Naming a child in Korea

      Most Korean names have three parts: a first name, a middle name, and a last name. After the first boy is named, the parents give the second boy either the same first name or the same middle name of the first boy. The same is true of girl babies. For example, my name is Seon Mi Choi. Seon means kind, Mi means beautiful and Choi means best. When my sister was born, my parents gave her my first name and added 'Ae', which means love, so her name is Seon Ae Choi. Therefore, her two names together mean beautiful love.      
      This way of naming a child is a Korean tradition. Sometimes, it results in a strange name, and people who have those strange names are unhappy about them. Nowadays, many parents don't name their children this way, but I like this way. If we use this way, we can feel our kinship between brothers and brother or sisters and sisters.

Advertisements target children

      There are many kinds of advertisements for children. For example, there are advertisements for snacks, toys, clothes and TV programs. Also, television commercials influence children. When I was a child, there were many commercials for children in Korea. At that time, I watched a cartoon called The Rose in Versailles. The actress was very beautiful. One of the toy companies made a doll representing this actress, and advertised it on TV. I bought that doll after watching the commercial. I had many same experiences. Maybe most people have these experiences as a child.

Designer babies

      Sometimes, some parents have babies who have defective genes. No parents want that. If we genetically engineer babies, we can change babies' genes. Then, we will have disease free or perfect babies. I want to have taller, smarter, fitter and nicer babies, but I don't know if my babies will have these characteristics. If genetic engineering is possible, I will use it.

Interviewed about the death penalty

     I interviewed my friend's roommates who are college students in Michigan and live in my dormitory.

      The first one said that she had not thought about the death penalty, but if a person killed someone, that person should receive harsh punishment - the death penalty. She said sometimes, the death penalty is necessary for our society.

      The second girl said that it was a good punishment. She said most murderers will kill again and again because they are cruel. Then we need the death penalty to prevent murders. She also said the murderer had to accept responsibility for his crime.

My opinion of the death penalty

      I think the death penalty is necessary, so I support it. Killing the murderer doesn't bring the victim back, but the murderer has to accept responsibility for killing another person. If we send the murderer to prison, it is not enough punishment. Also, if we free them, they might commit another crime, so we have to give the death penalty to the murderer.

Lawsuit about obesity

      In class we have been reading and talking about obesity. I found an interesting, online article on this topic: " Fast food chains caused obesity."


      It tells about a man who sued four leading fast food chains. He claimed their food made him become obese and caused him to suffer from other serious health problems.

      I didn't like fast food when I lived in Korea, but sometimes I ate it. However I never knew about the bad effects of eating it, so I was surprised to find out about them.

A traditional Korean folktale

 Gold and Silver Ax, retold by Seon Mi and Andy     

     Once upon a time, there lived a man who had a warm heart. He was a woodcutter, and he was poor. He had to take care of his parents. Cutting tree was the only way to make money, so he used to go to the forest to cut down trees. 

One day, while he was cutting a tree near the pond, he dropped his ax in the pond by mistake. He became anxious because if he didn't have an ax, he could not earn money. He started to worry about his parents.

"How will I take care of my parents?" 

Suddenly, the god of the mountains showed up from the pond. The god of the mountains asked him.

" Why are you sad?"

" My ax fell into the pond. If I don't have my ax, I won't be able to
earn any money." he said.

"I am willing to bring you your ax,??? the god of the mountains said and disappeared. The god of the mountains soon appeared with a gold ax.

" Is this gold ax yours?" the god of the mountains asked.

" No, It isn't." he answered.

The god of the mountains disappeared again. He came back with a silver ax, and asked him.

"Is this silver ax yours?"

The woodcutter answered, " No, it isn't."

"Then, is this old metal ax yours? " the god of the mountains asked. .

The woodcutter answered, " Yes, it's mine, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much."

The god of the mountains said with a smile, "You are very honest. I will give you all three axes as a reward."

The god of the mountains gave him all three axes. The woodcutter was very happy. He and his parents lived happily ever after.

English words we use

      We use many English words in Korean, especially to talk about cosmetics and high tech.

      Korean women like to use cosmetics, and if you go into a cosmetic shop you can easily hear English being spoken, not Korean. Korean women are using English words, such as foundation, mascara, lotion and lipstick. Most women use these words more and more ; even men are using them.

      In Korea, we use computers everyday, and when we talk about high tech, we also use English words. I think all computer words are English. You often hear Koreans saying these words ; Internet, e-mail, web, site, messenger and file. All around the world people are using these same words to talk about computers. A long time ago, there were no computers, so we didn't have these words. When the computer was invented it had and English name and pople used English to talk about this technology. We borrowed these tech words from English and started to use them.