| Young Koreans join the charge for freedom
At a small restaurant in Seoul, South Korea, in late February, my student and I ate spicy noodle soup and stared at a huge television showing an extravagant celebration for Kim Jong-il's 65th birthday in Pyongyang. Thousands of smiling people paraded across the North Korean capital and saluted their Dear Leader. "I was once there," my student said. "But even as I danced and smiled, I knew of a better life outside." She said this matter-of-factly and turned to stir her tea. Her search for that better life had brought her here, at age 13, to Seoul, and to my English class at a special school for young North Korean defectors. The school has more than two dozen students, members of a growing contingent of North Koreans who have deserted the communist country since famines in the mid-1990s killed more than 2 million people.
Sounds Like French Class
I sometimes wonder if the French word "salut" has anything to do with a military salute, because what is a salute, really, but "hi" in hand form. This is wrong, of course; a salute is a sign of respect between superiors and subordinates rooted in tradition and history. My temporary confusion could be because I don't practice French anymore or maybe because this Romantic language has always been kind of foreign to me. Last summer I was driving home from a week shadowing a Marine Corps Helicopter Squadron at Cherry Point, N.C., and decided to call some high school friends that lived in the D.C. area. Doug and his wife, Kelly, Mike, and I met at a "Red Robin," a burger chain with bottomless French Fries and a inordinate amount of photos and paintings on its walls in that Americana spirit.
Salute to the sun and surf
FOR a moment, I'm standing on my surfboard feeling like Sally Field in the Gidget sitcom and then I'm back in the water with hair down my face. All I can do is laugh. Learning to surf is fun. I'm on Broken Head Beach, on the southern outskirts Byron Bay, for a weekend of yoga and surfing. The retreats are run by a Western Australian couple, Sheridan Hammond and Lisa Archer, who combine the two pastimes in their own lives. Their company – Samudra, which means ocean in Sanskrit – caters to all levels, especially novices, which is handy. All but one of us here are absolute beginners when it comes to surfing. The idea of combining surfing and yoga in a weekend retreat had great appeal to the yogi in me. During my first and – until this weekend – only surf lesson, I had believed there were some parallels between surfing and a few common yoga poses.
Metro watch
BUTTERFLY Lovers, an all-time favourite classical love story, is on at the Genting International Showroom in Genting Highlands from April 20 to 22. Brought to you by the Dama Orchestra, this musical will be performed in Mandarin and narrated in English. Tickets are priced at RM120, RM150 and RM180. For reservations call 03-2718 1118 or visit www.genting.com.my for details Chinese opera IN CONJUNCTION with Visit Malaysia Year, the Johor Tan Clan Association is organising a a Hong Kong Chinese opera show for 10 days starting April 14. The show starts from 7.30pm until 10.30pm at Wisma Tiong-Hua, Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Baru. For details, call the Tiong-Hua Association at 07-2788999. Prayers for children The Kuantan Gurdwara Sahib in Jalan Bukit Ubi will be organising an Akhand Paath (religious prayers) for children of Malaysia, Singapore and overseas from April 20 to 22.
Sign of worship
Brilliant light gives way to darkness. Joyous sound gives way to silence. The workaday world's bustle gives way to stillness.
Only emptiness remains.
But, slowly, eyes, hearts and minds adjust to find God's love flowing out of the void.
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Ex-Easton collegian loved music
| Two months from now, Daniel Patrick O'Neil probably would have been sitting in a lawn chair gazing happily at one of his favorite performers jamming on a stage in Tennessee.
O'Neil's life, though, was among those cut short Monday in the shootings that left 33 people dead at Virginia Tech.
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