Jakub Holovsky

Use this:

public static class NSHelper    {        public static NSString ToNSString(this string toNSString)        {            return new NSString(toNSString);        }    }

I can’t stress this enough but state institution websites in Czech suck. Today I was helping my parents with some stuff located in here http://adisspr.mfcr.cz/ and wow, this website is just SO bad. 

These websites should be as easy as possible to navigate at. Unfortunately this is the complete opposite in here. With a tear in my eye I remember the New Zealand institutions websites. Although they were modest in look they had amazing wizards / workflows that took you where you wanted to be without much thinking. And this is how it should be. 

I couldn’t believe how much text can be on one page of the Czech website. It’s so confusing. So many details you don’t need to know, you shouldn’t worry about, so many difficult to understand word combinations. And if they decide to go this way it should be served to you in small chunks. It almost wants me to apply for a job there and help them making it better. I believe it would save so much time and nerves for so many people.

There are hundreds of wrongs in there, I would have to write for an hour to describe it all. One thing for all - you fill in something online and then you need to print out something else and deliver it somewhere. OMG. 

So after 5 months I finished my first semester in King Sejong Institute Praha. It has been a great experience and I honestly can say that I learned a lot (although still carried some mistakes over).

We had two great teachers (Czech and Korean one) that were super helpful and prepared for every lesson. I also made a few friends which is something I didn’t really expect. I must say it was usually the highlight of my week.

I successfully finished the semester by passing an exam (listening, reading, writing, speaking) which is level A1. It was actually harder than I thought and I have lots to work on. 

One thing that really confused me as I overheard that for writing we have 90 minutes although this was the time for the whole test :D It doesn’t excuse my writing mistakes though.

As I get older I seem to have fun learning but lack motivation for exams and stuff like that. It’s just something that abstract that it’s not very motivating. I will try to be better in next semester though.

A picture from a very cool room with nice paintings inside.

I wish I wouldn’t feel the need to write this - Czech person criticizing Czech people but in this case I have to. 

Recently I went to Germany and Austria, before every trip I end up being a bit nervous about going to different country - different rules and I know that these countries are very strict with obeying them. But after every trip I end up being not worried about different set of rules but about Czech drivers.

I just do not get it. Almost every second Czech driver lacks any need to obey the driving rules - especially not speeding and not passing where you are not allowed to.

I quite commonly see that if I am going 90 out of city (not highway) the drivers just see it as “slow speed” - it is the maximum you are allowed to go here. They get stuck on the back of other driver’s car’s backs in an urgent need to pass this slowness. So in Czech you are not only worried about what’s gonna happen in front of you - for example cars passing on !double full lines! but you also have to worry about your back not being smacked by some horny driver.

This is making the Czech roads extremely unpredictable. I often connect driving with a level of some social / culture development. And we are still far behind almost any country I have been to so far.

In Austria, Germany or New Zealand, if the maximum speed is set, then the cars do not try to exceed it which makes the road movement continuous. Everyone keeps their distance, which makes a comfortable ride and also a predictable ride.

This also applies to highways, it’s almost a common thing to see here cars doing 150 on highways. If everyone was going 130 there could be two continuous lines of cars. You can hardly afford doing 130 on a Czech highway - as soon as you do - you have another racer behind you trying to do 200.

What I am hoping for in Czech is that speeds get lowered from 90 to 80 and from 130 to 110 or 120. It’s the best for all of us really for multiple reasons - roads suck, road signs suck, fines are not high enough, police is not strict enough, less noise, more time to react and BECAUSE MOSTLY CZECH DRIVERS ARE BAD DRIVERS. 

So recently I found my iPod Nano 2nd gen and I gave it a shot after 4 years not using it. And guess what - it still is the best music player for me.

I was using Windows Phone and recently my Android Phone for playing music but one thing with touchscreens suck. You just have to look at the display to skip within the song. Also adjusting volume with phone hardware keys is a bit pain as it is not very detailed.

What I am used to do when listening to music is that I love adjusting the volume manually all the time within the song. So I just make some parts a bit quieter and some parts a bit louder. 

Another thing that I am addicted to is skipping within the song to parts the I like and replaying them. This is probably the feature that I lack the most on all of these modern devices that this is just not easy - it’s fiddly and never precise.

Windows Phone as well as Android Phone suck in both of these things. But I reckon it is just problem of any touchscreen device.

The 2nd gen iPod is just genius in this - dial to adjust volume and click once and dial to skip within the song. You can just do this in your pocket without looking at the device (as weird as this sounds).

A few weeks ago I was writing about “She was pretty” as kind of a decent drama. This was before subs for episodes 12 - 17 were released. I made a mistake. For some reason the drama got really bad.

It got EXTREMELY cheesy. But really, really cheesy that it hurts my eyes and ears when I watch it. I couldn’t stand the episodes for more than 20 minutes and I had to take a break.

The main characters are so bad. Since they showed their love to each other they act in a way that makes me - the viewer - feel being ridiculed for them. 

I really wish I had something positive to say about it. But no, I don’t think that I will make it to the end of this one. First 8 episodes were good after that it should have finished.

After year and something I finished Rosetta Stone - Level 2 of Korean Language. There is one more level to go. I actually can’t believe that it took me this long! I admit that I don’t do Rosetta Stone every day but at least 1-2 times a week these days.

Here is a few opinions on this course:

Again I learnt a lot, the amount of language I am able to process now is so much better than the one in level 1.

I did learn several new vocabs without even realizing it.

I even caught some of the new grammar but there is a few pain points that I will explain now.

The confusing bits:

As I am now attending Korean classes in Sejong Institute - Rosetta Stone became so much clearer to me. Now I know why things are being there in a certain way. It's extremely refreshing not to GUESS WHY but to KNOW WHY. Really, for example making a noun out of a verb. If I see 하기 and the only thing I see in Rosetta Stone is 헤요 (base form is 하다 - which you will never get to know in Rosetta Stone) - how am I supposed to guess this when it doesn't even look that simillar. The amount of guessing with more and more completed excercises in Rosetta Stone is dramatically increasing.

Another thing that I thought wasn't that important in Level 1 but became very very useful in Level 2 is knowing the base form of verbs. You never get to know this in Rosetta Stone. There is certain rules when putting verbs into their correct form - knowing the base form is the key. When I started attending Sejong Institute classes - I actually found myself re-learning verbs, which I thought I knew but their base form was so different from what I knew.

Some of the new grammar is so poorly explained that for a long time I just didn't know why or what they were really talking about. Especially there was a sentence with 먹은 which is made out of 먹다 (in Rosetta Stone you would only get to see 먹어요). So there was a sentence: A man and a woman after eating dinner are drinking coffee (something in this meaning). Which written in Korean without a clear grammar explanation of 먹은 left me completely puzzled. Another thing is writing - as in Level 1 - my way of writing is taking a screen shot of the correct answers and typing it into the correct fields. It's just so strict that writing is unfortunately no fun. It's sad but when it's not fun I juts want to get it out of the way.

I found two pictures being very hard to distinguish - angry vs. sad. And there was a few more. But it's ok I know that sometimes it's hard to put these emotions into clearly looking pictures.

BUT despite these issues - I just keep on learning with Rosetta as I take it as a kind of a "raw" knowledge that I shape up during Sejong classes. (another) BUT if I didn't attend those classes I am not sure what I would be writing right now. I also like the key lessons, all the different pictures (and their atmosphere) and just the sense of progress that you get (and it's up to you how much you want to progress, when and where).

Although still ongoing drama, I will already write a few lines about it.

I have liked this drama a lot so far. It actually brought a few surprises that I just did not expect (as it is always with surprises :) ). 

Surprises:

First drama where the main character changed from being very pretty to being just average looking, she just looks weird (you know how it is, they picture her ugly at the beginning and she changes to a beauty as the drama goes). The problem is that the change was really not that good and I just don’t like her image anymore.

First drama where I do not cheer for the main characters - especially the guy. He just acts like a douchebag for most of the time, trying to be sensitive sometimes but it’s not enough. Funnily I like the other guy in the love triangle. He is funny, cool and just brings the fun element into the play.

There was a scene where the main girl was about to have a car crash. I was so surprised that it didn’t end up in a hospital as it was about a time to get in there :D.

There has been no big background story going on (that usually acts like a white noise in k-dramas - just to fill up the space). That is really good not having it there :)

It’s not really dramatic, I don’t know, maybe it’s because I do not really like the main guy, but it just goes slowly, it’s funny and entertaining but not so much that you would like to keep watching and watching.

Thanks to Sejong Institute in Prague I had the chance to attend three three hours long evening classes of playing on Korean 장구 (Jangu) drum. I took this opportunity as my girlfriend’s mom played on this drum in the past so I wanted to see and hear what it is about.

The teacher was great and had lots of patience which at the end paid off as I was quite proud where we got just in three days. The little ending performance sounded quite good. He also tried a Czech beer at every lesson which made him a bit friendlier to the ladies in the front row :D.

I also met very interesting, nice people which I am quite happy about. To my surprise there was Korean daughter and her mom learning 장구 as well.

To be totally honest the hardest thing wasn’t really playing the drum but the sitting. For a white man sitting at least 8 hours everyday on a chair - sitting cross legged for three hours is a bum eternity to me. But at the third lesson I actually felt like I got used to it a little bit.

I would like to share this Korean drama as it really got me. Probably the second best I have seen so far.

A few good things about it:

1) It doesn’t get frustrating.

2) If it does get frustrating then the frustration is finished before the episode finishes.

3) Characters don’t spend too much time in a hospital (wow, really :D )

4) The main character is super cute.

5) Characters are actually reasonable thinkers sometimes.

6) It’s funny, almost all the time. Doesn’t really get too serious.

7) Romance actually lasts quite long so it’s not just all about the last episode when the main character leaves for two years, comes back or looses memory, which comes back or some other “usual” reason.

8) There is a few really cool moments with Kwak Siyang which got me.

I was writing with pencil while using the workbook until the teacher came and used pen and a stamp :D Oh well, time to start using a pen.

I have to say, I am quite impressed by the courses being run in King Sejong Institute.

The classes are fun, informative and grammar and vocabs are being served in reasonable manner which makes everything challenging just enough. Can’t say I can remember everything but I do feel like I can guide myself better in the Korean language just after 5 lessons.

The Czech and Korean (she reminds me in a way of my girlfriend’s mom, very warm, fun personality) teachers are super nice and very helpful. 

The lessons are all lined up with the book we had to buy (490 CZK) which puts there a little bit of hassle but not too much. The good thing is that it’s quite easy to see the progress.

The 90 minutes lesson finishes so quickly that I feel almost sad to leave the classroom.

Classroom door. Probably remembers a lot.

As in New Zealand I decided to take Korean lessons, now in Prague. On Wednesday I went to Charles University in the beautiful centre of Prague. 

King Sejong Institute is its own organisation that is separate from Charles University but they are using their study rooms. I am quite excited what I am gonna learn in the near future as the Korean teacher looked fun and the time in the classroom just went by. Just when I wanted to have a drink and a mandarine the lesson was 15 minutes before its end.

This was technically my second lesson but because I messed up the schedule in my head I missed it (darn, what a waste of money and an introductory lesson).

7 people in the class including me in the Group 2 (out of 5 - ranked from proficiency in Korean).

I took just one picture as I just haven’t seen such chairs for ages.. last time in elementary school. 

I will probably write a bit about the teaching style as well as soon as I gather enough intel.

Sometimes a song really gets me, sadly it doesn't happen that much anymore. I don’t know why but seems like my ear-buds are shifting towards more poppy sound with surprises and that’s what I really like these days.

Perfume - Polyrhythm is exactly the kind of song that moves my mind around.

I love just about everything on this song. I love how the singers are dressed, how they appear in general, how they dance, the music is punchy, simple but has really big climax at around 1:32. If you don’t want to listen to the whole song just have a listen to that part.

These moments - I can only recall hearing them in drum and bass before. Yet it is in a pop song and just sounds so good!

This is exactly the kind of surprises that in pop music happen only in east Asia (at least I can’t hear it anywhere else). It’s so fun how it climaxes in kind of loopy / trashy glitchy fashion.

These kind of moments make me also feel like I suck in my music as I cannot seem to make a song like this. Well I do something a bit different but I would love to make a song like this someday. Simple, shoegazy, with strong idea.

Now my wish is only to attend a K-Pop / J-Pop event where I would let them take me on a spinning ride with dance, lights and perfectly produced music.

Thanks to Perfume to make me feel like dancing again.

Again (as it happens in my life) I am saying that I don’t like something and then I start liking it.

Girls Generation is another example of this. When I first saw then on YouTube I was like.. “another Japanese/Korean pop band”. In a way it is true but I must say that the more I heard their songs I think that they perfected the POP genre.

If you listen to “Catch Me If You Can” it is packed with energy. I really enjoy the dancing as well. I don’t know if they had many plastic surgeries or they are all natural, honestly I couldn't care less. I also enjoy the face expressions that they have, it kind of seems like they are “on top of everything”.

Have a listen, it’s worth it.

Getting recently into Korean drama (even though I thought this would never happen to me) made me to analyse this TV genre a little bit. Well it is hard no to do that.

I have watched these ones so far:

Lovers from Prague

My love from the stars

Secret Love Affair

Master’s Sun

It’s okay it’s love

I found all of them very entertaining, yet VERY frustrating. 

I would say that average Korean Drama has following properties:

In total is 16 episodes long.

An episode is 55 minutes long.

Main characters don’t like each other at the beginning,

then they start falling in love with each other,

then they suffer,

then they spend an episode or a few in a HOSPITAL,

MOST FRUSTRATING !!! time lapse / fast forward in time, usually 1 - a few years, to the future

last episode is just a climax when everything is being explained.

A some kind corruption sub-story has to be introduced.

A hard to understand dialogues have to be introduced as well even though they are rare.

Main characters use English words randomly.

Family issues are a necessity. 

Having lived in Czech for most of my life, 3 years in NZ and briefly visited Korea but lived with my Korean / NZ girlfriend, I came up with three pros and cons for each country that stick out most for me in regards to living.

Czech

Pros:

1) Relaxed - in terms of living and working.

2) People take stuff seriously just enough.

3) Small cities, a lot of villages, quite nice contrast.

Cons:

1) People in general do not live healthy lives (alcohol, smoking, eating crap).

2) Manners are hard to find.

3) Not multicultural country, yet.

New Zealand

Pros:

1) Multicultural, integrated environment.

2) Infrastructure (toilets, etc.)

3) Changes fast in a good way.

Cons:

1) British settlers are a bit hard to bond with (as for any islanders I guess).

2) Everything is private, fenced and paid.

3) Expensive.

South Korea

Pros:

1) Food, Koreans from all the nations I have met seem to have the best food habits and they take their food very seriously.

2) Manners, respect, elders, community. In a way this creates really nice respectful environment which has also its cons.

3) Health conscious - even though I am not sure how much this really is, Koreans seem to be well concerned about their health.

Cons:

1) Work style - Koreans are working way too hard. To the point that it is greatly influencing their lives.

2) Strange government decisions / affairs I have heard about - SEWOL ferry might be the best well known example.