Drive-through voting in California

from http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37896

The other night, I watched some areas in California provide their residents with drive through to vote. Are you serious? Extraordinary. What can I say? Wow....what is the end for drive-through in the United States? I can't wait to see another. What could be next?

Drive-through

In Daum (http://www.daum.net), an Internet searching engine like Google in Korea, I saw a comment on something about the American. She got a sense that the American seemed to hate to get out of their cars after watching a lot of cars wait at Drive-through lines to get some services. It was funny because I had once thought in that way.

Fast foods and coffee? They are OK. I'd heard a lot about these services in the United States, which people speak to a invisible person first and move a little further to get food at a window. And I've tried them several times. I STILL end up ordering again at the window. Ugh!

But, banking service at drive through? Wait a minute! Are you serious? Is it a big deal to walk a little to get money at Bank? You know, for sure it takes less 5 minutes to do that. But why? for security? I don't know.

I have a sort of funny experience with drive through at Bank. It was in San Diego two years ago when I first saw driving through at a bank. Just in time, I needed some money when I passed by driving-through. Without second thought, I turned my car to the driving-through after I checked there was no car in line. "Good timing, even if I make a mistake, I would be safe." However, as moving closer and closer, I felt something might be wrong. Actually, what I expected was there might be a banking clerk in the window to serve us like other fast food restaurants. There was, however, only an ATM machine.
"Hello? is any body in there?" No answer. It meant I should work with this machine to get money out. OK. Cool. I can do that. But......I didn't pull my car up close enough to reach the ATM machine from my car. I tried to reach out, but it was useless. Dam* it. I could not help but get off my car to touch the buttons. While I was trying to figure out what to do, standing right in front of the machine, a car was coming up to the line. Wonderful! Time to let me look stupid again. Hey, Don't look at me that way. I know it is a drive-through where I am supposed to be in my car. You know...at first try, everyone looks foolish. OK? Anyway, I had a awful time standing out of my car at drive through.

Trucks

Imported automobiles are RARELY seen in Korea because of the limitative automobile importing policy that Korean government has controlled to protect Korean automobile companies. It, therefore, becomes an excitement to have a look over automobiles in different models, styles, and usages in the United States. While enjoying diversities, I observed an interesting thing about vehicles. That is there are a lot of pick-up trucks around here. No wonder that I felt marvelous with that, for we have a different perception about owning trucks. In Korea, trucks are just owned by people whose jobs are related to constructions or delivery. So, trucks are way less preferable amongst us. Moreover, I think our trucks are designed just for constructions with unattractive appearances, so there are not much consideration to buy them as our vehicles. On the other hand, their owning trucks does not seem to be as much directly related with their jobs as we do. Delivery charges could be one of the reasons trucks at home are more popular than in Korea where there is no delivery charge. Anyway, their pick up trucks might be for all purposes. Last year, I met one of my classmates to do our project on making lesson plan about food. When she walked toward a pick up truck to move to another place, I was a bit embarrassed. No way in Korea that a college students steers a truck to go to school.

COOL

Cool(sometims awesome)
In Korea, I'd learned that COOL is the opposite to warm. On the basis of this semantic, it is not likely to be used a lot. But, COOL is what I hear frequently. Cool, cool, and cool. People use this a lot. It looks habitual. COOL comes out spontaneously from their mouth no matter what happens. I am thinking if there is a word in Korea that works for any occasions. Hum.. I do not know.

It is like that saying COOL sounds cool. Sadly, its pronunciation isn't easy to get. I have tried to say it several times, but I sounded very awkward. Embarrassed. Better not try. Anyway, what is COOL? Why COOL? I am curious.

Piercing and Tatto

Korean still feel uncomfortable about piercing. Having our ears pierced is common to all of us regardless of gender and age, but piercing the other parts of faces is not acceptable. In Korea, almost all with pierced nose rings, tongue rings, the eye rims rings are usually celebrities or playboys(girls) who are not people in the street. On the other hand, in the United States, more ordinary students or people seem to have their faces pierced than we do.

Tatto has a negative history in Korea. As a Confusian society, Korean still think it important to save our face. Our idea is that a fine well eduacated gentleman never gets tatto for ever. Getting tattoos is like doing a silly thing or like things that lowly and humble people enjoy. However, time has changed. Korean young generation have different perspectives from thier parents'. They are more kindly to tattoo. Nevertheless, tattooing big animals like tigers on their arms and backs is not still tolerated because we consider that someone who has a big tatto on his/her back will be a disgusting gangster. Korean gangster movies have brought this idea into relief. Gangsters looking like No-Brains have all gross tattoo. Then, what do people think of getting tatoo here? Similar? or contrary? I heard years ago that almost all Americans had tattoo. Actually, with my personal observation, less than I thought have tattoo on their bodies. I might have biased information on this.

My space is a good way to make new friends?

Believe: The most beneficial advantage of using on-line program is we could meet new friends with no restriction of time and space. Though we feel like making new friends, our lives are not only much tied to time, but also we do not know even where to go to meet them. Myspace perfectly resolves these potential obstacles of making friends because it is easily accessible anytime and anywhere so it makes it easier to be connected to people. In addition, we are able to make friends by sharing thoughts and opinions over common interests through Myspace. Some Myspace (Blogs) focus on specific issues, getting people could freely exchange their ideas, and throughout this, we become more intimate friends at Myspace than anyplace.

Doubt: I do not think Myspace is a mediator of getting us to make new friends. As the reason for this, I would say just posting photos, ones’ experiences, and short feedback is not enough to be related with people for friends. To be friends, more than that are required. It looks like I am sacrificing my time (and money) at the moment when I run out to see my friends, but our freindship starts from these volunteering costs. Our friendship seems to take its shape as the time of spatially togetherness gets increasesd. As the old proverb goes, “Out of sight, out of mind.” A short feedback from an imaginary person never satisfies this requirement for building up friendship. Feedback could stimulate our curiosity at first, but most of time, the relationships built through the on-line ends up becoming faded before long. Next, it is not easy for people to trust others who we have never met before in cyber world. Some worse cases often show that lots of people are tricked on the net. Accordingly, we get hesitated to show our honest emotion. Under these reluctant situations, it is doubtful that we could make sincere friends through Myspace.

Step by step one goes a long way

I have been here for about two year and half to study English. It isn't like that other non-native speakers are trying to get it. In the TESL program, I have conceived that I would be someday a native-like speaker no matter what and when I have to say to people. Dreaming it might have been the driving force that have led me up here. Up until now, I have been watching all about my emotional changes. One day, I feel like I almost got there, and the other day there seemed no single possibility for me to reach the top of the English Mountain.


In a drepssion mood, I'd get to feel like I do not want to go on a trip anymore. This journey looks absurd. Where would be my destination stop? Will I am able to arrive at the station? Then, when?

Yesterday, I wanted someone who could give me a cheer-up so I had called my husband several times. He wasn't available. After all, I emailed him pouring a lot of emotinal issues in there. He sent a reply to me saying all journey start with but a single step. He continued to tell me not to look ahead at my far future that is still up in the air. Now is what I focus on. Just think of one step is what I am supposed to do today and keep going on that way. Sooner or later, a step and another step eventually lead me to my goal. I love and respect him so much. I could not be here now if it were not for his help.

I believe that God sent me him because God knows everything about me better any one does. I am not gonna stop due to depression. I know what to do when it comes to depression and disappointment. I get over it.

Pragmatic expressions

On Labor holiday, we went to Estes Park for one night and two days. Fresh air made us feel we were the part of nature. We had sort of B.B.Q. party at the grill outside and it was wonderful to have a sam-kyub-ssal party (what is called 3 layer portion of pork) in the wood. All wives were busy cooking rice and stew in the kitchen, while the husbands were barbecuing sam-kyub-ssal. That time, kids had much fun hanging out altogether and firing some toy-rockets up to the sky. Peace and full. Just watching my kids in excitement was more joyful than anything else. I wished my husband had been there with us. Then, everything would have been perfect.

After dinner, the wives sat at the table together getting some coffee for talks. Our topics were varying from cooking through education to English. It looked like all of us wanted to speak in English fluently, but how? That was what we have faced long time. For this, different solutions were introduced, and we all nodded to each of them that sounded plausible. It sounded like it was the most problematic that we could not express ourselves properly according to the occasions. There must be some idioms or expression about what we want to describe in some situations, but it wasn't easy to come up with right ones. Indeed, this is what all ESL learners try to get over in classes and outsides.

Some one recommended us to study books which contribute to build-up our idiomatic power as the case may be. However, I have a different ideas about that. First, idiomatic expressions were countless that it wouldn't be easy to memorize even 50% of them. Secondly, it isn't natural when non-native speakers use idiomatic expressions. Rather we'd better communicate with clear and simple utterances. Then, what have to be taught? Korean know grammar(forms) better than anyone else, but we never match the forms to the meaning to speak properly. I have experienced a lot our meanings get changed a little by the forms we put in our sentences. First that we should dig into would be mastering the pragmatic things that how to use some auxiliary verbs, tenses, and occasional aspects. I believe that this is the skeleton to form our speech well that should be accomplished first. Once this is mastered, we could move to idiomatic and phrasal expressions to make our speech rich. Last summer, I'd read the anthology about Focus on Forms, and i found that method could be workable to Koreans. Of course, I need more pedagogical approaches and examinations for which forms should be taught and which orders. It is worthy trying out, though.

Will English Immersion System succeed in Korea? - In the light of disbelief

Last winter, the Korean government introduced a policy on English Education that all English classes would advance in English, promising all students’ fluent speaking abilities after a couple of years undergoing immersion classes. In response to this, some questions arose in my mind regarding with its infeasibility and effectiveness.

First, it will be out of the question if there are not enough teachers out there to be able to teach English in English. In reality, only 50% of incumbent teachers are reported to be capable of doing it. Even all 50% of teachers saying “yes, I can” put their thoughts that it would be a pain of the neck to carry out their classes all the time only in English. In similar vein, if the policy is forced to be implemented in two years as its policy says, how could a good deal of necessary human resources are recruited or trained in such a short period? The estimated number of teachers needed is over 500,000 a year according to the Korean Education Society (2008), and this number makes everything sound infeasible.

Secondly, its effectiveness is questionable because of Korea’s unitary language system which is not friendly to use/learn English. Korea has actively expanded foreign trades with all over the countries, but still less than 5% of people are placed to work where English is spoken necessarily, and most of Korean hardly speaks in English in their lives because they do not have any necessity or chances of getting them into a situation where they should speak in English. Given this situation, the mass of people are apprehensive that the immersion classes to all schools seem to be excessive invested.

Education issue is at high stake in Korea. Most of all, concerns about English education are relatively at peak because of its determining impacts on students’ future. Accordingly, it would bring us a chaos if this policy will get started on insufficient preparation periods and deliberation. Prior to the hasty execution, what should be done first? Wouldn't it be the discussion about development of human resources?

* I made up all figures and numbers to make my essay look likely.

Waiting - Ann Beattie (Thesis)

As social beings, we are doomed to be endlessly connected with others. So often, it is not too much to say that our lives get to be helpless without those connections. It seems that we seek for some reasons to live our lives through all kinds of relationships because our self-existences are usually recognized in the light of the connections established with many as being a Mother, a Father, a son, a daughter, a friend, even a passer-by, and so on. In accordance with stable or unstable links with others, we could live on either steady lives or not. As an example, we feel relived when some hopes and positive signs are found amongst our relationships, while our times get impotent with disconnected feelings with people. Based on this, our senses are, consciously or unconsciously, alerted to find some reliable connections or links with whoever we run into our lives to make our lives in peace and confidence. Ann Beattie tries to, through Sally, a main character, describe a delicate emotional continuum of her struggling to look for some signs that HOPE is still in her relationships.

Lunch at campus

We, Koreans, go everywhere in a group, not alone. I would say we are apt to be collectivism. Being alone is what is called "Wang- tta", being alienated from my co-workers or friends. Lunch? Needless to say, eating lunch alone is something miserable /pathetic or awkward in Korea. In addition, we don't bring lunch boxes to school or work. We always go out for lunch. At lunch time, we've got to think a moment to explore nice restaurants or new opened one around our work place. Back in my college, I would hop around campus to eat lunch at the restaurant with my friends. If I have to eat alone, I would skip it rather than eat by myself.

One thing that I wondered was that much more students than I thought eat alone in the United States. What is more worse, they just eat a little snack sitting on grass/at classroom, NOT a restaurant or a cafeteria. To me, they looked pitiful. Oh my god! They are eating a potato/sun chip as their lunch. It must be embarrassing if I eat that kind of snack at lunch time at my office. Chips can't be our lunch menu at all. How about fresh vegetable? My answer would be "Huh?", not "Wow!". It might be at the Sea World in San Diego when I first saw a woman eating a carrot as a snack. I could not resist temptation of taking a picture of her. I felt like posting that picture at my blog to say to my Korean friends, "Look! She is eating carrots. How funny is that?" Carrot is one of ingredients to Korean people for cooking not one of snacks that we could eat outside without cooking.

After two year and half residence in the United States, I so often found myself adapting to new circumstance. I buy cereal bars or some individual packed vegetables for my whole week lunch. I know eating lunch at the cafeteria doesn't get my account to the balance, and it isn't bad to eat some light lunch alone at the computer lab between classes. I can't skip lunch as I did in Korea.

Losting baby teeth

Today should be recorded as a historical day for Judy. Her loosing tooth was finally pulled out at school. At a pick up line at her school, she yelled so loudly at me, getting into our van,"Mom, I got my tooth out today, and it didn't hurt at all" She was so excited, showing her little tooth box on her little palm. I knew her two lower teeth have begun to loose awhile, but I totally forgot about her teeth with school getting started. Wow! Judy! You've grown up. Way to go!

Hum..It was strange feeling. It is like I am a real mom whose girl begins to grow. I know my girl has continuously grown up little by little since being born, but I am always unaware of her growing up, and she looks same to me being together with her every time. Maybe it is a physical sign that makes me again realize she is getting big; her first crying, first truing over, first eye contacts, first words, first song, first drawing, first birthday, first day of school, etc, etc., It's been a while for me to see some sort of signs of her growing. Then, when will the next sign come and what is it?

In the United States, when it comes to a kid having a tooth pulled out, there seem to be a story with a fairy and some money in it. Once a kid has a tooth taken out, it gets to be under/by kids' pillows in bed. Later that night, a fairly visits him/her to take out his/her tooth, and gets him/her some money for the tooth. Funny! In Korea, when I was little, I was told that if I throw my tooth above the roof of our house, a magpie flies to the roof that night while I am sleeping to pick up my tooth and it will give me a new tooth. Therefore, I was seriously worried about my new tooth when I failed to get my tooth to land safely on the roof. What if a magpie could not find my tooth? I could not sleep a wink that night, being anxious about my new tooth would not come out again. Pure in heart.

To Judy, I promised her to sell her tooth to a fairy later after her Daddy will see her baby tooth this Christmas when he visits us. So, Judy keeps it in her treasure box.

To rent a mail box from post offices

The mailing services from the post office used to be a single and a significant manner to allow people to correspond to one another while ago. Later that time, as the Internet and the mobile phone services began to rapidly penetrate amongst people, the post office had lost a lot of their clients. Less and less people counted on their mailing services, and it looked the post office backed up and exaggeratedly needed to either close down or reduce their scales to make ends meet. To survive, what they brought to the market was the banking services being certainly run by the government. In my case, I had a couple of saving accounts at the post office in the past to benefit from their higher interest on a fixed deposit than others' if I remember rightly.

The United States Post Office doesn't seem to offer those banking services, then what else services do people use at the post office here? It is surely right that mailings are still their dominant ways to inform each other, but running their offices with only mailing services could not pay off. There has to be be more than that. Today, I heard from Carolyn that many people have rented mail boxes from the post offices. Wait a minute! Is that an address beginning with P.O. BOX ####? Wow! I never thought about they were mail box numbers in a post office. My guess was that business bodies or huge companies would be assigned with P.O. Box. addresses according to the law. What a silly lady!

When I showed a wondering face about why people spend money and time for that, Carolyn explained more to me. Some people might need some protections not to expose their personal information. A divorced lady, one of Carolyn's acquaintances, ought to cover her place from her Ex who had abused her in their marriage. Also, most people do not like their information being shared with unknown people. In our society, all require us to put down our address for even a tiny little thing. This is how our system is going, and we do not know who would grab our personal information for bad intentions. What a creep! For this reason, mail boxes at post offices are continuously in common use. It makes sense. Their personal secured feeling, of course, get accomplished at the expense of their a bit bothering efforts: periodically coming and going between their houses and the post offices to pick up their mails. However, it is worthy to try for those who are sort of in personal danger. A single women could be one of the candidates, I think. Those services are available at the post office and private mailing service companies as well, such as FedEx or UPS. If I go to there someday in the future, I will ask them about those services in detail.... just for fun.

Mail boxes

Having got used to our manners and practices long time, it is natural we feel unfamiliar with people, streets, houses, and whatever we run into in a foreign country. In the beginning of our life to settle down there, unexpectedly, we often get in troubles due to unawareness of their social manners. For example, we know very well how Korean mailing system runs because we have seen, heard, and experienced it quiet long time. Mailmen drop off all incoming mails or packages into the mail boxes being all together in hallway of our apartments. Besides, our mail boxes are always open that we do not have keys for them. On the other hand, all mail boxes are a bit apart from the main doors of the apartments in the United States. Putting it in another way, mail boxes for all residents are either all together in hallway like Korea or in separated spaces outside. The problems arise when mail boxes are outside, aside from our apartment buildings. My friend, a newcomer, had troubles with mailing because of his inexperience of outside mail boxes. Some mails from his kids' school should be returned because he never picked them up from his mail box a while because he wasn't thinking that his mail box was possibly outside so he never attempted to go out picking them up. This happening looks ridiculous to people who are accustomed to it, but it could be sort of a culture shock to someone.

There are somethings to be dealt with when it comes to mailing in the United States. When someone moves in, a little card from the post office is in each mail box to make sure who would be addressees for that address. After filling it in, we put it to the box to get it back to mail person. Otherwise, our mails could be returned labeled "blind". If we move out, then we'd better report our new or temporary address to the post office. We could visit near post offices, or go to the website, http://www.usps.com/ , providing the address changing service. Online service asks us to put our credit card information down to make sure our identities.

Back to school- school supplies (No. 2 pencil)

Today is first day of school for my kids. Wow! Unlike Korea starting a new academic year in March, it opens late August in the United States. Around 2 weeks before school get started, all school send a letter out to students' to notice some information like school calendar, news, school supplies, and so on. The night before first day, schools hold an open house to get teachers and parents(and kids) to meet each other. Parents usually go dropping off school supplies in their kids' classroom.




I'd like to touch on school supplies. Korean schools usually do not ask us to buy a whole year school supplies at once. Rather, we buy them as occasions demand. Interestingly, all school demanded supplies look get standardized here while Korean supplies vary in colors, sizes, and designs. Some supplies are so specific that I find it difficult to buy what are exactly said. Maybe, it isn't a big deal to native speakers and they know well about what they mean. However, I always never get some of them on the list without helps from a staff at the shop. Tricky. For example, let's talk about a pencil. It looks that they use only #2 pencils at school. We do not care what pencils you are going to use at school in Korea. It is up to preference and fondness. In addition, #2 pencils all are alike in all way regardless of where they are produced. I was confused a bit with this uniformity because I thought the supplies of the Unites States would be going to be more diversified. Besides, I went around school supply corner for a while in search of #2 pencil first. Like I said, as Korean students are rarely asked to bring specific and definite pencils to school, I thought # 2 pencil must be very special pencils to use at school. Look! It has its own number on it" But, it is just an ordinary pencil. Funny.

Here are the supply list for our kids' school (http://www.psdschools.org/schools/bennett/information/supply.aspx) :

KINDERGARTEN
1 pair scissors (small metal Fiskar type)
1 box crayons (24 ONLY)
1 box tissues (large for classroom use)
1 small school box
Back pack or book bag
12 #2 pencils
1 set colored pencils
1 set washable markers (Classic colors)
8 glue sticks (clear NOT purple)
1 bottle of glue
1 set Expo dry erase markers
1 - 2” white binder with a clear plastic sleeve
1 dry erase eraser
1 box "Easy-zipper" gallon bags
1 ream Xerox 20-lb paper


SIXTH GRADE
#2 pencils for the year
2 glue sticks
1 LARGE box tissues
Protractor & compass
1 pointed scissors
2 pens (blue or black)
5 pocket folders
1 ruler (standard/metric)
2 erasers (large)
1 box thin tipped markers
1 ream Xerox 20lb paper
Calculator (optional)
1 hand-held pencil sharpener (optional)

Mrs. Saunders' Class
looseleaf paper
5-7 thick college rule spiral notebooks
2 dry-erase low fume markers

Exotic foods

Honestly, I am not a good cook at all. The worst of it is that I used to hate cooking. What will we eat today? Making out a menu every morning caused me severe agony in Korea. Accordingly, I was a notorious cook even among my family, and began to be less confident with cooking. After living for two years in the United States, my thought about cooking has been changed a bit: making some international food is fun to try and a bunch of ingredient accessible make cooking more fun and exciting.

Cooking exotic things is fun. It is totally amusing to cook something that I've never experienced before. In addition, exotic food sounds like an expert's stuff that is assessed to need sort of high skills and techniques. Very often, however, I find it much easier to cook foreign food than Korean food.

Next, if it is difficult to get ingredient for foreign food, cooking shouldn't be attractive. I could not see myself cooking foreign stuff in Korea where ingredients sell only in certain far away area from my house. Buying or collecting rare spices looked extravagant. On the other hand, the story changes in the United States, the mixing pot of multi-nationalities. Exotic restaurants are found all over cities. It is a piece of cake to buy some spices for those exotic foods. Experiencing new spices inspires us to try it out.

Indoor football game

The American Football game was hard to understand so I was not that interested in it. Players looked running back and forth repeatedly for touchdown. Boring. Though I never dreamed of time that I would watch it in my life, it happened to us because of my son's choir performance.

One day this spring, my son said that there would be a choir performance at the budweiser event center(http://www.budweisereventscenter.com) in Loveland. We bought tickets for it in advance and headed for the center that day. My son did not tell us any detail about it. Even before getting there, we simply thought it would be a choir competition among schools. Indeed, we were of few words at home. In arriving at the center, we could feel there were something wrong. It was the indoor field for some sports to play, not for any choir competition. Later, we figured that the choir team of my son's school would sing the national anthem of the United States before getting the football game started. Anyway, we got to watch the football game in confusion. It was more fun to watch than I thought. Given a chance, I'd like to watch the football game out in the fields.

Audio books

Enhancement of children literate must be one of goals that school and parents pursue. For this, various ways and aids are provided to children at school and home. Going to the library in neighborhood has been seen as a good activity to do with kids. Like other parents, I make a rule to go to the library with my kids once a week to borrow some books or DVDs. There are lots of parents and kids at the library indeed. During summer, some reading programs that are designed to encourage kids to read books a lot are posted at front center of the library. I should have got my son signed for those programs this year. Now, I'd like to talk about audio books that are accessible with various ranges from Mystery to Fantasy novels. Are they really effective? My answer is yes.

It was no wonder that I was, at first, indifferent from audio books that were unfamiliar to me. The Bible was the only audio book I had ever had in Korea. What are they all about? What for? Who is going to listen to books instead of reading them. It seemed a nonsense to me as the way to get us used to reading books. However, I was wrong that it turned out audio books might work in some ways after having several tries for lisening to them.

Of late, after I heard that audio books were good to let kids get interested in books, I have begun to take a close look at audio books. At first, we have tried out easy-levels, and found it very fun and interesting to listen to them. Words that we heard are memorable and retained possibly longer. Furthermore, a while ago, it happened that I found an extraordinary device. It was an audio book, but not in CD or Tape recorded. Curiously enough, it looked like a small box with pictures on it. Tapping two to three times on it, I tried to figure out what it was. It was definitely an audio book of Narnia. Holy cow! A specialized audio book in the form of a little box? Incredible! I think I could carry it anywhere even while I am working out outside. Portable and convenient. I will be a devotee of trying audio book for improvement of English.

What did I do for the last two years?

I have Cyworld account (www.cyworld.co.kr) in Korea where I could be interactive with only approved people, sharing pictures and comments on them. I had done it for about a year in San Diego in order not to forget genuine feeling and the moment. Not many, but a couple of friends sometimes used to visit my site and left funny or hilarious comments that made me laugh. It sounded good to have friends connected each other, but the problems was it took much time and sometimes high degree of irritation. I don't know why I failed to get my pictures uploaded there many times, and for this reason, I had to stay up late until it was done right. Holy crack!! I felt like tear my hair when flop signs pop up. I hope they are now technically improved enough not to get rid of innocent users.

Yesterday, I went to my Cyworld after two years vacuum. It was not because I wanted to get it started over again, but because I had to search for one of my friends who was supposed to have her own Cyworld. Or worse, I could not even remember my password so I had to email the supporting team to get a new password. Anyway, I found and reached her.

Before logging out, I was able to take a bit time to look at my Cyworld. All in there looked being stopped at a certain point of time. It has been there being left without maintenance for almost a year and half. Time at my cyworld has been suspended a while. There is nothing but long ago past life in San Diego. All of a sudden, a question came into my mind. "Where is my last two years?" "What have I done up until now?" I felt the emptiness of life. All I have done is just dig into reading books at the library. I was like chased by the deadline or the due of the projects. It gave me an idea how I have lived my life. It seems that I need slow down and relax and enjoy time in the United States. Get away all stress! Let me take a deep breath.

Pictures of Judy

Here are some pictures of my treasure, Judy.

She is so hyperactive that she never stops screaming and talking. Even alone at her room, she plays house by herself. To be by a hyperactive child, I've got to be as much active as Judy is to keep up with her. The fact is that I am a kind of stationary, so it is stressful to satisfy her energy.