2010 Vancouver winter olympic games!

Everybody, welcome to Vancouver!

Now vancouver is so busy because of 2010 Vancouver winter olympic games.

Many tourists visit to vancouver and enjoy the important and impressive moment together. Yes! You and Me, we are also in Vancouver.

How lucky we are!!

There have so many interesting places, special events and olympics games in Vancouver. So I'd like to introduce some good and free events to you! Hope it's a good information and you enjoy that during the olympic game periods.

From January 22 to March 21, the best artists from Canada and around the world will play in Genre-bendling theatre, Vancouver.

The international showcase is hosting nearly 200 artistics events throughout the city, featuring visual art, music, dance, theatre, performance art and more.

Some of the events are ticketed performances, while others, I will introduce to you, invite the public to simply stop by and just enjoy together that.

1. The magical theatrical vending machine : Feb. 12-27 / Various sites

2. Vectorial elevation : Feb. 4-28/ English bay

3. Raven Stole the sun : Feb. 20-25/ Multiple venues

4. Art Under Foot : Feb. 1-28/ Sleep country canada vancouver's public art

Regarding some events ticketed, please check the below website. It's useful website for olympic event and others.

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/

- Richmond O zone -

I recommend two programs. Music on the main stage and Holland Heineken House.

The O Zone Main stage offers,

- En Karma : Feb. 24 / 10:15pm

- Brave Waves : Feb. 26 / 3:30pm

- The Dudes : Feb. 27 / 9pm

- Five Alarm Funk : Feb. 28 / 9:30pm

It's easy to get the detailed information from the below website for you.

Don't hesitate, Just join here together!! >.<

http://www.richmondozon.com/

The holland heineken house,

The highlight of the Holland Heineken House experience is the main hall, featuring celebratory medal ceremonies for the successful dutch athletes and nightly performances by renowned Durch artists and DJs.

Open daily from 9 am till 2am, the Holland Heineken house will be an ideal palce to catch up on the latest of the olympics or simply relax with something to eat or drink!!

Wed, Feb 24 - Roel van Velzen

Thu, Feb 25 - Gerard Joling

Fri, Feb 26 - Roel van Velzen

Along with the artists listed above, house bands De Corona's and Evers Slaat Door, and the house DJ/VJ will hit the stage every night starting at 8pm. All these artists are very popular and are renowned in the Netherlands.

- LiveCity Yaletown -

On the water's edge at David Lam Park, LiveCity Yaletown, Giant screens will show highlights of olympic winter games sport coverage and visitors can enjoy the interactive olympic sponsor pavilions, vancouver house, and much more. All for free!

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Valentine's Day

Yesterday, I saw so many people carrying beautiful flowers and when I passed by the streets, most of the restaurants were full with people happily celebrating Valentine's Day. ( or it may have been the celebration of Olympics or Chinese New Year!!!)

Now I am not surprised to see kind and happy looking men buying flowers for their partners. But when I first experienced North American Style Valentine's Day I was very surprised because in Japan we celebrate Valentine's Day quite differently.

FROM WOMEN TO MEN

From my perspective, in North America, people celebrate Valentine's Day as a couple. Men and Women both as a couple try to make that day romantic. Flowers, Chocolates, Candle Dinners...etc... both partners contribute to enjoy the Valentine's Day atmosphere.

Compared to gender neutral N. American style, Japanese Valentine's Day is very gender specific. In Japan, it is girls who give chocolate to boys. It is a day for girls to confess their feelings to boys by giving chocolates to them.
I used to think this was unfair. Why should girls work extra hard and boys get delicious treats?
But now, I think that Valentine's Day is a big opportunity and chance for shy and reserved Japanese women to be courageous and show their feelings. And men enjoy a heartfelt gift of chocolate.　



COURTESY CHOCOLATE

In Japan, women not only give chocolates to someone they like. They have social pressure to give chocolates to male co-workers or male class mates. Indeed I remember every year, on 14th of February, my father used to bring two or three bags full of chocolates that his female colleagues gave him. In this case, the chocolate is not for showing love, but to show friendship, respect, or kindness. It is interesting how simple act of giving a chocolate can create cheerful atmosphere and better communication within work place or class room.
My father was not big fun of sweet stuff and My mom and I finished most of the chocolates he got. But he still seemed happy for the his female co-worker's effort and consideration.



WHITE DAY

So until now, it sounds like girls are the hard workers and boys are the lucky ones, right?

No. Japanese gentlemen also put effort. In Japan, it is a custom to give the present back to women on March 14th. It is called White Day. The present can be cookies, candies, flowers... anything.



RECENT TREND

Although everything I mentioned above is still relevant in Japan, there is a new trend.

Nowadays, boys and men starting to learn Western Culture and beginning to give chocolates to girls.

It is called Reverse Chocolate.

All in all, no matter which part of the world you are or what cultural background you come from, we all have one thing in common. We all enjoy the most romantic day of the year. V-Day!!!!

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Chinese New Year

What does people normally do on February 14th in North America? Probably most of you would say "Of Course people will have nice romantic dinner! Its a Valentines Day!" But for the year 2010, February the 14th is not only the Valentines Day, but also its the Chinese New Year Day.


Chinese New Year, also referred to as Lunar New Year, is determined by the lunisolar Chinese calendar and it usually falls between end of January and middle of February. On Chinese New Year day, people visit their families and relatives to celebrate together. People would decorate their houses with red couplets and red lanterns.


Children and juniors are provided with red envelops with some money inside by the elders. The symbolism for red envelops is to suppress or put down the evil spirit and be lucky. Traditionally the amount of money inside the red envelop should be even number (Chinese people believe that odd number is unlucky as its sometimes associated with funerals.)



Probably, the most important tradition of Chinese New Year would be the family dinner. The way Chinese people put their heart in the New Year Dinner is the same as how important the Christmas dinner is in the Western culture. People will eat or display fish. Fish is one of the important cuisine for the new years day as the pronunciation of the word fish in Chinese is the same as the pronunciation of the word surpluses. Also, in Northern China, people would eat dumplings(jiao zi in Chinese) whereas in Southern China, they make a new year cake (Niangao in Chinese). In Vancouver, you will be able to experience some traditions of Chinese New Year as there are many events happening in the city. Here are some information.




*The annual Chinese New Year Parade:
Time: Sunday, February 14, 9:30am - 11am
Place: starting from the Millennium Gate at Pender St.

*Cultural Fair:
Time: February 14, 11am - 3pm
Place: the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Courtyard

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Lunar New Year's Day (Seol lal) in Korea

"Happy new year"
New year is comming soon!! Oh?! You think New year already come? =)
I am talking about the lunar new year's day in Korea!

Korean New Year, commonly known as Seollal (Hangul: 설날) is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar. It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day. The Korean also celebrate solar New Year's Day on January 1 each year, following the Gregorian Calendar. The Korean New Year holidays last three days, and is considered a more important holiday than the solar New Year's Day.
Korean New Year is generally the same day as Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Vietnamese New Year.

Customs -

Korean New Year is typically a family-oriented holiday. The three-day holiday is used by many to return to their home towns to visit their parents and other relatives where they perform the ancestral ritual known as charye (차례). Many Koreans dress up in colorful hanbok. Tteokguk (떡국) (soup with rice cakes) is commonly served.
Many Koreans greet the New Year (both Western and lunar) by visiting East coast locations such as Gangneung and Donghae in Gangwon province, where they are most likely to see the first rays of the New Year's sun.

Traditional Food, Tteokguk(떡국)-

Korean dish eaten during the celebration of the Korean New Year. The dish consists of the broth/soup (guk) within which is placed several thinly sliced rice cakes (tteok).It is a tradition to eat tteokguk on New Years because it is believed to grant the consumer luck for the forthcoming year and for him or her to supposedly gain an additional year of life. Additional ingredients are usually added to the dish; these include thinly sliced cooked eggs, marinated meat, mandu, and/or dried seaweed for seasoning is a traditional food in Korea.




Sebae(세배)-

Sebae is a traditionally observed activity on Seollal, and is filial-piety-orientated. Children wish their parents a happy new year by performing one deep traditional bow (rites with more than one bow involved are usually for the dead) and the words "saehae bok manhi badeuseyo (Hangul: 새해 복 많이 받으세요)" which translates to please receive many blessings in the new year.
Parents typically reward this gesture by giving their children new year's money (usually in the form of crisp paper money) and offering words of wisdom, or deokdam.

Sound interesting? ^^*

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Korean restaurant 'JANG MO JIP"

Last Saturday I went to JANG MO JIP Korean restaurant located in Robson street, Vancouver with my chinese canadian and japanese friends. Because I've just got my first paycheck since I started to work. ^^*
So, that day was my treat for them!



I really wanted to let my friends try to eat a delicious korean food. I searched some korean restaurants by google website and then found out some good restaurants like MA DANG COUL, JANG MO JIB, DAE BAK BON GA, SHABUSEN YAKINIKU HOUSE(Japanese sushi dish and Korean BBQ) etc.
I decided to go to JANG MO JIB KOREAN RESTARUATN and went to there with them.
(Jang Mo Jib means my wife's parent house. In Korea, most of Wife's mothers cook some delicious and healthy foods for their son-in-law. Because they regards their son-in-law as a real son.)




The restaurant was packed with people and there were some people waiting in a line for entering. I think the location is very convenient and already known as a famous restaurant in downtown. That's the reason!
Fortunately the waiting time was not that long.
The most popular dish here is GAM JA TANG, the spicy pork spin hot pot. And I'm not exaggerating, literally, every single table has this. It was extraordinary! Huge pieces of pork spins with meat falling off, very tasty! We also ordered seafood pancake and the glass noodle. Very nice too.

A couple of things I noticed here, waitresses take your order with iPhone.... It's creative! That just amused me. Another thing is this place is very generous about their side dishes, which doesn't happen in most Korean restaurant, waitresses would bring a bucket of the item and fill it up at your table.

All in all, if you want to taste a korean famous food, here is definitely a place to stop by!!

By HeeJung

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10 Romantic Movies for Valentine's Day

Watching a romantic comedy is a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day, whether you're spending the holiday with your special someone or a whole slew of friends and family. And there are lots of lovely movies to choose from. TheHolidaySpot suggests you the following movies that are all-time hits with cinegoers and celebrate the wonderful feeling called love in a beautiful way.
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Director: Leo McCarey Starring: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Cathleen Nesbitt.


Plot: Handsome playboy Nicky Ferrante and beautiful night club singer Terry McKay have a romance while on a cruise from Europe to New York. Despite being engaged to other people, both agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months. However, an unfortunate accident keeps Terry from the reunion, and Nicky fears that she has married or does not love him anymore. Will he discover the truth behind her absence and reunite with his one true love, or has fate and destiny passed them by?

Click here to watch trailer
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Director: Taylor Hackford Starring: Richard Gere, Debra Winger, Louis Gossett, Jr., David Keith, Lisa Blount.


Plot: Zack Mayo is a young man who has signed up for Navy Flight School. He is a Navy brat who has a bad attitude problem. Sgt. Foley is there to train and evaluate him and will clearly find Zack wanting. Zack meets Paula, a girl who has little beyond family and must decide what it is he wants to do with his life.

Click here to watch trailer
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Director: Mike Newell Starring: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow, James Fleet.


Plot: The film follows the fortunes of Charles and his friends as they wonder if they will ever find true love and marry. Charles thinks he's found "Miss Right" in Carrie, an American. This British subtle comedy revolves around Charlie, his friends and the four weddings and one funeral which they attend.

Click here to watch trailer
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Director: Nora Ephron Starring: Dana Ivey, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, Rosie O'Donnell.


Plot: Tom Hanks stars in this film as widower and single father Sam. When Sam's son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls into a talk radio program looking for a new mother, Sam ends up getting on the phone
and laments about his lost love. Thousands of miles away, Annie (Meg Ryan) hears the program and immediately falls in love with Sam, despite the fact that she has never met him and that she is engaged to humdrum Walter (Bill Pullman). Believing they are meant to be together, Annie sets out for Seattle to meet Sam, who, meanwhile, contends with an onslaught of letters from available women equally touched by his phone call. Will Annie and Sam ever unite?


Click here to watch trailer
Titanic (1997)
Director: James Cameron Starring: Dana Ivey, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, Rosie O'Donnell.




Plot: This fictional romance features Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, and Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, two members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the 'unsinkable' ship RMS Titanic. But on 15 April 1912, Titanic meets with an accident on her maiden voyage. What happens to the lovers? Will their love survive?

Click here to watch trailer
The Way We Were (1973)
Director: Sydney Pollack Starring: Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Bradford Dillman and Lois Chiles.


Plot: The film tells the story of an intense Jewish woman who marries a carefree WASP following World War II. Fundamental differences in the way they engage the world – as revealed in their responses to the rise of McCarthyism – eventually pull them apart. The film is both a romance of star-crossed lovers and a morality tale about the importance of commitment to both individuals and relationships.

Click here to watch trailer
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Director: Rob Reiner Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steve Ford.


Plot: This romantic comedy centres around Harry and Sally both of whom search for love, but fail, bumping into each other time and time again. Finally a close friendship blooms between them, and they both like having a friend of the opposite sex. But then they are confronted with the problem: "Can a man and a woman be friends, without sex getting in the way?"

Click here to watch trailer
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Director: Jon Turteltaub Starring: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Jack Warden.


Plot: This fairytale romance stars Sandra Bullock as a love-starved subway toll booth operator, Lucy. who pines for regular customer Peter (Peter Gallagher), and rescues him from almost being run over by a train. While he is in a coma in the hospital, his family mistakenly believes Lucu to be Peter's fiancee. In this cofusion, Lucy finds true love in Jack (Bill Pullman), Peter's brother.

Click here to watch trailer
You've Got Mail (1998)
Director: Hallee Hirsh, Michael Palin, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Parker Posey, Greg Kinnear, Jean Stapleton


Plot: Kathleen Kelly, owner of a little and famous bookstore for children's books falls in love with a man over the internet without knowing him in person. Suddenly, her business gets endangered by the opening of Fox Books discount store just "around the corner". Although getting advice by her anonymous mail-pal, she has to close down her store and is full of hatred for Fox Books. Will she ever know that her anonymous mail-pal is actually Joe Fox, the son of the owner of Fox Books?

Click here to watch trailer
Two Weeks Notice (2002)
Director: Marc Lawrence Starring: Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, Alicia Witt, Dana Ivey, Robert Klein.


Plot: Lucy Kelton (Sandra Bullock) is the Chief Legal Counsel for one of New York's leading commercial real estate firms, the Wade Corporation. George Wade (Hugh Grant), is the eccentric and remarkably self-centered head of the firm who seems entirely incapable of making a decision without Lucy's advice. When things start to get too much for Lucy, she gives him two weeks notice, and George reluctantly accepts, under one condition -- Lucy has to hire her own replacement. After extensive research, Lucy picks June Carter (Alicia Witt), a Harvard Law graduate determined to make a career for herself. Lucy soon begins to suspect, however, that June plans to hasten her rise up the corporate ladder by winning George's hand, leaving Lucy to wonder if she should warn George about his beautiful but calculating new attorney -- and whether she should tell George that she has finally realized she's in love with him.

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I see you, "Avatar"

I don't usually go to a theater twice for watching the same movie.
But I did actually only for Avatar! That means this movie have something special.
I don't enjoy watching 3D, science fiction and action moive too much.
But my friends asked me to go to a theater together so that I checked it out from some blogs of other reviwers before watching. After then, I was so exciting and couldn't wait to watch it!


It's an amazing and exciting 3D movie and you can't image how many people watch this movie.
The film board said that It's about 6,081,183 people watched since released the movie on the 17th of Dec. Now the movie professionals are expected to exceed 10million moviegoers!!



As you see, the director of avatar is James Cameron who already led "Titanic" and "Terminator" to hit the box office 10 years ago.
This movie was completed after going through nearly 18years of production. It's such a long terms to make.

The story is including in a love and conflicts between the main character who became a new living thing", Avatar and pandora indigenous woman and also in an exhaustion of natural resources in the mess and unavoidable war.

The war begin after that the earth people wanted to take a substituted resources from a peaceful planet pandora for solving the problem of the energy depletion. That's the point and the main story of this movie.
Expecially, you should watch carefully the confrontation scene of between the indigenous people,Na’vi and the earth people and the beautiful the world of Na’vi!

I think the natural world of Na'vi and the first mankind life look simillar.
Jake learn how to commune with all of nature and living thing and experience an restlessness of mind from their life and mind, showing their respect to the nature while living together with them.

In the real world, Na'vi is disappeared now. But they defended their world, pandora, against the earth people who have a high tech weaponry in this movie.
Finally they could keep their beautiful world because they won!

This movie give us a living lesson and a chance to re-think about our earth and life. If you're looking for a movie which touch your feeling or you like 3D movie, you should watch this movie! You won't regret i guarantee!

Enjoy watching it! =)

By HeeJung

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