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It fascinates me that just a year and a half in Korea has changed my taste buds so radically.

For example, take barbecue sauce. Before the mission, I hated it. I ate my pulled pork dry and put ketchup on my hamburgers. It smelled good, but the taste was, in the immortal words of every kindergartener, "ICK!" Same with orange juice. I never drank it because I couldn't stand the "metallic taste." At least, that's what I remember not liking about it. Breakfast in my house required two things of juice (and not just because one is never enough for ten people): apple for me, orange for everyone else. But now, I can't get enough barbecue and I love orange juice! In fact, I can't stand ketchup (even thinking about it makes me pull a face) and I never drink apple juice anymore because it's too sweet.

However, never once, not even in a dream of a dream, did I ever eat barbecue on the mission. There may have possibly been a point where I had orange juice, but if I did, I don't remember it particularly. How does coming to love kimchi and garlic affect your taste buds for barbecue and orange juice? I have no idea.

But I still don't like chocolate.

Musings of the Moment

Whether on a international, national, or individual level, the principles of human interaction remain the same. Everyone wants to be respected for who they are, treated well, and have the other person listen sincerely to their point of view. Most conflicts result from selfishness and greed or misunderstanding. Two parties with genuine concern for the other will always find common ground. Patience, long-suffereing, and a habit of giving the other party the benefit of the doubt is essential to maintaining good relationships. Fighting over stuff is rarely worth it; in the end, it's all going to have to be left behind, while our character, our relationships, and our understanding and knowledge follow us into the next life. Don't jeopardize the latter for the former.

Of course, it's awfully simple to say all those things, but true though they may be, they're much harder to implement in your personal life, let alone at the national and international levels. Still, "It was hard" is not an excuse I think the Lord will accept at the Day of Judgment.

I guess that means I'd better get my bottom in gear.

"Of the people, by the people, for the people"

One of the main reasons I chose to come to Utah State was so that I could study what I'm interested in - Korea, or more broadly, Asia. My classes this semester include one on Chinese government and politics and one on the Cold War in Asia, which, for those of you who aren't familiar with either, are filled with a lot of fighting.

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In my Chinese government class, we're working our way to the present day, and are currently learning about the Sino-Japanese War that was a part of World War II (but most people in America don't know about, since we were only involved in an advisory capacity), and the civil war between the Communists and the Nationalist that followed it. It would probably be more accurate to say encompassed it, since the fighting started before the Japanese invaded, was temporarily suspended while China tried to fight the Japanese, and resumed towards the end of the fighting with the Japanese. In my Cold War class we're currently studying the first war in Vietnam. What? you say. There was another war in Vietnam? Yes, there was, and they don't really mention it in history class in American high schools. Vietnam was a French colony starting in the 19th century, and after World War II, the French were reluctant to let such a great source of natural resources go. But the Vietnamese understandably would have liked to have control of their own country, and so the nationalists, led by Ho Chi Minh, started a guerilla war with the French. And left to their own devices, they would have pushed the French right out of Vietnam. Only, Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh had Communist ideology. And Communist ideology -- or more correctly, the Communist power bloc -- was exactly what the United States was deathly afraid of in the 1950s. So what do you think happened?

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Needless to say, combined with the events currently taking place in the Middle East and northern Africa, this has really set me thinking. My first thought was to be disappointed that America was so often so quick to put the short-term goal of immediate stability and national interest over the long-term goal of helping the citizens of the country establish a self-sustaining government that followed the voice of the people. For all our rhetoric about democracy and the rights of the people America has historically done more to secure its own economic or political safety over supporting government "of the people, by the people, for the people". Yes, I understand that things are much clearer in hindsight, and that policymakers felt that the Soviet Union controlled any and all Communism in a huge plot to take over the world, and even that when you can't know the future you have to make decisions based on the best information you have. But I still claim the right to be disappointed that my childhood view of the US as the greatest country in the world, Supporter of Liberty, Democracy, and People's Rights, is not as true I was taught it was in sixth grade social studies.

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I Wish I Had a Camera

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We got quite a bit of snow the other night. In fact, it all came down in the space of just a few hours -- when I went in to volunteer at the English Learning Center, it was raining lightly. Two hours later when I left, the snow was above my ankles and it was covering my car faster than I could brush it off. I couldn't find my fuel door, even. I wish I had a camera, a nice one, so that I could do the beautiful scenery justice. It's been years since I've seen mountains covered with snow. Photography is one of those things that I wish I was good at, because I love pictures; but I'm just not. I especially love light in both photographs and films, and good lighting can make the difference between average and amazing. Maybe one day I'll take a class and improve my skills, even if I can't be great.

Recently I've started volunteering at the English Learning Center here in the city (which was, coincidentally, founded and is run by one of my neighbors from my old neighborhood when I lived here before) and also as an English conversation partner for a USU international student. As you'd expect, most of the students at the ELC are from Spanish-speaking countries, but there are also quite a few from other places; Wednesday night there was a boy from Somalia, a girl from Myanmar, and another girl from Georgia. My student is Korean (yay!) and through her I've gotten to meet other Korean students. There are quite a few more than I thought there would be, though not as many as are at BYU. It's nice to have people to talk to about things like dramas and music and TV shows that no one here watches or listens to, and they think I'm cool instead of weird for doing it. But anyway. The point of all that was to share how much I'm enjoying helping people learn English. I think I'm pretty good at explaining things understandably, mostly because my parents always taught me about my own language when I was growing up, and so I have a greater awareness of it than most people. Plus, I know what it's like to be on the other end and be the one learning rather than the one teaching. I think it makes me more patient and understanding. Or at least I hope so. Learning another language is hard, and there's so much you have to learn from experience and hundreds or even thousands of hours of listening and speaking. But I love seeing the light of understanding in people's eyes when they finally understand something they've been struggling with for a long time. I love teaching for that reason. Because as admirable as it is to help people attain stuff, if you help someone attain understanding, you've changed their life forever and given them the tools to help themselves. 

A Peek at My iTunes Favorites List

I've been posting about music a lot lately, so I thought I'd just go right ahead and post about it some more. ^_^ At this very moment, my Favorites list stands thusly:


Total tracks: 44
Of those 44 tracks, 10 are in English.
The other 34 are in Korean.
Genre-wise of the 10 English tracks, 4 are alternative, 1 is folk, 1 is pop, and 4 are rock
Of the Korean tracks, 2 are from drama soundtracks, 2 are hip-hop, 7 are indie/indie rock, 16 are kpop, 2 are R&B, and 4 are rock
The most-played song (95 times since mid-August) is 비오는 날 (Rainy Day) by 김사랑 (Kim Sarang).
The least played songs (tied at five plays each) are Kingdom Come by Coldplay and No Response by MUTEMATH (to be fair, they haven't been on the list very long).
The most represented artist is 동방신기 (also known as TVXQ) with four songs;  10cm, No Reply, and the Yellow Monsters (all Korean indie/indie rock bands) come in second with three songs.


Putting my playlist on random, the first five songs are:

Just Tonight by Jimmy Eat World (a huge favorite my first year at SJC)

노을 (Sunset) by Every Single Day (from the My Princess OST)

처음 사랑하는 연인들을 위해 (반말송) by 정용화 (the song I posted yesterday, so I'll post another, too)

Kingdom Come by Coldplay

아무것도 아닌것을 (It Isn't Nothing) by Yellow Monsters

HEY! (Don't Bring Me Down) by 동방신기 (DBSK/TVXQ)

For First-time Lovers

처음 사랑하는 연인들을 위해 (For First-time Lovers) - 정용화 (Jung Yong-hwa)

This is a song about a concept that doesn't really exist in English. As some of you know and others of you don't, Korean is a language where levels of politeness are worked right into the grammar. Depending on your relationship to another person, you change how you say some words and you change other words all together. The formal half of this system is called 존댓말 (jondaemal) and the informal half is called 반말 (banmal, literally "half words" because you form it mostly by chopping off the polite endings used in jondaemal). (A good discussion about both jondaemal and banmal can be found by clinking on the links here: jondaemal and banmal.) To summarize, jondaemal is what you use with people who are superior to you in some way, whether by age, status, or otherwise, or with equals you're not especially close to or with whom you would like to maintain a polite or respectful relationship. Banmal is used to your social inferiors or with close friends or those older than you with whom you have a close relationship. 

So now you have a bit of a context to understand the context of this song. It's actually based on the actual experience of the singer (who also wrote and composed it, with a little help on the lyrics), Jung Yong-hwa, with his on-screen "wife" who is a few years younger than him. He sings about how he wants them to have a relationship where they can both speak banmal to each other -- in other words, both be comfortable enough to speak to each other informally, and thus remove the barrier of formal language. It's really quite a pleasant song, even if you don't know the words; I think, though, that the person who uploaded the song onto YouTube also has a translation of the lyrics if you care to click through.

And now, just because I can, and just because I love my Super Junior, I'll share my little sister's favorite music video ever (with English subtitles), 너 같은 사람 또 없어 (No Other).

It Is Enough

Yesterday I was reading in Matthew when I read in chapter 14 the story of the feeding of the five thousand (vv. 15-21). Usually I love chapter 14 for one of my favorite stories in the Bible, of Jesus walking on the water, but yesterday it was the story of the feeding of the five thousand that struck me particularly. 


The thing that stood out to me was the response of the disciples to Jesus' command to give the multitude food instead of sending them away to buy their own. They replied, "We have here but five loaves, and two fishes" (v. 17).  But what they forgot what that they also had the Savior there. The Son of God. They'd seen Him perform countless miracles and yet they still told the Savior that what He commanded was impossible. They didn't expect a miracle. They hadn't yet learned to know with all their hearts, like Nephi, that, "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7). Instead, they looked at the situation literally, at their five loaves and two fishes and the thousands of people around them, and said it couldn't be done. They responded first, "We can't" instead of, "Lord, how should we?"


Of course, I am guilty of exactly the same mentality. So many times, in one way or another, I have told the Lord, "It is not enough." That "it" might be my abilities, my time, my inclination, even. Instead of replying with faith, as the brother of Jared did, "I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man. . . . Behold, O Lord, thou cast do this. [I] know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of man" (Ether 3:4-5), I say with the disciples, 'What I have is not enough to accomplish what Thou hast required of me. I cannot do it. It cannot be done.'

But it can, and it will if you have faith, because God is a God of miracle (see Moroni 7:27-33). And then, if you have faith and trust that the Lord knows more than you do, and that all things can be accomplished thorough faith in Him, the Lord will make whatever you have -- time, ability, resources, motivation, faith, anything -- enough, and to spare (see Matthew 14:17-20).

"L is for the way you Look at me"

Vodka Rain - 그 어떤 말로도 (There Are No Words) (feat. 장윤주 (Jang Yoon-joo))

I've been thinking a lot about the 'L word' recently. Not because it's February and the month of "love", but because I think any major change in your life makes you examine things in a new light.


I heard a commercial on the radio the other day as I was driving home, for a jewelry store. The gist of the add was that if you buy your woman a diamond necklace, your sad pathetic attempts to be romantic will be well reinterpreted in light of the fact that the diamond cost a lot. Or that it has magical properties to convey more love than, say, a pearl. Or breakfast in bed. Or whatever. 

Honestly, that really bothers me. Honestly, I think buying your girlfriend, or wife, flowers and chocolates and diamonds on Valentine's Day is something of a copout. I'm not saying that there aren't those women who love those things, but if you put no more thought into picking up some flowers than, "Oh, it's Valentine's Day -- guess I better get some flowers and chocolates" I think that you've completely missed the point. It becomes less an expression of love than it is an expression of social conformity. Take me for example. I have nothing against flowers, per se, but I don't like chocolate. If someone gave me chocolate, for any occasion, one of two things is true: 1) They've probably only known me for about a week, or 2) They haven't paid attention very well, or just don't remember. If I got chocolate from an admirer, I'd actually be pretty disappointed. As in all things, the intention and spirit in which you do things is what's important. 












Over the last few years I've come to realize more and more that love is a language -- and sometimes we're not all speaking the same one. What says "I love you" to one person isn't really anything special to another person, or it could even have an entirely different message all together. There are so many things that go into expressions of love, verbal and non-verbal, mental, emotional. Any one of those things could be misinterpreted. It's why we have dramas, and drama in our own lives. Love takes a lot of faith, I think. The more you love someone, the more they have the power to hurt you, even inadvertently. Some people aren't willing to take that risk. Others are much too eager.

Of course, love isn't limited to just the romantic kind. Our lives would be incomplete and rather emotionally monochrome without the love of family and friends. But I think the same principles apply: mutual respect, sincerity, trust, communication, and loyalty, to name a few. And constant nourishing and cultivating. Relationships are a lot like houseplants: leave them untended too long and they wither and die.

Hello, February

Ah, February. I've often wondered why February was the month that got shafted. Poor February, only 28 days.

If only I had something wise to say. I don't, though. Today was a lovely day, however. Just a lowkey, fun day. I learned something in Chinese Government and Politics, had a great Marriage Prep class for Institute afterwords, went to the temple, dropped in on my other grandma to chat about the social ills afflicting America today (my grandma is not the type to make you cookies and ask about your day -- she's more the type to lecture you on mental health issues or tell you five places to look for a job), went to the library and came home with a pile of books, and was treated to dinner by my aunt and uncle. All in all, not a bad day at all. Rather a good way to start of a new month.