My weekend

This past weekend was very much eventful. Ran a 10 k race, had a party for my visiting friend from Sweden whom I ran the race with by the way, and participated as usual in the volunteering activity. Let's star with the race, shall we?

I like running. I did not until I joined the military. With the American soldiers, at one of the toughest unit across the nation, we trained ourselves hard. The whole company (not as in "coroprate") ran every morning according to cadences. Sometimes, I got to sing a Korean cadence then the fellow G.I.s would sing along not to mention the fellow Korean soldiers.


Any how, the race was quite the challenge. It was only 10k (aka 6 miles), and yet I rare a full course.... but just laps..the same routines every now and then. So at first it was tricky for me to figure how far I was. Of course, there were signs. After the 3k (less than 2 mile), I began to develop where I was and to realize how I needed to pace myself, which I did eventually.

My record was 51:30. For some reason, I did not look at my watch while running. Had I done it, I would have made it under 50:00. But, there is always next time.

It was my first time to take part in this sort of race. There was a great turn out; Koreans, foreigners, G.I.s, students and seniors. It was such a great feeling. A sense of accomplish that I felt at the of the race is probably what motivates people to run..run and run. I felt fine. My legs weren't sore. Instantaneously, I thought I will run another in the not too distant future. I should, then, train properly. Next time, it is going to be under 50:00. It just made the list of 2012 New Year resolution.

After the race, with Lars that is visiting town and some others from the Ajou International Summer School Program back in 2007, we partied. Seven of us gathered, did bar hopping, laughed, drank and ate. I hope Lars felt welcome. The only reason I organized this party was because I just wanted to make my friend feel home.. I know Korea is not his home. He only stayed in Korea about 2 months and it was 4 years ago. And yet, there are still 6 of us who was in the same program and we were pretty 'tight' So, why not throw a party.. have a good time, give us something to remember by..

I know for a fact that after few years, everyone will be gone. Joe is going back home for good next March. Scott will too probably Teaching is not even his major. Natalia, after her graduation next Feb, need to find a job somewhere and who knows where it is going to be. And the same things goes for Eddy. It sound very sappy, naive and most of all cliche, but we might not be able to see other for the rest of our lives. So, we see and hang out with each other when we can. It is a though that counts, after all.

Even though I was extremely tired from running.. and staying late, I was very much content at the end of the night. Hopefully, Lars will go back home with only good memories and we meet down the road somewhere sometime.

Help Your Suwon (Weekly Audit : Dec 5th 2011)

Balance : 37,360 won
Previous Balance : 8,140 won
Newly Deposited : 29,220 won (110,000 won - 80,780won)

Everyone was excited in spite of the dreadful weather. I was tired from running a 10k yesterday and haning out with friends late last night. But I was excited as well.

Yesterday, 11 people came to the activity. ELEVEN! It is an enough number of people to come up with a soccer squad, just in case you are not a big fan of soccer. Kindly, two of the regular members brought their friends along and thus it doubled the number from 5 to 11.

Considering that the weather was cold, I thought there would be more people to give food to at the station than there was last week. We purchased 60 bags and doled out 50 of them. A very decent performance it was. Luckily, I was tipped off on the items that homeless might need; any food containing Vitamin C, or soup.. or anything hot. It would be no problematic to purchase multiple number of tangerines next time but something hot.. that's tad tricky.

Moreover, because more people showed up, we gathered more money and thus more change after the activity. With that money, I would like to purchase neck-warmers that homeless can wrap around their neck to stay warm. It costs only 1,000 won per peace, it is going to be our Christmas gift from us.

I guess I need couple of weeks to garner enough money to purchase not only reflective vest for the participants, but also the neck-warmers. Also, I have been drawing some mock-ups for our logo. Will present them to the participants and ask for opinions.. and they will be branded on our vest. D-6. Until the next session.

3 / 10 / 13 / 18

1. 3 Days
: In 3 days, my friend Lars from Finland is visiting Korea. We go back to the year 2007, to be more specific, Ajou International Summer School. I was an RA at the international dorm and Lars was one of the residents. Grant it, we weren't that close. But, I have about 5 people from the program living in Korea and when an alumni is coming to town, we gather to celebrate. Even weeks before, I created a private event page where the class of AISS 07' people in Korea have been spitballing over Lars' arrival and celebrating it. Accommodation, party venue and whatnot have been discussed and all settled. I hope he arrives safe. Looking forward to it!


2. 10k Marathon
: That's right. This Saturday, I am running a 10K marathon in Seoul with some friends of mine. This is my very first time to participate in a marathon. Due to the audit prepping this and the last month, I've failed to train properly. Thankfully, I trained back in summer, so finishing the race would be no problem. The issue is the record. Last time I practiced, it was around 50mins. But I ran in this park, did 7 laps. But this race is going to be different from running the same route 7 times. My friend Jo advised to enjoy the race. That I will do. I am excited. If this went well, I might try a half marathon, next spring.

3. 13 Days
: Having taken only one day of my personal days this year, I have saved up 16 personal days. And my company has a policy to compensate monetarily for the remaining up to 8 days of personal days. Therefore, I need to used the rest 8 days (including 3 weekends) I am not certain of how I am going to use them, but I am excited :)

4. 18 Days
: As of today, I have only 18 working days left at my current job, then I am going back. Amongst those 18 days, I have a 3 day long training. Then, it will be 15 days. Only 15.. I clearly remember how excruciating it was when I first started. Extremely painful. Waking up in the morning was like I was being put on a death row. This is so not because the people I work with did not treat me bad, but because it was even then hard for me to accept the fact that I needed to spend a whole 11 months here against my will. And yet, I stayed strong. My colleagues here helped me and understood me a lot.. so much so that I will never forget these people and forget what they have shown to me. And, now it is only 18 days. Time flies, literally.

Help Your Suwon (Weekly Audit : Nov 27th 2011)

Total balance : 8,140
Previous balance : 7,010
Newly deposited : 1,130 (70,000 - 68,870)
*from the 27th Nov 2011 activity)

For the second week activity, we had a newcomer, Rachel. It is always good to see new people join the cause. Nevertheless, the performance was rather sluggish because there weren't many homeless at the station. Grant it, there were many passengers or people filtering in and out of the station.. which is why the homeless were somewhere else in order to avoid them. Out of 60 bags we prepared, only about the half was given out. In a way, it was warm so the homeless did not need to stay inside, but they could be outside, doing something. Last week was colder, ergo more homeless at the station.

Up in Seoul, the activity consisted of nothing but giving out food. But, here in Suwon, I think we can spice things up by doing something creative. It could be clothes drive, English teaching
.. or something else. I need a bit more of resources to pull it off. Might as well talk to the head of the NGO soon.

Demise of Newspaper

In the era where twitter and Facebook has become one of the most dominant methods to convey information and communicate with , it is natural to question whether newspaper is going to be able to survive the tide and continue to prevail as it has been. Personally, I believe that it is undeniable that the role that newspaper has been playing as the spearhead of Journalism will be taken by something else, e.g. and again twitter and Facebook. And it is going to change the dynamics of Journalism to a great degree.

This peace of blog is written after I watched "Page one inside the new york time" where they interviewed and filmed some staffers at New York Times while making an effort to advocate the conventional roles that newspapers have assumed.



When I lived in Manhattan about 3 years ago, I was on my way to downtown to participate in a volunteering activity. The rendezvous point was right next to New York Times building. The building, unlike many old ones in Manhattan was somewhat newly built. But according to the film, it now faces the biggest hardship that will put the company in danger. The paper has laid off people, run a pay per view online site to make ends meet. Nevertheless, the appearance of the technology-embedded mediums e.g. twitter and Facebook continues to emerge.

But, will twitter and Facebook be able to substitute New York Time or other newspapers? I hope not. Unlike newspaper that, before releasing news pieces, does fact-check, there is no monitoring or filtering in twitter and Facebook. It is not rare to see fake news running around on twitter such as deaths of celebrities. Moreover, the news conveyed through and shared by twitter and Facebook has its sources from major newspaper.

Of course, you can deliver certain information through twitter or Facebook, but it is usually the case that the information is only the tip of the iceberg. Don't you agree? Both has merits, but also has drawbacks. They are succinct. condensed. You need to squish your information into 140 characters. What is beyond the facts are likely to be omitted and thus spawn misinformation or misconception. And Facebook is no better.

I would say it is still too early to call Demise of Newspaper because there are particular roles that only newspapers can play. This, however, does not retard the speed at which newspaper becomes less valuable in the society. It needs to find a way to hybridize the conventional characteristics of paper and the new technologies. Paper on ipad,, galaxy tab.. yes, it is convenient. You can flip through pages. But is it just me that we are missing something when dealing with these state of the art gadgets? The crisp feeling... that you have after yanking the paper out of the plastic bag at the porch in the morning and reading it on the kitchen table.. and you thumb through it for fear of crumpling the paper accidentally. Twitter does not have that. Ipad can't provide it. Neither can Facebook.

Nonetheless, what we called "personal touch" is disappearing. People don't care about it anymore. And it is quite dreadful.

Help Your Suwon (Week 1)

I would be lying if I said I was not nervous. Even hours before I headed out to Suwon Station, I was slightly worried that not many people would show up. Including myself, 5 people signed up. I told the NGO that I would bring about 7 people. What was worse was it suddenly got very cold from early morning and has been extremely windy. As much as I hate winter cold spell, it is just the perfect timing. On the day to launch the very first Help Your Suwon gathering, the cold spell dominates the region.

I headed out earlier than I needed to in order to navigate the area and to make sure there is a store where we can buy food. On the way to the station, the traffic jam was rampant because a soccer game just ended. Not helping.

After scouting the adjacent area, I headed to the rendezvous point and it was 5:50pm. No one was there. I knew that my friend Amanda was running late. So I just waited. Thankfully, the people that promised to show up appeared. After a little of chitchatting and breaking the ice session, we went to the store.

Buying food was somewhat difficult. For me, I was never in charge of handling money and thus it was my first time to estimate with a limited amount of money how much food I need to purchase. But I am Asian and thus good at math. Also, we managed to have some change (about 7,000 won). When it comes to money, it is always better to have some change and to have less than we need to or what we have. Years of experience of handling people's tax has taught me well.

Afterward, we went up to the office. It was a lot better than the one in Seoul Station. haha. Everyone lined up and bagged up the food. Toward the end of the process, the guy in charge showed up and I asked him to illustrate what the organization does for homeless. Such good people they are.

Finally, it was time to get down to the business. With our hands full of the bags of food, we headed back to the station, led by one worker from the organization. He was kind enough to talk to the homeless at the station and helped up to whom we should dole out the food. As I anticipated, many homeless people gathered around us and asked for food. We prepared about 50 bags, and it only took about 10 mins to consume them all. It was fast.

As I mentioned, it was a very cold day. But it must be colder to them. At the end of the day, we all go home and have a good night sleep. But they, every night, need to find to crash.. whether it is a subway station or vacated parking lot. At the end of the day, we'd rush to a convenient store and grab bags of chips or something to drink. But sometime they don't have anything to eat. At least back in summer, the homeless up at Seoul Station had many places to crash and did not need to worry about being frozen to death. And now it is winter. As much as the Christmas lightnings were shining the station, the coldness that the homeless feel and the coldness that pedestrians on the street cast on them would be sever than ever.

Help Your Suwon (Weekly Audit : Nov 20th 2011)

The donation aggregated : 60,000 won
The amount of purchase : 52,990 won
The balance : 7,010 won