18 COMMUNITY TUESDAY AUGUST 18, 2009

Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily

living of expatriates.
It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
To share stories about your life abroad, send stories
or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at
mattlamers@heraldm.com
Submissions may be edited for length or clarity.

Orphanage
gets help
from expats
By Jason Teale

ULSAN — In September the faces of the un-

Go to World Cup Park during a weekday evening to
avoid crowds and cool off in the shade.
Matthew Lamers/The Korea herald
derprivileged children will be a little bit
brighter, thanks to some hard working
English teachers. The members of T-HOPE
plan to bring joy and friendship to some or-
phans by donating their time, energy and
kindness.
T-HOPE, which stands for Teachers Helping
Other People Everywhere, is an organization
that helps people in need. T-HOPE is made up of
teachers in Ulsan who are committed to helping
a wide range of under-privileged people all over
Korea.
The group’s efforts center on helping out a lo-
cal orphanage in Eonyang, a small city close to
Ulsan. They are providing much needed friend-
ship for the children and helping them develop
where they might otherwise not have had an op-
portunity.
The main focus will be in three areas: English,
arts, and activities. “It’s not just about teaching
them English,” Dan Gauthier said, “it’s about
companionship.”
Gauthier is the founding member of T-HOPE.
Sept. 12 will be the start of the program for
the children and Dan hopes it will be a success.
It is a big commitment, but Dan seems confident
that everyone will pull together for the opening
day.
Gauthier, originally from Canada, is a
long-term member of the Ulsan expat com-
munity. He is committed to improving the
lives of not only foreigners, but the citizens of
Ulsan as well. “I’ve been here for 10 years
and I want to give something back,” Gauthier
said, speaking about why he started T-
HOPE.
Over the past summer, Gauthier and his

Seeking shade in Seoul’s parks

By Jina Yoo
Although at times difficult to
find, there are quite a number of
parks in Seoul.
Everyone knows Namsan Park,
the various Han River parks,
Olympic Park and Seoul Forest.
But there are dozens of lesser-
known parks. In fact, the webpage
for Seoul parks lists nearly 115 of
them, of which many offer special
programming.
The Ttukseom Resort, as one
park is known in English, is locat-
ed on Subway Line 2. Of course,
this is a great place to sit and chat
with friends, but if you take a mo-
ment to check the schedule of
events, there are also many pro-
grams, similar to the programming
offered at the better-known Seoul
Forest.
There are also other parks with
various programs such as the
Gildong Ecological Park and
Boramae Park.
For the many people who simply
want to take a moment out of their
daily lives and enjoy a bit of na-
ture, one hindrance can be the
crowds.
Head to Inwang Mountain Park
to avoid the crowds of Namsan (but
be careful what time you go; on
weekends it can get busy). As
Inwang Mountain is quite rocky, it
is better suited for hiking than tak-
ing a leisurely stroll.
It is located in downtown
Seoul, so accessing the mountain
is convenient and the view of the
city from the top is impressive.
Traversing Inwang Mountain in-
volves walking along part of the
old fortress wall. In and of itself,
Inwang Mountain is a sight
worth seeing, as it is the back-
ground for one of Korea’s most
historically significant paintings,
“The Colors of Inwang through
the Mist.”
Another park worth seeing is
Samcheong Park. It’s also inside
Seoul, making access rather simple
(if you live in the GSA). This is the
first park designed as part of the
city’s urban planning policy on
park development. It holds histori-
cal significance by displaying a
memorial plaque to Jung Mong-ju
(a Goryeo Dynasty nobleman) and
his mother, as well as natural
beauty, as it holds a natural spring
and creek.
Samcheong-dong is an area of
Seoul that is particularly charm-
ing. The main street of this neigh-
borhood is lined with small
Korean-style shops that allow visi-
tors to see a more quaint side of
Seoul.
After touring this area, taking a
break in the secluded, quiet
Samcheong Park or a relaxing
stroll through it can be a relief, and
days spent in this neighborhood
are known for being rounded out
with a stop in one of the many
adorable cafes in the neighborhood,
where having a coffee or tea while
reading will leave you feeling as
though all your troubles have melt-
ed away.
The last park is Cheongye
Mountain Park. It should be not-
ed that although it carries the
same name as the Cheongye
Stream, they are not located in
the same place. The Cheongye
Stream begins downtown, behind
City Hall, and flows nearly six
kilometers through the city east-
ward.
Cheongye Park, however, is lo-
cated in Yangjae-dong, near
Gangnam. This park offers wide,
dirt trails. The mountain is rather
steep, but well-maintained. Dense
trees and foliage add to an out-of-
the-city feel, and as the park is sit-
uated on the borders of Seongnam,
Gwacheon and Uiwang, Gyeonggi
Province.
If throngs of people don’t bother
you, head to World Cup Park. A tes-
tament to urban redevelopment, it
sits on what used to be the home to
100 million tons of garbage. Now
though, it is one of the greenest ar-
eas of the city, consisting of five
parks.
The best time to go is on week-
nights, when you can expect to
avoid the crowds and enjoy some
peace and quiet. To get there, go to
World Cup Stadium station (Line
6), cross the street and walk 5 min-
utes toward Mapo Agriculture-
Fisheries Market.
For more information on Seoul
parks, go to http://parks.
seoul.go.kr (available in Korean,
English, Japanese and Chinese).
Of course there are many others
ripe for exploration this summer,
each with its own quirks and
things to do.
The Seoul Global Center’s
tourism desk can also help with di-
rections and other tips. They can
be reached at (02) 2075-4120. Or
for more information on life in
Seoul in general, call 1688-0120.
(yoojj@i-net.or.kr)
group have put on events that have benefited
various charities and have pulled the foreign
residents together alongside local Koreans in a
spirit of giving.
T-HOPE is getting ready to expand to other
cities around the country.
There are close to 80 teachers signed up to
help with T-HOPE’s current program. The
teachers will head out to the orphanage the sec-
ond and fourth Saturdays of every month, start-
ing in September.
Gauthier said the program’s success rests
on the regular participation of the volun-
teers.
Like children everywhere, these children need
role models and someone to be there for them. T-
HOPE plans to provide them with exactly that.
“It’s more than just helping them, it is about be-
ing there for them,” Gauthier says.
T-HOPE is preparing the formalities of trying
to become a registered organization, but faces
problems related to being a foreign-run organi-
zation. Gauthier is set to return to Canada to
register T-HOPE as an international non-profit
organization.
The city of Ulsan has been a key figure in
helping T-HOPE. The city has been a positive
force for the efforts of teachers who try to help
others. They have provided funds and locations
for events that have helped a great many people
over the years and they continue to support or-
ganizations like T-HOPE.
(jt@jasonteale.com)

In Focus: More on utilizing bokeh

The Photo Challenge is spon-
sored by Hyosung Camera
(English: 010-7203-9599) and
Babo Shirts (www.baboshirts.
com). Winners of the weekly com-
petition receive 50,000 won store
credit at Hyosung Camera and a
Babo Shirt. To take part in the
competition, simply upload your
photo at
www.flickr.com/groups/seoulp
hotoclub — Ed.
By Aaron Raisey
Last time we talked about
what bokeh is and how we can
produce it. We now know that
bokeh is strongly linked to the
size of aperture we choose, and
the kind of lens we use has an
effect on the bokeh we get. This
week we’ll look at lenses in a bit
more detail and how they relate
to producing bokeh.
Before we go any further, we
must remind ourselves that
bokeh is a very subjective quali-
ty and there are always excep-
tions to any typical set of cir-
cumstances, but we can make
some generalizations.
So let’s look at the different
lenses that photographers use.
We can group them into three
convenient sets, or kinds of lens-
es — wide-angle, prime and
telephoto.
First let’s deal with wide-an-
gle. Here, wide-angle means
shorter than 35mm and bokeh
is typically difficult to achieve,
especially at very short focal
lengths. The commonly smaller
minimum apertures combined
with the wide-angle effect
means you have to be very close
to the subject with a very large
distance between subject and
background to even begin to
produce noticeable bokeh. If you
are looking for the ability to cre-
ate worthwhile bokeh, wide
lenses are not the kind to be us-
ing, and this is also why point
and shoot style cameras have
great difficulty in this area.
At the other extreme, telephoto
lenses generally produce a good
bokeh effect. Telephoto lenses of
about 135mm and longer can
produce nice blurring of the back-
ground as a by-product of their
perspective at similar apertures
to the wide-angle lenses. Nature
and sports photographers use
telephoto lenses to separate their
distant subjects from the back-
ground. Many portrait photogra-
phers also prefer a short telepho-
to for this very reason.
Without a doubt, the kings of
bokeh are prime lenses. A prime
lens is a lens whose focal length
is fixed, and most generally tak-
en to mean a fixed length lens
from about 35mm to 135mm —
and within this range bokeh is
often an important design con-
sideration. Using a prime lens
to produce attractive bokeh
means we don’t need to get into
extreme situations like with
wide-angle lenses, or to stand a
great distance from the subject
as when using a telephoto.
Using a prime lens at larger
apertures, we can get that great
bokeh effect in just about any
ordinary photographic situa-
tion. The focal length of 50mm
is by far the most popular
among the primes. Commonly
with apertures of f/1.8 or f/1.4,
these lenses are usually of very
high quality, reasonably cheap
and excellent bokeh makers.
So you bought a DSLR last
week with a zoom lens? What
about zoom lenses?
Most zoom lenses span focal
lengths in the prime range, but
they vary greatly in quality, and
perhaps more importantly, have
smaller apertures than primes
for any given focal length. The
more expensive zooms can often
produce great bokeh, but if you
are really looking to bring this
effect into your photographic
repertoire, you need the larger
apertures only available on
prime lenses.
Get out there, experiment
with different apertures and
head over to the Seoul Photo
Club on Flickr. PHOTO CHALLENGE — weekly winner — At the Teddy Bear Museum, in Jeju-do, a display features
(raisey@hanmail.net) a group of pandas battling with various weapons. Darwin Alberto