Have you heard about "Song Pyun"?

Song –Pyun, which is a Korean traditional food that is made by rice dough and some fillings of it, gives us unique pleasure every year. In Korea, Whole family gather to a house to celebrate the Full Moon day. When they gather, while men talk about each other’s lives, women sit around dining room to make Song-Pyun. And then, a competition starts. Traditionally, Korean women have thought that the unmarried lady who makes beautiful Song-Pyun would get marred a person from good house. Every young lady tries to make her Song-Pyun unique and beautiful. Sometimes an old lady gives some advice to the young competitors, and the other stop her doing so for fair compe tition. After they finish cooking Song-Pyun, the men come up to the dining room, who are the judges of this competition. Before eating Song-Pyun, they choose the most beautiful Song-Pyun, and the lady who made the Song-Pyun became the winner. Every people including the other competitors congratulate the winner and enjoy the food with conversation. To them, making Song-Pyun and eat it are also a serious of feast.

What I Discovered on Columbus Day

Last Monday was Columbus Day. This holiday is celebrated in The United States and related territories to remember Columbus, who discovered the America Continent. That day was my first time experiencing Columbus Day. Unfortunately, however, there weren’t any celebration here, on Saipn. This holiday meant merely a day off here, so I was extremely disappointed. Even worse, it started to rain, so I had stay at home all day long.
And then, my sister and I tried to find something interesting. Actually, my sister is my best friend here, so sometimes we used to make surprising events for us and for some people around us. But, this time it didn't work. We ate breakfast and just helped my mother. While my sister helps mother to do laundry, I was washing the dishes. At that time, our mischief was active. Finally, we found our enjoyment. We all had water nearby. My sister splashed the water over me without declaration of war, and I responded to her in same way. Then, our fighting started officially. We splshed water to all the dining room and living room while we are enjoying. Whenever we play, we always became children, and we ourselves enjoyed being like that. However, this play brought out somehow severe problem. When I used a big bowl filled with water to dominate her, she began to weep with water on her whole body. That very moment, I realize that I went to much, But it was too late.
From that on, the real silent war continue this day. She don't say anything to me except "Thank you" after pickup, and it made me more irritated. Whenever we play severely, my father used to say that "A Small prank can cause a murder", but I didn't care about that. However, now, I fully agree with that. This is my gain on Columbus Day. While Columbus discovers the America continent, I discovered that play must be a play and nothing more that that.

The Definiton of Love

Many dictionaries define love in different way, and many people have their own definitions about love. It is fundamentally due to the differences of personal experience about love. According to their experiences, someone says “Love is something like illness”, while the other says “Love is what we live for” or “Love is the best beautiful thing.” However, there is more important factor to define Love. The meaning of love varies depend on the objects of love. If someone says that he loves his family or friends, at this time, ‘love’ means deep affection. On the other hand, when the opposite sex is the object of love, love implies more than affection, and it includes desires to be with him or her and to have sexual relationship with the other.
Finally, animals and hobbies can be the object of love. At this time, love means the strong feeling of enjoyment that they give you. Although we have divided the meaning of love, it is still insufficient. Perhaps, there will be no one who can defines the meaning of love perfectly.

Tae-Kwon-Do

According to The Oxford dictionary definition Tae-Kwon-Do is a “Korean system of fighting without weapons”, but this definition is insufficient. Tae-Kwon-Do is not only a fighting system but also a exciting sport. Many people enjoy Tae-Kwon-Do because of many merits it gives. Most of all, Tae-Kwon-Do is good for mind control, and it requires courtesy in both exercise and competition. That’s why many parents send their children to the Tae-Kwon-Do gym. In addition, Tae-Kwon-Do player have to do stretching before the training, and it really helps them to keep their health. Finally, It is a interesting sport actually one of the Olympic games so that it offers dynamic and exciting views to the spectators. Although it is true that Tae-Kwon-Do is a system of fighting, it is really more than that.

A Great Tourist Destination

One of the best places to visit in the pacific region is Saipan. First of all, it has extremely terrific beaches. You can do a sea-bathing on a beautiful beach and tet suntan while you enjoy the fantastic scenes. Furthermore, there are also good beaches for fishing and scuba diveng, so many lover of fishing and scuba diving are gathering to Saipan.
Second, Saipan has many historic places. During the World War, ther were lots of battle between the Japanese Army and the Allied Forces, so you can see many traces of war all over the island. For example, you can see the old and rusty tanks in many places, even in the sea-water. You also can visit American Memorial Park, Sucied Cliff and The Last Command, which have its own bistoric meaning.
Finally, Saipan is famouse for its tropical fruits. There are many kinds of tropical fruits, from famous fruints such as mango, papaya and coconut to the nameless fruits. Tourist can easily taste these fruits in a restaurant or in a shop, and thiis offers them unique tropical flavor.
Although it is small and remote from continents, Saipan is still attracting many tourists with its various merits.

Living Legend, Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is remembered as the best athletic hero by many people. Actually, he was the best boxer of his times, and he was, also, a black activist who insisted upon liberty and equality for every people including blacks people.
Muhammad Ali was born in an African-American household in Louisvill in 1942, and his original name was Cassius Clay. When he was young, he was very strong but somewhat quiet and reserved. As he started learning boxing, he became a high-spirited and hard-working. As his coach mentioned later, He used to go to gym earlier than any other trainee, and was the last to leave. Being diligent, he could master many skills in short time. Furthermore, He was quick and smart, and dominant his opponents in the ring.
His first appearance on the stage was in 1960 Roman Olympics. He participated in the light-heavy division, and won the gold medal. Three years later, he transferred to pro-boxing and became the heavy division champion. At that time, he entered the Muslim community and change his name in accordance with Muslim tradition. From that on, he has been called as 'Muhammad Ali'.
He defended his title for seven straight matches. Although he lost his champion belt two times, he recovered it at once. In most of his matches, he made the defiant knock-down. He was so powerful that many heavy-division boxers changed their division to keep from him. Someone who watched his matches described him as following phrase, and it became his symbol; "Flying like a butterfly, (he) stings like a bee."
He was, also, a black human-right activist. He protested against the discrimination toward the black people, and insisted on the importance of liberty and equality. As fighting with his opponents in the ring, he fought against prejudice at the same time. Through this, He became more famous even to the anti-boxing people.
For almost twenty years, he won 56 matches of 61.(Most of the matches were by K.O.) In most of his fights, he showed terrific drama, and it gave many spectators extremely pleasure. However, people felt sorry when he got Parkinson's disease due to repeated brain shock. When he had to retire, many people were heartbroken.
After being forgotten for a long time, he reappeared in 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was the last flame-bearer in opening show, and his trembling arms and legs revealed the extent of his suffering from the disease. However, many people could read his diligence and persistence on his face. That's the very reason many people respect him as a hero. He is really a living legend!

My Best Friend

I have a friend, and whenever I think of him, it makes me smile. I met him in my high school class in the first grade. In the beginning, it seemed that there were many differences between us. He usually used to read scientific magazines alone while I was enjoying playing soccer with my classmates. When he was taking photos as a member of photo club, I was singing as a school choir club member. He liked to study math and science, whereas I liked to study English and literature. Even, Our religions were totally different. I was a faithful Christian, and he was a devoted Buddhist. So we didn’t have chance to share common issues.

One day, we realized that we were living in adjacent towns, and it brought us great change. At first, we just began a car pool for mutual convenience. While my sister and his mother were driving in turn, we had to talk about something on the way to school. A few days later I realized that he was very interesting and good-tempered. On the contrary to my expectation, we fell into the charming of each other's immediately. From then on, our strong and never-ending friendship began.

Later, we were peas and carrots. We studied together, played together and went anywhere together. He taught me math and science, and I helped him study English and literature. We were teachers to each other and, students at the same time. We hung around hills and lakes taking photos. We watched many movies together and discussed them. Most of all, we were each other's counselors. Whenever we were tired of studying, we ran to the each other. Then, we used to talk about each other's dreams and hopes, and it became our momentum to keep on our studying. This continued even after being split by arrangement of classes over and over again.

After graduating from high school, we entered same University. It might not be difficult for you to guess what became our majors. His major was Education of Math while my major was English Language and Literature. Now, we grew up and we got freedom. From then on, we talked about respective girlfriends, travels to abroad, military service, respective studying. He met a girl in his photo circle, and I followed him. We traveled many cities of China together, and experienced various people and culture. He served as KATUSA(Korean Augmentation To the United States Army) for more than two years, and this time, I couldn’t follow him because I got exemption. As learning and experiencing many things together like that, we gradually became best friends to each other.

His dream is to be a prominent mathematician, and I want to be a good missionary. Now, he is studying math in University of Hawaii as an exchange student. I am studying English here in Saipan, and helping my parents' ministry. We are still contacting through E-mail and telephone, and encouraging each other. I plan to visit Hawaii to see him next spring. Maybe, we will talk about many things which we went through all the night. I am already looking forward to that day. Seong-whan, my best friend, my heart is flying to you!