Building Bridges.....

  There are always legends and myths in all cultures and so even in Korea. The story of Tan-gun is something every Korean seams to know. If you have never heard of this Tan-gun don’t worry. To be very honest I did not hear about this before I started to get more interested in the history of Korea, and some things have I already forgot about, since I last wrote it down, and now reading it through I get reminded. Once upon a time there was a king named Hwang-ung. He was the son of the heavenly God. Hwang-ung wanted to help the people on earth and asked his father for advice and together with 3000 helpers he step down on earth on the mountain of “Taebeack”. He renamed himself as Chonwang, “God of Heaven”, and established a city named Shin-si. He founded 3 leaders who were responsible for the wind, rain and the clouds. He thought the people different professions and even thought the people what was good and evil. He created laws and made sure that people lived by them. In these days th...

  Korea has four distinct seasons. During summer which starts in the beginning of  June to the end of September, winds from the Pacific Ocean is sweeping in,  making the air hot and very humid. Summer is the rainy season in Korea and  Korea get the most of the rain during this period. This is not the best time to visit  Korea. Most of the time, people are indoors enjoying the cool air-condition. Winter in Korea is cold. Winds from Siberia are affecting the peninsula and it is not rare that the capital Seoul gets lots of snow. During winter it is very sunny compared to northern Europe, and the white snow is beautiful on the rooftops at the old palaces around the cities. During my time in Korea I have never experienced real winter. In 2018, my son went to visit his grandmother and grandfather and he catched a cold. Very cold outside and strangely even indoors. Animal life A lot of the big animals have unfortunately disappeared from Korea because of all the felling...

I have heard it from the media, read it in newspapers that Sweden is a secular nation, that Christianity is on decline in Sweden and that many churches, more or less, are empty. Well, it is true in one way but false in another. The nation is perhaps secular but not the people. Many Swedish Lutheran churches are empty but some are not.   Like, St Clara church in Stockholm that is doing so much for the homeless and the outcast. The church is full with needy people, celebrating together.   During winter, people are  sleeping and eating there, so the church serves as a shelter.   Another church in Malmo city was in great need of restoration, too expensive they said, so instead of fixing it, they built a new much smaller church. For years, that was fine but now that church is too small. A whole new generation is now coming to church with small children etc., so now they are in desperate need of renovating that old and bigger church.     In a ...

  SOUTH KOREA Many people know something about South Korea. It can be around Its food, K-pop, make-up, films and series, the nobel prize winner in literature Han kang, or perhaps the last mess within the parliament. But I would like to show you more about this rather tiny country in Asia. I wrote down for many years ago my thoughts and my knowing of Korea's history and culture, but it's just been there in a file and nothing happened to it. I do not say that I know everything, and I am not a resident of South Korea, but I have been there some times and my wife is from Korea. So Hopefully on a weekly basis I will be able to write down something from this old country, but young democracy in the far east. What is also a bit interesting is that to build bridges is necessary to reach people, but South Korea's northern neighbor has tear down them all. Korea, as I see it.   What do I really know about Korea? How would I best describe “The land of the morning calm”?   I ha...