[EN] Gwangju News April 2018 #194

Gwangju and South Jeolla International Magazine I April 2018 #194 I The First Beeswax Candlemakers in Korea’s Modern Age

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From the Editor

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April 2018, Issue No. 194 Published: April 1, 2018

Cover Photo: Bin Do-rim and Lee Young-hee, Damyang’s Beeswax Candlemakers.

Related story on page 9.

Photographed by Lorryn Smit

THE EDITORIAL TEAM Publisher Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Chief Proofreader Layout Editor Photo Editor Online Editor Creative Advisor Copy Editors

Dr. Shin Gyonggu Dr. David E. Shaffer Wilson Melbostad Isaiah Winters Karina Prananto Lorryn Smit Karina Prananto Joe Wabe Joseph Nunez, Gabrielle Nygaard

The Gwangju News is the first public English monthly magazine in Korea, first published in 2001. Each monthly issue covers local and regional issues, with a focus on the roles and activities of the international residents and local English-speaking communities.

Copyright by Gwangju International Center. All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by this copyright may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the written consent of the publisher.

Registration No. 광주광역시 라. 00145 (ISSN 2093-5315) Registration Date: February 22, 2010 Printed by Logos Color 로고스칼라 (+82)-62-672-2566 GwangjuNews

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GwangjuNewsGIC

For volunteering and article submission inquiries, please contact the Editor at: gwangjunews@gic.or.kr.

Special thanks to the City of Gwangju and all of our sponsors.

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This April issue takes you to an abandoned Gwangju hanok, the botanical gardens of Oedo, and a hidden paradise in the Philippines, and on the season’s first marathon. On this month’s menu are kebabs, vegetarian delights, craft beer, and festival food. Just as tasty are our articles on NPO community engagement, communicative teaching, poetry, photography, and book and movie reviews!

What this issue does not have is a hiccup. Last issue, we said goodbye to our two managing editors; this issue, we greet our new managing editor and chief proofreader in whose capable hands this April issue has passed through production as seamlessly as previous issues have. For this, I am delighted to thank Managing Editor Wilson Melbostad and Chief Proofreader Isaiah Winters. We are happy to have them – and the articles they write – as part of the Gwangju News!

David E. Shaffer Editor-in-Chief Gwangju News CORRECTION

The Managing Editor would like to point out some critical errors that were included in last month’s March issue of the Gwangju News. The Managing Editor included a photo in our op-ed piece “Volunteer Motivation: Why People Volunteer” that mislabeled participants at a Happy English Storybook Festival as volunteers. These individuals were not volunteers but rather members of the esteemed group “영어 독서 연구회 Dreamer.” Additionally, the Gwangju News did not receive proper permission to use this photo. The Gwangju News and its staff sincerely apologize for mislabeling the members of the “영어 독서 연구회 Dreamer” group and mistakenly using their photo. The Gwangju News would like to assure its readership that measures are being taken to ensure that such mistakes will never happen again.

April 2018

For advertising and subscription inquiries, please contact karina@gic.or.kr or 062-226-2733.

I close my eyes and see bees buzzing around those many blossoms, producing beeswax for candles. Yes! Traditional beeswax candles have had a rebirth in Jeollanam-do. Read our cover feature for the details. While thoughts of spring fill me with soft, fuzzy feelings, the springs of yesteryear were not always so accommodating. Our second feature, chronicles the cruelty of the spring of 1960. Our third feature is much more melodious: the music of Big Day South 2018.

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The Gwangju News is published by Gwangju International Center Jungang-ro 196-beon-gil 5 (Geumnam-ro 3-ga), Dong-gu, Gwangju 61475, South Korea Tel: (+82)-62-226-2733~34 Fax: (+82)-62-226-2731 Website: www.gwangjunewsgic.com E-mail: gwangjunews@gic.or.kr

hen I checked the weather forecast for the beginning of April and saw sunny icons and highs in the 20s, a warmth and joy arose to permeate my body. Mental images appeared of plum and cherry blossoms swaying in the breeze, and I could actually smell their fragrance. April is here! So is spring, and so is the April issue of the Gwangju News!

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Every Saturday, 4 p.m.

GIC 1F Lounge @GICTalk

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GICTALK

April 2018 Schedule

Gwangju International Internship Program: Making Gwangju Global Speakers: Shivam (India), Fiona (Vietnam), Tara (Pakistan) (2018 GIIP Interns)

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www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

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V-Day Gwangju 2018: Redefining Masculinity and Femininity.

From Obedience and Shame to Freedom and Belonging Speaker: Dana Han (Director, V-Day Gwangju Project) A Foreigner's Life in Korea: A Politically Incorrect Analysis Speaker: Flavio Augusto Jose (PhD. Scholar, Chonnam National University) The History and Current State of Migrant Labor in South Korea Speaker: Wilson Melbostad (Human Rights Lawyer, Organization for Migrant Legal Aid)

Have an idea about a GIC Talk? Email us at gictalk@gic.or.kr 5, Jungang-ro, 196beon-gil, Dong-gu, Gwangju｜062-226-2733｜gic.or.kr

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CONTENTS April 2018 #194

GWANGJU NEWS

GWANGJU NEWS 03. Gwangju City News 06. Upcoming Events: April 08. Gwangju Theater Schedule 52. Community Board FEATURES 09. The First Beeswax Candlemakers in Korea’s Modern Age 14. The Cruelty of Spring: Looking Back at the April 19 Student Protests in Seoul 17. Big Day South 2018: Coming to Busan COMMUNITY 20. An Interview with Ulysses’s Kebab Plus TRAVEL 23. Lost in Gwangju: Death of the Doctor’s Hanok 27. Around Korea: Oedo – Botanical Paradise in the Land of the Morning Calm 31. From Abroad: Hidden Paradise of the Philippines – Siquijor SPORTS & ACTIVITIES 34. The March First National Marathon

FOOD & DRINKS 42. Where to Eat: Decacino – Where Beer Meets Coffee 44. Kitchen Stories: In Season – Eating Vegetarian in Damyang 46. Korean Food: Small Bites of Festivities

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April 2018

ARTS & CULTURE 47. Gwangju Writes: Poetry 48. Photo Essay: “Having Fun in Neverland, Peter?”

52. Photo of the Month 54. Book Review: “A Scattering of the Faintest Stars” – Life After Life by Kate Atkinson 55. Movie Review: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Looking Back at Walt Disney’s First Film

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

EDUCATION 37. Everyday Korean: Episode 4 – University Life 38. Korea TESOL: Just What Is “Communicative” Teaching?

40. NPO Community Engagement: How an Organization Can Reach Out to the Communities It Wishes to Serve

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Gwangju City News

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

GWANGJU NEWS

Compiled by Karina Prananto Reprinted with permission from Gwangju Metropolitan City

▲ Daegu’s Seomun Market. (Photo by Adam Travis)

Let’s Travel to Daegu!

Gwangju City has introduced the “2018 Gwangju–Daegu Dalbit Tour” for those living in both cities. Initiated in 2015 and beginning in March of each year, this program seeks to initiate cultural exchanges between denizens of the two cities. To do this, Gwangju City cooperates with travel agencies in Daegu to develop tour packages to Gwangju, which Gwangju City is helping to subsidize. In return, Daegu City also provides incentives for travel agencies in Gwangju to get Gwangju citizens to travel to Daegu.

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The two cities expect to attract around 7,000 visitors to see the famous tourist attractions and taste the local foods of the two cities. A travel agency in Daegu is providing incentives for groups of 20 of its citizens to travel to Gwangju, and Gwangju is expected to do the same.

For more information on traveling to Daegu, call the Daegu City Tourism Association at 053-746-6407. Those interested in visiting Gwangju should call 062-613-3625.

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Change of Plans for Gwangju Subway Line 2

The Gwangju Metropolitan Rapid Subway is currently carrying out work on the first phase of design of Subway Line 2. The change has been approved based on input and feedback from local citizens with regards to location and environmental impact.

Construction of Gwangju Subway Line 2 will be divided into three stages with a total length of 41.9 kilometers. The first stage of 17.2 kilometers is to be completed by 2022, the second stage of 20 kilometers by 2023, and the third stage of 4.7 kilometers by 2024. ▲ Mudeung Mountain. (Photo by Gwangju City)

No-Drinking Campaign in Mudeung Mountain

Mudeung Mountain National Park has recently put into force a prohibition on consuming alcoholic beverages around the trekking area of Seoseok-dae and around cliff areas such as those at Saein-bong and Beolbip Bawi, as stated in National Park Law No. 27. Beginning in March, first offences carry a 50,000-won fine, while subsequent offences carry a 100,000-won fine.

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April 2018

Gwangju City

120 Dong-gu District Office 062-608-2114 Seo-gu District Office 062-365-4114 Nam-gu District Office 062-651-9020 Buk-gu District Office 062-510-1500 Gwangsan-gu District Office 062-960-8114 Weather Forecast 131 Criminal Report (Police) 112 Fire Rescue 119 Waterworks Failure Report 121 Power Failure Report 123 Gas Leak Accident Report 062-383-0019 Environmental Report 128

Gwangju’s Daein Night Arts Market recently held this year’s opening event. The Daein Night Market Byeoljang Project, one of the Asia Culture Center’s promotion projects, runs from 7 to 11 p.m. every Saturday from March to December.

The project has a new theme for each month. Various musical performances take place on night-market nights, while 72 citizen sellers take part in the market to present their handicraft goods.

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Useful Numbers

Gwangju Daein Night Arts Market Opens for the Year

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April 2018

Upcoming Events

GWANGJU NEWS

Information provided by the Korea National Tourism Organization

(Photo courtesy of Korea National Tourism Organization.)

(Photo by Mukhammadolim Alimov.)

Seomjingang Riverside Cherry Blossom Festival

Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival

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April 2018

섬진강변 벚꽃축제 The Seomjin Riverside Cherry Blossom Festival is held in Jukma-ri, Muncheok-myeon, Gurye-gun. Visitors can enjoy walking along the Seongjin River, which is decorated with rows of cherry trees and their blossoms.

Various events will be held, such as traditional drum performances, a paragliding contest, and face painting. * The festival period is subject to change depending on the time the cherry blossoms are to bloom. Confirm event dates by phone when planning your trip.

Date: Location: Admission: Telephone: Website:

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April 4–8, 2018.

Jukma-ri, Muncheok-myeon, Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do 전라남도 구례군 문척면 죽마리

Free 061-780-2255 http://tour.gurye.go.kr/portal/ sumriver/01/001/index.jsp

영암왕인문화축제 The Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival is held in early April when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom to commemorate the achievement of Korea’s sage, Wangin, who traveled to Japan over 1,600 years ago to spread Korean knowledge, culture, and the arts. The festival takes place in Bongseondae and Sangdaepo Historic Park.

Tourists and local residents can enjoy various events during the festival period.

Date: Location: Admission: Telephone: Website:

April 5–8, 2018 1 Guncheong-ro, Yeongam-eup, Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do 전라남도 영암군 영암읍 군청로 1

Free 061-470-2347 http://www.wangin.kr/

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(Photo by Arvin Cesar Lagda.)

(Photo courtesy of Hampyeong County.)

Sinan Tulip Festival

20th Hampyeong Butterfly Festival

신안 튤립축제 The Sinan Tulip Festival is held annually at Tulip Park and along the shore of Daegwang Beach in Sinan-gun, the tulip capital of Korea. Every year, the festival showcases up to three million tulips and presents various exciting events across the town, which was selected as the best place to grow tulips.

제 20회 함평 나비축제 The Hampyeong Butterfly Festival offers visitors the opportunity to get a closer look at ecology, in particular, the region’s butterflies. The theme of the festival is “Follow the Butterflies Through Beautiful Roads to Hampyeong.”

The festival is full of hands-on programs, exhibitions, and performances with the theme of butterflies, flowers, and insects.

April 11–22, 2018 Daegwang Beach, Imja-myeon, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do

전남 신안군 임자면 대광해수욕장 일원 신안튤립공원

Admission: Telephone: Website:

April 27 – May 7, 2018 Hampyeong Expo Park, 27 Gonjea-ro, Hampyeong-gun, Jeollanam-do 전라남도 함평군 함평읍 곤재로 27

Admission: Telephone: Website:

Adults 7,000 won, Students 5,000 won, Children & Seniors 3,000 won 061-320-1781~5 http://www.hampyeong.go.kr/2008_ hpm/hpm16/m1index.php

April 2018

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Adults 5,000 won, Students & Seniors 4,000 won, Children 3,000 won 061-240-4041~4043 http://tour.shinan.go.kr

Date: Location:

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Date: Location:

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Gwangju Theater 62 Chungjang-no 5-ga, Dong-gu, Gwangju (two blocks behind NC WAVE) TICKETS: 8,000 won CONTACT: 062-224-5858 For more information, please visit: http://cafe.naver.com/cinemagwangju * Synopses excerpted from Wikipedia, IMDb, and Hancinema

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April 2018

INTO THE NIGHT 인투 더 나잇 Genres: Documentary, Drama Director: Gal Jae-min Film Length: 95 minutes Starring: Cha Seung-woo, Park Hyun-joon, Kim Seyeong Summary: An intense leader, easy-living bassist, and low-spirited vocal wannabe dream of being a band and try their best differently. Veteran musician Seung-woo and his old colleagues Hyun-joon and Wook-no form a band called The Monotones.

MICROHABITAT 소공녀 Genres: Romance, Drama Director: Jeon Go-eun Film Length: 106 minutes Starring: Choi Deok-moon, ESom, Ahn Jae-hong Summary: A woman works as a housekeeper for very little money, and her only joys in life are whiskey and cigarettes. When cigarette prices rise, she faces a crisis because housing prices are also rising, and she can’t afford the rent. She gives up her home to hold on to her whiskey and cigarettes, and begins to stay with friends who live scattered across Seoul.

LADY BIRD 레이디 버드 Genres: Comedy, Drama Director: Greta Gerwig Film Length: 94 minutes Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts Summary: Set in Sacramento, California, in 2002, it is a coming-of-age story of a high school senior and her turbulent relationship with her mother.

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SEE YOU UP THERE 맨 오브 마스크 Genre: Drama Director: Albert Dupontel Film Length: 117 minutes Starring: Albert Dupontel, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Laurent Lafitte Summary: In November 1918, a few days before the Armistice, Edouard Péricourt saves Albert Maillard’s life. The two men have nothing in common but the war.

Lieutenant Pradelle, by ordering a senseless assault, destroys their lives while binding them as companions in misfortune. Condemned to live on the ruins of the carnage of WWI, the two attempt to survive.

A FANTASTIC WOMAN 판타스틱 우먼 Genre: Drama Director: Juan de Dios Larrain Film Length: 104 minutes Starring: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes Summary: Marina, a trans woman, is a singer and waitress. She has just moved in with her lover, Orlando.

One night, Orlando wakes up feeling very unwell. Unable to stand up, he collapses and falls down a staircase. Marina rushes him to a hospital, but Orlando dies, apparently from a brain aneurysm. Marina is viewed with suspicion both by the doctors and Orlando’s family.

LET THE SUNSHINE IN 렛 더 선샤인 인 Genre: Drama Director: Claire Denis Film Length: 95 minutes Starring: Juliette Binoche, Gérard Depardieu, Josiane Balasko Summary: Isabelle is a divorced Parisian painter searching for another shot at love, but refusing to settle for the parade of all-too-flawed men who drift in and out of her life.

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The First Beeswax Candlemakers in Korea’s Modern Age Written by Zico Mulia Photographed by Lorryn Smit

FEATURE www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

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D

o you know about beeswax candles? Maybe some of you do. I did not know about them until I decided to write about Bin Do-rim, a wellknown beeswax candlemaker in Korea, for the feature article of the Gwangju News. To give a brief background, beeswax candles have been a sophisticated means of illumination since ancient times in both Europe and Asia. In Korea, they were used in the royal court and during special ceremonies in the residences of the aristocracy.

FEATURE

To get the story on Bin, a Germanborn man with the birth name Dirk Fuendling, I along with Lorryn Smit (the Gwangju News’s own photo editor) interviewed him at his home. His home and workshop are located in the beautiful mountains of Damyang County near Gwangju. Our trip from Gwangju took almost an hour. Once inside the Damyang area, we passed a beautiful lake and enjoyed the silence of the green mountain scenery.

During the interview, Bin’s wife and work partner, Lee Young-hee, accompanied us. Our interview with them was warm and relaxing because of their hospitality and the peaceful atmosphere of their home. Here is how our conversation went.

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April 2018

Gwangju News (GN): Can you tell me about your history with Korea?

Bin: I was born in Berlin, Germany.

I came to Korea to study Korean language in Seoul for three years.

And then I went back to Germany to the first university that had a Korean studies department and finished my studies there in 1984.

In that year, I got my Ph.D. and then came back to Korea. At first, I was teaching at a university in Daegu for eight years. Then I got dragged away to the German Lee shows the process of making the candles.

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11 Foreign Service and worked at the German Embassy in Seoul for ten years. After that, we came here. We built this house a little bit earlier. I’d finished working at the embassy by the year 2000 and we resettled here in 2002.

After that, we moved our permanent residence to this place. We’ve lived in Damyang for almost 20 years.

this. I didn’t have these three years of training, so I had to learn from books and, of course, we visited some places in Germany where they make beeswax candles. They also make them in Australia, America, and in most European countries. Here in Korea, we were the first to do so in the modern era, making us famous.

GN: So you’ve been living in Korea for a long time, and now you’re a Korean citizen. Can you tell us when and why you became a Korean citizen?

Bin: I’ve been a Korean citizen since 2005. It was kind of a logical development because I’m living here and am quite settled here. And, personally, I don’t have much connection to Germany anymore, though my children are living there – but that’s it. My parents passed away.

I have no siblings and no other relatives, actually. There isn’t very much that connects me with Germany anymore.

Now I’ve been living in Korea for about 40 years, so the plan to stay here is a kind of logical development – to become a member of the society you’re living in. Now we do a lot of work in the local community. For example, I became the chairman of Cooperative Founders here in the municipality of Daedok, and I’m a member of the Citizen’s Committee. So I regularly engage in community activities.

Hundreds of years ago, everybody had beeswax candles because they were the only type of candles available. In Korean folklore and in museums in Seoul, you still can see some old candles that were used only in the royal court. These, too, were made from beeswax. Then in the 19th century, we got a product from mineral oil called paraffin. It’s the material normally used for candles today because it’s cheaper and easier to make. But it’s not good for your health because when you burn paraffin, it’s like sleeping around the rear end of a running car. So the fuel of a gasoline engine is similar to the stuff they used in paraffin candles. Beeswax doesn’t have this problem.

GN: When did you become a beeswax candlemaker?

And why a candlemaker?

Bin: We started our candle business in 2003. It was a very slow start for our business. In the beginning, it was a hobby.

We made “family candles” for friends and for ourselves after I discovered that beeswax wasn’t used in Korea at that time. And from a certain time – I don’t remember when exactly – we were able to sustain ourselves with this business. Then we increased our capacity and invested in some machinery. Some of the big changes have come from selling our product on the Internet and at shopping malls, which allows people to put in orders.

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But that’s not our main source of income; we’re actually reluctant to do it [laughs]. It’s a lot of work and takes a lot of preparation, but we do it.

GN: Do you have any beehives here?

Bin: No, we don’t keep bees. We need a lot of beeswax, so it wouldn’t make sense. From one hive you can’t even get one kilo. We use three to four tons a year. There’re a lot of bees that actually work for us [laughs]. Instead, we get our beeswax from beekeepers all over the country. They send it to us already melted down in big blocks that we have to clean further. Later, we’ll work with a national beekeeper

April 2018

It started as a hobby and, of course, it took some time to learn the necessary skills. I wasn’t trained in candlemaking.

In Germany, they have candlemaking as a craft. You learn for three years, and then you have an examination, after which you get a certificate. Here in Korea, they don’t have

GN: Do you have a class for people who want to learn candlemaking?

Bin: Yes, we do. But not on a regular basis. People come to us for lessons. In summer, for example, I do it outside.

For this to happen, we prefer a group of ten or more people. Actually, that’s kind of our minimum. Sometimes, we have 30–50 or even over 100 people. That’s a little bit of an exception, but it’s all possible. We’ve had all kinds of classes, from schools and kindergartens to, of course, adult classes. We even do classes for other places, like environmental institutions. Also, other institutions ask me to do these classes at a civil servant educational center for small- and medium-sized business associations.

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Our second biggest service customer is a Hansalim cooperative. We’re a member of the Hansalim producer’s organization. Hansalim is basically for organic foodstuffs, but they have a segment of non-food items like pottery, cosmetics, soaps, and our candles. We’re members because we make natural candles. We solely use beeswax without any additives, and the candles are made with all Korean products. Hansalim is very much concerned about using local and natural ingredients. They’re a national cooperative that’s active all over the country.

GN: Is there anything unique about the beeswax candles you make?

Bin: The beeswax candle market isn’t so big. We were the first, and we’re still the biggest and strongest in Korea.

Now we have some followers. Some people pick it up out of nowhere and some learn from us directly. But they’re all on a much smaller scale than we are. I think we’re the biggest and the oldest.

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Bin (left) and Lee (right) at their candle factory.

association.

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April 2018

GN: Besides Korea, is there any other country in your candle market?

Bin: Sometimes we’re contacted by people involved with Korean craft products in Hong Kong. They just started selling some of our candles, but I don’t know how that works. We quite recently sent Easter candles to China and America. But I have to say, it was for a Korean sister who lives in a missionary station in China and America [laughs].

GN: If you don’t mind answering, how much do you sell in a year?

Bin: I must ask my boss for that [laughs].

Lee: Two hundred million won.

Bin: Two hundred million won a year in sales, not profit.

So, that would be roughly 200,000 USD in sales per year.

In profit, it’s maybe about 40–50 percent of that amount.

GN: How many workers are there in your candle factory?

Bin: Well, we don’t have regular workers. We have two or three young students who work for us. They come to work during vacation time and on weekends. We have one additional worker, but no regular workers. If we were to really employ somebody on a regular basis, then it would be for continuous work because we’d have

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to pay quite a lot of money as nowadays in Korea wages are going up. With the minimum-wage system and all the insurance fees we’d have to pay, it could be a burden.

We’re at a difficult stage because our business is so big that we can’t do it all alone, yet it’s too small for us to have several regular employees.

“We were the first, and we’re still the biggest and strongest beeswax candlemaker in Korea.”

GN: Do you have a foreign customer base in Korea?

Bin: No, not really. Our website is basically in Korean.

It gives some information and a telephone number for English services.

Lee: It’s not our target now.

Bin: We could probably do much more in marketing. But, you know, even though we can expand our capacity, we’re already quite busy. Most of our marketing and advertising comes indirectly from the television companies that come to our place quite frequently. There are hardly any Koreans now who haven’t seen us on TV. As far as I can judge from meeting people on the street, everybody knows about us

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13 and our business. For example, quite recently we had a feature on KBS for almost an hour.

Lee: That was last September. It was almost three weeks of shooting.

Bin: They keep on broadcasting this program many times.

Obviously, they found it interesting enough to invest money in. That was a big feature that really got us into the collective memory of the TV-watching community in Korea, which is 99 percent of the population, as you know. It’s amazing. You know, this kind of documentary isn’t really something many are especially interested in Korea, but still, the people we talk to seem to recognize everything they see on TV. Now everybody knows what we’re doing, when we got married, and why [laughs]. So, after the TV shoot, we developed our own story. We have an official version.

GN: What’s your expectation for the future?

Bin: Our time is running out, as everybody’s is. But our time maybe running out faster because we’re older. So, we’re actually more in the process of slowing down. One aspect of this is to find somebody to pass the business on to because our children will definitely not live here and don’t want to do candlemaking in the middle of nowhere.

Lee: When I was their age, I never dreamed of living here.

Bin: Even me. We have two daughters and one son. Two of them are living in Germany and one’s living in Los Angeles. Our children definitely won’t come here, I’m

quite sure of it.

Lee: Maybe the last one, she isn’t married yet. Our youngest daughter, she is our adopted child.

Bin: Maybe. But our children will not coming here. I’m quite sure about it. Our son is an architect working in Berlin at a nice company now. Our youngest daughter is actually selling our soap, which we make now, too. She finished her master’s in business or marketing or finance.

I forget [laughs]. She runs a start-up in Berlin selling our candles and some other cosmetics together with friends.

They’re busy going from exhibition to exhibition showing the products and making sure they’re all in the lifestyle magazines for the ladies. All of our stuff is female-related on the customer site.

At this time, Bin showed us photo documentation of his activities with Korean communities and environmental organizations, and took us on a tour of his workshop.

THE AUTHOR

Zico is a master’s degree program student at Chonnam National University, majoring in interdisciplinary NGO studies. Hailing from Indonesia, he is also active as a human rights defender and pro-democracy activist. Zico likes reading, listening to music, sports, and traveling.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

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April 2018

Bin Dorim Honey Candles 빈도림꿀초 http://www.honeycandle.co.kr/

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The Cruelty of Spring Looking Back at the April 19 Student Protests in Seoul

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April 2018

FEATURE

Written by Wilson Melbostad Photographs courtesy of the 4.19 Revolution Documentary Heritage to the UNESCO Memory of the World

▲ “We are brothers!” Soldiers and students shouted at each other during the 4.19 Revolution.

M

ost of those residing in Gwangju know that with the onset of every spring comes discussion of the pain and horror suffered throughout the city during the May 18 Gwangju Uprising of 1980. Just muttering the number sequence o-il-pal (five-one-eight, 5.18) immediately indicates that one is referring to that very same infamous struggle for democracy between the citizens of Gwangju and the military forces of dictator Chun Doo-hwan. To learn more about this event, look no further than the coming May edition of the Gwangju News, an annual dedication issue of our magazine to those

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Gwangju citizens who fought for freedom. However, a look back at history will reveal that, in addition to May 18, another exceptionally momentous uprising took place in the malaise of the South Korean spring. Specifically, it was the April 19 student uprisings of 1960 in Seoul.

As T. S. Eliot pontificated in his timeless poem “The Wasteland,” April is indeed the cruelest month. The April 19 student revolution in Seoul, protesting then-president Rhee Syngman’s government, seemed to be no exception to such cruelty. The mass protests led to scores of civilian

2018-03-28 �� 10:15:13

15 casualties at the hands of government police and military forces. Known to many by the numerical classification sa-il-gu (four-one-nine, 4.19), the April 19 democratic uprisings ultimately led to Rhee issuing his resignation as president a mere seven days later on April 26, 1960. The protests serve as a strong reminder of how integral Korea’s younger generation was in forging the path for a better society. But what exactly took place?

In the March 1960 presidential elections, Rhee Syngman of the Liberal Party won in a landslide with 88.7 percent of the votes. Rhee had been handpicked in 1948 by the United States government as the new republic’s commander-in-chief and, with backing from Washington, was able to secure re-election in the midst of the Korean War in 1952 and again in 1956. Though at first glance Rhee had seemed to secure another victory in 1960, the lopsided results were thanks to well-chronicled actions of election fraud by Rhee and his compatriots. On election day, members of Rhee’s Liberal Party stuffed ballot boxes and removed thousands of ballots that were in support of the opposition Democratic Party. Police officers had even fired upon opposition party supporters on their way to vote, killing a total of eight people. Citizens were of course not pleased upon hearing of such fraudulence and began taking to the streets.

One such protest took place in the southeastern city of Masan. There, protestors were met with fierce opposition

as Rhee commissioned a military police crackdown to suppress the uprising. On April 11, 1960, the tortured body of Kim Chu Yol, one of the students who had participated in the Masan demonstration, was found by a local fisherman in Masan Bay. The young man appeared to have been fatally struck by police with a tear gas canister and shards of a tear gas bomb were deeply embedded in his skull. Despite efforts by Rhee to keep news of Kim’s death quiet, word quickly spread throughout the entire country, sparking what eventually became the beginning of the end for Rhee.

On April 18, Seoul National University students staged their own protest condemning the recent police brutality and demanding new elections. Rhee appealed to his remaining supporters within the Korean Anti-Communist Youth Organization to attack these students, which they did, causing numerous injuries. In response to the premeditated attack on the students, fellow students from Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Konkuk University, Chungang University, Kyunghee University, Dongguk University, and Sungkyunkwan University joined forces to organize a massive anti-government demonstration that very next day, the all-important April 19, 1960.

What started out as 30,000 students had by midday turned into over 100,000 Koreans filling the streets of Seoul, calling for new elections and the resignation of Rhee.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

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April 2018

▲ Police viciously attacked student protests.

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16 and Rhee fled to exile in Hawaii.

▲ April 19, 1960 – Students led protests to oust Rhee Syngman.

The protests started at the National Assembly building and pressed on towards the presidential residence, Cheongwadae, otherwise known as the Blue House.

It was at the Blue House that protesters were met and surrounded by scores of police officers. Though student leaders attempted to ensure law enforcement that their protest was non-violent and peaceful, police ordered the crowds to immediately disperse. As the demonstration continued, police fired round after round of tear gas into the crowds. Rhee declared a state of martial law and army reinforcements were sent in to administer a strict 7 p.m. curfew. Implementation of the curfew turned violent, and at the day’s end, government forces had killed 130 protesters and wounded or injured over 1,000.

In an attempt to protect his position and appease the growing number of those calling for his departure, Rhee forced all of his cabinet members and party members to resign on the following day, April 21. Additionally, on April 23, Rhee proposed a systematic reshuffling of the government as well as the reintroduction of the political post of premier to act as a further check on the president.

Out of desperation, Rhee announced on April 24 that he would furthermore cut all ties with the Liberal Party. All the while protests continued in the streets, and students rejected all three proposals as such motions failed to meet their demands for a completely new election. On April 25, 300 professors joined the protest and led a mass demonstration in front of the National Assembly, whereby they announced their demands, which included most importantly the removal of Rhee. After another 15 civilians were killed and over 200 injured, martial law commander General Song Yo Chan decided enough was enough and instructed his forces to finally stop firing upon the civilians.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

智山 律师事务所

After losing control of the military and facing mounting pressures to step down from both the United States government in Washington as well as from a unanimous vote within the Korean National Assembly, Rhee was effectively powerless and decided to officially resign on April 26. The resignation ultimately ended the protests,

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The democratic spring of 1960 did not last long, unfortunately. An interim government created a new constitution and new elections were held in July of 1960, whereby the opposition leader, Yun Po Sun, was elected president. Yet, General Park Chung Hee seized power in a military coup in 1961, going on to rule Korea with an iron fist for the majority of the next two decades. It should be noted, however, that the significance of the April 19 uprisings should not be forgotten. Indeed, the spirit of 4.19 (sa-il-gu) is thought of as an integral stepping stone for the aforementioned Gwangju Uprising of 1980, and ultimately for Korea’s push for democratization in 1987.

THE AUTHOR

Wilson Melbostad is an international human rights attorney hailing from San Francisco, California. Wilson has returned to Gwangju to undertake his newest project: the Organization for Migrant Legal Aid (OMLA), which operates out of the Gwangju International Center. He has also taken on the position of managing editor of the Gwangju News.

JISan LAW FIRM We Will Protect Your Rights Civil & Criminal Proceedings Divorce Proceedings Jisan Building 759 Sangmudae-ro, Seo-gu, Gwangju 광주 서구 상무대로 759 지산빌딩 Chinese/English consultation: 062-370-7799 www.jisanlawfirm.com

Illegal Overstay

WorkInjury Problems

2018-03-28 �� 10:15:16

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Big Day South 2018 Coming to Busan Written by Anastasia Traynin Photographed by Kim Hee-sung

FEATURE

Gwangju Theater Group at Barim, Big Day South Gwangju, April 30, 2016.

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On April 30, 2016, Angle brought the Big Day South Festival here to Gwangju, making ample use of the city’s Barim and Nevermind venues for a full day of performances, and culminating with an impromptu group run through the Saturday night Daein Arts Market led by well-known Seoul-based performer and activist Yamagata Tweakster.

After a one-year hiatus, the Big Day South Festival is on again, this time coming home to Busan where Brett has relocated and joined up with longtime co-organizer and dancer Cindi L’Abbe, who hails from the U.S. Pusan National University-area venues Basement, Interplay, Someday and art gallery Open, will host Big Day South

April 2018

In any case, Busan-based Angle Magazine, spearheaded

by Ireland native Philip Brett, who co-founded the project in Ulsan back in 2013, has been connecting the immense talents of local Korean and foreign musicians, theater groups, and visual artists working outside of Seoul.

Angle’s flagship event, the annual Big Day South Festival, is an audiovisual feast showcasing indie bands and

incorporating work by visual artists as well as interactive art created collectively by attendees.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

M

any people think of Seoul as the nexus of independent music and art culture in Korea, but for those living in the cities anywhere south of the capital, the biggest-kept secret is the burgeoning number of scenes in Daejeon, Busan, Daegu, and right here in Gwangju. In fact, it’s probably not a secret anymore, as Busan’s surf-rock band, Say Sue Me, has made it all the way to this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.

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18

Daegu’s Drinking Boys and Girls Choir at Club Nevermind, Big Day South Gwangju, April 30, 2016.

Festival 2018 on Saturday, April 28, starting at 10 a.m. and going late into the night with no shortage of talent on display.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

As the festival grows and develops, Brett continues to emphasize the importance of each city’s local scene.

“One of the original concepts behind the festival was celebrating local community and showcasing the creativity that is in the south. As part of that, we’ve always tried to collaborate with people from each city we visit. In Daegu, we invited Bracket Magazine and I Like Many Records. In Ulsan we worked with local arts group Moim. This time around, we’ve revisited how we define community, and we’ve asked DoIndie to invite some acts from Seoul. We’ve also joined up with Hillbilly Tattoo, who’ve created some great flash specifically with the festival in mind. The flash is available at a 50% discount, and we’re offering those who get the ink 75% off the cost of a festival ticket.”

This year’s decision to have nearly all organizers and performers based in Busan has given Brett the opportunity to create the biggest Big Day South to date.

“Personally, I’ve always found Busan shows to be more exciting than Seoul shows – the audience here gets in your face, and really interacts with shows. The festival has always been about showcasing artists of all kinds, and

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this year, we have a designated performance art stage with dance, theater, and movement arts.”

Among the many Busan and Seoul-based musicians who often play in the south, two longtime Gwangju groups – punk rock trio Dirty Rockhon and dance rock duo Windy Cat – will travel to the southeastern city to play for a diverse crowd coming from all over Korea.

Windy Cat said that regional bands outside of central Seoul often feel left out of the music scene there.

“The Big Day South Festival gives us hope that our music could be spread more widely,” said guitarist and vocalist Oh Young-seok.

Having been to Busan once for a big rock festival, this time the members of Windy Cat hope to meet people who love to see music in live clubs. They are also expecting a similar event to happen again in Gwangju.

“I have been watching and hearing about a scheduled performance like Hongdae’s Club Day in Gwangju.

Gwangju has places for live music, but it doesn’t have many chances to have unique live indie music. It would be nice to have a concert where people who are new to live indie music can play comfortably.”

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19 Dirty Rockhon leader Yang Hong-jun referred to the Big Day South Festival as a kind of “much-needed rain during a drought,” as the current state of difficulty in getting new audiences for local bands outside of Seoul makes everyone set their sights on the vibrant Hongdae indie scene.

“New encounters between bands and audiences in a live concert setting is always nothing but joyful and invigorating,” Yong said. “In Gwangju also, we’ve always hoped for more than just a one-off event, but a continuous festival like this where many people can take part and get into rock music. Despite this, Gwangju is still a bit cheap when it comes to concert culture. People don’t want to pay entrance fees and avoid the live clubs. I think we need to come up with a way to give more easy access to citizens, such as an outdoor festival.”

Looking back on Big Day South Festival 2016, where I joined a small experimental theater group, I asked some of my fellow performers to share their memories of participating in and attending the event.

“Big Day South is a day of creative and artistic flavor, flare, and fun in one place,” said South Africa native Thando Mlambo, a regular performer with the Gwangju Performance Project, director of the No Man’s Land production, and community Zumba class teacher. “There are no words to describe the diversity and how it opens you up to a world that you never thought existed in Korea.”

Fellow South African Boipelo Seswane, who performs in theater productions in both Gwangju and Seoul, gave similarly positive feedback about the variety of acts.

“I really liked how there were multiple things happening at once, and they didn’t take away from each other but allowed a kind of seamless experience inside and outside.

The change of venues was good too because I got to experience a side of Gwangju I hadn’t before. Considering it was my first time attending [a Big Day South Festival], I felt like I was getting an experience similar to a wellbalanced and layered perfume. Each note elevated the one before it for a wonderful experience and moment.”

U.S. native Jordan Mathis, also an accomplished dancer and actress, said she was happy to be celebrating her birthday during the evening performances.

“The bands that played at night were amazing. It was an awesome thing to get my friends from out of town to experience.”

For more information on Big Day South Festival 2018, visit anglekorea.co.kr.

Mlambo suggested a stronger choice of daytime venue and planning, but was impressed with the inclusion of a variety of community acts.

THE AUTHOR Anastasia (Ana) Traynin has been a contributor to the Gwangju News since 2013. She has passions for Korean social movements, alternative education, live music, languages, and writing.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

Folk singer Kwon Namu at Barim, Big Day South Gwangju, April 30, 2016.

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2018-03-28 �� 10:15:21

20 20 Local Enterpreneur

An Interview with Ulysses’s Kebab Plus

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

COMMUNITY

Written by Eden Jones Photographed by JT White and courtesy of Ulysses Suskette

Suskette in front of his restaurant.

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21

W

henever we ask expats what they miss most from home, an answer we often get is... the food! Though South Korea has rapidly developed and modernized over the years, including what it has to offer by way of imported goods, there are some foods that are still hard to come by in our fair city of Gwangju, and one of those things is good Mediterranean food! Thankfully, Kebab Plus exists. Kebab Plus is a popular hot spot within the expat community for ordering group lunches and catering for special events. We caught up with the owner, Canada native Ulysses Michael Suskette, to get the lowdown on what he has to offer and find out what has made his kebabs so irresistible.

Gwangju News (GN): Hello! Thank you for agreeing to do this interview for the April edition of the Gwangju News. First of all, we’d like to know more about your background. Where are you from?

Ulysses: I’m from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. But I have hometown roots in a small little place called Sioux Lookout, which is in Northern Ontario.

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The ordering is a little bit trickier, since I cater to all of Gwangju and it’s only myself doing all the prepping, cooking, and delivering. I request that orders be placed at least a day in advance to coordinate with my weekly orders and to figure out a delivery schedule to get my food to customers all on time. I try my best and take lastminute orders if there’s enough time.

GN: What’s your most popular item at the moment?

Ulysses: It’s a toss-up between the hummus and chicken kebabs. I think I’d vote for the kebabs though, simply because I do roughly 100 to 250 kebabs a week with my deliveries. So that leaves me little time to focus on my hummus. When I do have a free day, I’ll advertise that hummus is available and get around 50 to 100 orders for that in one day.

GN: What’s your favorite menu item? Why? Ulysses: The falafel. Why? Because it’s amazing, and I’m not being biased either! Seriously!

GN: Do you have any special plans for expanding the business in the future or adding to your menu?

April 2018

GN: When did you start your kebab business and what was the inspiration behind it? Also, how has your business grown over time?

Ulysses: Before the kebabs, I actually got started in the food industry a few years prior to moving to South Korea.

I’d apprenticed under a five-star Italian chef in Calgary for a few years. Through that I learned to take great pride and care in hand-selecting produce, and in preparing and cooking my food fresh. That’s how I got interested in Kebab Plus, particularly when the opportunity presented itself after a friend asked me to help him with his food business.

GN: What type of menu do you offer and how do orders/pickups work?

Ulysses: I like calling my food “extremely delicious Mediterranean food with a hint of Greek island taste!”

Also, by request, my menu can be made vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and halal. I make everything homemade and get fresh ingredients daily. There are exactly two things that are not homemade and fresh on my menu: the tortilla wraps and the kebab sauce (tzatziki), which has mayo in it. My vegan tzatziki is completely homemade and fresh though, FYI.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

GN: When did you originally come to South Korea and why? How long have you been in Gwangju, specifically?

Ulysses: Sometime around 2006, my wife and I were asked to try teaching English here by a friend, Dan Henrickson, who was already here and had started recruiting teachers to Korea with his first company, and then later with his new company, Teach ESL Korea. But, we were busy loving, living, and working in Calgary, so we put it in the back of our minds. Soon after, though, we found out that we were expecting a child. We then started thinking about how we could take care of our newborn because we knew that both parents would be able to take paid parental leave from work. What we didn’t know was that we could receive these payments while traveling abroad. So, a light bulb went off, and we called up Dan and got ourselves ready for working abroad. Our son was born in the first quarter of 2007, and shortly after that, our paperwork was in the works. We then left Canada in September of that year to start our adventure here in wonderful Gwangju and have never left.

Around that time, the customers were mainly English teachers looking for something different. There was zero competition in Gwangju – and in South Korea, for that matter – and definitely no one else delivering fresh kebabs and hummus to customers’ doors. Eventually, I took over my friend’s business and started up a catering service along with the lunch delivery service, and then I expanded the menu and started marketing to Koreans and other cities and towns. After that marketing campaign is when it really started to take off. I was getting swamped with orders for business functions, teachers meetings, university lunches, and even picnics. I was also starting to ship out to larger cities like Seoul, Incheon, Daegu, and Pohang, as well as to smaller cities like Mokpo, Ansan, Ulsan, and Suncheon more frequently. I couldn’t keep up with the demand. I scaled it back eventually and just focused on catering to the local foreign community for the most part. I still take out-of-town orders but have not advertised it much recently.

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www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

TRAVEL

22 22

Ulysses: Yes, I’ve since taken a managerial position at a Café near the Gwangju National University of Education, in between Punghyang-dong and Duam 3-dong, Buk-gu.

This has allowed me to expand my business by adding coffee to my menu. In saying that though, my menu has been slimmed down to only chicken kebabs and falafel kebabs, along with Mediterranean salads and falafel salads for the time being. But, I’m now offering up a Korean-flavored wrap – the Korean Wrap. There will be more additions, such as healthy soups, as I get more comfortable working as a barista as well.

GN: Are you in Gwangju permanently or do you plan to eventually return to your home country?

Ulysses: At this moment I consider myself a permanent resident. I love this city. But like life, things constantly change and new adventures must be taken. One thing is for sure, though: There are no immediate plans to return to Canada. The rat race back home is something I don’t want to be a part of just yet. I do miss my profession and family, though. But, would I give up what I have now? No. GN: What’s been the best part about running your own kebab business?

Ulysses: The best part would be the number of people I get to meet and the positive feedback I get from the awesome people who try my food.

GN: What do you do outside of making kebabs?

Ulysses: Recently, I picked up playing D&D (Dungeons and Dragons, a live role-playing game) again. LOL! I’m actually a big gamer, so when I can get free time, I like to

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nerd-out on board games, veg-out playing video games, or binge-watch movies or TV shows.

GN: Is there anything else about your business you’d like to share with the community?

Ulysses: I’d like to add that along with regular coffees such as Americano, caramel macchiato, café latte, et al., I also will be serving a “Double-Double” coffee for all the Canadians in the city! In addition, there are also vegan coffees made with homemade vegan caramel sauce and almond milk! So, if you’re vegetarian or vegan, come on over and try out the amazing coffee I have!

Well, there you have it. The ins and outs of Kebab Plus.

We don’t know about you, but our taste buds are watering!

Why not check out Kebab Plus for your next lunch meeting?

KEBAB PLUS 42-1 Gunwang-ro 46-beongil, Buk-gu, Gwangju 광주 북구 군왕로46번길 42-1

￦

Orders can be made through the Kebab Plus Facebook page: facebook.com/KebabPlusGwangju Instagram: instagram.com/kebabplusgwangju/ 4,000–8,000 won

THE AUTHOR Eden has been living in Korea since 2014 and enjoys reading, writing, snowboarding, and enchanting the locals with her violin. She is presently on a multi-month tour of Europe.

2018-03-28 �� 10:15:23

23

Death of the Doctor’s Hanok Written and photographed by Isaiah Winters

I

n the decades-long scramble to modernize, much of South Korea’s recent past has been razed with incredible haste. Today, the bulldozing of history continues unabated and can be seen regularly right here in Gwangju, where the swaths of wooden architecture that once blanketed the city have been reduced to a tiny few pockets of rot.

Among the remaining few, a personal favorite was (until very recently) situated in the north of Hwajeong-dong, just a stone’s throw from Geumho World. The hanok (traditional Korean-style house) on the property and the more contemporary hanok adaptation next door were part of a larger condemned neighborhood set to be replaced by apartment blocks.

After digging a little deeper, a panoply of intimate family photos soon emerged from the clutter. The photos, most of which dated from the early to mid-1980s, were replete with the same clearly discernable family. Most astonishingly, some of the photos had been taken all those decades ago on the very spot where I’d found them caked with dirt and glass. Knowing how seldom a find

TRAVEL

To put it bluntly, Gwangju is hemorrhaging its vintage structures.

Though gutted and ransacked, the properties maintained an indelible beauty, and a lot about their past could still be discerned from the many personal belongings strewn out front. At first, all the medical texts and equipment scattered about hinted at the homeowner’s occupation, as did a few aerial photos of Chonnam National University Hospital seen lying around. The many books written in both Japanese and English hinted at the homeowner’s age and suggested a life lived within two very different spheres of influence.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

The old hanok before being gutted.

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www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

Playing badminton together in the front yard during better times (June 1986).

Part of the family standing by the old hanok (January 1985).

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25

▲ The doctor standing in front of Chonnam National University (February 1982).

this was, I wasted no time in lining up the living past with its lifeless present.

Photos of every moment you’d expect a family to cherish were there, including a doljanchi (first birthday party), weddings, multi-generational family gatherings, and even a Christmas party during the paterfamilias’ military stint. On the back of one wedding photo was a rather tender handwritten message about how the ceremony went, including how many people attended and what kind of food was served.

From what evidence the site offered, the patriarch seemed to have been either a professor or doctor associated with Chonnam University, though it’s hard to say for sure. An associate of mine with a long history at Chonnam University couldn’t identify anyone in the photos, nor could any of his colleagues. Ergo, the family in question will have to remain an enigma for now.

Urban renewal can be an equal opportunity wrecking ball.

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April 2018

What’s more, how might the construction crew in charge of pulling down the old houses have felt? Was it a job like any other or did their hearts ache in the process? Did they approach the task like dispassionate wreckers or did they hesitate before setting to work? Sadly, Occam’s razor suggests the houses were treated no better than if they were a pair of failed convenience stores.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

Another mystery is why a family sentimental enough to take a bevy of intimate photos over many decades would leave them all behind in the end. Were the next of kin just too busy to make it in time? Did the family leave South Korea all together years before?

Or, God forbid, did the family break up over deep resentments, causing estrangement?

When overwhelmed with more questions than answers, one can’t help but surmise the worst.

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26

▲ The old hanok before being razed.

Then again, maybe it’s better for the health of the local community if most of these old structures are torn down. Many of the homes in this particular neighborhood used horribly old corrugated roofing, which is known to contain asbestos. In fact, in the alleyways outside most homes, large coffin-sized stacks of said roofing could be seen wrapped in bright yellow hazmat tarp bearing asbestos warnings in both English and Korean.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

Frankly speaking, it’s remarkable that a neighborhood so close to one of Gwangju’s major economic and transport nerve centers lingered on in such a crummy state for so long. The new apartments will certainly revivify the area, which has obviously been experiencing acute depopulation for some time.

So, the neighborhood will indeed live on – just in a modern, sanitized form atop bulldozed history.

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I have to admit that before leaving, I slipped a few of the photos into an old brochure from an event celebrating Chonnam National University Hospital’s 93rd anniversary back in 2003. The yellowed brochure sits on my desk today, though I have no idea what I’ll do with the photos inside. Perhaps I’ll keep them long enough that someone will later find them while rummaging through my belongings.

THE AUTHOR Originally from Southern California, Isaiah Winters first came to Gwangju in 2010.

He recently returned to South Korea after completing his M.A. in Eastern Europe and is currently the new chief proofreader for the Gwangju News. He enjoys writing, political science, and urban exploring.

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27

Oedo: Botanical Paradise in the Land of the Morning Calm Written and photographed by Lea Moreau

TRAVEL

The author finds an excellent spot on Oedo Island for a photograph.

Oedo (외도) is a paradise island. When you see pictures of this iconic destination, Hawaii or Monaco may come

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Also called Oedo-Botania, the island has been transformed through the years into an amazing botanical garden. Located in Hallyeo Marine National Park, I can proudly say that it’s delightful to enjoy the beautiful views of the crystal-blue South Sea while exploring this gem of nature. Here, the water is so clear and unpolluted that you’ll discover a beauty of Korea you’d never have imagined.

Oedo has the particularity of having more than 3,000 different kinds of trees and Mediterranean-style buildings that stand upon the sea. It’s also a place where you’ll be

April 2018

Most people know Jeju-do to be the holiday destination when the time comes to relax, eat delicious seafood, sunbathe on the beach, or simply enjoy an amazing sea view. But do you know about Geoje-do (거제도), Korea’s second largest island? Geoje-do is actually located only an hour away from Busan, and offers breathtaking scenery.

However, I’ll save Geoje-do for another article. Today, I’ll introduce you to its small neighboring island, Oedo!

to mind before Korea does. I’ve traveled a lot, but I can definitely say that this island has a different vibe and offers scenery I’ve never encountered before in “The Land of the Morning Calm.”

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

W

ith spring coming, everyone needs to enjoy the sunshine and have some relaxation time!

It’s a certainty that you’ll want to admire Korea’s beautiful landscape, enjoy the coming cherry blossoms, or picnic in a nearby park.

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Palm trees – iconic trees on Oedo Island.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

able to find more than 740 pieces of rare subtropical plants like cactus. The island offers the perfect combination of an exotic atmosphere along the sea with iconic landscapes.

Oedo has been nominated as one of the best tourist destinations to visit in the province of Gyeongsangnamdo by the Korea Tourism Organization. Also, if you’re a TV drama addict like me, you’ll be happy to know that one of the most famous Korean dramas, Winter Sonata, was filmed here, making this place very famous among Korean tourists and visitors from around the world, especially the Japanese. The best time to visit is in spring as in April the island is covered with thousands of flowers and the weather is perfect for taking a walk.

Now, let’s check out how to get there. From Geoje-do, you will have to go to Gujora Port and grab a ticket to OedoBotania (외도 - 보타니아). When doing so, you actually have two options. First, if you’re short on time, I recommend that you buy a ticket exclusively for Oedo. Alternatively, assuming you have more time, I really recommend that you choose the combo ticket that allows you to visit Oedo with an additional visit to Geoje Haegeumgang. Geoje Haegeumgang consists of two adjacent islands with rocky and sharp cliffs, revealing beautiful views and the hidden “Cross Cave” – a cave that has a mysterious shape visible at low tide. Your boat will go inside the cave, and it’s a real

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Panoramic view of the island Oedo-Botania.

adventure in itself!

Before you explore the island, I’d like to share its incredible story with you. In 1969, Lee Chang-ho came to the island by accident to escape from a typhoon while he was fishing. At that time, he was charmed by the island and fell in love with it immediately. Together with his wife, Lee decided to buy the island and then started to create a botanical garden. It took over 30 years to create the garden as it exists today. From an uninhabited island, they transformed it into an amazing garden, a paradise on Earth! This was only possible with Lee’s and his wife’s hard work, determination, botanical books, crazy ideas, and personal funds. Even after Lee’s death, his wife continued to take care of the garden and decided to transform the island into a tourist attraction in order to preserve her husband’s hard work.

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The author in the middle of the botanical garden.

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The author in front of the amazing sea view from the Venus Garden.

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April 2018

When I visited the island this past winter, I was lucky because my boss knew the head manager. So, my sister and I were able to get a private boat ride for free. We left in the early morning in order to arrive before the other tourists. From 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., we were able to stroll around the beautiful garden and take plenty of pictures, as it was the perfect location! I wore my hanbok and both of us struck our best poses in the middle of this enchanting paradise.

Here are my best travel tips: 1. Come during the off-season or on the first boat in the morning. This is entirely worth it! With fewer tourists, you can enjoy to the fullest the beauty of the island and take your best camera shots!

2. Know that there is no restaurant on the island, so be prepared and bring your lunch with you before going aboard.

3. The best photo zone is located near Venus Garden, where you will find multiple statues displayed. This area is reminiscent of the landscapes one might see while visiting the ruins of Ancient Greece.

4. You should also grab a cup of yuja-cha (citron tea) or coffee that you can find in the small coffee shop at the top of the island.

5. Boat trips usually offer a one-hour-and-30-minute trip to Oedo, which I found to be too short to enjoy

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the whole island. If I were to visit again, I’d love to have the choice of staying on the island for three to four hours.

In a nutshell, I’d definitely say that Oedo is the pearl of Hallyeo Maritime National Park as it’s such a unique place in Korea. Don’t miss the chance to go and explore this beautiful and historical island that’s off the beaten track. You won’t regret it!

You can follow Lea on Facebook and YouTube at Leadventure. For more information about Jeolla travel, check out Lea’s other channel at Jeolla Go. THE AUTHOR

Lea is a French travel specialist currently based in Geoje-do. She has traveled to 27 countries so far, and has also created her own YouTube channel in order to share her passion for travel and tourism, and to give useful tips and advice along the way. She won second place in the Jeollabuk-do Travel Video Contest and was recognized as an official tour trainer by the Seoul Tourism Organization. Her dream is to help promote tourism in Korea and abroad, and maybe even have her own travel show on TV.

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From Abroad

31

Hidden Paradise of the Philippines: Siquijor Written and photographed by Špela Koželj TRAVEL www.gwangjunewsgic.com

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April 2018

View from the author’s tent at 6 a.m.

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32

H

ow convenient it is to study in South Korea! I successfully finished my winter semester at the end of December at Chonnam National University and the spring semester only began last month, in March!

With so much time on my hands between semesters, I knew straight away that I would go traveling. And oh, have I traveled!

I have visited so many gorgeous places that have filled my heart. However, there was one specific place that left an even greater mark upon me. That place is called Siquijor, an island located in the central Visayas of the Philippines.

Given the title of this piece, you might wonder why I am willing to share such a majestic place with so many. This is because I know that whomever I inspire with this article will appreciate the island too, and will perhaps help keep it as beautiful and authentic as it is now.

So, after seeing the astonishing sunrise, we got on our scooters and drove up north. Unfortunately, the yoga class had been cancelled. Nonetheless, that did not prevent us from having an amazing time there. The view from the resort left me speechless! We could see half of the island from up there. What is more, I am a big fan of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and this resort had houses built to resemble the Shire! I would totally have stayed there, but I just could not give up my beach bed. Maybe I will next time because there will for sure be a next time on Siquijor.

It is always great when you start the day early. It was not even noon, but I had already felt as if I knew the island – or at least I knew its vibe. Siquijor spreads its tranquility, a very calm and alluring vibe that forces you to find peace within your body and mind. I consider it a crime to feel

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April 2018

I spent only four far-too-short days in Siquijor; however, I lived each of them so fully. The island offers a variety of activities. It is great for nature-lovers like me, and I have heard from many people that the sights of underwater life are incredible, making it good for divers as well.

Unfortunately, I do not dive – yet.

I was staying at an amazing hostel that also offered tents on the beach. Since I am a low-budget traveler, I chose a tent. This was not only because it was kind to my wallet, but also because there is no better feeling than waking up on the beach to the light of sunrise. That is actually what I did on my first day there. With some great people whom I had met at the hostel, we decided to wake up for the sunrise and drive with our scooters to see a yoga resort in the hills and practice relaxation.

View from the Kamp Aninipot Resort in the hills.

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33 After spending some quality time with the locals, we remembered what we had come for, so we asked some of the local men about the shaman. They explained to us that he is more like a healer whom people come to see whenever they feel sick or bad. They told us that he brings good luck only and his intention is to heal, not to spread dark forces.

Having become very trusting of Filipinos, we asked them if they could take us to him. The next thing we knew, one of the men was leading us even farther north to the place where the shaman lived.

“If you want, the shaman will perform a ritual on you, but only to check your wellbeing,” our new friend explained to us.

The author finds a place in the Shire!

stressed there!

The highlight of my second day on the island was definitely the local people. I and a Hungarian girl who I had traveled with for some time decided to drive up into the mountains to find the island’s shaman. You see, Siquijor is actually known as the bewitched island among many Filipinos. In the past, many of them avoided this island because they believed it attracted dark forces and negativity. Nowadays, this is more like a myth; however, some people still avoid the island altogether.

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I enjoyed Siquijor with all my heart, as any natureand people-lover would. It is not a place for everyone, admittedly. If you cannot spend your holidays without partying, this is definitely not the place for you. If you are into fancy resorts, you might find some, but not as many as in Boracay, for example. Nevertheless, if you are someone who does not need much to be happy, this is for sure a place you need to see. Happiness is intangible in Siquijor.

THE AUTHOR

Originally from Slovenia, Špela is a 22-yearold student of international business who is currently pursuing a double-degree program at Chonnam National University in Gwangju. Besides studying, Špela likes to take part in all sorts of activities, such as volunteering at dog shelters, writing, traveling around Asia, and working on different marketing projects. She is a parttime traveler and full-time lover of life who is pleased to be a part of the Gwangju News.

April 2018

This is what I love about the island so much. People are genuinely kind and good-hearted. Unlike in some other countries that only see Western tourists as sources of income, the people of the Philippines are interested in who you are, where you come from, and what your story is. I made some very good friends there and even met people who made me better as a person. Ultimately, I made connections that will last a lifetime.

After that, we drove into the sunset and enjoyed the colors and the palm trees on one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen in my life, and I have been to loads of beaches! As much as I would like to share more – I mean, I could write so much about Siquijor that it would fill the whole April edition of the Gwangju News – I need to stop now because my contribution is limited.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

I was interested in this story and determined to discover the truth (on safe terms, by all means). And so, my Hungarian friend and I explored the mountains where the shaman lives. On our way there, we happened to stop at so many different farms, houses, and family-owned restaurants that we forgot our primary purpose for visiting. We were having too much fun with the local people! They kept stopping us and inviting us in for either lunch, coconut milk, or just to sing karaoke with them.

I was really considering doing it, though I admit I was feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing. However, the vibe was right, so I tried it. It was a fun experience, even though the shaman looked nothing like I had imagined.

He was just a simple man who poured bubbles into you, which I admit sounds pretty ridiculous when put that way.

Anyhow, he checked the aura of my body and told me I was in a very good condition. In the end, I believed him, and now I plan to keep being healthy, happy, and positive as always!

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SPORTS & ACTIVITIES

34

The full-course flag off.

The March First National Marathon

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April 2018

Written and photographed by Lee Suk Pei

W

hen I had just arrived in Gwangju, the weather was still quite suitable for running, and there were a number of marathon events coming up, but I did not enroll myself in any as I had yet to adapt well to the place. After being here for more than six months, and with winter quickly passing, now is the best time to pick up one of my favorite activities again – running. I started to look for marathon events around Gwangju and found the upcoming 53rd Kwangju Ilbo 3.1 Marathon taking place on March 4, 2018. Unfortunately, having found out so late about the event and due to the short time available for training, I decided I would just go to the event as an observer to find out more about how a marathon is done here in Gwangju.

A Little Introduction to the Event The 3.1 National Marathon, which is nicknamed “The Core of the Honam Marathons,” is in its 53th edition this year.

It is mainly hosted by the Kwangju Ilbo (Gwangju Daily

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News) and the Asia Culture Center, and is jointly hosted by the Gwangju Athletics Federation and Marathon World.

In addition, it is sponsored by Gwangju City, Jeollanam-do Province, the Gwangju Regional Veterans Administration, and the Gwangju City Election Management Committee.

The event is organized every year to commemorate the March First Movement (also known as the Samil Independence Movement), which was a mass demonstration organized in Seoul on March 1, 1919, to proclaim independence from Japanese rule. According to the event website, other than commemorating the independence movement, the event also serves to deepen the meaning of democratizing efforts among civilians. The organizers also hope that the event will help participants to adopt a healthy lifestyle and enable marathon enthusiasts to celebrate their friendship. The length of the race is limited only to the full course (42.197 kilometers) and the half course (21.0975 kilometers).

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35 D-Day When it comes to outdoor running, weather matters a lot, especially in a country with four seasons. This is also why checking my weather app regularly has become a habit after coming to South Korea, as it is a matter of life and death for me. It turned out that March 4, 2018, would be a cloudy but pretty warm day at 19 degrees Celsius, which made it pretty good conditions for running. Rising early and getting prepared as if I were running in the marathon, I then took a bus and arrived at the starting point of the marathon, which was at the 5.18 Democracy Square in front of the Asia Cultural Center.

Arriving around forty-five minutes earlier than the event’s first starting time (8:30 a.m.), I managed to walk around the venue to see how the event was arranged and organized.

Many booths were set up on the site ranging from beverage booths, personal items storage booths, changing rooms, sponsors’ booths, and even a massage station! Participants were seen unloading their personal items at the storage booths, taking photos at the starting gate, and of course, warming up. I felt so excited for the participants that I almost wanted to join them on their run. Around half an hour before starting time, local VIPs were invited on stage to give a speech to welcome the participants and cheer them on for the race.

A few minutes before starting time, participants for the full course gathered at the gate and got ready for flag off. I could see from their facial expressions that they were really excited to start the race. At 8:30 a.m. sharp, the full-course participants ran past the gate marking the start of the race. Flag off for the half-course participants followed five minutes later. The venue was left empty with only booths and organizers remaining to move the booths to the end point of the course. Being a curious person, I then took the subway to the end point to follow the race. Around half an hour later, I ended up in the Sangmu area and decided to take a break while waiting for the participants to complete their race.

Finishing Checking the time again and thinking that it should be about time for participants to be arriving at the finish line, I walked to the endpoint, which was set at Sangmu Citizen’s Park. With the efficient work of the organizers, participants’ personal items had already been moved from the starting point to the personal items storage booth in Sangmu. There again were the food and snack booths for the participants, a medal booth, changing rooms, and the massaging booths, too! Participants had also already been spotted running past the finishing line one by one, with the majority of them being half-course runners, but a few of

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April 2018

The Bitgoeul Marathon Group – What a record!

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36 them were full-course participants. Some people were also seen cheering the participants at the finish line.

I was so shocked looking at the finishing times of the participants, especially for the full-course marathoners.

At two hours and forty minutes into the race, there were already three full-course runners who had completed the race! I guessed that the food and the weather really did have an effect on the participants achieving such amazing time records! Participants were seen doing some cooling down exercises, eating, and congratulating each other after completing the race. After some waiting, it was time for the awards ceremony. The event ended after the last awards had been given out.

Winners for the full-course (42.195 kilometers) men’s category: First place: Kim Bo-keon (Time: 2:30:35) Second place: Kwon Ki-hyeok (Time: 2:37:27) Third place: Park Chang-ha (Time: 2:38:42) Winners for the full-course (42.195 kilometers) women’s category: First place: Lee Jeong-suk (Time: 2:57:59) Second place: Lee Seon-yeong (Time: 2:58:30) Third place: Kwon Sun-hwi (Time: 2:59:08)

by the organizers. Potential participants need to hurry to register themselves for the race, as available spaces fill up fast. Nevertheless, the event here in Gwangju was organized pretty well, and I am sure 52 years of experience has equipped the organizers with good skills in managing the participants and the crowd. I will definitely enroll myself in the next running event and train hard for it.

Upcoming Running Events Around Gwangju March 24 = Gwangju Mudeungsan Trail Run

(20 km, 12 km) April 22 = The 15th Honam International Marathon (42 km, 21 km, 10 km, 5 km) May 12 = The 18th 5.18 Marathon (30 km, 21 km, 10 km, 5.18 km) June 9 = The 16th Gwangju Ultra-Marathon (100 km, 50.18 km) THE AUTHOR

Suk Pei is from Malaysia and is currently doing a master’s program in NGOs at Chonnam National University. She likes hiking and running, as well as eating in order to gain the required energy to continue hiking and running.

Winners for the half-course (21.0975 kilometers) men’s category: First place: Ma Seong-min (Time: 1:13:52) Second place: Lee Jae-sik (Time: 1:14:18) Third place: Jo Woo-won (Time: 1:14:22)

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April 2018

Winners for the half-course (21.0975 kilometers) women’s category: First place: Liu Seung-hwa (Time: 1:25:19) Second place: Hwang Sun-ok (Time: 1:25:51) Third place: Lee Yeon-suk (Time: 1:29:37) Some Post-Event Thoughts Comparing marathon events organized in my country, Malaysia, our flag-off times are pretty early. Races in the full-marathon category are usually begun in the pitchblack hours as early as 4:00 a.m., while the half-marathon category will normally flag off half an hour later in order to prevent the effect of hot weather on the participants.

However, here in Gwangju, the race flagged off as late as 8:30 a.m. This delay may benefit participants who are without their own transport, as they are able to take public transport to the venue as well as catch some extra shut-eye before the race.

On the other hand, I am not sure if this event that I attended was a relatively small-scale event. Running events in Malaysia, while still quite a recent development, see a sea of participants dressed in the same running tees provided

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Since 2000

(former Body&Soul Clinic)

The International Clinic in Gwangju Family Medicine, Health Screening, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Minor Surgery, Travel Medicine, Vaccination, Complementary Medicine, Pre-employment Health Screening, Laboratory Test (Blood, Urine, Pap, STD), X-ray & Ultrasound, Prescription Refill, Nutrition (Intravenous Vitamins & Minerals), Detox (Chelation & Fasting), Anti Aging, Immune Booster, Weight Management.

For More Info: Phone: 062-525-0606 www.geomedclinic.com ** The best landmark for our clinic is “Buk-gu District Office” ** On the 1st Floor of our building, there is a “Paris Baguette”. Our clinic is located on the 5th Floor.

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37

TOPIK Guide (topikguide.com) is the most comprehensive website devoted to the TOPIK exam. It’s been helping Korean language learners pass the TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) for more than seven years. On this website, you can get all the TOPIK updates, grammar and vocabulary material, and study tips.

Everyday Korean Episode 4 University Life Written by Harsh Kumar Mishra Korean Language Expert at TOPIKGUIDE.COM 아나: 정민씨, 졸업 축하해요. 졸업하니까 어때요?

[Ana: Jeongmin-ssi, Jo-reop chukha-haeyo. Joreop-ha-nikka eottae-yo?]

Jeongmin, congratulations on your graduation.

How do you feel after graduating?

[Jeongmin: Goma-weoyo. Geul-sseyo. Byeol-lo dalla-jin-ge eop-seoseo joreop-han geot-cheo-reom neuk-kyeo-jiji anayo.]

Thank you. Well, I don’t feel like I’ve graduated as nothing has changed from before.

아나: 왜요?

[Ana: Waeyo?]

Why is that?

정민: 졸업하자마자 입학해서 또 다른 고생길에 접어들었어요.

[Jeongmin: Joreop-haja-maja ip-hak-haeseo tto da-reun go-saeng-gire jeobeo-deu-reosseoyo] I was admitted to another course right after graduation, so it’s the start of another hardship.

아나: 입학이라고요? 설마! 석사 과정 시작한 거예요?

[Ana: Ip-hagi-ragoyo? Seol-ma! Seoksa gwa-jeong sijak-han geo-yeyo?]

What do you mean you were admitted?

Are you starting your master’s course already?

정민: 네! 요즘 수강신청 때문에 머리 아파요.

Attach this pattern to a verb to mean “as soon as” or “right after.”

Ex: 어제 너무 피곤해서 눕자마자 잠에 들었어요.

Yesterday, I was so tired that I fell asleep right after I lay down.

글쎄 Figure of speech. Use this when you want to show that you’re uncertain about what another has just said.

Ex: A: 내일까지 해 주실 수 있겠죠?

You can finish it by tomorrow, can’t you?

B: 글쎄요. 다른 일도 밀려져 있어서요.

Well, I’m not sure. Because I have a pile of other work to do as well. 졸업: graduation 입학: admission (to a school or program) 고생길: a difficult path 석사: master’s degree 박사: Ph.D. degree 대학생: undergraduate student 대학원생: graduate student 수강신청: course registration 학점: grade/credit 과목: a subject/class 학기: semester 휴학: taking a break from studies 보충과목: supplementary course

#KoreaLifeHacks 1.

아나: 쉬운 과목들만 신청하세요 [Ana: Swi-un gwamok-deul-man sin-cheong-haseyo.]

Go for the easy classes then, please.

2.

정민: 석사는 쉬운 게 없어요. 이번 학기 수업 듣고, 다음 학기에는 휴학하려고요. [[Jeongmin: Seoksa-neun sw-iun-ge eop-seoyo. Ibeon hak-ki su-eop deuk-ko, da-eum hak-ki-e-neun hyuhak-ha-ryeogoyo] There’s nothing easy about a master’s program.

I’m thinking of taking a break for a semester after I finish this semester.

[Ana: Hwai-ting!]

All the best!

Visit the TOPIK Guide website or our YouTube channel to improve your Korean and reach your goal on the TOPIK test.

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April 2018

아나: 화이팅!

3.

Don’t wait till the last day to register for a class. All the classes that are comparatively popular and easy fill up on the first day of registration.

Most universities in Korea offer a course reservation program before the course registration dates. It’s recommended to do the course reservation beforehand if you really want to take a particular class.

When you do a presentation in your class and your professor points out something you don’t think is right, don’t try to explain things to him or her. From my personal experience in Korea, talking back to your professor gives others a very bad impression of you.

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[[Jeongmin: Ne! Yo-jeum su-gang-sin-cheong ttae-mune meori ap-hayo.]

Right! I’m getting a lot of headaches because of class registration.

~자마자

EDUCATION

정민: 고마워요. 글쎄요. 별로 달라진 게 없어서 졸업한 것처럼 느껴지지 않아요.

Grammar & Vocabulary

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38

Just What Is “Communicative” Teaching?

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April 2018

EDUCATION

Written by Dr. David E. Shaffer

I

f you are a teacher of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Korea, you have probably been asked, “What teaching method do you use?” I know that in my curiosity I have asked this, and it is not uncommon to get the response, “My teaching is communicative,” leaving me with a vague question mark. By “communicative,” are they referring to an EFL teaching method? With such responses, I generally assume that what was meant was that they focus on teaching English speaking skills in their classes, but it leaves me wondering about their grasp of the range of communicative EFL teaching methods that are out there. So, here we will briefly discuss a number of teaching methods that fall under the umbrella term of “communicative,” pointing out the main focus of each.

SITUATIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHING The seeds of Situational Language Teaching began to sprout a century ago in Europe, where a closer connection between language and life situations was being recognized.

Language became viewed as more context-dependent: To understand the meaning of a word or utterance, the realization was that one needed to understand the situation in which it was uttered. For teaching, the syllabus of the 1960–70s was based on a series of everyday situations.

For learning, the induction method was employed: The learner needed to figure out the meaning of the grammar and vocabulary from a text or dialogue usually presented orally. The method emphasized accuracy in production and lessons had a fixed format.

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING Also in the 1960s, skills in “communication” were deemed just as essential in English as a second language as in one’s first language. The concept of “communicative competence” was put forth: knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) placed more emphasis on fluency and

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less on accuracy (i.e., grammar), and an emphasis on communicative interaction in the classroom. The original “strong” version of CLT adhered to the claim that language was acquired through communication and therefore removed the teaching of grammar from the syllabus. In the “weak” version, however, while the emphasis was placed on providing learners with opportunities for interaction, there was room for some grammar instruction in the syllabus.

With an emphasis on fluency, CLT seemed better suited for native English-speaking teachers, and an absence or near absence of grammar from instruction seemed to ignore an integral component of language.

TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING Another reaction to the emphasis on grammar in the language learning classroom, this one occurring in the late 1970s, was the idea that a second language would be better learned through a series of activities in which the target language (L2) was used by the learners to communicate with each other to successfully complete them (i.e., “tasks”).

Stressing classroom interaction in the L2 and not having much to do with grammar, Task-Based Language Teaching

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39 concentrating on the subject matter being taught.

Also known as CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) in Europe and as EMI (English Medium Instruction) in higher education, CBI in practice has often emphasized the content portion more than the language component. For CBI to be effective, instructors need to be both knowledgeable in the subject matter and trained in language teaching, a combination often difficult to find, and students need to be at a language proficiency adequate to handle the difficulty of the subject matter.

(TBLT) very much mirrored the strong version of CLT but was set in a somewhat more clearly defined framework.

There has been much debate, however, on what constitutes a task and whether TBLT should include a “focus on form” (i.e., grammatical) component. There is agreement that in TBLT, student inquiry and interaction come first, and teacher feedback on form would follow.

COMPETENCY-BASED TEACHING Competency-Based Teaching (CT) of a second language arose from a practical need to improve the learner’s skills. First, an analysis is made of the specific skills (i.e., “competencies”) needed to successfully complete a “job.”

Instruction and testing are then based on attaining these competencies. Skills to be attained are often expressed as can-do statements, most notably as used in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

On the one hand, CT has been criticized as having too narrow a view of language teaching; on the other hand, it has been considered as being practical. Its can-do statements have become popular for self-assessment by learners.

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David E. Shaffer is vice-president of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of the chapter, he invites you to participate in the teacher development workshops at their monthly meetings (always on a Saturday). For many years, Dr. Shaffer has been a professor of English Language at Chosun University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses. He is a long-time member of KOTESOL and a holder of various KOTESOL positions; at present he is national president. Dr. Shaffer credits KOTESOL for much of his professional development in English language teaching, scholarship, and leadership. He is also the editor-inchief of the Gwangju News.

GWANGJU-JEONNAM KOTESOL MONTHLY MEETING Date: April 14 (Saturday) Place: Gwangju National University of Education Theme: Panel Discussion & Demonstrations The Art of Co-teaching: Craft and Considerations – Lisa Casaus, Soo-a Park, Billie Kang, et al.

SwapShop – Share with the group an activity or teaching idea that you have.

For full event details: Website: koreatesol.org/gwangju Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL

April 2018

CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is a type of immersion in which subject matter (i.e., content) is taught in a foreign language that is also being learned. The assumption is that a foreign language can be acquired while the learner is

THE AUTHOR

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

WHOLE LANGUAGE LEARNING While it is often thought that the different language skills should first be taught separately, as in many university curriculums and private academy offerings, Whole Language Learning (WLL) introduces language as an integrated whole and later analyzes its parts – a top-down approach to language learning. It is a holistic approach that professes language is best learned through situations that are authentic and meaningful. The four skills are thought to best be learned together, lessons are student-centered, and student interaction is essential. However, WLL lacks a focus on form, which much research shows to be valuable in language learning.

ECLECTIC TEACHING Eclectic teaching involves taking aspects from a variety of different teaching approaches that one considers desirable and combining them into one’s own teaching. While for some teachers, saying “My teaching is communicative” may mean that they merely have their students talk a lot in class; for others, it may mean that they adhere to one of the methods above. But for those teachers who are aware of the various communicative teaching methods discussed above and eclectically draw from them for their own teaching, saying “My teaching is communicative” may mean that they are doing one heck of a good job.

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NPO Community Engagement How an Organization Can Reach Out to the Communities It Wishes to Serve Written by Maria Lisak

Forbes Nonprofit Council in “Nine Ways Nonprofits Can Increase Community Engagement” offers recommendations to increase community engagement that could be beneficial to Gwangju, its five districts, and the numerous neighborhoods with their local culture centers.[1] There are many NPOs in the city, as well, that could bridge the gap and be more inclusive. More and more international residents and students have enough Korean language skills to give assistance to NPOs. Konglish and translanguaging can help as well, as most NPO workers have had some kind of study of foreign languages.

So, how can Gwangju NPOs increase community engagement? They can tap into some of the hashtags that might be relevant, like #CleanGwangju or #KindGwangju, and give some shout-outs of support.

Gwangju International Center has long acted as a liaison between foreign residents and other institutions like City Hall as well as smaller NPOs. Perhaps hosting a GIC Talk to encourage discussion and forge relationships might be a good start to see how to be more inclusive of the internationals living in the city.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

EDUCATION

N

on-profit organizations (NPOs) are especially proliferative in Gwangju. There are many NPOs that can help the international community: Gwangju International Center, Universal Culture Center, and several multicultural centers associated with various churches around the city. However, there tends to be an exoticism and essentialism to many of the outreach efforts, which fosters a paternal and slightly condescending relationship between host city and guests from abroad. The opportunities to partake of traditional cultures of costume, food, and performance arts are extensive, especially in a city well known for its food and art scenes. But one famous element of Gwangju’s legacy, its 5.18 Democracy Movement, is also about experiencing peace and human rights. Instead of celebrating diversity and encouraging inclusion in everyday life, many of the projects and programs for “foreigners” only keep us separate and “special,” seeing only how different we are, instead of how much we have in common. Don’t get me wrong. These cultural programs are great ways for newbies to experience traditional Korea. However, for myself and other long-term “foreigners” living in Gwangju, there are many other ways that we can both serve NPOs and ways for them to extend their services to us.

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NPOs could also participate in local events like the FreeCycle, a special event where participants donate and take what they need. Or they can let the language and culture of community theater be a fun, yet thoughtful, event to connect to expat groups like the Gwangju Performance Project. NPOs could also partner with local international communities, like veterinarians and Gwangju citizens are, by walking dogs with the Gwangju Animal Shelter.

As many NPOs may balk at the language gap when interacting with foreign residents, perhaps connecting to leaders in the community like those in a longrunning organization like Korea TESOL, a professional development group for English teachers, might help.

Long-term internationals often have become Korean citizens and can be great leaders to help you connect to expat communities.

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THE AUTHOR

Maria Lisak is celebrating the 22nd anniversary of her first steps in South Korea this year. From the Midwest in the US, her Chicago accent still plagues her Korean pronunciation. She has been teaching public administration and social welfare at Chosun University since 2012. You can check out her degree pedigree on her blog: koreamaria.typepad.com/gwangju

Forbes Nonprofit Council. (2017, October 17). Nine ways nonprofits can increase community engagement. Forbes Community Voice. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2017/10/17/nineways-nonprofits-can-increase-community-engagement/#478ae6d7799d [1]

April 2018

Also, Koreans are incredibly well traveled, especially

In the expat world of attrition, one-year contracts, and short-term travel hopping, NPOs need to be attentive and consistent by offering more short-term benefits to these multicultural communities. But most of all, NPOs need to remember that they are working with and for people. Creating mutually beneficial opportunities and a reciprocity of exchange fosters independence and risk-taking for a host of people who may need a leg up somehow. These untapped local resources can be an asset to NPOs that are struggling to get their message out.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

Another lower-key way to connect with internationals in the community is to offer signage in your location or advertisements. Looking for an Arabic tutor or to create a space at your organization for your team to practice its Japanese? Put up some signs in those languages to connect and include the many languages that are spoken in Gwangju these days. Inform your neighborhood this way, and pull in the people you are seeking to connect with or help. Your organization could also leverage the international community by collecting their unique knowledge in return for offering membership freebies for surveys they fill out. Diverse viewpoints help innovation, something every organization can use.

within the NPO community. Find your employees who are ambassadors – those who speak other languages or have lived overseas – and let them find ways to connect with the local international community. Assess your current team for how it connects to the larger community.

Many internationals have a wide variety of experiences and skills that they can share with you. How can you support them to be brand advocates for you?

2018-03-28 �� 10:15:40

42 42 Where to Eat

Decacino

Where Beer Meets Coffee

FOOD & DRINKS

Written by Joe Wabe Photographed by Lorryn Smit

T

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

here’s a big difference between draft beer and craft beer. Draft beer is mass-produced for the consumption of the multitude and poor in flavor and aroma, but popular for its refreshing and quenching qualities. On the other hand, craft beer is art. Rich in flavors and aroma, it’s produced in smaller quantities for the sole purpose of enjoyment for those who appreciate the artisanal beauty and good taste of pure awesomeness poured into a glass.

The craft beer boom in Korea started about ten years ago, but the frenzy quickly died due to the tough laws regulating the production of craft beer. Owners of small breweries were allowed to produce their beer but could only sell it on their premises. Distribution wasn’t allowed.

Even during local beer festivals, microbreweries were not allowed to sell, and most stands were filled by wholesale breweries promoting their well-known commercial beers.

This led to the closing and almost extinction of local microbreweries as most of them couldn’t survive only by selling onsite.

But luckily, the small craft beer fire was never extinguished, and due to the boom in craft beer around the world – especially in the United States, whose business models usually run parallel with those in Korea – the law finally changed, allowing more freedom, distribution, and fairtrade laws for smaller breweries. This new change in the

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law opened the gates for many new businesses to start serving excellent craft beer from all over the peninsula!

As a home beer brewer (a hobby I picked up last year), I’m always scouting for places that sell craft beer, and on one of my quests, I found Decacino. One of the most attractive points about this place is that it’s actually a coffee shop! Its location, which is apart from the main streets of Suwan, makes it a quiet place to hang out away from the noise of local businesses and streets. The interior design has the typical industrial ceiling, giving it that cosmopolitan coffee shop touch. The background music is always an important aspect for me to consider when I’m looking for places. Whether they’re for eating or drinking, it’s common here to find very loud places in which people have to scream in order to communicate with each other.

Luckily, Decacino isn’t one of them, as its chilled-out music playlist and volume fit just right.

Although Decacino isn’t a brewery, it redistributes the beer from Platinum Brewery, a renowned brewery from Seoul that, according to its advertisement, has won a few international awards. You can order a sampler that will give you five choices: Gold Ale, White Ale, Pale Ale, IPA, and the Imperial Stout. I tried them all and wasn’t disappointed. The freshness and hoppy aromas were all there dancing in harmony. Once you’ve chosen your favorite beer, you can order a pint-style glass that

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43 is served nicely chilled with a beautiful foamy head. The fact that this isn’t a bar allows you to sip your beer in an environment that’s neither loud nor crowded, which, in my opinion, is the way it should be done when it comes to enjoying craft beer.

“dope” dog. They served their finger-food purpose and accompanied the craft beer well. I can definitely give them a “not bad” score. Prices were fair: I was able to enjoy some tasty craft beer and finger food for less than 40,000 won.

I decided to order a couple of items on the menu that could go well with beer, so I went for the mozzarella pizza and their “Dope Hot Dog,” which the server mentioned is one of their “hottest” menu items because of its large size.

Although I wasn’t impressed with the size of the pizza, which is smaller than average, it was tasty and I guess enough to enjoy with one or two glasses of beer. The pizza came with a slight spread of pesto, giving it a nice Italian touch.

The rest of the menu is what you’ll find in a typical coffee shop: tea, juices, ice-cream, smoothies, and of course, coffee!

The afternoon brought this wonderful light inside the café that lit the place and gave it this smooth magical ambiance. The chilled-out music playlist, nice chilled glass of IPA, and a couple of bites from the pizza made me put this place on the list of cool places to hang out when I want to just chill either with a glass of beer or a cup of coffee.

With only nine items on their food menu, you can guess that this isn’t a place you should consider when seriously hungry. The menu basically is prepared behind the counter since they don’t really have a kitchen or a chef.

Other items on the menu had the word “honey” in them, so I didn’t care to read more. I enjoyed the pizza and the

THE AUTHOR

Joe Wabe is an established photographer and Gwangju local business entrepreneur. He has been contributing to the GIC and the Gwangju News for more than eight years.

Decacino Coffee Libre Espresso & Platinum Beer 데카치노 29–19 Suwan-ro 74-beongil, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju (on the street behind Hanam Pork House) 광주 광산구 수완로74번길 29-19

062-228-0485 Tuesday–Sunday (closed Mondays), 12:00–24:00

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

The mozzarella pizza.

April 2018

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44 Kitchen Stories

In Season

Eating Vegetarian in Damyang Written and photographed by Karly Pierre

W

e took a wrong turn. My cooking teacher pulls over, trying to get her bearings. After a moment, she hails a passing car.

FOOD & DRINKS

“Where is Soswaewon?”

“Follow me!” The man behind the wheel of the other car is excited to accommodate us, though the passenger in his car looks less thrilled. They pull out ahead of us, and my teacher follows.

We make our way down a long stretch of country road. It’s a crisp afternoon in early March, and the landscape is still a dull brown. Farmers are already at work clearing the fields of winter debris and preparing the soil for spring.

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April 2018

We’re headed out to a family-run vegetarian restaurant owned by my teacher’s former student. It’s been a while since my teacher has been there, so she’s having trouble remembering the way: This is the second time she’s asked for directions.

We cross a small bridge guarded by totems (jangseung, 장승) and a row of traditional bird-shaped figures on poles (sotdae, 솟대). The car in front of us stops, and the driver gets out.

“Over there!” he says, pointing to the right.

My teacher nods and smiles. After he drives away, we linger behind on the bridge.

“He was a very nice man,” says my teacher, dropping the car into gear. “But that’s not where we’re going.” She turns left at the end of the bridge.

Soon we arrive at Soswaewon Vegetarian Buffet. It’s a quaint restaurant on the edge of a pine forest, facing an open field.

When we walk into the restaurant, the chef greets us with a deep bow.

“Teacher!” he says, blushing, then leads us to a table. We then make our way to the buffet. I head straight for cold

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dishes of wild Korean chives (dallae, 달래), laserwort or laserpitium siler (bangpung, 방풍), brown mushrooms, homemade seaweed jelly (cheonsachae, 천사채), and a variety of bibimbap vegetables. But there are also warm dishes, the most fascinating of which is the tofu bulgogi. My teacher takes a bite of the tofu bulgogi and laughs in delight.

“It tastes just like meat,” she says.

Apparently we’ve come to the restaurant at a good time.

The Korean holiday Jeongwol Daeboreum was yesterday.

It’s the day of the first full moon following Seollal, and vegetarian dishes of five-grain rice (ogok-bap, 오곡밥), dried vegetables (mugeun-namul, 묵은나물), and nuts (bureom, 부럼) are said to bring good luck for the rest of the year.

“After winter, Koreans like to eat vegetables to restore balance to our bodies,” she says. “Many of the foods we eat at this time of the year are wild plants found in the mountains.”

After we finish eating lunch, Heo Hae-suk, the matriarch of the family business, comes out to greet us. She wipes her hands on her apron, and when my teacher suggests she do an interview with me, she laughs and turns away, insisting she doesn’t have anything interesting to say. Eventually, Heo agrees to an interview the next week and offers me a roasted sweet potato from the top of a crackling pot belly stove on my way out.

The next week, I return with a translator. We’d taken a taxi to Damyang, and as we sit at a table waiting for Heo, my translator mentions again how expensive the cab ride was. An old lady in a purple hat sitting at the far end of our table catches my eye. She glances at us, then stares out the window. She takes her coat off, then quietly arranges it on the back of her chair. When her cane falls down and smacks the floor, a worker scuttles over quickly to pick it up. I would later learn that she is Heo’s mother, come to visit the restaurant for lunch.

“My mother was an excellent seamstress when I was a child,” says Heo, 61. “She made beautiful hanboks. Even

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45 45

When he pulls his car around front, we’re surprised to see it’s a taxi. But this time, the meter isn’t running.

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Ingredients

80 grams of ginger 20 grams of Korean cinnamon sticks 1/2 cup of white sugar, brown sugar, or honey 10–20 roma tomatoes water

Method 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

Place tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Drain the tomatoes, then immediately immerse them in cold water.

Peel away the tomato skins.

Put the peeled tomatoes in a container and set aside.

Thinly slice ginger, then place in a pot filled with 5 cups of water. Boil the water for 40 minutes.

Place the cinnamon sticks in a separate pot filled with 5 cups of water. Boil the water for 40 minutes.

Strain out the ginger and cinnamon from the boiled water. Discard the ginger and cinnamon.

Combine the cinnamon and ginger water in a pot and add white sugar, brown sugar, or honey.

Boil again on high heat for 2–3 minutes, then lower to a rolling boil for 10–20 minutes. Allow the water to completely cool, and then pour into a container.

Add the peeled tomatoes.

Place the container in the refrigerator and allow to infuse overnight.

Place a tomato on a dish and pour a spoonful of cinnamon/ginger water on top.

This is should be served chilled and as a dessert.

April 2018

THE AUTHOR Karly Pierre has an MA in mass communication and has worked as an editor and writer for several publications. She is currently an assistant professor in the ESL department at Chosun University.

Cinnamon and Ginger Infused Tomato

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

now my sewing can’t compare to hers.”

Heo’s father was a government engineer, so she grew up in a well-to-do family in Gwangju. One of her favorite memories is sleeping in a room with her younger siblings – one sister and two brothers – and sharing blankets and pillows.

“My mother’s doenjang-guk (된장국, soybean paste soup) is a very special memory for me. Even now, I crave her soup.”

As a mother to two sons, Heo made kimchi stew, pork bulgogi, and bulgogi spiced with red pepper paste for her children. She learned to make all of her seasonings such as doenjang (된장, soybean paste), ganjang (간장, soy sauce), and gochujang (고추장, red pepper paste). “I never used any artificial seasoning. Everything was very natural.”

When the previous owner of this restaurant put the business up for sale, her sons encouraged her to buy it. She was working as a piano teacher at the time and at first was skeptical of the restaurant world. “Owning a restaurant is very hard, especially a vegan buffet. Many vegetarian restaurants aren’t successful. I don’t think that I could do this without the help of my family.”

Heo developed all of the recipes in the restaurant through trial and error on her own and by attending lectures.

She also learned to farm, and most of the vegetables at the restaurant come from her fields. She insists on not cultivating fast-growing plants, as they require a lot of fertilizer. Her desire is to keep the food as pure as possible.

“People usually come to this restaurant because they are concerned about their health. After eating here, people’s health improves. Even my husband has lost weight working here. Growing up, my children liked beef and pork, but now they eat them only once a week.”

At the end of the interview, Heo leads us out the door.

Her mother is still at the table eating lunch with Heo’s brothers and sister. “In good times and hard times, family is important,” she says.

My translator and I try to call a cab with an app, but there is no service out here. Heo calls her brother over. “He’ll take you back,” she says.

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www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

FOOD & DRINKS

46

Korean Food

Small Bites of Festivities Written by Cho Namhee

W

hen spring comes along with its blooming flowers, it is the time of year in Korea when a myriad of flower festivals attract people from all over the country. The vibrant colors of flowers in colonies create a grand scenery that can only be captured for a short period of time. April is the high point for enjoying our blossoming vernal surroundings. Various flower festivals are held annually in Gwangju and Jeollanamdo since they are rich in flower species ranging from Cornelian cherry blossoms to royal azaleas. One dare say that the prime goal of the majority of spring flower festival-goers would be to absorb the feeling of spring.

However, food sold at the festivals can never be left out.

Instead of listing the local delicacies at various flower festivals, this article could be your guide to some of the common bites festival-goers can expect to find this season.

Street vendors or hawker stalls that stand like gatekeepers can always be seen at the entrances to festivals. The most common snacks on the menu are skewers with various ingredients such as sweetcorn, boiled or steamed silkworm pupae (beondegi), and fries. These popular skewers can literally have anything skewered on them, including cotton candy, pork sausages, boneless chicken, rice cakes, fishcakes, sliced potatoes, and even chicken gizzards. They are skewered for your convenience and to please your senses. These small bites ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 won can satisfy many people’s tastes at a low price. However, the skewers may not have been recently cooked, meaning they could have been exposed to dust for quite a while.

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Sweetcorn and silkworm pupae are common steamed or boiled foods served hot that give a feeling of nostalgia.

They were typical street foods that could be found in days gone by when school sports festivals were held. The boiled or steamed corn is straightforward enough, but it is helpful to know that most vendors steam or boil the corn with additives such as sodium saccharin instead of sugar.

Silkworm pupae do not have a friendly appearance but they are known for their richness in nutrients and savoriness that together boost appetites. They are normally served in paper cups with toothpicks, and it can be a fun challenge to prod at each pupa. Lastly, deep-fried foods are as common as skewers since almost everything can be fried in batter; however, they are mostly served at stationary stands instead of from movable carts.

These street foods may not be the ultimate snacks offered at festivals, but they should never be missed. Nowadays, fancy food trucks serving Western snacks are threatening the conventional street vendors at festivals. It is difficult to predict whether these traditional snacks sold by street vendors at festivals will be able to survive with so much modern-day competition.

THE AUTHOR Cho Namhee currently studies communication at Chonnam National University.

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Gwangju Writes

47

Poems of Shahed Kayes Written by Shahed Kayes

New Reality Being Formed

Shahbag Movement

My thoughts are birds of time

And this is how Our dreams become subject of constitutional rape

My moments are now extreme Kavery Tiny bits of life flourish therein Moments which brighten the dark; Birds of light pass flashing their wings A strange dream begins to enliven life, at such times It feels good to be alive; Mysteries fill my cup My proud, golden sail – she treads alone – away into her own wild And my thoughts; the birds of time Fly, from life, to life.

Mayadip School

Waters are rising somewhere, in secret In symbols of victory they carve faces of evils These preposterous acts And despicability, in the name of justice, Should stop today

ARTS & CULTURE

My heart is overwhelmed exploring the flow of time It no more runs after fen-fire birds Life is a living poem, I realize

The deeper we go into the night The New Generation Square is more awake Facebook literally walks to the street; Today, the whole country is Shahbag The whole country is singing songs of freedom The light of liberation – of nineteen seventy one – spreading like music aloud Today, our country is awake Illuminated with youthfulness; rays of realizations New reality is being formed – Wake up people, our back is stuck

A play of light and shadow, this is The play of death and life

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Shahed Kayes was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on September 16, 1974.

He was brought up and educated in Sonargaon, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Chennai in India, and Gwangju in South Korea. At present, he is studying in the master’s degree program in human rights at Chonnam National University (CNU) in Gwangju.

April 2018

Between the narrow paths of dreams and nightmares Water sets its affairs, in and around Homes of the golden clouds And, our morning children awaken, one by one.

THE AUTHOR

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

It keeps pulling me towards itself At dawn – the childhood of day – darkness packs up, its serene wings Bay-hostesses awaken Their eyes – sleepless, red, fire stricken Therein the magic of transformation On the flowing Meghna shore; Life is, yet, partially truthful It flows central, between two deep sighs

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www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

ARTS & CULTURE

48 Photo Essay

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49

“Having Fun in Neverland, Peter?”

I

’m JT in fact, not Peter.

Written and photographed by

I’ve recently released my first solo zine, of which I’m quite proud. The photos are early photographs from when I’d first come to Korea. They are street and documentary photographs. I’ve always seen photography as a self-portrait. My photos are a portrait of my time in Korea. They say as much about me as they do about the subjects.

Perhaps they are only about me. Selfish, maybe.

I came to Korea in 2007, much to the chagrin of my parents. Well, in fact I left law school in Canada mid-semester to come secretly. A week-long struggle studying and a Google search later, I’d signed a contract to come to the Far East. www.gwangjunewsgic.com

I didn’t take many photos when I came to Korea at first. Honestly, I didn’t take photos at all. I started to take photos after being here nearly a year. I did so in an attempt to show my parents that my life here was normal – that I’d made a good decision to come.

April 2018

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www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

50

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51 51

to Korea for him, too. I feel like he would’ve wanted me to live here. I feel like he would’ve wanted me to live:

Peter, as in Peter Pan.

In Neverland.

Korea was Neverland. Neverland, as in the place where people come to never grow up. He called it Neverland because he said it was the place I’d come to avoid growing up. That’s fine, and I think it’s true on most levels. I think the reason most foreigners like it here is somehow related to this. My father didn’t think this was how he’d imagined his son living his twenties. He didn’t like the idea of me coming to Korea. Eventually, he came around.

Just before he passed away, he told me he was proud of me for coming. Proud of me for following my heart.

My zine is available for purchase at www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1429842.

Korea is my home, and it’ll continue to be so. I went back to school eventually. I finished for my father. I came back

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THE AUTHOR Born on the small island of Newfoundland, off the east coast of Canada, JT grew up with a hockey stick instead of a camera.

After moving to Korea in 2007, he began taking photos during his daily commute and hasn’t stopped since. His work has been published throughout the world, and he has hosted several Leica Akademies in both Canada and South Korea. He now calls Iksan, South Korea, home, where he lives with his wife, Seonju.

April 2018

To Neverland.

You can find me online at instagram.com/jt_inseoul.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

My father called me “Peter” whenever he called me. It was our joke – our inside joke.

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52

Photo of the Month

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

ARTS & CULTURE

By Wilson Melbostad

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53

T

hree summers ago while hiking in the Swiss Alps, I stumbled upon this mangy, yet somehow majestic, mountain goat. We were both somewhat surprised to see each other and kind of squared off in a staring contest for a minute or so before I took out my camera and snapped this photo.

THE AUTHOR

Wilson Melbostad is an international human rights attorney hailing from San Francisco, California. Wilson has returned to Gwangju to undertake his newest project: the Organization for Migrant Legal Aid (OMLA), which operates out of the Gwangju International Center. He has also taken on the position of managing editor of the Gwangju News.

April 2018

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www.gwangjunewsgic.com

Do you have any photos that you would like to show to Gwangju (and the world)?

Gwangju News features a photo of the month to create more opportunities to promote more photographers based in the Jeollanam-do region and to show off our beautiful province from different areas and angles. Submissions can be posted in the “Photography in the South” Facebook group throughout the preceding month. Alternatively, you can also send your submissions to the editor by email: photos@gwangjunewsgic.com

2018-03-28 �� 10:15:53

54 Book Review 54

“A Scattering of the Faintest Stars” Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson Written by Kristy Dolson

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April 2018

ARTS & CULTURE

S

pring has arrived and as the planet begins another journey around the sun, all around us are the reminders that after death comes new life. This unending cycle of rejuvenation brings to my mind Kate Atkinson’s 2013 novel, Life After Life, a historical fiction in which Ursula Todd is born on February 11, 1910, to an upper-middle-class British family. Unfortunately, our protagonist is delivered stillborn and dies without ever drawing breath. But then, in a mindboggling “what if ” twist, she’s born to the exact same family on the exact same date and given another chance at life.

The premise of the book is this: What if you had multiple chances to rewrite your destiny? Although Ursula Todd doesn’t explicitly know that she’s being reborn over and over again, with each new life she must navigate the choices that affect her own existence, often creating ripples of joy and grief in the lives of her family and friends. As she gains more experience (i.e., more deaths), she develops an uncanny sense of deja vu. Most of the time, she succeeds in making decisions that improve the lives connected to her choices, but there are a lot of dead ends, too. Literally.

The cumulative effect is like reading an extensive (but by no means exhaustive) catalogue of all the ways it sucked to be a British woman leading up to and during WWII. I’ll be honest with you readers: I’d never heard of this book – or this author – until my mom’s book club decided to read it. While I wasn’t too impressed by the synopsis, I gave it a chance in the interest of expanding my literary horizons.

By the time I was finished, I harbored several opposing opinions. On the one hand, the writing is good, the narrative is quite clever, and the fully fleshed-out characters are interesting enough to make the necessary repetition of events bearable. On the other hand, I found the narrative resets surrounding Ursula’s death and rebirth to be tedious, I was frustrated by the shifting “rules” of these resets, and the ending left me unsatisfied for the amount of time I’d invested. In short, I found the novel to be interesting at first glance, but frustrating when I gave it too much thought.

So why am I recommending it to you? Well, spring is a time for growth. We should try new things and push ourselves beyond our comfort zones and preferences. While the critic in me was frustrated with the technical aspects of Life After

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Life, I found the characters and situations to be engaging and memorable – so much so, that I read it a year ago and I’m still thinking about them. That’s the key selling point: It’s a novel that’s stayed with me because it was so engaging, and these are the books we find ourselves recommending to total strangers every now and then. You’re welcome.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Atkinson’s novel also garnered critical and popular attention, winning the U.K.’s Costa Book Award in the novel category for 2013.

In addition, it was shortlisted for several other awards, made many must-read/best-book lists, and of course, has since popped up on numerous book club reading lists.

The imaginative premise is pulled off with well-researched and competent writing skill as Atkinson explores Ursula’s multiple divergent lifetimes and her wartime experiences in both London and Berlin. Needless to say, it’s an unusual novel that offers much to consider and discuss.

For better or for worse, Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life is a noteworthy book to read this spring. Although the recurring death of a protagonist makes for a morbid central thread, Atkinson counters it with an infusion of love for the Todd family and moments of lightheartedness that are ultimately life-affirming. I highly recommend this novel on the strength of its characters, the fascinating lives of Ursula Todd during a time of great change and upheaval in Europe, and the incredible detail Atkinson uses to tell her story.

Personally, I’m content with my one chance to write my destiny, but this novel is a firm reminder to enjoy what life has to offer right now. Because, much like spring, those moments of love and lightheartedness can be all too fleeting.

THE AUTHOR

Kristy Dolson lived in South Korea for five years before taking a year off to travel, read, and spend time with her family in Canada and Australia.

She holds a Bachelor of Education and has just returned to Gwangju, where she splits her time between teaching Korean teachers at JETI and reading as much as she can.

(Photo by Lisa Crone)

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Movie Review

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Looking Back at Walt Disney’s First Film Written by Natale Ryan Photographed by Teerawut Masawat

W

alt Disney Studios is a powerhouse in Hollywood. With more than 400 feature films produced, they also create a tremendous amount of merchandise, own television and music stations, and even have worldwide amusement park locations.

However, the Walt Disney Company that we know today wasn’t always the driving force that it currently is. Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was founded in 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy. They began making silent films in conjunction with Universal Pictures and in 1928 created one of the most iconic characters in the world: Mickey Mouse. In 1934, Disney became tired of animation shorts and wanted to create a full-length animated film.

However, despite his success with animation, nobody wanted to support his idea, and people predicted that he’d bankrupt his company. After three years in production, a film called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released.

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THE AUTHOR

Natale is an English teacher in Mokpo. She is from Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States. She attended college in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and majored in criminology and sociology. In her free time, she enjoys watching scary movies and writing short stories. Her favorite movies are To Kill a Mockingbird, E.T., and Memento. Her heroes are Snoopy and Audrey Hepburn.

April 2018

The film was highly received by naysayers and critics. Many people who’d doubted Disney’s ability began to invest in him, but despite the classics that would follow, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would always remain an impressive and groundbreaking movie. Though it’s been more than eighty years since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs debuted, it’s since been remastered and released every ten years, each time to eager and receptive audiences. Even I was taken by my grandmother to see a re-release of it in theaters when I was

If you’re one of the few people who’ve never seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I recommend it. Will it entertain an adult after repeated viewing? Probably not. But I believe that every child, or person looking to recreate a childhood, should see this film. I also believe that it should be shown in film classes to inspire future animators. Though I enjoy many current Disney films, I find myself missing the days of hand-drawn animation. They encapsulate childhood memories that can never be truly recreated. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a timeless film that will never grow old.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

Based loosely upon the short story by the Brothers Grimm, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tells the story of a young girl who lives in a castle with her stepmother, a vain queen who is jealous of the girl’s beauty. One night, after asking her magic mirror if she were the most beautiful woman in her kingdom, the queen is told that Snow White’s inner and outer beauty is far superior to her own. After hearing his, the queen sends a hunter to kill Snow White and bring back her heart.

The hunter, after seeing Snow White, instructs her to run into the woods, refusing to kill her. Snow White wanders for days, until she comes to a little cottage in a clearing. After seeing that it is empty, yet filthy, Snow White begins to clean and cook, hoping that once whoever lives there sees that she is contributing, they’ll let her stay. After her work is finished, she falls asleep upstairs and wakes up to see seven little dwarfs who welcome her into their home and protect her from evil.

young! In my opinion, this film doesn’t look or feel dated. It feels and sounds just as magical as it did when I was young.

The music is excellent, and it showcases brilliant writing, voice acting, and animation. Even as an adult, I often catch myself singing songs from it and other Disney movies. The creation of animated films at that time was much more painstaking.

Just knowing that every second was hand-drawn with love and care is a wonderful thought.

Since the movie’s release, the story of Snow White has been reimagined in movies of every genre and in television shows. The iconic “poison apple,” made famous more so

by Disney’s movie, is one of cinema’s most famous plot devices and well-known twists. The names of the dwarfs are now so familiar that it’s usually a childhood game to name them all. The villain, the Evil Queen, is one of the most famous protagonists of all. Snow White’s costume, her yellow flowing dress and red cape, is popular every Halloween. Even the voice of Snow White was patented by Disney, causing the voice actress to have to ask permission to use her own voice in movies, so as not to ruin the image that children had of Snow White.

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Community Board

Have something you want to share with the community?

Gwangju News Community Board provides a space for the community to announce club activities and special events.

Please contact gwangjunews@gic.or.kr for more information.

UNESCO KONA VOLUNTEERS KONA Storybook Center (KSC) is a registered small public library supported by UNESCO KONA Volunteers (UKV).

UKV is a registered organization that helps disadvantaged children to learn English independently through storybooks and story-maps. We guide the family and children to develop a love of reading storybooks in English. We also give guidance to volunteers in using storybooks. We are looking for longterm volunteers who desire to enrich their lives. We are asking volunteers to commit to helping at least once a month.

For more information, please visit http://cafe.daum.net/ konavolunteers or our Facebook pages for KONA Storybook Center and UNESCO KONA Volunteers, or contact Kim YoungIm 062-434-9887, or email konacenter@gmail.com.

VOLUNTEER TEACHERS NEEDED for the Gwangju UCC (Universal Cultural Center). Any levels of experience, English teachers here in the Gwangju area during 2018 can participate.

UCC has a Facebook profile if you would like to see what kind of other services are available. To participate in the international cultural exchange programs, you may email peter.j.gallo@gmail. com, or phone or text 010-9490-4258.

Walk dogs 1–4 pm.

Please wear comfortable clothing. See you there!

Facebook: Gwangju Animal Shelter Volunteering GIC ZUMBA WITH THANDO GIC Hall, 1st Floor 7:00–8:00 pm, Thursdays Facebook: GIC Zumba with Thando It is a fun-filled cardio class that fits all levels, no experience needed. Dress comfortably and be ready to sweat. Also, bring along water and a towel.

CHINESE-KOREAN LANGUAGE EXCHANGE GIC Lounge, 1st Floor 6:30–8:30 pm, Wednesday Application: https://goo.gl/WjBZQQ The language exchange is casual, and you can turn up when you like. Welcome to bring and invite friends.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

April 2018

GWANGJU FILIPINO ENGLISH TEACHERS (GFET) Every 3rd Tuesday of the month 10 am – 12 noon, GIC, Room 3 (2F) We are a group of Filipino English teachers in Gwangju who conduct regular lectures and accent training to help fellow English teachers to become better educators.

PILATES/YOGA WITH VALLE GIC Hall, 1st Floor 7:00–8:00 pm, Tuesday 10:00–11:00 am, Thursday Facebook: Yoga/Pilates with Valle This is a weekly class appropriate for all levels on a donationbased level.

GWANGJU INTER FC The Gwangju International Soccer Team (Gwangju Inter FC) plays regularly every weekend. If you are interested in playing, email gwangju_soccer@yahoo.com or search “Gwangju Inter FC” on Facebook.

GWANGJU ANIMAL SHELTER VOLUNTEERING Every Sunday. Meet at The First Alleyway at 12 for brunch and carpool to the shelter.

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Attorney Attorney Park’s Park’s Law Law Firm Firm We're ready to serve your best interests in legal disputes.

We provide affordable consultation & representation.

▶ Areas of Specialty contracts, torts, family law, immigration, labor ▶ Civil & Criminal Attorney Park, Duckhee

former judge, GIC board member Services available in Korean, English & Chinese

Tel: 062) 222-0011

#402 Simsan Bldg, 342-13 Jisan-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju Location: next to Gwangju District Court

Fax: 062)222-0013 duckheepark@hanmail.net

Gwangju Guide www.gwangjuguide.com For Information on Living in Gwangju Korean

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