www.oikono.comMy perspectives, gleaned through extensive experience from living in different parts of the world, which I hope to share. My main interests include development studies of poverty, human rights, as well as most anything else.And the End Nears- August 30, 2008 (Beijing, China) I am a few hours away from boarding a plane that will take me to Zurich and back to Philadelphia. It is my last semester at Penn and a creeping nostalgia combines with anticipation for my future. As much as I enjoy the company of friends and professors at Penn, I am glad to ...http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=457 Analyzing My Networks on Facebook- August 17, 2008 (Seoul, Korea) Out of curiosity, I decided to study the networks that my friends belong to on facebook. I broke up their affiliations into location, schools and workplace. Obviously, the numbers of American friends I have on facebook are over-represented as a proportion of my total real friends. This is unsurprising considering the intense usage of ...http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=456 Photo Essay: Beached at Busan- August 15, 2008 I managed to take some time off work to escape to Busan with Lynn (American), Dave (Canadian) and Maia (Thailand) whom I met at the hostel before moving to my current &8220;prison-cell&8221; room. Being able to see the sun, jog on the beach and put my Korean to good use there gave me fond memories. The ...http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=455 Gender Roles & Patriarchy in East Asia- August 14, 2008 (Pusan, South Korea) This time in Seoul, I live in a Kosiwon (). My translation for that is only affordable room in Seoul with no windows and enough space to put feet on the floor. I am of course discounting the more spacious prison cells. My American friend who introduced the place to me dropped by ...http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=454 So it is OfficialFinally Dropped Huntsman- August 10, 2008 (Seoul, Korea) Blazing my own path&8230; So it is finally official. I have dropped the Huntsman Program at Penn. Despite the well-meaning effort of friends, faculty and administrators to dissuade me, I completed the path I set out on after returning to Penn in 2007. What I learned from this process is that I should be ...http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=453 Olympic Fever- August 10, 2008 (Seoul, Korea) It is hard not to get caught up in the Olympic spirit these days with the big party up north of Seoul in Beijing. I was at my favorite low-cost eatery in Seoul (not many of them) and swimmer Park Tae Hwan was on the TV screen competing in the 400m freestyle. Everyone in ...http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=452 Regrets and My Chinese Language Plan- August 8, 2008 (Dandong, China) Oh to make more of a difference! Taking the opportunity to study Korean while I am in Seoul, I realized how nice it is to be able to communicate with someone in a foreign language. This made me regret the wasted opportunity I had in studying Chinese when I was younger. Back then, having ...http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=451 |