Monday, December 10, 2007

My Favorite thing in Iowa City- Cambus?


My most favorite thing in Iowa City is Cambus.
It is amazing bus system, because students drive Cambus from very early morning to midnight. Also, it is free to everybody, not only students but also other people including foreigners or visitors. Inside the Cambus, there are seats for wheelchairs,
which can be assembled, when the disabled got on the Cambus. One day morning, I took a Cambus to go to school and one guy who sat on the wheelchair was also waiting for the bus. He got on the bus lastly and a Cambus driver operated some machine to lift the wheelchair very skillfully.
After that, he made some space to place the wheelchair near the rear door, folding up three seats. He moved the man in wheelchair into the space and then fixed the wheelchair
not to shake with some chains, making sure the safety of the wheelchair man.
It impressed me, even though it took more time than ordinary days!
Drivers were already trained how to deal with people in wheelchair or people with physical
disability. It is amazing!
I was able to see valuable spirit in Iowa; it was mutual respect regardless of person's appearance. I like Iowans who are taking care of the weak, even in Cambus.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

My hometown, Jeju island


My hometown, Jeju Island is famous for natural environment like New Zealand.

In the past, there was no public transportation between Jeju and Korea peninsula and that is the reason why Jeju has its own culture and distinct dialect, which Korean cannot understand the Jeju dialect, compared to dialects from other provinces in Korea. This physical isolation allowed ecological environment of Jeju to be protected, keeping its own natural beauty. However, the lives of people in Jeju was extremely tough because most land consisted of rocks, so-called ‘basalt’, just including small amounts of soil. Therefore, residents in Jeju were hardly able to raise crops such as rice or wheat. The main industry was fishing but the sea waves were so strong due to frequent typhoons in summer. As a result, people from Jeju seem to have a strong viability regardless of any hard situations. I like this kind of viability. I want to say it, the frontier spirit or indomitable spirit. Maybe I inherited it from my parents, grandparents, grand-grand parents…..

Now, Jeju is very well-known for tourism, especially honeymoon place because of its beautiful scenery and exotic food. Owing to convenient transportation like airplanes or ships, many people can go in and out Jeju. Many people in Jeju have tangerine orchards like my parents. Tangerine is a kind of fruit. Its taste and yellow color are similar to orange, but the size is smaller than orange. I really like tangerines, sweet and a little bit sour. My parents harvest them this late autumn to beginning winter season.

In the future, I think that the number of tangerine orchards may decrease because it cannot make enough profits for people. My parents are also concerned about that. My parents raised my brothers, sister, and me through money from the tangerine harvest. I don’t know why the Korean government does not support farming like other developed countries. I want the government to present some alternatives to innocent farmers for the future.