Happy New Year 2011

Cannot believe there's only two days left for the year 2010!!

Any good ideas to spend unforgettable two days of 2010?

anyways ,this is last Day and last hours of the Year .. Forget the negative things . memorize the cool things .

Happy New Year^^

Love

The 14th Inje Icefish Festival

At this spectacular winter festival visitors will be able to try out ice fishing and exciting games such as human bowling on ice, ice soccer, and even a tug-of-war on ice. For those icefish fanatics there will be an icefish eating competition, and visitors can sample the icefish.

For more information http://www.injefestival.co.kr/

Period : January 28 – February 6, 2011
Venue : Soyang Lake area, Inje county, Gangwon-do

Mt. Taebaek Snow Festival 2011

Every winter Mt. Taebaek turns silvery under a blanket of snow. This snow festival includes pop celebrities’ congratulatory performance, nationwide snow sculpture contest by students majoring in fine arts, climbing contest, family snowman making contest, sled riding etc.

http://festival.taebaek.go.kr/

Period : January 21 – 30, 2011
Venue : Mt. Taebaek Provincial Park, Gangwon-do

Korea’s Ancient Capitals

The present is an accumulative total of the past. So, if you want to really know about the present of a country, you need to delve deep into its age-long history.

And learning about its past capitals – the central locations for the country’s politics and culture – will be a very helpful and significant approach.

The cities of Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan were designated as the ancient capitals of Korea in accordance with the Special Act on the Preservation of Ancient Capitals decree enacted in March 2005.

For a city to become a capital, it must be some place that is well-suited for residence; a strategic location against foreign invasions; and an all-around convenient spot for overseeing the country. That’s why capitals are usually located near a big river, surrounded by mountains, and furnished with a broad expanse of fertile planes.

Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan

The Baekje Kingdom (18 BCE – 660 CE), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla, controlled some colonies in China and most of the western Korean Peninsula at its peak in the 4th century and was a significant regional sea power.

In the 5th century, Baekje retreated under the southward military threat of Goguryeo, and in 475 its capital moved to Ungjin (present-day Gongju). Gongju is home to numerous historic sites including Gongsanseong Fortress, Magoksa Five-story Stone Pagoda, and Seokjang-ri Old Stone Age Ruins.

In 538, King Seong moved the capital to Sabi (present-day Buyeo County), home to significant relics such as the five-storied stone pagoda of Jeongnimsa Temple site and Banwollu Tower.

Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC-935 AD) which ruled most of the Korean Peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries. A vast number of archaeological sites and cultural properties from this period remain in the city. Among such historical treasures, Seokguram grotto, Bulguksa temple, Gyeongju Historic Areas and Yangdong Folk Village are designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The many major historical sites have helped Gyeongju to become one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Korea.

A Map of Korea’s Ancient Capitals

The Cultural Heritage Administration recently published a map of Korea’s ancient capitals in English as a tourist guide to important historical sites in Korea.

The “Ancient Capitals Tour” map is designed to be easy to carry and use. The map provides information on the history, geography, folklore, and contemporary situation of the four ancient capitals in South Korea: Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan.

The map also provides useful tourist information, including guides to accommodations and public transportation. Maps will be distributed free of charge at cultural centers and tourism agencies.

View all

Get your own

Growing Coffee on Jeju Island

Love for coffee is getting pandemic these days. You can find a coffee shop in every block of a sizable office district. Some people go so far as buying espresso machines and other coffee gadgets to furnish in their own homes. (Well, being one of those crazy coffee lovers myself, I am just being envious.)

Coffee is a highly sensitive plant, requiring specific growing conditions. It grows in subtropical regions where the temperature stays above 10 degrees Celsius even during winter. That’s why farming coffee has been mostly considered out of the question in Korea.

Well, Ms. Roh Jin-Yi doesn’t accept that.

north to 25 degrees south of the equator>

Korea’s First Coffee Farmer

The first coffee farmer in Korea, Ms. Roh has invested all her money and energy in farming coffee in a 400-pyeong (1 pyeong equals 3.3 square meters) green house in Jeju City since early 2008.

Despite the unfavorable conditions, even Jeju being too cold, Ms. Roh has been persistent in realizing her dream of cultivating coffee. And she has succeeded to reap enough coffee for about 10% of Jeju citizens to sample taste.

And last October, Ms. Roh even held the first Jeju Coffee Festival in her own coffee plantation. At the festival, there was coffee tasting, coffee drinking competitions, hands-on experience of roasting coffee beans and hand-dripping.

Hard Work, But I Love It

Ms. Roh is currently growing some 25,000 coffee trees in a 5,600 square meters plantation. And it is no easy job looking after those highly sensitive plants. They have to be watered twice a day (at the break of dawn and around sunset) for 3, 4 hours. A storm hits, and the fragile plants get all knocked out of their pots, and Ms. Roh has to spend many sleepless days harnessing them back in. They also need to get nutrition shots at regular, designated times.

Roh says she does not expect coffee farming to become a profitable business.

“It’s costly to keep the green house warm and it takes 3 to 5 years from germination to harvest. But I’m doing this not because I want to make money, but because I like it,” says the coffee farmer. And adds, “If I make money later, I would like to build a coffee museum,” expressing her ultimate ambition.Many cheers and well wishes to her dream!

Happy New Year 2011

Thank you EVERYONE for EVERYTHING! This year has been so amazing and I feel so blessed to experience so many great things at my age in such little time! I love you all so much! you guys are my Xmas & New year presents!!
I can't thank you enough!!
Happy X'MAS & NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! ♥♥

New Year just around the corner and now people are looking for New Year’s New for 2011.Now that Christmas over, we have a new year to look forward and celebrate the triumph coming in 2011. New Year brings with it a lot of hope, joy and resolutions, New Year, which are sometimes, but in most cases they end with the celebration of New Year!

Korea to cut scholarships for foreigners

Just want to share to NIIED's Students in Korea

The Korean government plans to cut its full scholarship program for foreign students, who receive money for university tuition, housing and monthly allowances, by 40 percent. An official at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Monday that some 400 foreign nationals, 300 fewer than this year’s 700, will be eligible for the scholarship program in 2011. “Due to a shortage in the annual budget, we have to cut down the number of government-invited students. Instead, we will select highly qualified students to improve the quality of the program,” the official told The Korea Times. The number of foreign students on the program, jumped to 745 in 2008, from 133 in 2007; it fell to 504 in 2009, before rising again to 700 this year. A total of 2,000 foreigners are studying here under the state program as of this year. The ministry is considering removing the “grace period” for program participants in order to save money. If they fail to pass their courses, master’s and doctorate degree seekers are able to extend their stay here by a semester and year, respectively. With the aim of making state scholarships a Korean national branding project similar to the Fulbright Program, the ministry this year integrated all programs into the “Global Korea Scholarship” project, which has a budget of 51.5 billion won ($46.6 million). The National Institute for International Education (NIIED), an agency under the ministry, oversees the scholarship program that is offered in some 120 countries around the world. Korean embassies overseas or Korean universities recommend undergraduate or graduate hopefuls for the scholarship. The scholarship students have to meet the minimum qualification; a grade point average (GPA) over 80 percent and grade three — out of six — in the Test of Proficiency in Korean.

CREDITS : KOREATIMES

Merry Xmas to everyone!

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• 。★Christmas★。* 。