Why do Asians try to ace the test? As an Asian myself who have lived in South Korea, located in the far east asia next to Japan, for whole of my life 21 years, I do not know many westerners, since I did not hav many opportunities to meet them. However, what seemed to be strange is that they tend to put more weight on their extra curricular activities rather than on their academic work. When my Asian friends went home to take private lessons from tutors, western friends did somethings like club activities, or volunteering. I do not think this is the opinion I only have around me, since many media also handle this topic. What makes the difference between these two people? The first thing come to my mind was that back then in history in Asia, Confucianism ruled the Asia,except for Japan where the Samurai spirit is considered the most important, which laid much emphasis on Studying. The ruling class had a tendency to believe that physical activities were humble, so only low class could do excercise or farming. What the governing class did was only sitting behind the desk and reading or writing books, since the father of Confucianism, Confucius talked things only about the abstract things such as Tao or manners of people. However, in Western land, the case was little different. People there also had discussed things of Abstract world as Plato did. Moreover, the different opinion surrounding Christian belief made westerners divide and fight each other, requiring thousand of people's lives. However, Greeks put their feet on the ground(I want to tell that they were realistic, not likely to be fanciful.) and the thoughts of Greeks changed the way of thinking of people in western world, like the Renaissance did. This is the fraction of my thought and I do not want to make this piece longer than this. Enjoy my work and please give me comment or corrections, which are more than appreciated to me. Thank you in advance and have a nice day!!

A thought about the book " The five people you meet in heaven" On the last Saturday, I read a book by the name of "the five people you meet in heaven, written by Mitch Albom, which my senior in army lent to me. (Yes, I am a soldier! It has been just 2 monthes I have started the military service. Besides, all of South Korean guys who are healthy enough to do the military servcice should be soldiers at least for 21 monthes!) It was a relatively think book compared to the last book I had read by the name of "Extremly loud & Incredibly close". I went to the "reading room" to read this book, because the room I share with other soldiers is too noisy due to the television sound. I spent about straight three hours reading this book. I could not put this book away from my hands, since it was one of those "page-turners" I had read. However, after reading the whole story of this book, I felt a little disappointment. That's why I decided to write a text on this italki website, so that I can share my opinions with other people. The main story is like this: The main character of this book ( What is the one fancy word for this meaning? I just looked this word up in the Internet dictionary about two days ago, but I cannot get it out of my head. I just forgot it lol) was dead by accident, and found his way to the heaven, meeting five people on the way there. Each of five people who are connected with this main character in the real world taught him the values which are needed to enter the gate of heaven. In the process of learning, the main figure realized the meaning of life and left the world without regret and a sense of guilt and sorry. Quite simple, huh? This book is written in easy manner for readers to pick up the gist of the book without any difficulties, which I supposed made this book not the book that people want to read once again. So I have to say this book is not a good book since the author of this book did not leave anything for readers to ruminate the contents of this book. Plus, the characters in this book are all good, except for just one person ; the main characters's father who had always abused him. The clear line between (or is it more correct to say "distinction?) characters made this novel less interesting. So I wished the auther had more concerns for readers so that we could think of the values for times and realize the meaning of story by ourselves, which tends to last longer time.

First notebook entry: Introducing myself (The picture is the face when I was a little kid) I have been learning English because it opens me many doors of opportunity.