Oct-24-2012 KSNE Vol.13, No.40

Page 16 2012년 10월 24일 수요일 한인회보English Section

In Search of Korearsquos Tea CultureEarly Decision Early Action With temperatures continuing to drop and trees beginning to show the richer redder hues of autumn few things are more inviting than a steaming cup of tea Whether needing a quick defense on unexpect-edly chilly mornings or still low on energy after a draining summer a hot drink with nutritional ben-efits to boot is an ideal fall staple

In Korea where the culture of tea consumption and cultivation as both lifestyle and ritual can be traced back to the 7th century AD regard for the multifold merits of tea is particularly high Even as consumersrsquo enthusiasm for coffee continues to grow efforts to preserve Korearsquos rich tea heritage also continue

Tea culture in Korean history

ldquoMore than a luxury or a hobby our tea culture boasts a long history and is significant in terms of royal rituals as well as social etiquetterdquo said Kim Eui-jung the title holder for Seoulrsquos Intangible Cul-tural Property No 27 Gungjung Darye (royal tea ceremony) Writings by Kim on the historical development and practice of darye (tea ceremony) make refer-ence to records that show that the ceremony was practiced in Silla during the Three Kingdoms era (57-668) According to Samguk Yusa an account of this period tea was offered up together with rice cakes alcohol and fruits as part of ancestral rites performed for the royal family

In the Samguk Sagi (History of the Three King-doms) the custom of drinking tea is said to have spread widely from the reign of Queen Seondeok (632-647) of Silla to that of King Heungdeok (826-836) The Silla hwarang or literally ldquoflower boysrdquo an elite group of male youths who received aris-tocratic educations as well as training in various military skills are described as enjoying tea boiled in stone braziers with the practice of drinking tea allowing the hwarang to build camaraderie as well as make showings of proper etiquette within their ranks Monks during this time are also recorded as having enjoyed tea which was used in sacrifices at temples Tea was a favorite pastime for Wonhyo a leading scholar-monk in the Korean Buddhist tradition and it was famously offered up by another monk as a gift to King Gyeongdeok (742-765) remembered

for commissioning the construction of Bulguksa Temple During the Goryeo Kingdom the tea culture flour-ished together with the spread of Buddhism becom-ing a fixture not only in the royal palace but also among literary figures and in religious settings Tea was an essential part of formal as well as informal rites presented at ceremonies celebrating the birth-days and weddings of royalty as well as those wel-coming foreign envoys Drinking to our health

One aspect of Korean culture highlighted in the practice of drinking various teas is the traditional be-lief standardized by traditional medicine that food and medicine are homologous -- good food can be in and of itself good medicine for the body More-over ingredients that make good medicine can also become a welcome part of good food Among the kinds of tea or cha traditionally en-joyed in Korea are those made from grains mixtures of various plant leaves fruits flower blossoms and medicinal extracts Teas made from grain in-clude the creamy yulmu tea made from powdered jobrsquos tears and cornsilk tea lauded for being rich in antioxidants Popular leaf teas include duchung tea which uses eucommia bark a favorite ingredi-ent in herbal medicine as well as persimmon leaf tea Sweeter options like yuja (citron) and mogwa (quince) are also popular Chrysanthemum tea and insam (ginseng) tea made from the plant buds and roots show the wide range of Korean teas

Experience Korearsquos tea culture

From preparation to drinking tea was traditionally regarded in Korea less as a beverage and more as an experience The sound of the hot water as it is care-fully poured the sight of varyingly clear and colored liquids filling empty cups the unique aromas that are created by different mixtures of ingredients the hands that extend with poise to bring the tea to the tasterrsquos lips and the first appreciative and slow sip -- the experience is described as one that appeals to all five senses

For those interested in learning more about Ko-rearsquos traditional tea ceremonies the Korea Tea Cul-ture Association holds a Traditional Tea Etiquette program in Seoul at Yeongchunheon Changgyeong-gung Palace on the first and third Saturdays of each month from April to October Participants wear Han-bok and learn about the traditional tea ceremony and etiquette as well as how to make dasik (a pressed candy traditionally eaten with tea) and perform vari-ous memorial rites The last event for this year will take place on October 20

By Kwon JungyunKoreanet Staff Writer

Early decision is a policy regarding early admission for students who usually submit their application by the end of October of their senior year in high school They will receive a decision in the middle of De-cember This is before the regular admission period however students may not apply early to other colleges besides their first choice

Early action is a type of an early admission process also provided in college admission programs in the United States Students can apply to as many early schools as they would like and can also submit in the regular admission period Even if they receive an admission to a uni-versity in December they are allowed to make another final decision in the Spring after regular admission

Finally some colleges like Stanford or Yale recently switched to a new form of early admission called single choice early action which forces students to only apply for one school during early admission but can still submit in the regular admission period They are not al-lowed to apply to other schools until they receive their results

Each year university admission is becoming more competitive Even if you think that you are fully equipped to apply for an Ivy League col-lege it may be wiser for you to apply to a school which you are sure you will be admitted to during the early action period You should also apply for the school where you really would like to attend but you also think that you can get in to the school

Before this process which school is the best for you Which col-leges are you well prepared for Factors like GPA SAT scores and ACT scores should all be within a relative safety zone of the admis-sion Also students having special talents or outstanding community service programs should provide their evidence If a studentrsquos GPA and standardized test scores are not high enough it will be difficult to be admitted to a ranked school without their safety zone for testing Unfortunately even ten years ago grades were all students needed but now admission officers look for special traits talents distinctive com-munity service activities and their full effort gone in their application

Rejection Delay Admission and the Waiting List

Students applying early will receive their decision letter in Decem-ber The applicant is still permitted to reject any offers of admission in all types but if a student receives a rejection letter the decision is final Schools will not consider the student again However if a school post-pones their decision they are considering the student with other regu-lar period applicants Therefore that particular student would learn of their decision in spring

The waiting list is for vacant spots which depend on the number of applicants There may be many students on a waiting list but receive a rejection letter If students are on the waiting list they should not just wait until the decision is made but they should become more proactive and express their true want to enroll in a specific school Also make sure the school can reach you at any time at any place Many times the school will make a phone call to inform the student about their decision

Eugenia Kim KSNE

The New England Korean NewsEnglish Version English Editor Eugenia Kim

KoreaIKSNE Volunteer Programs to Promote Korea

대한민국 알리미 청소년 봉사단의 후원자가 되어 주세요여러분들의 작은 정성이 우리 청소년들의 활동에 큰 힘이 될것입니다

후원금 보내실곳 KSNE Volunteer 13 Campbell St Woburn MA 01801

2012년 10월 24일 수요일 Page 17 한인회보 English Section

Send in your questions to askduckygmailcom

ASK DUCKY

The New England Korean NewsEnglish Version English Editor Eugenia Kim

Dear DuckyMy mom is so paranoid She cannot get it straight in her mind that a girl can have friends who are guys If I am talk-ing or chatting with someone her first question is ldquoWho is it Is it a guy Do you like himrdquo and the list of questions is repeated over and over again Once when she was pick-ing me up she saw me talking to a guy and now I am not allowed to talk to him ever again If I do she will deacti-vate my facebook take away my phone and make me go home right after school every single day I am just friendly to everyone but she just doesnrsquot understand Other parents ask my friends with they do not have a boyfriend but in my case boys have cooties I must not go near them at all I donrsquot even want a boyfriend itrsquos too much stress and so I just want to study until college however I really hate it when my mom gets all paranoid Somehow it brings out this rebellious side in me which wants to prove my mom wrong It is confusing but she is so paranoid SincerelyParanoid Parents

Dear Paranoid Parents Your mom just wants you to focus on your school stud-ies and I think she is afraid that a boyfriend will ruin all your hard work in school If you are really worried about your mom ruining other friendships in your school tell you mom straight out that the guy you were talking to the other day is really just a friend He is nothing more than a friend and she should understand that If you just become angry over it she will ponder over your ac-tion more and may come to a false understanding In your case you definitely do not want that Because of all your harsh punishments you should be careful with guys in your school but also talk to your mom directly about these statements that you have made I am sure she will be happy to know that you want to study hard until college and do not want any stressful guy relationships Have funDucky

Dear Ducky I have one year left until I go to college At least I like to think of it that way because I am a junior This year has been so hard and I like to imagine it all done I think I have been handling the work load well but because there is so much work it is hard However I am afraid of one teacher She used to absolutely love me and she was my favorite teacher but since last week she just started to hate me and always scowls at me She is all of a sudden very scary which make class boring and annoying Also I am not the only one who feels this way Her seating arrangements are not fair and messes up all talent She always blames the students who are right for not giving others a chance and

the wrong student is always praised How can I cope with this unfairness SincerelyAnnoying apples

Dear Annoying apples And you have no idea why she changed so dramati-cally That is truly an unanswerable question (why she doesnrsquot like you) If you are trying to coping with the se-vere unfairness you can go talk to your counselor about the problem If you are not the only person feeling this you may want to bring this up to a higher power in your school Also the way you address your problem sounds as if she should not even have the job so I am sure your counselor will take your complaints into deep consider-ation Good luckDucky

Dear Ducky In orchestra some students tune well with their perfect pitch and I am one of them but our teacher picks on inno-cent students and yells at them for tuning out of tune They are so many other teachers capable of teaching much more solidly What can I do I canrsquot stand her Sincerely Perfect Pitch

Dear Perfect Pitch If she selects you you can just take it in It may be un-fair but you should not fight back against her about something so trivial In general you should not talk back to an elder especially in an educational setting Good luckDucky

Dear Ducky Christmas is coming soon My parents bought our fam-ily a Christmas tree over the weekend and now we have a gorgeous Christmas tree in our living room I am now waiting for Santa this year because I didnrsquot get to see him last year when I was sleeping This year I am not going to fall asleep and meet Santa this year I want to get StarCraft but I am a second grader Many older boys seem to play this I want to be cool like them If I pray will Santa give me that gift Sincerely Letters to Santa

Dear Letters to Santa If you are a second grader I am pretty sure that you can-not play the game It is rated as T for teens and therefore Santa Clause will probably not get you the gift He does

not want you to play a game to mature for you and you should ask for something that is rated E for everyone (if you want a game) The best gift would be to ask for something more productive like toys or anything be-sides computer games Happy HolidaysDucky

Dear Ducky It is raining cats and dogs outside I had heard that there was going to be a blizzard but now I am so disappointed I really wanted it to snow so I expressed my anger to my mom but my mom got mad at me saying that blizzards are very bad Snow is white white is clean and pretty the world becomes white I think a white world would be beautiful Why are blizzards bad SincerelyBad Blizzards

Dear Bad Blizzards If you read the news a blizzard hit Minnesota with devas-tating effects It collapsed important buildings and made the cities immobile Blizzards may be pretty but they bring cold weather high speed winds and much destruc-tion Also at your age you may have canceled school but that is because the blizzard made it too dangerous to go to school A blizzard can be bad for many reasons how-ever if you think of the good things there are beautiful effects that blizzard can leave Have fun in the snow future snowDucky

Dear Ducky I saw the Nutcracker a few days ago in Boston and I loved it except I was also severely disappointed Since when is the Nutcracker not a love story between Clara and the Nut-cracker When I watched The Nutcracker starring Barbie the ending was so sweet and ended in a love story I love that movie but the real Nutcracker story was so simple I still love the ballet but I think a slight tweak in the story would have been nice Donrsquot you think so Sincerely Ken the Nutcracker

Dear Ken the Nutcracker I also love that movie I faintly remember the ending but yes the original ends up differently than a love story version It is a nice clean ending but I am sure the ballet wanted to keep the original script You should grow up to be a musical director and tweak the story for your own balletGood luckDucky

뉴잉글랜드한인회보 청소년(학생) 기자 모집뉴잉글랜드 한인회보에서는 청소년(학생) 기자를 모집합니다

지역 한인 사회를 위해 자신의 재능을 기부할 학생들 저희 한인회보로 연락 주시기 바랍니다

지역사회 뉴스 소개 학교생활 뉴스 소개 기타 각 분야 (문화 예술 사회 등) 칼럼 등

한인회보 청소년 기자에게는 커뮤니티서비스(봉사활동) 확인서 제공

문의 781-933-8822 e-mail haninhoebogmailcom

Page 18 2012년 10월 24일 수요일 한인회보전면광고