Pictures: Whimsical Weather

The title of this blogpost says it all. There has been really capricious weather lately. A streak of lightning would burst into the sky with tempestuous rainfall only to be suddenly replaced by marvelous sunshine and a gentle breeze. Here are some pictures from the past two weeks! Hope you enjoy :)

 Shaky, but it was this picture that best captured the speed of the rainfall!

A slightly eerie air about the apartment blocks

Behind the classrooms - the statues say hello!

Young summer leaves intact after the rain 

A very light burgundy brown among the greens...wait, hair dye, anyone? :P

Now a much sunnier collection - !

If you could really fall in love with a color...

The artworks under the sunshine - an entirely different scene from the previous picture

The school's old library - red bricks and red leaves

The Korean national flower - Moogoonghwa (Rose of Sharon) 

See you again in a week or two! :)

"Dream, Design, Play": Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Last week, I FINALLY got the chance to see the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) - an incredible multipurpose cultural complex officially inaugurated on the 21st of March 2014. Built by world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, it is hoped to become the hub of the Dongdaemun district of traditional markets and shopping centers. 

The exterior seemed perfectly seamless to me; as I crossed the Miraero Bridge, the curves simply flowed along walls and ceilings...Wait, it would actually be a bit inappropriate to distinguish between the two...because you can't. A surface here would merge with another there, and when I wandered around the plaza's grounds, it became a bit difficult to figure out how far a distance I had come, for the lines poured into the center, and then out to the edges again. But this is not to say that it was 'dizzying' or 'confusing' by any means. Perhaps the pleasant weather helped, but I felt completely at peace as I walked; the dusty grey of the concrete felt smooth under my fingertips and the soft glow of the aluminum panels gave off a luminescence calming and soothing. 

The soft glow of the aluminum panels give off a luminescence calming and soothing

Every step was amazement itself. There were hardly any straight lines and right angles. I had never seen acute and obtuse angles just dominate the design of a building before. What was really remarkable, I thought, was a wisp of cool breeze followed me everywhere I went. At an intersection pictured below, I could have forgotten that it was summer - was it the last bit of spring lingering under the ripping arch? 

A wisp of cool breeze - quite improbable, but maybe...

the last bit of spring lingering under the ripping arch?!

I particularly loved the Miraero Bridge I mentioned above. An entrance (there are many) into the plaza led to the bridge at the end of which you could enter the interior of the structure. Everywhere I went, I noticed concrete was used to set the base, but the material at one location reflected an intensity unlike any other. When I crossed the bridge, the trusses seemed almost off-white, a sandy shade of beige. I loved it.  

Miraero Bridge - to the future-!

Sadly, I couldn't spend a lot more time after taking a walk around the open grounds. I did take a look inside, of course, and it was wonderful to go around the 533 meters' spiral pathway (Design Pathway) that led me to fascinating exhibition halls. Next time I visit DDP, I'll focus more on the interior of the structure :)

After I came back home, I looked up the design of the plaza in greater detail. I was surprised it had a number of very important environmentally-friendly features - a geothermal system, an insulating glass fiber reinforced gypson board, a 3-dimensional solar power system, a rainwater harvesting system. I was surprised because the entire time I was there, I never saw any information about the green aspects of this structure. Whereas I saw many screens featuring Zaha Hadid and beautiful shots of the plaza, such features were not mentioned, not even in the detailed promotional leaflet. Did the operators believe the architectural achievements and the social prospects should be the focus? Or maybe, they thought that people would not be as interested in such information? Whatever the reason, I'm glad that I got to know about the environmentally-conscious sides in the end. Add that to my agenda the next time I visit - check out the green features, even if they're hard to find!

Hello again, Yangjaecheon!

          In early May, I was reading the local newspaper when I came across a short article about the Yangjaecheon Visitor Center holding a display of flower samples from the area. Naturally, I got quite excited. Firstly, it was the first time I had heard of the center; I took it as a sign that it must be a bit far away from where I usually roam about. Besides, what a perfect excuse to spend an afternoon getting a little lost here and there, exploring a new area of the stream! Secondly, I knew this would probably be the best way to find out the names of the countless flowers I had taken pictures of. There were so many photos of flowers stashed away in my hard drive; I really wanted to get to know the curious little smiling faces - their names at the very least. 
          So off I went! I started from the stepping stones of the Yangjaecheon area I usually go to and headed in the direction of the Daechi Station. It was a relief to get away from the tight, sometimes smothering towers of concrete, glass and steel and just let myself wander around the sparkling water, cooling myself under the shadows of the bright green foliage. I was a little worried though, as I went further and further away. There was not a single sign to help me go in the right direction. Plus, the journey was turning out to be a little longer than I expected. After walking for about an hour, I finally saw a little arrow beside a lamp post telling me to go up some wooden steps. I hurriedly ran up...and saw this:

The greens, the bridge, and stream...all of them made up the painting that was simply breathtaking. If you have read my early posts on Yangjaecheon, you would have seen many pictures...none of which look anything like this. I felt incredibly happy to see it all before me. I had never seen this part of Yangjaecheon before...and probably wouldn't have for some time if it hadn't been for this little trip to the Visitor Center. 

After taking some time to take the scenery in, I finally went into the building. I went up a flight of stairs and found an entire wall of flower samples and more displays of the flora and fauna of the area. 

Every sample was labeled with its scientific name as well as its Korean name. Just like I mentioned in a few older posts (Ginkgo biloba: "trees with apricots of a silvery glow"; Ligustrum obtusifolium: "Rat poo tree" or "Black bead tree"), Korean names can be incredibly funny and charming at the same time with a hint of innocence. So here are a few of the most memorable names I learned that day: "Embracing Spring" (Androsace umbellata), "Wind Facing Skies" (Fimbristylis miliacea), "Baby Poo Grass" (Chelidonium majus). 

The following are some more pictures!

"Plants at the center of Yangjae stream"

 The blue mint beetles I adore

Before and after the makeover process

A very important thing I thought I should tell everyone: As recent as the early 1990s, the stream was heavily polluted. From 1995 to 2000, it went through an intense makeover process. One of the most profound effects it had on this environment was the reintroduction of the great biodiversity it once had. Now we can even see raccoons on our daily morning walks :) 

If you would like to go to the Visitor Center yourself, check out the website for more information: http://www.gangnam.go.kr/portal/main/contents.do?menuNo=200652

Tints of Coral Pink & Carmine

I've wanted to share my pictures of spring flowers for ages; I've been saving them up, hoping to capture the delicate beauties as well as I could. Some are a little shaky, some are overexposed...but I hope you'll enjoy these photos of spring colors as much as I did!

They remind me of bacteriophages...

Is it just me, or do these azalea buds look like heads of bacteriophages? Maybe I've been studying biology too much...haha. Tell me if you agree with me! (See a diagram of a bacteriophage here!)

The shade of green - somewhere 
between citron and avocado?

By the school gallery - blushes of pastel magenta 

I adore these flowers - but I can't help but think

of feather dusters whenever I see them. :S

Upside-down lanterns smiling down at me :) 

These are same flowers mentioned in an older post! Their petals became a gorgeous plum^^ Their name is simply "viola", belonging to the Violaceae family. They're called 제비꽃 (pronunciation: "Jebi-ggot"; literal translation: "Barn swallow flowers") in Korean because they are known to bloom when barn swallows come back from their migration in the winter.





Please leave comments below if you know the name of other flowers in this post! :D

'Should I Be Worried?' 4 - Finding The Answers

The page that prompted my question

Do you remember the question I had on the first blogpost of this 'Should I Be Worried' series? (For those of you who are new to my blog, there are three previous posts leading up to this final one; please read those first if you are interested in acidic precipitation!) I had wondered whether the following argument in the book was a strong one: since beverages such as orange juice and coke are strong acids that are harmless for our consumption, acid rain - of much lower acidity - cannot have the head-balding effects that many Koreans fear. Pushing aside the "absurdity" of the fear, I'd thought that this perhaps was not a very accurate argument. Everyone knows that strong acids like HCL and H2SO4 should not be consumed...but the above mentioned drinks - also strong acids - can be safely consumed. What makes certain acids drinkable and others dangerous? I'd thought that maybe there was a different type of acids...so I set out to find out. As I mentioned in my previous post, I couldn't get the information I wanted on the Internet. So I asked my chemistry professor and earth science professor and got a somewhat clearer picture. 

          According to my chemistry professor, there is no different type or kind of acidity that decides whether a certain beverage is drinkable or not. After talking with her, I realized that I hadn't thought deeply enough about how acidity works...even strong acids like hydrogen chloride and sulfuric acid can be diluted so that they are safe to drink. But then I got another question: suppose there is a sample of hydrogen chloride at pH 4 and orange juice at pH 4. When they're both at the same - and low - pH level, obviously the latter is the one we would drink. while what the book said felt more reasonable (that rainwater is acidic but only at a very low level, thus causes no harm to our health) I got yet another question, so I set out to ask my earth science professor. 

The book asks us to question

 "Acid Rain" itself

          We mainly discussed whether we could determine the safety - or lack of - in a certain food only based on its level of pH. He said (adding that he is not a biology teacher, haha) that the reactions a bit of food goes through our digestive system can be different from another. Our body reacts differently to each food so that even if a strong acid enters, there is a sort of "buffer system" that would make sure it causes no harm to our internal system. A classic example from high school biology class makes it clear: Cells in the duodenum - the beginning of the small intestine - secrete bicarbonate to neutralize any gastric acid before it is passed through the digestive tract. Likewise, a strong acid like orange juice does not harm us since it goes through a "system" that makes it harmless. Thus, it would be inaccurate to claim that certain foods are safer or more dangerous than others simply because of its pH levels. Plus, there would also be a difference between consuming acidic drinks (so that they actually get in our bodies) and having acidic liquids remain on our scalps. (Remember, Koreans do not fear getting in touch with rain...they fear what rainwater can do if we don't wash it away quickly from our hair roots.)
          Although the little "research" I did only scratched the surface, I think I can give a sort of conclusion to the question I had. Yes, rain usually has a much higher level of pH than liquids that we consume or use on a daily basis. This suggests that rainwater can be safe to drink, for example, so there shouldn't be such a great fear about acid rain when only looking at the level of acidity. On the other hand, drinking and getting in sustained contact with acid rain are quite different. Therefore, to say that rainwater would not cause any harm to our scalp ( it does sound a bit funny written down, doesn't it?) simply because it is less acidic than liquids that we drinkwould not be the strongest argument to make. What do you think??

There are some areas where the water sources have
Arsenic concentrations higher than 0.05 ppm

          So with my question answered somewhat satisfactorily, what have I got to say about this book? It shook me up, quite a bit. Although I only wrote about whether we should be worried about acid rain or snow, the book's later chapters provide knowledge and ideas for using rainwater as a resource. According to the professor, we may not even need to depend on dams, underground water storage or bottled water. Controlling the flow of rain efficiently could eliminate floods or the problems of poisoned water sources. The most important thing, though, was this: of course I agree with the parts about acid rain as a resource, but I struggled a little with what the book called "The Strange Story of Acid Rain". What the book said (that in Korea, acid rain should not be held accountable for acidified lakes and forests, corroded buildings and of course, baldness among other things) clashed with what I ideas I had accumulated over the years. The thinking process itself was one of the most valuable things I gained. Whether or not I completely agree with everything in this book is another matter; but I recommend it to anyone who wants to have their paradigms challenged, beliefs and ideas confronted and astonishing knowledge and concepts gained. So yes, I had quite a unique reading experience with "Rainwater and You" by Moo Young Han and Chang Rae Kang. 

Sorry about the delay in publishing this blogpost :((( This time, I'll be more specific: the next post will be up before May comes!