26회 한국어 능력 시험

26회 한국어 능력 시험 will be on April, 15...
2,5 month left(( Sooo soon!!

It's time to start intensive preparation and practising Korean in your daily life.
But it's not so easy to use it everyday if you are outside of Korea.

Cheer up~
There are some good ideas !
Studying not always means boring~ Especially when it comes to languages.

Fun & helpful ways to prepare (I share my experience):

1. Change your facebook/vk/sns into Korean! Maybe such phrases like "Add to a friend", "Settings" won't be in test tasks, but it's obviously useful for your practical knowledge~ (I always believe that real knowledge far more important than test score)

2. Start to use KAKAO-talk. In Korean. Chat with Korean friends

3. DORAMAS!! Watch it as far as you can! With subtitles if you gonna take 1-3 level and just in Korean for 4-6. Your listening skills will improve greatly!~ 
N.B. you can learn some sleng as well, be careful ^.~

4. Read news at naver, nate and other just-in-Korean-websites.
Personally I learn (except Korean) how do Korean public media percepts my country and its leaders. OK, my blog is not a place for political discussion ))
What is more interesting is to go to blogs on your hobby and surf, surf, surf~

5. Listen to K-pop on comuting and try to catch grammar patterns. It works!! Thanks SE7EN (my love))) and Wheesung for my perfect score for previous TOPIK.
P.S. SE7EN released new mini-album!!!!!! It's in Japanese but still I can't help purchazing it.

6. Stiky notes, grammar text-books and test examples (go to official website) are extremely helful and effective but let's be honest -this ways are a bit boring ....

But don't forget to read it while preparing)) Otherwise what structures are you gonna catch from your favourite songs?))

It is possible to take 2 exams at the same day, for example 2 and 3 levels. I think it's so difficult and you'll feel exhausted after taking the second exam.
I'm taking 3-4 level this year.... Oh, i'm worry a bit TT.TT

~~ 화이팅~~



Yahoo~~

My cooking experience report became one of WEEKLY BEST at ibuzzkorea.com~~

We are the CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go, Russia, Go!!

Russia, a hosting country of 2014 Winter Olympic Games (in Sochi) proved its status of world-best figure skating leader at 2012 Europe Championship.
Russians skaters gained all medals:
 GOLD - Tatjana Volosozhar and Maxim Tran'kov

 SILVER - Vera Bazarova and Yurii Larionov

 BRONZE - Ksenia Stolbova and Fyodor Klimov

Photo: RIA NEWS Vladimir Pesnya

Proud for them!!~

It's not the first time when all pedestal is Russian~~  11 times world could see 3 Russian flags rising under accompaniment of Russian anthem during awarding ceremony!!!

In dances Russian team got 2 medals - silver Ekatherina Bobrova and Dmitriy Solov'yov

and bronze - Elena Il'inykh and Nikita Katchalapov

Sumi Jo in Russia

"Korea" magazine's January'12 issue was devoted to Sumi Jo, soprano singer from South Korea.
Since the year 2011 Sumi Jo gained popularity in my motherland, Russia.

Actually public got know her after she was invited to participate as a guest at a New Wave contest that was hold in Latvia.

Sumi Jo is performing in duet with Russian maestro talanted composer and greatest artist of contemprorary Russia Igor Krutoi:

...and with the best voice of russia (and a world~) Dmitruy Khvorostovsky. Enjoy their duet "Sempre" from New Wave contest:

 
Sumi Jo was intervied by Opera news's reporters - composer Yurii Alyabov and a singer Stella Argatu.
Here I share parts from the interview (Credits: http://www.operanews.ru/)
Personally I was pleased to hear that world-class soprano Sumi Jo loves Russian public and finds it unique and one of the best, public that know much about music.
Be sure that after New Wave the army of her talant' admirers increase~~

Well, back to the interview. Sumi Jo prefers to perform musical compositions of world classics like Vivaldi, Mozart to contemprorary authors.
As for her joined project with Igor Krutoi is a new experience for Sumi Jo as she would like to try new directions, style in music and performance then concentrate on just one as some her collegues do. Yurmala's performance is not their first meeting. Previously Igor Krutoi and Sumi Jo cooperated at Winter Asian Games in Kazakhstan.  

An idiom of a year. 2003

In last post I presented the idiom of the year 2002.
Let's move on ^^

2003's idiom is 우왕좌왕 (右往左往)

右 - right
往 - to go; direction
左 - left
往 - to go direction

So,  우왕좌왕 means to run pell-mell; hither and thither

An idiom of a year

The idiom of the year 2002 is 이합집산.

In characters (hanja): 離合集散

離 - to separate
合 - to cooperate
集 - to collect
散 - to scatter, strew

So, the meaning of the idiom is 헤어졌다가 모였다가 하는 일  or meeting and parting TT.TT

An idiom of a year

Since a year 2001 Korean scholars (교수신문) choose an idiom of a current year. This is 4-characters expression (사자성어) that reflects an image of the year in the most suitable way and perfectly characterize it.

사자성어 are supposed to be learnt by pupils at school but it's extremelly hard to keep in mind it!! It seems to me that idioms chosen are the most diffucult ((

Well, there is a list of idioms:

Let's sort out this idiom one by one starting with the year 2001:

2001 - 오리무중

 五- five
 里- a village, ri
 霧- a mist, a fog
 中- the middle

The meaning of this idiom is"to be befogged", "to be puzzled"

Tteokpokki à la Russe

Tteokpokki (떡볶이) is my favourite Korean food. I ate it practically everyday during my staying in Korea~

Sometimes I miss its spicy food... There are just one Korean restaurant in my native city, so I can't eat tteokpokki everytime I want.

My Korean friend gave me self-made tteok and explained how to cook))
It's my second Korean dish I tried to cook (the first was gimbab and, I can say, it's not bad!! kkk)

So, take tteok

 and slice it

 I found a recipe at the Youtube and decided to cook in this way)) Stew carrot, cabbage and some onion:

Add sause: hotpepper paste, ketchup ans soy sause

 Some green:

 Add instant noodle:

 
so, it looks a bit different (cuz it's a la Russe!!) but still tasty.

I tried to do my best ~

Some tteok is left and I gonna cook it today)

Then I share my experiense with you))

P.S. Korean cooking is not so easy and might be hard for beginners like me. Additionally, it's not so easy to find ingridients ((

Wheesung in the army

Found a photo that I awaited for a long time since I heard a bad news~~

He's so handsome in the training uniform~

Celebrities at Andre Kim's fashion shows

As I posted previously, Andre Kim is famous for his splendid dresses.
Korean celebrities were invited to be model at Andre Kim's fashion shows. It's a great honour~

Enjoy:
1. Han Chae-Young and Park Shi-hoo, International Bali Fashion Week, 2008

2. Kim Jeong-hoon and Jang Geun-seok, "Wedding in Shanghai", 2008

3. Lee Da-Hae and Jang Geun seok, "Weddind in Shanghai", 2008

4. Minho (SHINee) and Park Bo-young

5. Bae Soo-bin and Jang Seo-hee, Starry Night in the Palace, 2009

6. Han Chae-young and Jung Dong-jin

7. Heo Yi-jae and Shin Dong-wook

8. Lee Soo-kyung and Jung Kyu-woon

9. Kim Joon and Jang Nara

Andre Kim's collection's feature is Korean traditional patterns, cut that reminds wegging hanbok:

Is not this is the reason why Andre Kim was awarded by Korean government?
He combines Korean and Western traditions in his dresses, and every bride can find a dress she prefer the most - classical style, designer european or Korean-style:

 I've already chosen a wedding dress by Andre Kim: