What makes you happy?
For me today, it was a tomato. Remember the old Korean man who fixed my shoes?
He took a break from his shameless flirting (above, tsk tsk) to give me a tomato. I was at the red light, waiting to cross the street, when he placed one in the palm of my hand. Of course I turned into a romantic, and smelled it. Who smells a tomato!?
I wasn't feeling the text books today so I read my middle school kids excerpts from 'My Korea, Also Yours,' a collection of stories, essays and poems by Kim Young-won, all of which originally appeared in the English Language daily, The Korea Herald.
Kim Young-won on being happy: Each and every one of us has his or her own idea of what happiness is. Some people identify it with God, others with love, and still others, with a rainbow.
I was disappointed by my students' answers, especially because a teenage girl recently blew me away with her interpretation of a Korean poem. Her analysis was wise beyond her years.
Today the answer I got, from every student, was, "money." Money and a "big apartment" equals happiness. How sad is that?
11 comments:
I thnk health is the most important. Health allows me to enjoy all those other things such as love, pleasure, friendship. Money is just a facilitator to enjoying those things more easily. It is not a source of happiness itself. In fact some of my happiest times have been doing free activities, and some of my most enjoyable meals have been in cheap and cheerful restaurants.
I once described being rich as being able to eat a vine ripe tomato year round. I think it really is being able to eat one during the right season because it is so nice when it happens. To have a person connect with me and share a tomato is an act of kindness beyond compare. Now what can you do that will make his day? Would a Rice Crispy treat be his treat of the day? Great pictures and great posts. MUD
I love the smell of tomato plants, and the way your hands smell after picking tomatoes. Mmmmm!
What makes me happy... being with my family, doing a good job on a big project, and spontaneously going out to eat.
YES, without health you have nothing. I say health, then family, then something that personally fulfills you- something you're passionate about.
Helena- yeah, 'aint life grand
Hey Mud! I'm so happy you returned.
YES, I owe him a thank you. I was thinking kimbap might do the trick. I haven't seen rice crispy treats here and sadly don't own an oven ;p
I like your saying about happiness and tomatoes off the vine.
HI~ I m 16 years old korean boy. I have read some of ur posts. Very interesting story from Canadian who experienced many things from korea. Actually I came here to read "Dating in Korea "
Cuz i have a friend who is foreigner.I wanted to know how western woman thing of korean guy.
Anyway, it's good to read your other posts, what u have experienced here. Cyu ~!
Dear Eva
Great shots. What camera are you using? What makes me happy? My new camera (it's a Nikon D80) and I bought it in Yongsan - Seoul just a few weeks ago.
So funny because I'm currently living in Suwon starting up an office for my company here.
Why am I posting here? Well, I'm about to leave back to Sweden soon but my colleague who will take over after me is doing some research on what to do in Suwon and he stumbled upon your page. I figured I'd take my chances to act as a stalker, saying hi to perfect strangers. I just had to since you live in the same town. :)
Hope you are having a fun time in Korea. We are having a blast. If you don't feel like a bunch of Swedish people sounds to weird, leave some message on your blog and we'll keep in touch.
Kindest regards,
Martin
Youngman- Hey! I have a lot of 16 year old students. I'm always asking them questions about Korea... I'm glad my site gives you a little insight into a typical Western girl
Martin- Bla, your camera is one notch better than mine ;) What company do you work for? Glad you're enjoying Suwon! It's certainly close enough to Seoul.
I'm pretty busy these days but I appreciate your invite!
Eva, You make rice krispy treats by melting butter and marshmallows together in a Microwave and stirring into a big bowl of rice krispies. No oven. I hope you were kidding. MUD
hahaha! NO not kidding. I guess it has been a while.
Cereal is SO expensive in Korea! It is just now becoming popular. I'm 100% positive they don't have "Rice Krispy" cereal at MY grocery store.
One kid in my class says he eats his corn flakes in HOT milk, with marshmallows! Ew, so soggy!
I still enjoy your blog. You're such a good photographer (I mean, I really like them!)
Some of your posts gave me ideas about places to go :)
Thank's for that :)
Hope that time will not be to long until you go back home.
à bientot,
Emmanuel also named "Frenchie"
Hi Eva
The company I work for is www.scalado.com we work with JPEG images in mobile devices. So in Korea we work with Korean mobile device manufacturers to improve their imaging experience and to provide some cool image editing features, camera applications, photo albums and other mobile device applications which make the world a better place. And yes, we are techies and love our graphics and images.
If you get bored and change your mind the invitation is standing.
Have a great day,
Martin
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