1.

Pedal the World

Hello. My name is Jaehee. I love traveling, cycling, and meeting various people from different

cultures. So, naturally, bike touring around the world has always been the top thing on my bucket

list. In 2015, I chose Europe as the destination for my first adventure. I set off with my friend

Doyun to put my plan into action. For 130 days, we traveled around 13 countries by bicycle, and

met many people on the road. It was a great experience. Here, I’d like to share some of my journal

entries with you.

Day 1: Istanbul, Turkey

We arrived at Istanbul Atatürk International Airport in Turkey. The flight took over 10 hours,

which was tiring for us, but we were so excited when we got our bicycles at the baggage claim. The

first thing we did was to assemble them. After two hours of struggling with the parts, we were

finally ready to pedal the world!

We wandered around the airport for a little while before leaving and riding to downtown Istanbul.

It was a beautiful, easy ride along a coastal road. Suddenly, Doyun yelled, “I’ve got a flat tire!” We

stopped, and while he was repairing his tire, a lot of thoughts went through my mind. Because we’d

never done this kind of tour before, I was worried about whether or not we would be able to handle

the upcoming bike routes we’d have to take on our long journey. However, the view of the emerald

sea from the road was so beautiful that all my worries seemed to be washed by the waves. We were

young, and the great big world was welcoming us.

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 Istanbul is a city with several historic areas that are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Doyun has a particular interest in this historic city, and he guided me as if he had been to every

corner of it. Our first destination was the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It is popularly known as the Blue

Mosque because of the blue tiles used to decorate the inside of it. It still functions as a mosque as

it did long ago. like many tourists there, I was so impressed by its magnificence.

Next, we headed to the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn in Istanbul. This bridge is

famous as a symbol of connection between the two continents of Asia and Europe. Since the bridge

was first built, it has been reconstructed and renovated several times; the one that stands today was

built in 1994. It is known that Leonardo da Vinci designed a bridge to be built at this location in

1502. Unfortunately, however, his design was not realized. Still, the current bridge and its

surrounding scenery are beautiful. When we arrived there, the view of the Golden Horn was calm

and peaceful from the bridge, with many people fishing on it.

For the night, we decided to camp at a nearby park. The park manager brought us each a cup of

hot black tea with a lump of sugar. He said that it was Turkish tea, which is the most consumed

hot drink in Turkey, and that offering tea to guests was part of Turkish hospitality. His kindness

made our tiredness disappear.

Day 30: Florence, Italy

We left Empoli and arrived in Florence after about an hour of cycling. Florence is considered one

of the most beautiful cities in the world. At a lounge in a Florence train station, I recharged my

laptop battery and blogged my travel journal entries. Doyun enjoyed a cup of nice coffee. It was

relaxing and comfortable after the hard cycling we had done in the previous few days.

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 While we were relaxing, a man came up to us and handed us a T-shirt, without saying a word.

Because I thought he was trying to sell us the T-shirt, I said to him, “No, thanks.” However, he was

not a street vendor but a Brazilian backpacker who wanted to promote the Olympics held in his

country. In English, he tried to explain the meaning of the symbol printed on the T-shirt.

As a Korean, it was quite interesting to communicate with a Brazilian in English in an Italian city!

We took pictures together to remember the moment. Though it was our first time meeting, it felt as

if we were old friends!

We then rode our bikes to the Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, one of the largest cathedrals in the

world. This vast Gothic structure was built on the site of the old church of Santa Reparata, and its

construction lasted from the late 13th to the early 15th century. It took about two centuries for the

cathedral to be completed! Climbing the Duomo was very challenging. However, we forgot this when

we got to the top and looked down at the beautiful city. The view of Florence was terrific. I came to

understand why so many people want to visit this place. We then split a calzone as a late lunch on

some grass nearby. A calzone is an Italian dumpling consisting of pizza dough folded over and filled

with meat and vegetables. It was really delicious.

Day 60: Berlin, Germany

We biked along the Elbe River. With the night coming, it began to rain. I thought it wouldn’t last

long, but it started to pour. I missed home so much: my warm and cozy room, and my mom’s

cooking.

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 We finally arrived at the center of Berlin. The Brandenburg Gate welcomed us. It was behind the

gate that the Berlin Wall, which had separated East and West Germany from 1961 to 1989, had stood

for 28 years. After a short rest at the Tiergarten, a huge park, we went to the East Side Gallery.

There, a 1.3 kilometer long area of the Berlin Wall still remains. We walked around the wall and saw

various symbolic pictures and graffiti on it. Surprisingly, we saw writing in Hangeul: “우리의 소원은

통일” (Our hope is unification). I silently made a wish that someday we could make that hope come

true.

Day 110: Manchester, UK

We were supposed to head to Manchester to meet Jimmy, whom I got to know on an online bike

tourist community called Warm Showers. Warm Showers hosts provide bike tourists with free

accommodation all around the world. We arrived in Manchester late at night. The next morning,

Jimmy took us to Old Trafford, the home football ground of Manchester United. Our time at Old

Trafford started with a tour of the Manchester United Museum, where we saw a wax sculpture of

Peter Schmeichel, the former Manchester United goalkeeper. Doyun automatically bowed to the

sculpture, which was really funny. When I entered the players’ locker room, I was so excited to see

all the uniforms. I took several pictures of myself in front of Park Ji-Sung’s uniform. We had a

really good time there.

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 In the late afternoon, Jimmy’s friends came over and we played football together. They were on

their summer vacation, and they wanted to do something exciting. So I asked if they could join our

bicycle trip. They said they would gladly join us to our next destination, Edinburgh, Scotland. We

were of similar age and had similar interests. We talked about many things, from our school lives to

our dream jobs. Traveling together on our bikes would be an unforgettable event for us all!

My great, ambitious journey is over. During it, I sometimes suffered great physical challenges and

felt like giving up. At other times, I missed home a lot. When I looked around, however, there were

always supporters to make up for all of these obstacles. A gentle breeze cheered me up when I was

exhausted after long hours of pedaling. I met a kind local who gladly provided me with shelter. Most

of all, my best friend, Doyun, riding with me through the journey, stood by my side. There were

many good people wherever we were. Despite cultural differences, we all depended on each other in

one way or another. As our wheels were wearing out, good memories were piling up. I’ll never

forget my summer bike trip. It will be kept in the book of my life as one of the most meaningful

stories.

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 2. Money and Its Many Meanings

When people are asked what they value most in their lives, their answers vary. Most say

that leading a healthy life is high on their list of priorities. Also, many say that having a

job they love is of extreme importance. But what about making money? How important is

it in your life? To properly answer this question, you may need to know the true meaning

of money. The following three stories highlight various meanings of money.

Rai of Yap

The island of Yap, located in the Pacific Ocean between Guam and Palau, had been

untouched by modern civilization until the 1800s. You may think that they shouldn’t have

had their own monetary system because they were not modernized. However, the people of

Yap had a very advanced and well developed system of money. They used rai ― large,

thick round stone wheels with a hole cut in the middle in which they could insert a pole

to help transport them. Some rai were very big and weighed about 7 tons!

These huge stones were not native to the island. Instead, they were mined on the Palau

Islands, 460 km away from Yap. Because Yap islanders used narrow boats, the stones

often fell overboard and got lost in the sea. What is interesting is that even when rai fell

into the sea, people agreed that the incident didn’t change either the value of the stone

or its owner’s ownership.

How this system could even work may seem really strange. But in fact we have a very

similar system today. Our cash in the bank is just like the rai that lay underwater.

Though we can’t see cash in the bank, it works perfectly as money. After all, our

monetary system is based on credit, just like the rai of Yap.

In 1932, in the middle of the Great Depression, the town of Wörgl, Austria, was suffering

from a 35% unemployment rate. The town’s mayor had a long list of projects to do and

only 40,000 Austrian shillings in the bank to pay for them. Thinking the depression was

caused by lack of money circulation, he decided to issue 40,000 shillings worth of

Freigeld, a regional currency. Then, the mayor began to use Freigeld to pay for his

projects.

Freigeld, which means “free money,” was different from normal money in that it

depreciated monthly by 1% of its original value. To maintain its original value, people had

to buy a stamp that was worth the amount of devaluation and put it on their Freigeld.

The purpose of this strange system was to accelerate the circulation of money, and it

succeeded! Everybody who was paid in Freigeld spent it as quickly as possible because

keeping the currency, and not spending it, meant losing wealth. The average speed that

money circulated increased by fourteen times, which consequently revived the economy of

the town. In less than two years, Worgl became the first town in Austria to reach full

employment.

The experiment in the small town of Wörgl might suggest that money, as the medium of

exchange, should be circulated appropriately, and that its smooth flow helps to vitalize the

economy.

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The Power of $25

If someone asked you whether 25 dollars was a little or a lot of money, what would you

say? To answer this question, imagine what you could do with 25 dollars. For example,

you and your friends could watch a movie. However, do you know that the same amount

of money that you spend on simple entertainment could be used completely differently for

people on the other side of the planet?

After retiring from the police force, Steve and Anna Tolan moved to Zambia and set up

a charitable organization that provides conservation education programs for children.

Since it is a nonprofit organization, they rely on financial donations to keep the

organization running.

With 25 dollars, the Tolans could pay for one of the following:

• a full school uniform for a student

• two 25 kilogram bags of corn (the staple food), which is enough to feed a family of six

for a month

• two good quality blankets (most children in Zambia don’t have one)

• four mosquito nets to help prevent malaria

Isn’t that amazing? That’s possible because the value of money is relative, just as

Gulliver is little in the land of giants and huge in the land of tiny people. The same

amount of money may have different meanings to different people. Therefore, take some

time and think about how to spend your money more meaningfully.

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 3. View Your World Differently!

Look at the following pictures. On the left is a couple who just got married. It appears

that the groom is as tall as a giant, lifting the bride with just one hand. Is the groom

really a giant? Is the miniature bride a princess right out of a fairy tale? On the right is

an incredibly big hand waking up a man who seems to be sleeping. What if the hand

breaks the man’s arm? Aren’t the photography tricks used in the pictures interesting?

Look at the photo of a person collecting clouds in a jar and the photo of a car that

looks just like a small toy. How were these bizarre pictures created? Nowadays, photo

editing programs make it easy to create these types of pictures, but there is a much more

low-tech method that produces the same amazing results: the forced perspective

technique.

The forced perspective technique manipulates our human perception with the use of

optical illusions to make objects appear larger, smaller, farther away, or closer than they

actually are. That way you can give the impression that your photographs were taken in a

completely different context. Or you can completely change the tone, message, and

symbolism of your images.

Forced perspective has been extensively used not only in photography but also in movie

making. For example, the technique can be used in an action or adventure movie scene

where dinosaurs are threatening the heroes. By placing a miniature model of a dinosaur

close to the camera, the dinosaur may be made to look monstrously tall to the viewer,

even though it is just closer to the camera.

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 So you don’t have to scream like a little kid while watching a scary movie in a packed

theater. Just remember that the gigantic monster on the screen may only be a little plastic

toy, and that, using forced perspective, the movie makers turned it into something

frightening to the audience.

There are also cases in some movies where characters need to be of varying sizes. The

same technique of forced perspective may be applied: A person intended to be larger will

be closer to the camera, while a person meant to be smaller will be farther from the

camera. Then, it is shot at such an angle that it appears they are next to each other and

that one of them is really big and the other really small. This sounds simple, until you

realize that you need to build a set on which the actors can interact at the same time,

while hiding the fact that they’re far away from each other.

As you may expect, forced perspective comes from imagination and creativity, which

are, no doubt, very important abilities for success in life. There is nothing as boring as

always thinking the same thing as others and having an ordinary interpretation of the

world. Throughout human history, continuous development and progress have come from

new ideas and novel interpretations. It is necessary to reject ordinary thoughts and try to

see the world differently. You don’t have to fear failure because there are new things that

you can learn from this approach.

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 Why not try to take your own forced perspective photographs? Don’t forget that the

best shots take time to both set up and capture. In some cases, you may have to wait for

one object such as the moon or sun to move into position. In other cases, you may have

to move a person into just the right spot. Try different camera angles to see what looks

best, but do not forget to take several photographs of each version of your shot. Several

photographs in various positions will better ensure that you pull off that perfect shot. You

need to give yourself time. Don’t rush it. And, most importantly, use your creativity!

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