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Book Review: Factfullness by Hans Rosling

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The book, Factfullness It is said that when someone speaks in Korean you have to hear him or her out. That’s because the structure of Korean sentences is first the subject and then other elements such as objects and last the verb. So you can find out what the subject did finally with the object at the end of the sentence.   This book is pretty much like that.   In the beginning part of the book, probably many people might feel annoyed because of the author’s strong condemning rhetoric which sounds like “You’re wrong!”, “How don’t you know this?” or “You’re ignorant!” I felt uncomfortable for it at first, too. And I thought many media outlets, journalists and activists who were trying to make the better world might be against him, because he was apparently against them in the book.    But I ended up to get inspired and impressive by the author, Hans Rosling.   This book let me understand and acknowledge in how biased way many people, including me, are thinking about the world.
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What is Kimjang?

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1. What Is Kimjang?   Kimjang(or Gimjang, 김장) is a Korean old tradition of making a big amount of kimchi for eating during long cold winter. In Korea basically vegetables fo r kimchi, such as cabbage, radish, green onion, can’t grow well in the natural environment of cold winter. Although these days we can get the fresh ingredients easily even in winter thanks to greenhouses and other high tech farming and logic system, we still have this tradition. A family doing kimjang.   Making a big amount of kimchi at once is not just for preserving and eating it for a long time, also for sharing it with family and neighbors. So it is a big annual event for most of households and many local communities in Korea. Some communities do kimjang for charity. They donate kimjang kimchi to vulnerable groups in the society. That is why kimjang is very meaningful in many aspects.    Normally kimjang is done between late November and early December. It depends on the region and the weather condition. In t
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Recommendation of Itinerary for Short Trip around Deoksugung in Seoul

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   From 9:00 am to 1:30 pm on Sunday, November 20th, 2022, we had Deoksugung(덕수궁, 德壽宮) tour. The tour story of inside of Deoksugung in detail is on the previous blog post. This blog post is about where we visited to sightsee other than Deoksugung and what we had for breakfast, lunch and dessert.    We searched information about the area for days to make the itinerary for this short trip, because this was our first visit to Deoksugung with a wheelchair. Most places we visit are wheelchair accessible with a little help.   Deoksugung area is less busy and crowded than Gyeongbokgung (경복궁, 景福宮), but it is a hot touristy spot in Seoul too. In lunch time streets started to be crowded(not that much though) with tourists, residents and people who just finished to worship at churches near by. There are two big churches near Deoksugung, Seoul Anglican Cathedral of St. Mary & St. Nicholas and Chungdong First Methodist Church, which were also famous touristy places. Additionally office wor
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Deoksugung : The Korean Royal Palace in Seoul Mixed with Tradition and Modern

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   Deoksugung Palace is one of five representative Korean royal palaces in Seoul, South Korea. The biggest royal palace is Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) in Gwanghwamun area. Others are Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Gyeonghuigung. All five palaces are in the center of the district north of the Han River. Inside of Deoksugung with autumn leaves.   Deoksugung(덕수궁, 德壽宮), which means the palace of virtuous longevity, is the smallest one among five royal palaces, but it seems that many Koreans, especially Seoul citizens love Deoksugung the most, because of its grace and beauty, and sad history as well. First and foremost, this palace is in many people’s daily lives. Because it is surrounded with office buildings, schools, churches and shops. Many Seoul, even Gyeonggi and Incheon citizens work, study, walk, eat, drink and take buses or subway to home right by the palace everyday.     It is unique that there are Western and modern structures inside of this traditional palace. Most of structures w
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