1. Introduction
2. The hobbies
3. Conclusion
1.Introduction
The system of Korean education is quiet different to that of other countries��. Korean teenagers are in high level of competition almost since the beginning of their life. The mothers show off how well their babies react to them, and how fast they have been growing. When the babies grow and become the age to go to kindergarten, the parents then brag about how fast they read or how well they can write. From elementary school to college, the competition is all about the grades you get from the tests that the students take. All of these competitions make it impossible for the students to enjoy the sun outside and create a hobby that one can enjoy during their leisure time.
I have been outside of Korea for 2 and half years to Denmark and found out that the Korean way of education wasn��t the perfect solution for a child��s education. Korean education may be the best way to make their children intelligent but it is the worst way for the children to learn. Parents place too much pressure on their children only to study and expect too much of them. European parents, on the other hand, weren��t at all like that. They allowed their children to explore the wonderful nature when they can and make them have a lot of hobbies to find out what they are good at and what they are not. Also having a hobby at an early age would be helpful in finding out what their interest are and what their dislikes are.
Hobbies are necessary to have in life. There are many academic reasons why hobbies are good to have, things stated before, and allowing the students study to its full potential. However, most importantly, hobbies are an escape from all the stress that we get during our daily city life. Doing what you like to do helps you to be freed from all of the worries that you have and think only about what you love to do: your hobby.
2. The 2 hobbies that I would like to have.
There are two things that I would like to have as a hobby that I cannot afford right now. One of the hobbies is traveling. I like to visit countries that are different from mine and to fully adopt the culture and be one of them during my visit to the country. Seeing the famous sites would also be a good traveling, however to me, going to the countryside and enjoying what the nature as to give to just has more meanings to me. I have traveled many countries in Europe and I realize that the nature looks different depending on where you are looking at it. The Norwegian beaches has more tries and looks more violent that the beaches in Paris where there are more sunshine and friendlier look.
As I said earlier on, since I have been to most of the European countries, I would like to visit places other than Europe. Since I have planned to go to America to get my graduate education, I would have plenty of time to visit the nature of America. However, there won��t be any chances in my life to visit other Asian countries if I don��t travel there. During all of my 15 years of life, yet the only Asian country that I have been to is Korea.
The country that I want to visit the most is Indonesia; to be more specific, Bali. I��m not the only one that really longs to visit Bali, since the island has been nominated as the most beautiful island in the world by the Times magazine. It��s also through the Time magazine that I have decided Bali to be my number one place to visit. Bali is renowned for its magnificent views and nature friendly resorts. The whole of the island is a tourist attraction and there are many spas for the visitors to enjoy.
The Royal Pita Maha is the resort that I am dying to go to. Of course, there may by other resorts far better than the royal pita maha when it is the right time for me to travel there, but this place is the most ideal place that I want to stay in Bali. The resort lies with on the coast of the island with water running through almost everywhere. People who have been in the resort have written on their reviews that they have never stopped hearing the sound of water in the resort. I don��t know what it is like to sleep listening to the sound of the waves but I��m sure it would be better than the sound of the music that I hear at night. Like the sound of the waves you can here everywhere, the resort has a pool dragged right in front of your doorstep of the one story villa that you will be sleeping in. The villa is built with marble stones and wood. The trees and flowers form the fences between the villas and there are no tall buildings in the site. All you can see from your room are trees, small villas, and water.
You may think that if the whole place is surrounded by nature and there are no concrete buildings, the service of the resort would lack of those 5 star hotels in the city. However, all the preparations that the resort does for you, the nice smiles of the workers there and the food the chiefs cook for the people in the resort really would make you feel served better than any other hotel that you have been to. Also, the decoration of the resort nicely matches with the environment and is very fancy and comforting. They also include yoga centers and spa within the resort, allowing you to relieve all the stress that you got from the city life. I am not the time of person who likes to be in crowded places and have a lot of interaction with many people. I like to be alone or only with those whom I love and peacefully enjoy the sceneries and read books, talk about funny stories that have ever happened to us. When this moment comes true, I will tell whomever I am with that I have written in my school paper that I have dreamt of this moment for so long.
Another place that I want to visit is Guam. Guam is an American island but it is placed quite far from the American main land. The island lies alone in the Pacific Ocean, and you can travel to the other side of the island in 1 hour and 30 minutes by car. The only way for the people living in Guam would be to become friendly with the ocean, and those people have done so. In Guam, they have created a tourists attraction that helps the people outside of the Guam to become friendly with the marine life. There is an aquarium to get an introduction to the marine creatures. The famous aquarium Fisheye Marine Park is an aquarium built on a hole that the wartime as created. The hole has become a big tunnel for people to see marine life up-close. Then to step further in the ocean, Guam has a harbor to ��seawalk.�� Between the observation deck in the sea and the island, there is a place called ��Seawalker.�� There, you are given a helmet which pumps in the air. The helmet is so heavy that when the people there put them one you, you fill like you are sinking in the water. Not only you feel it but you are actually going in the water to take a walk in the sea. I can��t imagine what it would be like to step on the sea floor.
Yachts and mini sailing boats are the next thing that you have to try in Guam. The sailors in Guam take the tourists for a ride on their sailboats on a mission to see the dolphins. This is something quite extraordinary to see, since if you are not living in some place like Guam, you can hardly grave a chance to see a living dolphin. It��s quite rare even for the aquariums in the city to have them exhibited. If I have enough time and money, I would really like to learn how to sail a boat and go out to the ocean without a sailor and wonder around the sea for a day or two. This experience would be as good as the resort in Bali. The only reason why Bali outranks Guam is because Guam is mixed less with all the elements of nature since it is a very small island, whereas Bali is a perfect balance of all the nature and human life.
The second hobby that I wish to have is less of time consuming and money spending. Cooking has been always the interest of mine since all of the cooking classes that I had at school were wonderful. However, at school I have only made things like noodles and sandwiches. I��ve only done a serious cooking with my mother twice. Once I was helping my mom cook a special meal for the guests and at that time, I was making steaks for everyone. The other time was when my mom was really teaching me how to cook. We baked brownies for me to take them school because it was my birthday. We started right from beginning; from shopping for the materials that were needed in making the brownies to putting the unbaked brownies in the oven. The feeling that I had actually made something that could be seen and tasted right then and there was so great that I became quite addicted to the feeling. I think the fondness towards eating food also plays a part of me liking to cook.
Whenever I go to the library, I always have a look at cooking magazines and try to imagine the process of cooking. I take a special interest in baking cakes. They are good to eat, fun to make, beautiful to look at if decorated nicely. When I see the pictures that are on the magazine, I really wish if I could make one of those cakes. I may not look as good as the photos but I��m sure I��ll have so much fun in making the food.
As I was going through the cooking magazines once more to write this term paper, I selected one food that I would really love try making it. I didn��t pick something too hard so that I would never be able to make it without someone��s help, but a food that is not too easy, not too hard to make but I wouldn��t need any help. Cup cakes are not as hard as the ordinary big cakes to make but they are still a bit challenging, making it the best choice that I could make. Also, it is easy to share with my friends. Another point that I like about cooking other than the fact that I like the process of making it and eating it afterwards, is that I can share it with my friends. I always receive so a lot of help from my friends that I always have to repay them by taking them for a meal or a snack, but if I can give them the cup cakes that I made, it will be far more pleasant and surprising.
The kind of cupcake that I have selected is the banana cupcake. Banana cupcakes are pretty unusual to make and they tasted really good. Making of the bread part is pretty easy since all that��s needed is just mix the ingredients and put it in the oven; however, making the cream icing part is the challenging part. How we mix it greatly determines whether that cake will turn out good or bad. It is the cream that we mostly taste in any other cakes.
So, the ingredients to the banana cupcake are these;
1. 100g of flour and 50g of butter
2. 2 eggs
3. 1 small spoon of baking powder
4. 50g of brown sugar
5. 1 mashed banana, and 1 banana for the topping cut in thin pieces
6. Sprinkles to decorate the cupcakes.
And for the icing of the cake, cream cheese icing, we need;
1. 200g of cream cheese, 75g of sugar powder
2. 2 small spoons of lemon juice
3. Food coloring dye.
With all of these ingredients, we can start cooking the banana cup cake.
First, we have to preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and put oil paper on the muffin frame. Then, in a ball, mix butter, sugar, and eggs and mix it until the sugar is dissolved in the mixture. When the mixing is done, add the mashed banana, baking powder and flower until it becomes fine dough. When the dough is ready, pour it in the oil paper about 2/3 of the height of the cup. Put the sliced bananas on top of the mixture and place them in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. When the bread part is being baked, make the icing. Add all of the ingredients all together, but we have to make sure that the icing doesn��t become neither too sticky nor too watery. When the bread part is done and you can take it out of the oven, cool them. When the cakes aren��t too hot, put the icing on top of the cake and decorate them with sprinkles.
The process done in my head wasn��t too hard since making a cupcake is all about mixing the ingredients and putting them in the oven. But the difference between professional bakers and me is that the process is the same, but how smooth I mix the ingredients and how much time I put the mixture in the oven matters a lot. Still, a lot of practice in cooking will make me just about the same level as the professionals.
3. Conclusion
There are many fun activities that we can do during our free time. I am a high school student and for me, it is too early to start a hobby. I should have started when I was in middle or elementary school or I should start during or after college. The hobbies written before take too much time or money for me to start before I earn my own money and get a job. So these hobbies are what I one day wish that I could pursue. Traveling and cooking sounds really fun to me and if this high school education didn��t matter much to my career I would have gone traveling right away.
On May 28th, the school leaves for us to do volunteer work in Philippines or Cambodia, providing a chance for me to travel for 10 days. Ever since the teacher told us that we will be going to another country, I have been counting down the days left until we travel, and now, barely 3 weeks are life until we leave. This will be the first time that I travel to an Asian country other than Korea. Even though it��s not a travel but a volunteer work, I believe it��s enough to feel the nature and the culture. Life is full of opportunities, and it only takes to grab it whenever it��s there.
Landsburg, Steven E. "Who Shall Inherit the Earth?" Slate 1 May 1997. 1 Oct. 1999
Mitchell, Jason P. "PMLA Letter." Homepage. 10 May 1997. 1 Nov. 1999
Links to other sites on the Web
Who Am I - introduction of myself
The Joy Luck Club essay
The Solution Essay on Sexual Harrassment