Kim competed in the ladies event at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

In the short program on February 23, she executed a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, a triple flip and a double axel. Her spirals and her spins were graded a level four. Her technical score of 44.70 points was the highest of the event. She also received superior scores in the program components,[clarification needed] where she received 33.80 due to her interpretative artistic skills. As a result Kim scored 78.50 points, taking the lead by 4.72 over Mao Asada of Japan and achieving her best score in the short program. She set a new world record.

On February 25 she won the free skate with a score of 150.06 points, 18.34 ahead of Mao Asada, who came in second place in that segment of the competition. Kim landed a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, a triple flip, a double axel-double toe loop-double loop combination, a double axel-triple toe loop combination, a triple salchow, a triple lutz and a double axel as well as receiving level fours for her spins and her spiral sequence. Combined with her grace and musical expression, both her technical score of 78.30 and her presentation of 71.76 were the highest of the night. She was the only one who earned nines in program components marks. She set a new world record for the free skate under the ISU Judging System.Overall, Kim totaled 228.56 points, shattering her personal best and own old world record by a margin of 18 points. She won the gold medal, becoming the first South Korean skater in any figure skating category to medal at the Olympic Games.

Kim’s gold medal at the ladies’ event is South Korea’s first medal at the Winter Olympics in any event other than long track and short track speed skating.

1. Riding Sled on Ice

traditional sled

modern sled

sled slope

  This is sled. You can ride this sled on the ice.  Just ride the sled which is made of  wood with blade under the sled. And then, holding the slope, and pushing the surface of the ice with slopes. You may think that pushing the surface of the ice is quite difficult or hard. But it`s fun to slide on the ice, because the ice is slippery, so the sled goes fast. You can feel speedy and fun.  Today, we ride modern sled from the slope. I rode modern sled several times. I couldn`t forget the feeling even today when I ride the sled. It`s very fun.  You can enjoy, too.

2. Top-Spinning game on the Ice

spin a top

 You can spin a top on the ice easily. First,  wind a rope around the top. And put the top on the ice and quickly untie the rope from the top. The top will spin. And hit the top with the rope. And then top will spin fast. I`ve never played spinning the top, yet. But I hope to play the top-spinning game, someday.

-Her Sorrowful life-

 She(1851~1895) was the wife of Gojong(1852∼1919, 26th king of Joseon Dynasty). In 1902, she received the posthumous name  which is often abbreviated as Myeongseong Hwanghu (Hangul: 명성황후, Hanja: 明成皇后), meaning Empress Myeongseong.  She was born in very dignified family. Her name is Min-Ja young. The father of Gojong, Heung-Seon Daewongun(“Daewongun” is a title of King`s fahter, which is not previous king) selected her, because she has no father or mighty family. Her father had passed away, when she was young  This is because before Gojong, there was corrupt politics run by influential person(especially queen`s family). So, Heung-Seon Daewongun want to stop that.

The Japanese considered her as an obstacle against its overseas expansion. Efforts to remove her from the political arena, orchestrated through failed rebellions prompted by the father of King Gojong, Heungseon Daewongun (an influential regent working with the Japanese), compelled the Empress to take a harsher stand against Japanese influence.

After Japan’s victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, Queen Min advocated stronger ties between Korea and Russia in an attempt to block Japanese influence in Korea, which was represented by the Daewongun. Miura Gorō, the Japanese Minister to Korea at the time and a retired army lieutenant-general, backed the faction headed by the Daewongun, whom he considered to be more sympathetic to Japanese interests.

In the early morning of 8 October 1895, sword-bearing assassins allegedly under orders from Miura Gorō entered Gyeongbok Palace. Upon entering the Queen’s Quarters (Okhoru ), the assassins “killed three court [women] suspected of being Empress Myeongseong. When they confirmed that one of them was the Empress, they burned the corpse in the pine forest in front of the Okhoru complex of the immense palace, and then dispersed the ashes.” Queen Min was 43.

okhoru-where Empress was killed

The assassination of the Korean Empress ignited diplomatic protest abroad.[citation needed] To appease growing international criticism,[citation needed] the Japanese government “recalled Miura and placed him under a staged trial at the Hiroshima District Court, while the military personnel involved were tried at the military court. All were given the verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insufficient evidence.”

After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, Miura was honored and awarded a seat at the Privy Council (Sumitsuin), the advisory board to the Emperor.

The Empress’s role has been widely debated by historians. Some Koreans who survived the Japanese occupation[who?] criticize her for failing to militarily resist the Japanese. The Japanese portrayal of Empress Myeongseong forms part of the recent controversy over allegations of revisionist history in Japanese school textbooks.[citation needed]

In South Korea, there is renewed interest in her life because of recent novels, TV drama and musical. In Korea she is viewed by many as a national heroine, for striving diplomatically and politically to keep Korea independent of foreign influence. She had planned to modernize Korea.

Today, there were no pictures of Empress Myungsung, because the Japanese burned all of the photos of her.

This is the music video of the Drama “Empress Myungsung” OST.

-from English I Textbook-

Many foreigners experience culture shock when they come to Korea. If a foreigner asked you questions about our culture, how well would you be able to answer?

Let’s look at the kinds of culture shock they experience, especially concerning our language habits. It is an important duty to be prepared to answer questions like these.
 

[Q1] Why do Korean elders feel offended when foreigners say to them, 먹어요, which means Please eat.?

[A1] You might be wondering about this. Polite expressions are well developed in the Korean language. In Korean society, we are supposed to show respect to our elders. We do this by using a very polite form of speech. 드세요(Deuseyo) is one example of this polite form. In contrast, 먹어(Meogeo) is a very informal form of speech used only with close friends and children. Although foreigners use the respectful form 요(yo) after 먹어(Meogeo) , it is still impolite simply because 먹어(Meogeo)  is an expression for friends and children.

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[Q2] Koreans rarely call each other by their first name except for close friends and children. Why is this?
 

[A2] It’s true. In Korea, it’s not as common to call others by their first name as it is in many other countries. Though students often do use first names among themselves, adults only use first names with their closest friends. At other times, we call people by their first name together with 씨(Mr./Ms.). This is very common among colleagues. To be more polite, we call people by their last name plus 선생님. And sometimes we call someone by his or her full name plus 선생님. This is the most respectful way and is appropriate only in formal situations.

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[Q3] When asked a question such as Aren’t you coming to the concert tonight?, why do Koreans answer 예(yes) when they really can’t come? I am very confused.

[A3] I know what you mean. Our way of using yes and no when answering negative questions in the Korean language is the opposite of yours. Koreans say yes or no based on whether we agree with the meaning of the whole sentence, not based on coming or not coming as in English. We answer yes to the question Aren’t you coming to the concert tonight? when, in fact, we aren’t planning to come. That’s because when speaking English we are often confused by our mother tongue.

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[Q4] When praised, Koreans often insist they did nothing deserving of praise. Why do you do this instead of accepting the praise and saying Thank you.?

[A4] This is done out of modesty; in other words, we feel like we are not deserving of so much praise. However, don’t think that Koreans really dislike being praised. Even though we react this way, we very much appreciate the compliment.

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[Q5] Why do Koreans often ask such private questions as Where are you going? and Have you eaten? to others?
[A5] These questions are used more as greetings than real questions. The strongest stress is on going, not on where. Where are you GOING? actually means Are you going somewhere? The person asking does not expect to hear the name of a place as an answer to the question. The only answer that is expected is a simple Yes. The expected answer to the question Have you eaten? is Yes if the person has eaten and No if he or she hasn’t. Some people just say Yes even if they have not eaten. You shouldn’t misunderstand the question. The person asking isn’t thinking of buying a meal for you!

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[Q6] Why do Koreans use “we” where  ”I” would be used in English?
[A6] Koreans refer to Korea as our country, their wife as our wife, their house as our house, etc. This is because of the strong link between the individual and the group in Korean society. Koreans have very strong feelings of belonging to a group. That’s why we is more natural than I to Korean people.

I am pre-senior in highschool , so  I have to study hard.

Now I will begin to update my blog

Please expect!

The publication of Seoul

I adjust the original logo. Isn`t if cool?

Ordinary, I have aced on the Korean Listening . I have never made mistakes on Korean Listening until today`s test.

I think my head went blank for a moment. So I have two mistakes on Korean Listening.  Also, I have many mistakes on Korean literature.

When there was 15 minutes, I had a stomache suddenly, so I couldn`t review my answer.

And I didn`t good well on my math test. I think math is very hard for me T^T. Today is the one of the worst days in my life.

6. Uihwa Building(의화빌딩)

It is situated in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu. It is composed of 9 floors, 3 floors in the basement and 6 floors on the ground. The first floor is used as the gallery which “LG Chemical” offers the design solution such as interior design, consulting. There is a lounge on the 2 floors. Also other floors are used as the office.

7. Urban-Hive Building 

Take Urban

urban sky garden

 It is located in Gangnam-gu, Nonhyeon-dong . There are hospitals, banks, and offices in the building.  Also there is a “Take Urban(which is cafe, bar)”. And there is “Urban Sky Garden” on the 17th floors.

 8.I`PARK Tower

 It is in Samsung-dong, Kangnam-gu.  Also, it`s the office building of Hyundai Development Company. There is no special features on this building. When I first saw this building, I think that this building is like a water mill. Beacuse it is round and there are some lines across the circle.

 9. New Seoul City Hall

 It is in Junggu. The construction of the new city hall will be finished in February, 2011. Its image is like the eaves traditional Korean-style house. Now, a partition wall hides the process of the construction. The old city hall will be in front of the new buiding to be used as the family library. The gallery, wedding hall, concert hall, sky lounge which are used for citizens, will be made in the new city hall. The new city hall will use the solar energy eco-friendly.

10. Kring (in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu)

I think this building is the most unique and incredible buildings. So I put this buildings in the last. There are cinema, gallery, cafe, sky gardens, conference room, atrium& art square, lounge  in here. I`ve never been there, but I wish I could go there.

1. Yehwarang 

  It is located in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu. This building has 8 floors including the first basement. B1 floor is used  as the interior studio and 1,2 floors are used as art gallery. Also, 3~7 floors are used as the office about design and fashion.  This building won many prizes for good design. Although it is expensive for using office in Yehwarang, but  tenant are pleased to its unique attraction, and efficiency of the wide spaces.

2. Boutique Monaco

 It is located in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu. This building is office-and-residential complex(efficiency apartment). It is composed of 32 floors, 5 floors in the basement and 27 floors on the ground. Also it has 172 rooms and 49 types. The outward appearance represents trees, sky and cloud. It got Top 5 High-rise buildings awards in the world which German Architecture  Museum awarded.

3. The new building of Seongdong-gu office

  It is in Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu. It`s the new office building of Seongdong-gu. The transparent exterior and interior means open-administration for people. It has cultural spaces, convenience facilities such as book cafe, culture hall, garden in rooftop, conference room, permanent stage on the outdoors.

4. Univera Eco-net Center (in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu)

   It is located in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu. It`s the office building of  Univera Company which used aloe to make product such as drink, cosmetics, and health foods.  Many staff works here. Also, musical concert is held on the building every 3rd Tuesday for free. The garden is so beautiful. And there are many glasses window, so sunshines come through them. It feels warm and tender.

5. Eltower 

  It is in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu. This building  is used as wedding hall. And people are surprised to its great scale inside and outside. As you can see in the picutre, interrior is so beautiful and luxury. The last picture is Pyebaek room, which is  a tradition in which the bride and groom make a big bow to the groom’s family, and are blessed in their marriage.