman?
The plot, the wonderful acting, and this desire to find answers to my many questions kept me watching, addicted to this “virtual” Korea that I had found a way to sneak into. Other dramas that I watched – and there have been many in the last five to six years!! – offered other windows through which I could crawl and catch a glimpse of Korean culture and family life. As a good friend of mine from Korea explained, I have begun to understand the Korean connectedness, “cheong,” that underlies those family relationships. In fact, it is not just a connectedness but a “sticky connectedness – kkeun kkeun han cheong” that I’d begun to experience. It’s that sticky connectedness that draws people together in deep bonds that might be a little beyond an American’s comfort zone.
There used to be a shout-out about family values in American television. I think that recently that has given way to reality shows and crazy competitions. However, I still think that the family values mixed into American television is like a thin layer of frosting smeared on a cupcake of a appeasement for the more conservative viewers. Most Americans understand that the bite-size morsels of life that 30-minute sitcoms offer can add in only a few images of so-called family values. On the contrary, Korean dramas of 60 to 90 minutes per episode and sixteen to over fifty episodes per series provide a much better opportunity to delve into characters’ lives, their relationships, and their conflicts, and to create, finally, after many, many hours of story-telling, a resolution, that maybe was not a neatly tied up Hollywood happy ending, but was still satisfying and often thought-provoking.
As I’ve watched more and more Korean dramas, week-end and daily family dramas, historical dramas and historical fusion, romantic comedies, and action thrillers, the story lines and characters have almost always captured me and smeared me with a wonderful, tasty coating of sticky, sticky cheong. This addiction to Korean dramas that I have experienced really has changed my life and my approach to relationships and conflicts. Just like a classic novel that touches your heart and enriches your life, Korean dramas have broadened not only my understanding of the world at large, but also my own personal world.
Now I know that love isn’t just the American-style rush to pleasure but is built up and reconsidered in terms of what one has to offer the loved one. However, the sticky cheong is in conflict with the individualism that is the Americans’ view on the world. I’m sure Koreans also wonder, “What’s in it for me?” However, there are other connections that need care and monitoring. The focus is on the garden, not on one particular plant.
In the years that I’ve been watching Korean dramas, especially family dramas, I’ve noted exciting changes: plots revolve around some different conflicts related to HIV, homosexuality, single parenting, adoption, and divorce. Women’s lives are also being re-examined in many dramas – women of every age take time to reconsider their choices and those family relationships that require so much hard work and sacrifice, sometimes even leaving the family, like in “Mom’s Dead Upset.” Just like American TV, however, just because certain issues are brought up within the context of a program doesn’t mean that the issue is resolved in the society at large. Yet, what I thought might be taboo topics are treated with warmth and respect in the Korean dramas I’ve seen, giving viewers a way to think about those issues and still maintain that sticky connectedness.
My Korean friend said that some things in the dramas are changing and thus are surprising to her and other Koreans, but that sticky connectedness has just gone a little deeper. I know it’s still there – I can feel it, and it still provides a strong foundation on which the relationships can grow. Maybe that’s why every American I’ve told about Korean dramas and actually watches them does become addicted. That sticky connectedness appeals at a deeper level, beyond a Cinderella story, beyond cultural differences.
I know I still don’t understand sticky cheong completely, but I’m more comfortable with and appreciate the issues that arise within families and loving relationships in Korean dramas. I am also more comfortable with the more realistic ambiguous ending that allows for some things to work out in the end, but not everything. Life is like that – not everything works out the way we’d like it to and not every situation is perfectly resolved at the same time. So, thanks to Korean dramas I’m learning to go deeper, be more patient and enjoy some of that sticky, sticky connectedness.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tickets Go on Sale @ 10am this Saturday, Jan. 21, for the 10th LA Korean Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
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