<How to soar in the sky> <How to soar in the sky> It was Saturday morning. A salary man, who has worked for a company several dozens of years but not soared, was having a breakfast with his family. The salaryman who was the oldest said chewing food in his mouth. "In fact, I can soar to the sky. When I dream, I soar in the sky. I dreamed that dream a lot of times and how I can fly was always the same." Then, the youngest person in the family asked. "How do you soar?" "I chant a spell." "What spell?" "I chant 'Mabasaha" and my body soars, and if I crawl in the sky then I proceed." "Oh, really? I can soar when I yawn in my dream." Then, the second oldest person of the family, who was working at kitchen sink. "Really? I can soar if I breaststrok like a frong. I poise like a frong and jump strongly to the air, then I soar..." The two at the table shouted. "Oh ye? do you breaststroke?" The second olest and the master of breast stroking said. "By the way, each of us has their own way." The oldest and the youngest kept eating. As a matter of fact, the have never talked to each other about how to fly. but each of them was dreaming of how to fly. and actually, they knew their own way to soar. The breakfast was Korean hot noodles. In order for them to fly, physical strength should come first. So, all of them devoured a bowl of noodle in an instant.

<Kung Fu Practice> <Kung Fu Practice> Kung Fu literally means study or research. In Korean, 'Do Kung Fu!' is the synonym for 'Do study!' (Actually, it is pronounced as 'Gong-Bu' in Korean language) I guess its meaning is quite similar in other chinese-writing East Asian countries like Japan. These days, Kung Fu represents various kinds of Chinese martical arts. Most Kung Fu action is composed of punching and kicking and other defese action and attacking action. In fact, practicing Kung Fu is associated with personal inspirational training. When you focus and feel each limb of your body, you can feel more about your existence and its movement. That is why some Kung Fu instructors teach their students to move slowly, so that they can feel themselves. In Asian countries, Kung Fu is not only about self-defense skill, but about a self-discipline. Most Asian people believe a repeated physical training reinforces human's mentality and helps our inspiration develops. When we practice Kung Fu, we think when to begin the motion, when to stop the action or how high my kicking reach and what my personal limitation is. Kung Fu is a really good way to develop not only physically but also mentally, spiritually.

Memory of Banana In 1970s and 1980s when I was a kid, bananas were very expensive in Korea. At the time, Korea was one of the poor countries. There was no such thing like free-trade agreement among countries as far as I know. Bananas in Korea were all imported goods. I remember it cost one dollar to buy one banana. Those days, a bowl of noodle costed 50 cents or so (500 Korean Won) I had seldom eaten banana as a kid. Taking a bite of banana was as costly as having lunch outside. Sometimes bananas remind me of how I used them to make fun of my brother. When my mom had me call my brother playing outside with his friends, I would tell him that mom brought bananas from market. Then my brother ran home as fast as flash to take a bite of banana and finally burst into his temper to find I told a lie. It was 35 years ago. These days almost no one cherishes bananas. But I do because it is part of my childhood memory.

Freedom of Self-Defense Have you ever heard this? In order for you to preserve your life, you can use violence whenever you want. You can use any method to protect yourself. If a stronger friend harasses you, then you can use a stone or other arms. Does this sound just and right? No way! You might have used arms in lawless circumstance. You may say I will do whatever necessary to protect myself. But this freedom of self-defense is not limited by law, it enables every and each person to over-react to neighbor. Uncontrolled freedom of self-defense causes endless circulation of revenge.

Did IT revolution bring equal opportunity to everyone? New IT technologies have brought lots of benefits to people. So, most of us think new technology could improve whole human being's quality of life. In a sense, it may be right. However, I sometimes find that this convenience and efficiency might be disaster for some other people. In Korea, Uber is illegal. But we have something similar to Uber. That is Kacao Taxi. Its technological methodology seems quite similar to Uber. It connects professional taxi drivers to potential customer simultaneously. Most taxi drivers in my neighborhood know where I am and where I am headed when I call a cab by the application. I also know there are more than 62 available taxis in my neighborhood. but when I designated my destination which is 3 dollars distance, nobody answered my call. That is the shadow of IT efficiency. They know coming to my home to pick me up is not worth 3 dollars. (My home is located at the foot of mountain) In the past, information technology was not highly developed, I used to call regional taxi call center. Then they would send me a cab. (It took a time, but anyway I got a cab) I thought of an old lady (my mother's generation), who has poor eye-sight to look into a smartphone. What if she is not familiar with using taxi application on the small smartphone screen? Is this world becoming easier and more convenient for her?

Temple Stay Korea had been Buddhist country. Buddhism entered Korea almost 1,500 years ago. It came through China to Korea, through Korea to Japan. In the past, Buddhism has been one of the two fundamental theories that sustained past Korea. Those are Buddhism and Coufuciousnism. In these days, those two traditional philosophies don't have as much influence over the society as it did in the past. However, it still remains in Koreans way of thinking and way of reacting. Many foreigners in Korea tend to visit Buddhist temple in mountain. They practice 'zen' meditation with monks, eat Buddhist vegetarian food and take regular daily routine as monks do there. Doing those, they renew their heart and reflect on themselves and keep distance from busyness in city life. Temple stay is one of the good ways to experience Korean culture.