Eileen's Farewell Party

September 23, Friday – I went back to the dormitory at around 5pm to prepare for the food for Eileen’s farewell party. Eileen will be going back to Malaysia tomorrow morning. Till this day, I still could not figure out why she wanted to go back so early. Hmm… she misses home so much?

Wei Shi volunteered to cook fried rice and fried noodles, so BJun and I were just helping out with the preparation and dishes. We spent 30 minutes washing all the dishes. There were many unwashed dishes in the basin. Then, we started cutting the tofu, onions etc. The progress was very slow because we were using the electric stove. The Indians were preparing some Indian food for the party as well. Since they are vegetarians, there was no meat in the food that they prepared.

At around 8pm, we were done with the cooking. The dishes looked quite nice but the taste was a bit flat. The party started soon after that. A lot of people attended it as Eileen invited her lab members and some other friends as well. The ratio of food to the number of people was unbalance. The food was not enough for all. Apparently, we have more snacks and soft drinks instead of having a proper meal.

We went back to our rooms after we were with all the eating. At around 11.30pm, we went up to the sky lounge again for cleaning as no one was doing it. Ryan and Yushu were extremely hardworking on that day. They volunteered to wash the dishes. Meanwhile, Ern Yu and Shu Yun were cooking ramyeon because they did not have enough food during the party.

Pictures in Korea - Batch 25

Here are some of the photos taken in Eulsuk Island, Annam Park and Songdo Beach:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b328/dellachew05/Korea25/

Eulsuk Island, Annam Park, Songdo Beach & Nampo Dong

September 19, Monday – It was great and tired day. BJun and I departed from the dormitory at 8.15am. We planned to go to 4 places on this day – Eulsuk Island, Annam Park, Songdo Beach and Nampo Dong. We took a bus to Busan Station and then change bus to Hadan. For the first time, I felt something different with the views in Busan. It looked almost the same, but I somehow felt different as I was approaching Hadan. Hadan is located near to the river side, quite near to Gimhae Airport actually. We mistakenly took a big round to get there.

We waited for bus no.58 at a bus stand at Hadan for almost 30 minutes but the bus did not come. Thus, we decided to walk over to Eulsuk Island instead. I bought a cup of Mocha McFlurry at 1,500 won. It was rather small compared to Malaysia’s but very tasty. There is a bridge connecting to the island and easily noticeable with the guidance of the map. As we were walking along the bridge, we noticed that there were many huge seasonal birds by the side of it. They look very graceful as they fly. There are mainly 2 species, white & smaller size and dark gray & bigger size.

There are 2 parks shortly after the bridge. One is for recreation whereas the other one is for the habitation of the birds. We visited the park for recreation first. It was not very big but beautiful. There are statues, fountains and man-made rivers. There were many children cycling there.

We visited the other park after that. It is very different from the park before. There are no fountains and no statues. There was hardly anyone there. The place is very deserted with only dry trees and some other plants. It is a huge area and there are some small ponds. It looks like the wetlands in Malaysia. It is also the resting place for the biggest seasonal birds in Asia Pacific. There were many seagulls at the mini wooden port by the river. I guess the birds now will take shade in places that are not so hot rather than wondering around.

The journey walking to and fro from the island was very tiring due to the long journey and the hot weather. We finished all of our water before going back to Hadan. I felt like as if all the water in my body had been dried up.

We planned to have our lunch at Nampo Dong at first but we were too hungry. Thus, we had lunch at McDonald. There is a promotion for set meals from 11am-2pm daily. Each set meal cost only 3,000 won (normal price around 3,900won). We were so thirsty that we finished all of our soft drinks. Too bad we were not able to refill our drinks here.

After lunch, we headed to Hadan’s subway and departed to Jagalchi. From there, we got out of the subway and planned to walk to Songdo Beach. However, our plans were ruined as an ajesi(uncle) was following us all the way. We quickly ran for our life with the hope that he will lost trail of us after we stopped by at Family Mart. We ran across a few lanes and then we took a bus to Songdo at the nearest bus stop. We ended up in Annam Park first as it was nearer. There were a lot of people there. Its main specialty is its red color rocks. The scenery there is not very beautiful. It is a bit polluted due to the many visitors. Most of the sea plants there died off. I was starting to miss Igidae’s beauty.

Then, we departed to Songdo Beach. It is like any other ordinary beaches. There is nothing special about. We were able to see Busan Tower from there. I tried out the packet Milk Shake there. It was very smooth and tasty, a bit like condense milk. It cost 1,000 won.

The way back to Nampo Dong was a very long one, more than 30 minutes. My legs could not take it anymore. All of our water was finished. Today’s walking load was just too much. We went to Family Mart to buy a small bottle of banana milk each, it cost 900 won. As we reached Jagalchi, we saw a few China guys and girls. One of them is speaking very good English. I wonder if he is from China or a Korean, as he has a handphone.

We headed to the cinema’s toilet for a rest and then walked around the area. Many shops were closed on that day. Some areas had lots of people whereas some were quite quiet. There were many youngsters and young families. Some of the clothes were quite cheap. There is a small lane selling “pa pin suk” (something like Malaysia’s ice-kacang). BJun and I ordered a bowl and shared, it cost 2,000 won. The ingredients are red-beans and sauce, pineapple slices and milk. The serving is quite little.

Then, we had some food and went to Mini Mall. The Mini Mall here is very small compared to the one in Seomyeom. Then, we went to Art Gallery. There are many wonderful stationeries and accessories there. But, it is a bit pricy.

After that, we visited the Hanaro at Nampo Dong. It was bigger compared to Naengjeong’s. Then, we headed back by bus. We reached the dormitory at around 11.30pm. We had been out for 15 hours on that day. The highest record. We also realized that our stamina had leveled up after more than 3 months of stay here.

Chuseok dinner

September 18, Sunday – I forced Ryan to prepare for dinner today as I was the one preparing most of the time. He actually cooked quite a number of dishes – “bak kuh teh”, eggs with potatoes, “mee goreng” with sausage & tuna and cabbage. It turned out to be a big feast. Wei Shi invited his “girl friend” as well. He was eating quite little that day. I wondered if it is because that she was there. Wei Shi treated us to some cookies after dinner. Everyone was very full.

It rained during the evening and we were unable to see the moon on that day. Well, I never really celebrate this festival after growing up. I am not fond of moon cakes as well. But, spending a mooncake festival overseas, it's something.

Visiting Xian Yan

September 18, Sunday – Today was Chuseok. BJun went out for a walk early in the morning. She saw a lot of women wearing Hanbok(Korean’s traditional clothes) and men wearing coat. Many of them were holding some presents, such as food and wine on their hands. There were some stalls selling food and with the label “fu”, which means prosperity in Chinese. It is like their second Chinese New Year. Some families give some like angpows on this day as well. Public transports, such as bus and subway were operating as usual.

BJun, Ryan, Yushu and I departed to Xian Yan, a China girl’s new apartment at around 1.20pm. We saw some Korean students studying on the way there. Xian Yan used to stay in our dormitory before moving down. She is a teacher from a university in Shanghai, currently doing her Masters in Multimedia. Our university actually has a few hostels around. Her new place is the blue apartment located very near to UIT building. The place is very quiet. It has a few 5 storey blocks. Some families and local students stay there as well. The university only bought up several units of the apartment there as hostel. Her apartment is located on the 5th floor of the last building. There are 3 rooms there, 2 big rooms for twin sharing and 1 single room. She’s staying there with another 4 girls. She is taking the single room. It is quite small but very homely. There is no fridge, fan, air-condition, or heater in the apartment. The kitchen is very small and unable to cook. There is something special about the floor, it will be heathen up during winter and the whole house will be warm. According to her, using the heater is very dry. The heater in the toilet there is very weird. It can only be used after 6pm.

She had shared with us her experience and life in Shanghai as well. People in Shanghai have their own dialect. But, we never heard of it in Malaysia. She commented that most Shanghai people do not migrate to other places. Even if they go overseas for work or study, they will eventually return to Shanghai. Despite their dialect, everyone in China knows Mandarin. The standard of living in Shanghai is quite high compared to other regions, almost the same as in Malaysia. There is a huge difference between the prices in the small shops and bigger shops. The price of the bigger shops is almost the same as the price in Korea. For restaurants, the small shop and the bigger shop maybe selling the same menu, with the same ingredients and taste at a different price. The only difference is the environment and the plates used to serve. They can actually cheap imported stuff from small shops. There are many foreigners and small streets in Shanghai. Normally, foreigners from the same country will automatically stay together, forming in a mini town in Shanghai. It maybe something weird but, for areas populated by Koreans in Shanghai, the hawkers there maybe speaking in Korean instead of Chinese. Foreigners who want to study in Shanghai must pass their university’s Chinese language proficiency test. This is because the classes are conducted in Mandarin.

We took some photos with her on the top of the apartment and then departed back to the dormitory.

Sangwang Temple

September 17, Saturday – Ern Yu, Kok Sin, Shu Yun and I departed to Sangwang Temple after taking our lunch at a small shop downhill. Today was the day before Chuseok and most of the shops were already closed. There were not many people around Naengjeong. I guess Chuseok must have been a grand festival in Korea.

Sangwang Temple is actually quite near to Children’s Grand Park. But, it is located on the hill slope and the bus I took last time was taking a different route. Thus, I did not really notice it. There are not signboards along the main road. Luckily, I was able to notice the different roofs on our way there.

After some walking, we reached there. The temple is nicer than I expected. I like the lanterns there. Each petal is made exactly and it looks really beautiful when they lighten it. The drawings on the ceilings are better. I noticed that they ceilings are made of a few layers of wood instead one. The statues there are nicer than any of the temples that I visited before. There are many miniatures beside the main Buddha. They are gold in color and shinning in the semi-bright hall. This temple is quite modern to the other temples as it is quite new, about 30+ years old. There are air-conditioners, spot lights, surveillance cameras and fans in the temple.

There are a number of halls in this temple. I like the pagoda with bells the most. The melody created as the wind blows is so nice and calm. There are carvings and statues there as well, light gray in color. It is really nice.

Then, we departed to Seomyeom to have a scroll before departed back to DSU.

Shopping @ Lotte Department Store

September 16, Friday – At around 2.30pm, Ern Yu, Shu Yun and I departed to Lotte Department Store. Our professor had given us a shopping voucher as a replacement for canceling the trip to Daegu this weekend. My professor had given each of us the handphone accessories type of subway card. Ern Yu and Shu Yun reloaded the card at the subway and we departed to Seomyeom. There were people everywhere as we arrived. We were a bit lost and ended up at a shop selling cheap stuff. Ern Yu and Shu Yun bought some

Then, we walked to Lotte Department Store. They were selling a variety of gifts for Chuseok, such as food, shampoo, herbs and tea. The things here are quite expensive compared to the Homeplus and Hanaro. Quality and wonderful designs actually comes with a price. The toilet here is very modern and nice. The place is round in shape and there are places for sitting down to make up as well. I felt like as if I was in a space shuttle as I entered.

It was really difficult to spend the voucher as the things were so expensive. The system for the voucher here is slightly different. The smallest value for a voucher is 5,000 won. If we buy something less than that value, they will return the balance with cash. We were thinking of ways to get more cash. We spent most of it on food, such as bread, cake and ice-cream. Some of the bread here are very tasty but with a price. It cost around 1,500 to 2,500 won for a small piece of it.

Then, we went to the 1,000 won shop and Mini Mall before departed back with bus no.67.

Pictures in Korea - Batch 24

Here are some of the pictures taken in Hwangleungsan and Sangwang Temple, and a photo with Xian Yan, from China:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b328/dellachew05/Korea24/

Beautiful Busan Night View

September 15, Thursday – I managed to contact Min Pyo oppa and he agreed to give us a drive to Dalmaji Hill to see Gwangan bridge’s night-view. We departed at around 10pm. BJun, Ryan and Yushu joined the trip as well. It was surprised as I stepped on the break on the passenger’s seat next to the driver. He was using the type of car which people use for teaching driving lessons. His mum is a driving instructor.

The journey there seemed to be very long but enjoyable. We were able to see Busan’s night view and the famous broadcast tower from many views, it is really beautiful. The trip up to mountain is a tough one as it is very steep and it is a long way up. Luckily we did not challenge ourselves for mountain climbing there. It was getting colder as we went up higher. The view of the broadcast tower was getting nearer. It was splendid. There was a signboard written as “Cloud Hill” on the way up. In Malay, it sounds like Genting Highlands. The weather was almost the same as well.

There were a lot of cars as we were approaching the broadcast tower. The upfront view broadcasting tower is superb and colorful. It looks more like space center. The weather there was so cold that we were shaking while taking photos there. We did not expect it to be that cold. Many of the visitors there were wearing jackets. It was almost full moon on that day and the whole place look so gruesome even though there were no street lights around. We took 2-3 minutes to walk up to the historical spot near the broadcasting tower. We were able to see almost the whole Busan from there. It is as if we are standing at the top of the universe, surrounded by millions of stars. The view of Gwangan Bridge is extremely nice from there. But, it does not look nice in photos. We snapped a few photos and then departed to Millak Water Front Park.

Too bad the lights of the bridge were off as we reached there. I think they off it after midnight in order to save electricity. Thus, we had a scroll at Millak Water Front Park and then had seafood at a small stall by the road. The seafood there is very expensive. We had some barbecue fish (comes in 2 favor – salty and spicy) and soju, it cost 53,000 won. It is really nice drinking cold soju in such a cold weather. Even though the drink is cold, our body is warm after drinking it. We treated Min Pyo oppa but he was not eating much, though he only had some biscuits for dinner. Maybe he was afraid that we were not having enough food.

We took the high way on the way back. The way they pay for the highway is really advanced and cute. There’s something like a big metal pocket there and they just throw the money inside. Then, the bar will be lifted. It is so easy. We were all drunk as we reached the dormitory, though BJun and I were not serious as we only took a small cup. It was around 2.30am as we reached, the latest time I went back to the dormitory in Korea.

The 2 New Malaysians

September 14, Wednesday – My professor and I went to Gimhae Airport to fetch my two new lab members from Malaysia, Ern Yu and Shu Yun. They will be doing their Masters in networking here for 2 years. He seems to be very excited on meeting them. Yesterday, he had requested Min Ho oppa to rearrange the seats in the lab and allocate a long table for each of them. He had bought a set of new computers with LCD monitor and speakers for each of them as well. At around 11.05pm, we departed from our lab to the airport. For the first time, my professor was talking so much to me. His wife is a chemistry teacher. He had a 17 years old son and a 13 years old daughter.

My professor was able to recognize them almost immediately. They are actually smaller size than I thought. As usual, Malaysian students carry a lot of luggage. My professor drove us back to our dormitory. He even invited us to spend the weekend at his hometown, Daegu. It was very nice of him to help Ern Yu and Shu Yun out with their luggages. Then, we had lunch at Sky Lounge, the New Millennium building. They were not having buffet as usual. Instead, they were serving “gom tang”(beef soup). It was a bit of problem for Ern Yu as he did not take beef. Luckily, there were other side dishes and fruits served.

Then, professor showed them the way to our lab. Some of my labmates were there at that time. They helped them with settings of their computers while professor was discussing with them some of the details of their course and allowance. Ern Yu and Shu Yun treated them with mooncakes.

Then, I brought them to see Wei Shi, our Malaysians’ big brother. Wei Shi introduced them to his other lab members. Then, we departed to Ms Kim’s office. Ms Kim is the head of the International Exchange Center. She wanted to brief them about the Alien Card. Foreigners who will be staying in Korea for more than 3 months need to apply for an Alien Card at the immigration’s office.

At around 6pm, we had dinner together at a more expensive restaurant near McDonalds. We were having chicken for the first time after a long time. The chicken was quite nice, but getting more and more spicy as we eat. It cost around 5,000 won each.

My first Korean class

September 12, Monday – Today I attended my first Korean Language class. Our language teacher is a Korean with poor English. The class started with calling each and every of our names. It was very funny, the way she pronounced them. She spent more than 30 minutes doing it. Then, we started with some introductions on the origins of Hangul, Korean’s characters. Then, we had a 10 minutes rest after 1.5 hour. She gave each of us a thin writing pad with huge squares and with our names printed on it. The writing pad is too cute. We somehow feel like as if we were attending an elementary school’s class. Then, she introduced to us the vowels and consonants. It was really boring, maybe it’s because we already know how to read them.

Songpyeon Making Workshop

September 11, Sunday – Bjun, Eileen, Ryan and I together with a few Germans – Patrick, Thomas, Fedelike, Eva, Anja and Fenja went to Hongbeop-sa for the Songpyun Making event. This was our second visit to the temple. There were more people there this time; most of them are foreigners from America and Canada, teaching English in Korea.

Songpyeon is a type of rice cake specially made to celebrate Chuseok. Chuseok originates from the Silla dynasty, one of the old kingdoms of Korea. China’s influence was very strong at that time. It is an annual event celebrated on August 15 of the lunar calendar. However, it is different from the moon cake festival. It is more like a thanks giving day in Korea. During this day, they will go to the graveyards of their ancestors to offer them food as a way of thanking them for helping with the harvest. They will also cut weeds which have grown during the hot summer days. These customs have been considered as a natural duty of the descendants to their ancestors. Other than the decease, the other family members will gather and have meals together. Chuseok is made of red bean paste, chestnut paste, jujube paste and so on. The outer part is made of rice dough. It is believe that Songpyeon represents the beauty of their hearts. It is also believe that those who can make a beautiful Songpyeon means that they will have a beautiful baby.

The demonstration was very funny because the translator, Cookie is not doing a great job being a translator. Our attention was focusing more on Cookie’s name tag. “sphere” was pronounced as “spear”. Throughout the demonstration, we were wondering why they would want to make the dough in the shape of a spear. We were quite blurring after the demonstration because we couldn’t see it properly. One of the helpers, Ye Yim helped us out with it. I think that she is actually more interested on getting to know Ryan than demonstrating to us. We were trying to be a bit creative and come out with some weird looking Songpyeon. Overall, they looked good.

After that, we went to the steamer there to steam them. A layer of pine needles were put on the steamer before putting the Songpyeon. After it was done, they splashed some cold water on it and mixed them with sesame oil. We wanted to get back our own Songpyeon but couldn’t recognize them as they mixed them up when steaming it. The Songpyeon doesn’t look very delicious after they were cooked. We were having some doubts on its taste. Luckily it turned out to be okay. Some fruits and another type of rice cake were served as well.

After that, we had a photo section and then departed back to the subway station with the temple’s van.

Children's Grand Park

September 10, Saturday – I visited the Children’s Grand Park alone. It was my second trip out alone. I reached there by bus no. 33 and followed by a short distance of walk. It was very easy to identify it from its entrance. Admission is free. The park is much bigger than I expected. It has many places in there, such as the Children’s Hall, monuments, zoo and theme park. I saw a lot of senior citizens as I walked in. Some of them were accompanied by their children. They were relaxing under the shade of the trees, enjoying their meals or chatting.

First of all, I visited the children’s education center. It is huge building with many rooms for workshops and practices, such as the clay workshop, gymnasium, internet café, basketball court and swimming pool. The place seemed to be quite new.

There are many ladies and children at the information center with their baby cars. I wonder why… There is a mini theme park near the entrance. Not many people are playing there and the maintenance seemed to be terrible.

Along the way up to the Children’s Hall, I saw many beautiful decorations of cartoon characters. In addition, I came across some ugly looking Teletubies and Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. The atmosphere there is really wonderful. Children must have like this park a lot. There is nothing much at the Children’s Hall though.

I managed to get back to the main walking trail after some walk. There are many small shops there selling hotdogs and ice-creams. I bought myself a 500 won melon ice-cream. It is a tasty. There were many old folks and parents with their children there. There is a lake and bigger theme park in the end part of the park. I headed there after eating my ice-cream.

An ajesi(uncle) greeted me as I was walking and he offered to guide me around the park. He is a businessman of a trading company and able to speak some English and Japanese. As his Japanese is better, I communicated with him in Japanese. He guided me up a hiking trail. There were many people heading there as well. From the top, we were supposed to be able to see Haeundae and Lotte Department Store from there. But, I get a nice view of the lake of the park and concrete jungle instead. I was a bit disappointed. The ajesi treated me to some traditional ice-cake called “sugopin”. It is made of red beans and do not have milk like normal ice-creams.

After the rest, we took another trail back to back where we started climbing. There are many trees there. It reminded me of Snow White when she was lost in the forest. The trees there are tall and straight. Its wood is very hard and its texture is smooth. I think that they are “balak” trees. We had some drink of the mineral water on our way back. It was very cool and refreshing.

Then, the ajesi brought me for walk beside the lake. There were some ducks and swam swimming in the lake. I was able to see some gigantic fish in the lake as well. Many people like to take pictures at the small resting place beside the lake.

The ajesi treated me some coffee and dinner after that. It was very nice of him. He even sent me off while I was waiting for the bus. I took bus no. 133 back to Naengjeong at around 6.30pm.

Pictures in Korea - Batch 23

Here are some of the photos taken in Hongbyeop Temple. There was a Songpyeon making workshop there. Songpyeon is a special type of rice cake served during "Chuseok", Korean's Full Moon Festival or Thanks Giving Festival. It's the 2nd biggest festival here after their New Year:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b328/dellachew05/Korea23/

Pictures in Korea - Batch 22

Here are some of the pictures taken in Children's Grand Park. It is a very huge park with many places to visit in there:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b328/dellachew05/Korea22/

Korean Language Test

September 8, Thursday – At around 5pm, I attended the Korean language test at Dongseo’s language center. Miss Kim from the International Exchange Center was there to be our interpreter as the 2 teachers are poor in English. DSU offer Korean language classes to international students for free. There are 2 classes – Beginners and Advanced. The test will decide which class we will be going to. Well, it does not really matter to us as we can only read and understand some Hangul, we will be going to the Beginners class anyway. We were expecting them to give us some pictures and name out the objects. However, the test was much tougher than we thought. The questions were objectives. Yet, it was written in full Korean sentence and there were a few pages of them. Reading a few Hangul is easy for us but reading sentences is a big problem. Most of us gave up immediately after we saw the questions. We were enjoying ourselves with the test, happily discussing about it, as most of us do not know how to answer them. The attendants of the test was then divided into 2 parts, which were those who volunteer to give up on the test and go to the Beginners class and those who want to complete the test. We then discuss our class’s schedule with the teacher. We will be attending 9 hours of class per day (3 hours for each class). It all ended in 40 minutes, very fast.

Tips on Packing before going to Overseas

Here are some tips on the preparations before going to overseas for studies:

1) If you plan to bring a lot of things, do not use the hard type of luggage as the luggage alone already take up around 5kg. It is advisable to use the luggage with normal bag type of material but with wheels.

2) Check with your airline the maximum hand and put in luggage allowed. They did not limit the number of luggage that you can put for the put in luggage but there is a weight limit to it. As for the hand luggage, even though there is a weight limit to it, normally they are not strict about it. But, they only allow a maximum of 2. If your put in luggage is overweight, put the heavy items in your hand luggage instead. Normally, they do not check the hand luggage.

3) Put sharp items, such as scissors and knives (if you do bring along) in the put in luggage in order to avoid trouble during the security check.

4) If you are going there for studies and will be missing Malaysia food a lot, bring along some Malaysia’s cooking ingredients. They will come in handy.

5) If you are especially small size, be sure to bring along more clothes and shoes, as you may have problem finding the right size there, especially in the Western countries.

6) Bring along some traditional clothes as it will be something interesting to the locals there.

7) It is better to prepare yourself with some knowledge or facts of your mother country because sometimes they will be asking you about it. It will be embarrassing if you do not know about it.

8) There is no need to bring along fork, spoons and plates. But bring a small amount of toiletries, soap powder and shampoo along if possible. You do not know when you will be able to settle down.

9) If you will be bringing along any electrical items from Malaysia, be sure to check out the electric current at that country and bring along a converter if necessary. If you are not sure about it, just get yourself a universal converter. If you are bringing a lot of electrical items from Malaysia, it is advisable that you bring along an extension cord so that you do not need to buy so many converters.

10) Some countries such as Japan and Korea are using CDMA system for their handphone lines and are different from in Malaysia. Thus, you do not need to bring along your handphone here. It will be useless there. You won’t be able to do international roaming.

11) Do not put your valuable and important belongings (such as purse) in your put in luggage. For your passport and air ticket, make sure that they are always with you.

12) Always to bring some cash of that country along even if you have credit cards.

13) Weight your luggages before going to the airport in case they are overweight.

Blue Sky

The weather was terrible on yesterday’s evening. Both the wind and rain was strong. There was hardly anyone walking around the streets. I was very hungry at around 5pm, waiting for my professor. Finally, at around 6+pm, I departed back to the dormitory. There were a few people beside the entrance of the Millennium building, waiting for the weather to get better I guess. I waited there as well, for a chance to run over to Design Hall, which is located just opposite it. There were many huge glass windows in Design Hall and it was really scary when the wind hit on it. They were shaking loudly and as if going to break into pieces. I hurried my way up to the highest floor of the building, which has a connected bridge to the higher ground. From Design Hall, I rushed over to Dream Engineering Valley(DEV). I met Kok Sin there and he said that the nearest door to the dormitory was locked. Ah… why they kept on locking the doors almost everywhere on that day…Together we ran all the way back to the International House. It was a very long way. Using the umbrella is useless during such weather. I could hardly walk straight with the strong wind blowing in the opposite direction. Both of us were soaking wet by the time we reached the dormitory. My head was like spinning in circles. I was surprised to find that my bag was open when I reached my room and my pencil case was missing. Luckily my Indian friend, Gupta found it on the way back. Phew~

Today’s weather is extremely good. The sky is blue and clear with fluffy clouds. There are no signs that another typhoon is going struck Busan again. The weather will be good for the rest of the week ^^

Typhoon in Busan

Today’s weather is even worse than yesterday’s. It is the first time I experienced such a strong and continuous wind in Korea. I guess that is what typhoon is about. Holding an umbrella in the rain is something almost impossible. Kok Sin lost his professor’s umbrella today while doing so. The trip to the CCAP program this afternoon was cancelled due to the weather. There is even more stunning news on the hurricane that happened in New Orleans, US recently. Check out the news in CNN here:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/katrina.impact/index.html

Pictures in Korea - Batch 21

The weather today is bad, as reported by the weather forecast. It is cloudy, the wind is very strong and it is drizzling. We are expecting a typhoon within these 2 days.

Here are some of the photos taken during the Germans' welcome party and Busan IT Expo 2005:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b328/dellachew05/Korea21/

Busan IT Expo 2005

September 3, Saturday – At around 11pm, we brought Kok Sin to Design Hall for lunch and then departed to BEXCO(Busan Exhibition and Convention Center) by subway. There is an IT Expo there from Sept 1 to Sept 4. There are exhibitions and demonstrations on the new/existing softwares and hardwares. Companies who participated in this exhibition are such as Microsoft, LG, Sony and KT(Korea Telecom). It was the first time I visited such an exhibition.

There was a mini stage outside of BEXCO. There was a performance going on there for promotion purpose. The break dance was nice. There was a mini food fair nearby as there was a food and health exhibition on that day as well. But, we did not attend it as we need to pay extra for its entrance fees. We need to buy the ticket and fill in a form first before obtaining the pass to enter the exhibition hall. The ticket cost 2,000 won each.

As we walked in, we saw a huge Microsoft booth on our right. There were 2 Microsoft girls there and handed us a paper bag with a pen inside as we approached them. Next to it was Sony. There was a bus there displaying some of Sony’s products. But, I am more interested in the latest model of Sony’s mp3 player. It looks a bit like a lighter and comes in 4 colors. Its screen is not colored but it looks really cool. It cost around RM600+ for 256MB. There was a demonstration on Sony’s sound system as well for recording etc. It was really nice; the sound was so clear and real.

In addition, there were some performances (traditional dance and drums) going on at the back of the exhibition hall. The costumes were really beautiful and colorful. The drums performance sounded like the Chinese’s 24 seasons drums, but the shape of the drums are different.

There are exhibitions on some games and animations as well. There were quite a number of companies focusing on 3D Graphics for TV, web and mobile productions, mobile games development, such as HelloNet and Neo-Technology. Some of them were giving out paper bags with freebies to attract more visitors to their booths. We managed to get some goodies, such as paper bag, pen, postcards, writing pad and file. The designs of some of the animations are really attractive. I managed to snap a few photos with huge, fat and white Mashimaro. I never thought that Mashimaro is so cute~ I also took a picture with Puccha, my favorite Korea cartoon character. It would have look nicer if Yushu didn’t suddenly pop up when the photo was taken.

Currently, companies here are focusing on ubiquitous technologies. There are many displays and demonstrations of such products by huge companies such as KT and LG. They are focusing on the U-home concept now. Almost everything in the house can be controlled using a remove control, such as the washing machine, television and curtains. Some of these exhibitions were done in a bus. Of course, it’s just the shape of the bus, with no driver seat and passenger seats inside. The decorations of the booths are quite stunning as well. They sure like to hire pretty girls, dress up in some special suits, to take care of the booths.

Some universities such as DSU also have their own booth there. We managed to see the robotic dog that is always not around in the Ubiquitous Frontier in DSU as they always take it out for exhibitions. It is really amazing. It does act like a real dog. Another university is doing something on face recognition. Using a sort of camera, they will capture the image of our face and did some analysis based on it. With this information, the software will do some fortune telling.

Have you ever seen a gold and silver color keyboard before? You will be able to see one here. I never thought that any company would pay so much focus just on designing keyboards. Some of the keyboards are really thin. I feel that it’s not so nice for typing. I saw a server with its size smaller than a normal PC casing and with higher processing speed. Amazing~

There were many more interesting things, such as the water hotter or cooler. It is quite expensive as well. The hardwares displayed there as such as sensors, chips and door lock systems.

There was a mini game festival there as well. Participants were competing to play Starcraft. Korea guys sure like this game a lot and is crazy about it.

We went to the Art Museum at around 5pm. Due to the expensive admission fee (4,000 won), we gave up on visiting it and went to Homeplus instead. According to Yushu, due to Samsung and Tesco are collaborating, it was named “Homeplus” instead of using “Tesco”. It was the first shopping in Korea for Kok Sin. He bought quite a number of items. Then, we departed back to Naengjeong with subway and had dinner at our all time favorite shop. After that, we took the shuttle bus back to DSU.

p/s: will upload the photos later ;)

Week #14

This week is the first week for the new semester. Suddenly, the campus is packed with students again. There are many people at almost anywhere. Cars are filling in each and every parking space. There is more variety of dishes served in the canteens now. During lunch time, we need to make a long queue for paying and taking the food.

I started going to my new lab on August 31, also Malaysia’s national day. We will be sharing the room with another lab which only has 2-4 members. It was really nice to see all my labmates again, though not all. Min Ho oppa is hardworking as usual, staying in the lab from around 9am till late at night. He wrote 2 articles in the university's English magazine, Ezine and gave me a copy of it for reading. Sometimes, I wonder if he sleeps in the lab. We had dinner outside on that day. There is no grand celebration here.

On Thursday, I got to meet the other lab members of the other lab, Suk Hen and Tae Hun. Suk Hen is a talkative person who likes to joke a lot, even though his English is not very good. He is also friend of Jong In and he knows Ryan as well. Tae Hun is a shy and soft-spoken person. He seldom talks but always smiling. His English is actually better than Suk Hen.

It seems that students here normally do not have class on Friday. The canteen is not so crowded during lunch time on this day and there are not so many people in the campus as well. Maybe their schedule is a bit similar to MMU’s, where most of the classes are held on Monday to Thursday.

On Friday, a MMU graduate who will be doing his Masters in robotic here arrived here. His name is Kok Sin, previously from Cyberjaya campus and originated from Banting. We had “samgyeoksa”(grilled pork) buffet at a restaurant for dinner with Kok Sin and the other Malaysians, except BJun. It cost 5,500 won each without soft drinks. Kok Sin seemed to enjoy the dinner. It is a good thing as he will be staying here for the next 2 years. He is under DSU’s scholarship. It will be a big problem if he could not get use to the life here.

Life as a Foreigner

There is one more month to go before I end my training here. Currently, I am stuck in coding. Argh… the due date for this assignment is this Saturday. Even though my professor is a lenient person, giving me extra time on this assignment is not a problem; I would like to complete it in time. Of course, prayers would not help, but let’s hope for the best >__<

It’s been more than 3 months I am in Korea. I have experience many things, both related and not related academically. I never really take special attention on what the international students feel about our country and university until I am a foreign student here in DSU. As a foreign student, we did not get along with many things here at first as they are different from in Malaysia, such as language, food, dressing, weather and culture. Well, here is like a summary of it, a long one.

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The weather in Korea is different, even during summer. We are able to notice the changes in the weather as it enters a new season. I still remembered that when I first arrived here, the weather was very cold, as if in Genting Highlands. It was a bit cold for us but it seemed to be normal for them. While we were wearing jackets and long jeans, they were wearing T-shirt and short pants around the campus. The water in the shower room was ice-cold, thanks to the spoilt heater. There were many beautiful flowers around the city and campus. It is spring after all. You can notice students relaxing and chatting at the benches beside the buildings or having lunch at the university’s garden/park. It’s impossible to do that in Malaysia as the weather is so hot that standing under the sun for 5 minutes is like a type of torture.

After a week, the weather was not so cold anymore, the way people dressed also changes. I guess this is so-called summer wear. At the mid of summer, the highest temperature was around 32 Celcius. The locals were feeling very hot yet for us, we feel that it was okay because at times, Malaysia can be even hotter. There were typhoon at night sometimes, the wind was extremely strong and the windows were shaking. There was a 1.5 months of holiday during summer. Many university students like to travel to Europe during this season. The beach was packed with visitors, up millions of people during mid of summer. You can see girls in bikinis easily. It is like the only season of the year they have the chance to show off their swimsuits. Stages were built for events/activities, such concert, games competition and basketball matches. Ice-cream and “papimsuk”(something like ice-kacang) were the popular desserts.

As Korea is also an Eastern country, they have rice in their daily meals. But, the rice is different from in Malaysia. It was bigger and more elastic. It was slightly different from Japanese’s rice as well, rather difficult to explain it here. The amount of food servings here is 2 times of in Malaysia. The food is mostly spicy and they like to mix all the ingredients together before eating. “Kimchi” and some other side dishes such as butter corn(depending on the restaurant) are reserved other than the dish that we ordered. During winter, there are not much vegetables and very expensive. Thus, they are consuming a huge amount of “kimchi” instead. Sometimes soup is served as well other than the side dishes.

The shop houses in Korea are really small. It may seem weird but many shops with the same genre are located near to each other. For example, many restaurants are located in the same area; the dishes that they are serving are also quite similar. Of course, the taste is different, depending on the cook. The price is almost the same. It is extremely hard to find a rubbish bin along the street. It seemed that they do not like rubbish bin. Yet, it was much cleaner than in Malaysia, though it is not as clean as in Singapore. I wonder if it is because of their mentality and how they are educated.

It is important to be able to read Korean characters as the food menu and destinations for each bus at the bus stop etc are written in Hangul(Korean characters system). Koreans can speak really poor English, especially the older generations. The younger generations can speak better English due to the change in their education system to focus more on practical English conversation. So, when you are lost and want to ask for directions, better ask the younger ones.

The way they dress is obviously different from us. The students’ hairstyles here are very fashionable. You can see purple color hair here as well! Even the spectacles come in different shapes, size and colors. Unlike in Malaysia when a certain design becomes trendy, everyone will be following it; everyone is living up to their own way. The clothes that the students here wear come in many colors, even for guys. In Malaysia, it is so difficult to see a guy in pink color T-shirts! Yet, I can find so many of them wearing it here. Guys here also bring umbrellas along with them during rainy days. Some of the other examples are such as guys using cute handphone accessories, such as teddy bears. Well, I guess their mindset is set differently. The aunties here are also very fashionable; they wear high heels and dye their hair in colorful colors as well. Sometimes we can see some senior citizens wearing “hanbok”(Korean traditional costumes). It is a pride for them to be wearing it, if they are from a noble family. In occasions such as wedding, the mothers from each both sides of the family also wear “hanbok”. Of course, its design is more elegant compared to normal wear. Generally, almost all the girls here do makeup daily. Sometimes, it looks very scary(in another terms “ugly”) when the makeup is too much.

The transport system in Korea is different from in Malaysia as it is more systematic. In the tourist guide, there are introductions of the popular destinations or places to visit with the guidance of how to get there, such as bus number and subway station. Only certain buses will stop at a bus stop and these bus numbers are written on a small round metal board at the bus stop. When taking the bus or subway, we can either use the transport card or pay by cash. Paying by cash cost 100 won more expensive than paying by card. The transport card is known as Hanaro card. We can get this card or in the form of a handphone accessory at 2,000-3,000 won each. Then, we reload the card with cash. The minimum reload amount is 5,000 won. This card can only be used in Busan. If you do not have the exact amount, do not worry. There is machine for cash exchange. Thus, there is no need for a bus conductor. Seoul is using a different card for its bus and subway system. In Seoul, some of subway stations are new whereas some are old. Thus, you will find the old subway station very dirty and poorly maintain. Since the subway stations in Busan are all quite new, it is okay.

There are a few telephone companies here in Korea providing telephone services to houses, such as KTF. Consumers can choose whatever telephone companies that they like. It is not monopoly like in Malaysia. The fees for the handphone lines here are very expensive. The rates are around 3-4 times of Malaysia’s rate. However, the handphones here are much cheaper and nicer. Most of them are using Samsung, Anycall and LG handphones. The parts of Anycall are manufactured by Samsung. Their designs are either open up or sliding. It comes in mainly silver and white color. Handphones with color screen, mirror and camera are something common here. Some of the handphone is of the size of an mp3 player. The OS for the handphone is much better.

Samsung goods are expensive in Korea and well-known for its quality. Samsung produces a wide variety of products including cars. LG also produces household goods such as soap. The market in Korea is like monopoly by a few big and well established companies. Koreans strongly support their own goods and are proud of it. There is something called Samsung Membership here. It is like an exam to recruit skillful IT students and it is very tough. People in the field look up highly to those who manage to become a Samsung member.

Korea have companies selling their own versions of word, spreadsheet etc. I have seen some of my labmates using them before, it seems to be even easy to use than Microsoft Word. One of the limitations is that it is in Korean language only.

Students here are very active in their club activities. They are willing to stay up late or overnight in their club rooms to organize or preparing for events. There are many activities organized throughout the year. These activities maybe considered as non-conservative and maybe banned by universities in Malaysia, such as the Pretty Boy competition, which guys dress up and act like a girl to compete with each other.

I feel that Koreans are more innovative and creative in designing. Their stationeries are very unique and nicely design. Malaysians often discriminate against art courses. However, art courses, such as filming and multimedia, seemed to be popular courses. Maybe it is due to the film industry here. Art students here are very active as well. They organized and participated in many activities, such as the musical drama, “The Fame”. It was a wonderful sketch!

The bandwidth in Korea is very fast, in fact even faster than in Japan, giving much space for the development of online games. Citizens here can use their ID card number to register and login to play certain online games. The language used for the games are in Korean. With the bandwidth here, we are able to download a few complete drama series in a few hours time. The download rate of 100+kbps is considered as slow for some of them.

Politically and economically, Koreans sure do not like Japanese. Yet, Koreans are very fond of many Japanese animations, such as Inuyasha, Initial D and Gundam Seed Destiny. Many Japanese comics and animations are the favorites of the younger generations. There are many Japanese comics translated in Korean language, it costed about 3,500 won(around RM14). As for the animations, they are dubbed in Korean language. For the opening and ending songs, some of them are using Korean songs.

As a foreigner in this Eastern country, sometimes I feel being ignored when all the Koreans are talking in Korean language. The same goes for the Koreans when we, a group of Malaysians are talking in our own language. I never notice how this has affected the foreign students until now. The culture here is sometimes a bit shocking for me. I am not an alcohol drinker. When in Malaysia, I only drink Sandy, which has very low alcohol. It seems that for whatever functions here, drinking is almost a must. The Koreans seemed to be unhappy if we did not drink. So, we must at least drink some. Soju have 20+% of alcohol. Hugging and kissing in the public is something very normal here. The couples here like to dress in the same T-shirt, worse, carrying the same bag. As for the food, I am not used to the amount of food served at first. It was 2 times the amount in Malaysia. Some of them are too spicy for me. But, a lot of walking and mountain climbing has help me burn up the extra calories. I am amazed by the creative designs for products here. It is way too nice! Somehow, I feel like I have been fooled by the handsome and gorgeous looking actors and actress in the drama series or movies. Most of the Koreans are not good-looking. The sceneries are not so nice as well, only certain places are worth the compliments. Some of the cultures that I picked up here is “love your lab like your home”. But, I have not reach the extend of staying overnight in the lab. I am quite shock at first, the place is so comfortable, with heater(for winter), fridge, hot water, coffee, towers, foldable bed and pillows. Yet, staying overnight here makes me think twice. Koreans also like to share food; it is not very hygienic for me. But, it is a norm for them. The relationships between male and female seniors-juniors are very close, as if they are couples. Sometimes, their actions can be considered as beyond my understanding. Once, I saw one of my oppa helping my onni to massage her hand as she was complaining about it. Well, there is more to that.

The Germans' welcoming party & Merdeka

August 29, Monday - The Germans were having a welcoming party for themselves(sounds weird eh..). As usual, we were having potato chips, beer and soju. There are actually more than 9 new Germans in the dormitory now. Suddenly there are so many names that need to be remembered. There are 2 Patrick(s), 2 Marcus(s) and 2 Eva(s). The girls’ names are almost the same - Anya, Tanya and Fenya. Germans pronounce their names differently. For example, Patrick, normally we pronounce it as “pe-trick”. However, they pronounce it as “pa-trick”. Eva is pronounced as “if-fa” instead of “e-va”.

August 30, Tuesday – We decided to cook dinner for that day without remembering that tomorrow is our independence day, Merdeka! We had bulgogi(beef) and cabbage for the dishes. Our senior, Wei Shi was especially kind on that day, maybe because of the Merdeka mood. He contributed a can of his sardines for dinner, a big bottle of Sunkish orange juice and ice-creams after dinner. Well, I guess it is a small celebration without any fireworks or grand sale. Min Ho oppa called me up on the same night telling me that the lab is ready and I can go there starting from Wednesday. Ah… my plan of staying up late was ruined. Thus, there was no countdown as well.

August 31, Wednesday – I arrived at the lab at 8.50am because Min Ho oppa asked me to come at this time. It is quite early for me as I am used to getting up late now. It’s been 3 weeks since I go to lab for work :P I wonder if we are going to have any Merdeka celebration tonight.

p/s: there is something wrong with my blog's display in IE(Internet Explorer) recently. It looks perfectly okay in other browsers such as Opera and Mozilla though.

Pictures in Korea - Batch 20

Here are of the photos of Busan National University:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b378/dellachew04/Korea20/

Enjoy!

Busan National University and Shanghai Street

August 27, Saturday – Bee Jun and I departed to Busan National University. It is a famous public university in Busan. We took the subway to Busan National University station and had a look around the area before visiting the university. There were not many students around there as we arrived. It was weird as normally areas around the university are crowded with students. There were many gift shops selling items with interesting designs. The stationeries’ design in Korea is indeed very unique. The writing pad and notebook have colorful papers and cute drawings. The paper clips are really unique, in the shape of stick figure and clothes clippers. The hair accessories and earrings are well designed, with very beautiful designs at a cheap price. There were not many restaurants around the university as DSU. The price is also slightly more expensive. We had lunch at a restaurant nearby. The food there is unique, its taste differs from what we had before and the ingredients for the same dish are also slightly different. Bee Jun and I ordered different types of “bibimbak”(mixed rice). Mine is served in something like hot plate. It is not too oily, not sticky, not too salty and spicy, the rice is a bit crunchy(due to the clay pan) and with one of my favorite ingredients, cheese! It is the best “bibimbak” I ever had.

Even though the university is also located on a hill slope, it is not very steep and nearby to the subway. No wonder students in DSU are always complaining about the “mountain climbing”. We were able to see more students as we reach the university. Somehow, I feel that the students here look different from DSU students. Hahaha… weird! Almost immediately after the entrance, we saw a football field and basketball court. Many students were there, playing and observing the games. In Korea, the football field is made of sand. We saw a few international students around and some local students carrying their luggages. Next week, or should I say, tomorrow, the school will reopen.

Well, at first, my impression on this campus is not so bad, most of the buildings are flat land and the slopes are not very steep. Later, I am quite disappointed with the maintenance of the campus and its buildings. I felt like I was in an abandon garden and ghost hostel as I passed by an area. There were many wild grasses around the area and vandalized benches. The building beside it was really badly maintained - dirty windows, the paint on the walls are coming off, dirty curtains etc. It reminded me much of the public universities in Malaysia. I had only being to 3 public universities – USM, UPM and UKM. I felt that these public universities’ maintenance is better than Busan National University. We arrived at the university’s museum but it was closed. There were no sign of people around the area. The building looks ancient and nice. But, the maintenance of the museum is also very terrible. There was spider webs at its back entrance and the big air-conditioning outside is “berkarat”. I walked further around the campus. There were some nice places like the school garden beside the library, some new buildings around the area and statues. But, overall, the maintenance is terrible.

We departed from Busan National University and took the subway to Busan Station. From there, we walked to Shanghai Street which is located almost opposite it. We were really disappointed. There were less than 5 Chinese shops along the street. There were little people and I think none of them were Chinese. Instead, there were more Russia and Korean shops. It is not a place worth visiting!

Then, we walked further in the search of Busanjin Market. It is famous for selling textile. People normally go there to get the materials for their wedding. But, we were lost and ended up in Seomyeom. We did some shopping and then headed back.

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Now is crapping time! These few days it is not raining and the weather is not very hot. This Thursday marked the 1st day of autumn. This week, 9 Germans arrived after some of them leaved. There are 4 girls and 5 guys. More of them will be coming, making a sum of 20+ Germans. There will be 3 Malaysian students coming here to do their Masters. They are ex-MMU students, 2 guys and a girl. Suddenly, it reminded me of something. Koreans normally refer to male and female as men and women in their daily conversation, even if they are around 20+ years old. When my lab members referred me as lady, I somehow feel that I am old, though it is better than woman.

This weekend, I finished watching the complete 22 episodes of a Korean drama called “Stairway to Heaven”. It was aired in the year 2004 and a hot movie back then after “Winder Sonata”. I was not really interested in Winter Sonata, so I did not pay much attention to it. Yet, after watching a Korean comedy, my perspective somehow changed. Well, I can conclude that it was a sad love story, a bit like Cinderella. The main actress is the same as “Winder Sonata”. It is a drama series worth watching. I am not going to give any spoilers here :P You can get the sypnosis and more information from this link:
http://english.tour2korea.com/03Sightseeing/TravelSpot/travelspot_read.asp?oid=2118&konum=subm1_1&kosm=m3_9

Autumn

Autumn is coming, or maybe it is already here. The wind is very strong recently. There is rain once in a while. The weather is getting cold; I can feel it even when I am in the dormitory. I guess it is farewell to summer now. I heard that autumn in Korea is very beautiful. I wonder how true is that...

Finally, my lab is ready and my PC was setup. Too bad, there is no internet connection. I will be sharing the table with a final year senior. Ah… I cannot have the whole table to myself anymore. Only Tong Huan and Il-Hee oppa was here when we arranged the stuff. Somehow, I feel that our lab members need more communication with each other.

Gwangan Bridge & Gwangalli Beach

August 21, Sunday – Today’s weather was very good. The sky was clear the wind was gentle and the sunlight was warm. We were not even sweating when walking under the sun at 12pm. I woke up at around 11.30am and went to Gwangalli Beach with Eileen at around 12+pm.

We took bus no. 31 from Naengjeong. We realized that the bus was heading towards the wrong direction. Thus, we stepped down from the bus as we reached BEXCO. BEXCO is an abbreviation of Busan Exhibition Convegence Center. It is a very huge exhibition center with many halls. Coincidently, a cosplay activitiy was held there. There were many cosplayers and visitors. Homeplus, a shopping complex located just opposite BEXCO, was also very crowded. I was able to see Cardcaptor Sakura, Inuyasha, Naruto etc characters. There were elementary school kids cosplaying as well! It was a bit cloudy at that time.

We had lunch at Lotteria, a fast food restaurant near BEXCO. We ordered set meals at 3,200 won each. I ordered the Teri burger set while Eileen ordered the Cheese burger set. The burger tasted like Bulgogi burger (beef burger). It was delicious!

After lunch, we walked towards Gwangalli Beach’s directions. We visited the Olympic Park on our way there. There were many weird statues. Busan Art Museum was just beside it. However, we did not enter as we were in a rush. It was a long way to Gwangalli Beach by foot. We came across many flyovers and bridges as we reached a junction. I guess they were connected to Gwangan Bridge. The view was quite nice from there, with the sea, the sky and flyovers. We saw many people fishing underneath one of the flyovers, mainly senior citizens.

There were no signboards on the directions to Gwangalli Beach after we walked over the bridge. We saw a theme park on the way and headed there. We found Millak Water Front Park and Millak Sliced Raw Fish Center, which was located nearby. They were located next to each other. We were able to see Gwangan Bridge clearly from there. The best view! There were many seagulls flying around in circles there, like eagles. Maybe it is because of the fish center.

Gwangalli Beach is actually located very near to the fish center, easily reachable if by foot. There were not many people on the beach as Haeundae. There was a basketball event held there. It was rather small compared to the games competition at Haeundae.

We had ice-cream at Baskin Robbins with the view of Gwangan Bridge. I ordered the Musk Melon cone while Eileen ordered the “Love Me” cone. Mine tasted almost like honey drew. Eileen’s one was rather colorful – purple, red and white. It cost 2,000 won each for an ice-cream cone. The varities of ice-cream there was slightly different from in Malaysia. We saw 2 Snow Whites and Peter Pans as we enjoying the ice-cream in the shop.

After that, we took the subway back to Naengjeong. That was all for today! ^^

Pictures in Korea - Batch 19

Here are some of the photos taken in BEXCO(Busan Exhibition Convegence Center), Olympic Park, Gwangan Bridge and Gwangalli Beach:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b378/dellachew04/Korea19/

Enjoy!

Igidae

August 19, Friday – Feeling bored after staying in the room for 2 days, I decided to go somewhere for a small tour. I had been looking at the tourist guide map for quite a long time the day before. It was rather difficult to choose since I had been to most of the famous tourist spots. I will save the Beomeosa trip for next month since the scenery there is nicer during autumn. After some thinking, beach trip is the best as it is summer now. Thus, I decided to go to Igidae and Sinseondae. Both of these places are beach parks and located at the same region, Nam-gu. It was the first time I was going to some new places alone.

I departed from the dormitory at around 10am and took the shuttle bus down to the subway station. I took the subway to Pukyong National University station. It was around 11am as I reached there. I got out of the subway and was walking around, looking for the bus stop with the bus numbers 20, 22, 24, 27, 131 and 131-1. Next, I walked around the area, looking for some food to eat as I was a bit hungry. There were a few small restaurants nearby but they looked very dirty to me. After some walk, I decided to have 2 “sam kak gimbak” (it is almost the same as gimbak, with rice and some ingredients, but its shape is triangle) from Family Mart as lunch. It was not very filling but enough for the time being.

I went to the bus stop again to wait for the bus. As I was waiting, I noticed that the destination of the bus is different. They were heading to Seomyeom and Busan National University’s direction. I walked over to the bus stop at the opposite direction to check it out. It was written there “Yongho-dong”. I guess this one should be correct ^^ Luckily, I have picked up certain level of reading Korean characters. It sure comes in useful in such situations. The bus headed to Pukyong National University’s direction. Unlike DSU, the university is located on flat ground. I like the gate at its entrance, it looks ancient. After a while, I saw many LG apartments. I did not really count, but I think there were more than 10 blocks. I guess this is LG Metro City. I was supposed to get off from the bus at there and walked for 30 minutes.

As I was checking on the directions to Igidae Park, I saw Gwangan bridge on my left. Gwangan Bridge is a very famous bridge. It is something “must see” if you visit Busan. I walked towards that direction and was sweating a lot along the way. According to the weather forecast, it was around 31 Celsius on that day. The bridge is indeed very outstanding and grand. It looks much nicer in the reality than in the photos.

Then, I walked back to my original location and walked straight after the junction. There weren’t many cars taking that road. It was quite deserted. I began to wonder if I was taking the correct direction. I took note with the time before walking further. I came across a kindergarten as I was walking and had a look inside. It was really need, tidy and cute. I continued my journey and saw 3 huge “onions” before going up the hill. It was a long way up. I saw a signboard written “Igidae Park” on the way. I was able to see the sea shortly after the signboard though it was hard to notice as it was covered up by the trees. I bought a can of Pepsi at the vending machine beside the road before entering the park. It cost 700 won.

I was going down hill after accessing the entrance and was able to see the sea shortly after that. The area was very cooling due to the trees. The view of the sea sure was nice. I was able to see a few seagulls flying around as well. There weren’t many shops and facilities around like other tourist spots. Strictly do not go to the toilet there as they were spoilt, with no flushing system and water supply, causing it to be extremely smelly. The price of the juice there is also much more expensive. 1000 won for each can and 2000 won for a bottle of soju. There were not many people there as well. I was able to see Gwangan Bridge, the APEC venue and Haeundae Beach from there. It was like shooting 2 birds with a stone.

At first I thought that the area was very small, but it was not true. This rock beach is actually very long. There was a small trail on the right side that connects us to the other side of the beach. We were unable to see it unless we walked over there. There were many things that I like about this beach:

- the water is clean, I can see the red coral reefs and stones underneath the sea, which is further out in the sea (even though at some areas, there were some rubbish noticeable, floating in the sea).
- there are living corals just beside the rock, at your finger tips. It is not really noticeable unless you have a close look at it. It comes in white, orange and purple color.
- it is a nice fishing spot. You can get fish easily there.
- there are many rare species of wild plants around the area.
- it is windy there, a nice spot for picnic and relaxing.

As I was exploring the beach, I played around with the soft corals just beside the rocks. I put my hand on it and its sticky parts were like trying to hold me and suck me. I was shocked at first but later, I find it very nice to play around. The red color coral reefs are bit hard. At some areas, there were green seaweeds on the rocks. It looks like the ones that I normally have in my set lunch. There is some mini volcano-like stuff beside the stone as well. If there were alive, it was in dark brown color; else they were in light brown color. It seems like there is some sort of living creature inside this mini volcano. They are breathing, in-and-out. Water is important for them to survive.

Suddenly, an arjesi (meaning uncle) called me and gave me a green apple. He asked me to sit down and we were enjoying the beautiful scenery there. I was able to see the seagull up-close as it was flying just above me. It was really nice! I did not understand what he was talking, but he just kept on talking. He even asked me to have some of his gimbak. Later, they cut some sort of sea animals - round in shape, with some torns but not round in shape, into 2 parts and suck out the meat inside. It tasted like “siput”. It is really tasty! They managed to catch some fishes. There were a few types of them, jumping around in the small net. The arjesi took out one of them, put them on the back of the plastic ware, hold them and then slice them while it is breathing! After slicing the meat out, the fish is still alive, struggling. Now I know where they get the idea of ghost fish (in the movies) from. Then, they dipped the fresh meat with a kind of Korean chilly sauce. The arjesi also helped me to take photos.

There are many wild plants there as well, each of them have their own uniqueness. Some plants have leafs make up of 3 petals of love shape fold into half. It's like a symbol of triangle love. There are many more flowers with different colors and shapes as well.

I actually plan to depart at 2.30pm but ended up staying there 2 more hours. The arjesi even offered to drive me back as his house is near DSU. However, he was drunk and started saying weird things. I faster said goodbye to him and ran off. I was walking very fast, hoping that he did not follow me. I took at bus to Seomyeom and did some shopping there before going back to DSU. I visited Mini Mall again and departed at around 8.30pm. It started to rain at that time. Many people rushed in into the shopping mall to avoid getting wet. Many of them also bought umbrellas from there. The business sure was good. Luckily when I reached DSU, the rain had almost stopped.

Quiet dormitory

After my 2 neighbours – Andrea and Kirstin, from Germany leave DSU on Wednesday morning, it was rather quiet. They are now in Taiwan for a trip before going back to Germany. Ying, the China girl, departed to Beijing on Thursday morning. She will be working there and would not be going back to her hometown, Jilin for the time being. She is a good cook and nice “sister”. Now, in the whole dormitory, there are only 4 girls – BJun, Eileen, Eva from Germany and I.

It is raining since last night. It was very misty when I woke up at 9+am this morning, like in Genting Highlands. But, it was not that cold. Now, the rain is not so heavy, I think it is going to stop soon.

Pictures in Korea - Batch 17 and 18

Here are some of the pictures of Ying, a China student who had just finished her Masters in DSU, Korea and my trip to Igidae:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b378/dellachew04/Korea17n18/

Enjoy!

Pictures in Korea - Batch 16

Here are some of the photos taken during the MT and Germans' farewell party:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b378/dellachew04/Korea16/

Enjoy!

My lab is moving again!

August 16, Tuesday – I arrived at DUI at around 10am as we were going to switch lab with the professor. Daniel oppa was 20 minutes late and Jang Chun oppa arrived after that. There were only 3 of us until 11am. Il Hee and Jeong Geun were here! The 5 of us were having a hard time moving the things from one room to another. I was almost breathless at around lunch time. Professor Tae Yong gave us some coupons to the sky lounge as we were helping him to move his stuff as well. He will be sharing the same room with my professor.

It was the first time I was having lunch the sky lounge of the Woori Bank building. The sky lounge is at the 10th floor. There were more people there compared to the Millennium building. They were serving “bibimbak”, which is mixed rice on that day. There were many servings of the ingredients for it and we can choose them. It was a buffet.

After lunch, we continue with our hard labor. At around 3pm, Young Kyu and Kyong Kun oppa had arrived as well. Ah… why don’t they come a bit earlier… we were almost done with the moving. Daniel oppa told me that our lab is not fixed yet and we can only settle down next week. Ah… no more lab again!

Thus, I do not need to go to work again this week. Hopefully I can finish my work on time >___<

Germans' farewell party, 7pm-1am

15 August, Monday – I was extremely sleepy and tired after coming back from the trip. I went for lunch at 12pm with Ryan and Yushu at a restaurant nearby. I ordered a plate of fried rice but I find the servings very little. Maybe it was because I was taking too much food for the past 2 days. After lunch, we went back to the dormitory and were fast asleep after that.

I slept for about 3 hours as I was not really having a nice sleep the night before. I woke at 5pm. Shortly after that, Eileen informed me about the German’s farewell party at 7pm. They will be going back to Germany on Wednesday, Sunday and early next month. They were going to have “samgyeoksa”. Wah… not again…We met up with the other Germans near McDonalds and went to a shop nearby. Apparently, the shop was having a very good business by catering only “samgyeoksa”. It was buffet style; we can take whatever ingredients that we want. The most common are slices of pork. There were marinated slices and some squid as well. We were actually more interested in the ice-cream there even though it was not very delicious. There were more than 20 of us, with some other Korean friends. It cost 5,500 won each and they treated us for this.

We finished our dinner at around 10am and departed to a pub nearby for some beer. Germans sure like beer. Again, we had food, food and food again there. Of course, we were not having “samgyeoksa” again there. There were fried chickens, a huge plate of fruits, barbecue squid, tofu soup, sour plum, steamed egg, corn with cheese etc. It was like another feast! A professor teaching German language in Busan National University was sitting next to me and we were having a nice talk. He was teaching here under a contract and his wife was a Korean, originated from Ulsan. We also talked to another Korean guy sitting just opposite us, Young Shu.

We went back at around 1am. It was a really tired day.

p/s: In Korea, many people can speak Chinese, but little can speak Japanese.

Membership Training(MT)

August 13, Saturday – Ryan, Yushu and I waited at the ground floor of the dormitory for Daniel oppa. He was half an hour late, arriving shortly after I gave him a call. The car was empty as he arrived and we met with the others at his office before departing to Yongdo(p/s: “do” means Island). There were a total of 11 persons – Daniel, Jeong Geun, Jang Chun, Jae Hoon, Min Ho, Il Hee oppa, Ji Hyun, Young Sil onni, Ryan, Yushu and I. Daniel and Il Hee oppa drove a car each. I was in Daniel oppa’s car and it was quite pack as there were 6 of us. It took us around 2 hours to reach there. We ordered a few “gimbak” for lunch at a small town near by.

We arrived at the jetty shortly after our lunch. The jetty was really small. The smell of the sea water was strong. We took a small boat to the island, which cost 2,000 won each. As usual, Ji Hyun onni was busy taking photos.

I was quite disappointed with the island as it was really small and there were limited places which are reachable. There is nothing special about the scenery there and it is quite polluted. There is much rubbish in the sea and on the beach. Yet, there were people swimming and playing happily in there. There are many fisheries industries around. Most of the villagers there are fishermen. But, they have low conscience on maintaining the cleanliness and beauty of nature. We stayed in a “mimbak”, where it is actually an aunty’s house. The place was neat but a bit too small and crowded.

We planned to fish but the waves were too strong. We ended up playing in the dirty sea. At first, I was reluctant to swim in there, but 2 of my oppa dragged me into the water forcefully. There are many rocks around the area and it is quite dangerous. Some of my oppa and onni got hurt, just a minor one though. I got a tiny cut on my right leg, luckily it was not bad.

We had “samgyeoksa”, which is grilled pork for dinner outside of the “mimbak” that we stayed in. It was windy as it was located almost immediately beside the sea. But, there were many mosquitoes around >__< Jae Hoon and Min Ho oppa was our cook for this dinner. Thank you!

We played some Korean games after the dinner. It seems that soju and beer are always for any Membership Training(MT). MT is like a trip for the lab members to get to know each other better, tighten the ties among them. Those who lose in the game have to finish the beer, soju or a mixture of beer and soju. I heard that drinking a mixture of both beer and soju can make a person get drunk easily.

We had a bravery test after the game section. Daniel and Jang Chun oppa was the organizer of this activity. The venue was the elementary school. We were given some hints on the locations to get the items. We needed to work in pairs to find them. Our partners were decided by drawing lots. Then, we will play “paper, scissors and stone” to decide which team to go first. The next team can only go after the previous team finishes. Of course, each team was given a maximum of 30 minutes. If they were unable to find the clue, they will need to be punished. The game went well. I teamed up with Jeong Geun oppa. It was really nice of him for doing all the checking at difficult places, such as those tall statues. We managed to find the clue at the toilet at the very last minute. The toilet sure was smelly.

We ended up with drinking beer and soju after the test. Il-Hee oppa was a bit drunk at that time while Jae Hoon oppa had totally fall asleep, snoring away. I went to sleep at around 1am. The next day, we departed to Ulsan as there is nothing much at Yongdo.

August 14, Sunday – At around 9am, we departed to back to the mainland. We took some photos at the jetty as the boat only arrived after some time. Min Ho oppa’s camera stand finally came in handy.

We departed to Ulsan by car at around 11am and arrived there 2.5 hours later. Ulsan is an industrial area, with many factories. I heard that there was a huge Hyundai factory there, manufacturing many of the gigantic boats in the world. However, our target was not the factory, but Jonjang beach. It took us quite some time as there was a very heavy traffic jam along the way there. We stayed in a “mimbak” but this one did not even have a fan. Ah…

This beach was much nicer than the one in Yongdo. The water was icing cold. My body was freezing as I entered the water and my legs were numb, barely able to move. Daniel oppa brought along his air boat and everyone was having fun playing with it. They even played fighting games with it. Jae Hoon oppa even took pictures in the middle of the sea. Luckily he was tall and have enough stamina to maintain his position, else his camera would have get wet due to the strong waves. But, the fishing robs seemed to become a waste. Jeong Geun oppa went back earlier to do some cooking. Bravo~

We had “samgyeoksa” again for dinner. Jae Hoon oppa was the only cook this time. Everyone was hungry~ We were having a tough time in there as there was no fan. We played some simple games after the dinner as usual. Daniel oppa was drunk very fast as he always lose out in the games. His body was all red and we put him to sleep at the room. There were no pillows and mattresses for this “mimbak”. Thus, we need to sleep on the wooden floor. Yushu was given a nickname, “geumdumi”, which means cutie by my onni. Everyone started calling him so during games. After much experience, I think I have level up my drinking ability :3 I do not get drunk so easily as the previous trip to Gyeungju.

August 15, Monday – We departed back to Busan at 9am and arrived at around 11am. It was really fast as there was no traffic jam. It was a public holiday in Korea.

My lab is moving!

August 10, Wednesday – Today my lab is moving! It was one of the few times I could see so many of my labmates – Young Kyu, Aa, Poon, Jae Hoon, Jang Chun, Young Sil and Ji Hyun. I arrived at the lab at around 10.10am that day and they were already there, packing and moving stuffs. They greeted me as I walked in and we did the packing together. Moving PCs, monitors and furniture were too heavy for a timid person like me, so I will let my oppas to handle them :p At around 10.45am, Jang Chun oppa, our lab chief, ordered Young Kyu oppa and I to buy some strings and soft drinks from the minimart. Jang Chun oppa is a quiet person. But, he looked great as he was giving out instructions as a leader. He got the style!

It was a nice shopping with Young Kyu oppa, he treated to me to some coffee and it was nice. He said that this brand was famous in US. He sure likes to share with me his stories when he was in New York for a few months. We bought 3 rolls of strings to tie the books and 4 bottles of soft drinks. It was difficult for him to carry the drinks and boxes together, but he insisted that he could handle them. Luckily, we met Jeong Geun oppa as we were waiting for the shuttle bus. He helped us out with the boxes.

At around 12pm, we reached the lab. Daniel oppa was there as well. The guys sure were strong. They can carry the furniture down to 1st floor and up again for a few hours, of course with some rest. All of them sure have muscles. We were having tough time packing the professor’s stuff as he had too many things, especially books, research papers and journals. He sure likes to keep things, which reminded me of my father.

Around 2+pm, we had moved all of our goods to the new building, with the help of a lorry. It was rather amazing as we managed to pack all the things in the lab and moved all of them to the new building within 5 hours. I wanted to go for lunch but my labmates were busy moving. Ah… how could I leave them and have lunch while they were working hard like this…I sat at the lobby of the 5th of the new building DUI as it was not possible for me to move the stuff. I saw Yushu and Chang Jing moving their lab as well. But, he was too tired to notice the little me sitting behind all the furniture. I also saw Wei Shi and his labmates.

At around 3.10pm, we had lunch at the lobby with our lab’s table and chairs. It was rather funny as we were like having a picnic there. Coincidently, no one passed by that area at that time. Min Ho oppa came shortly before we started eating. He also helped out with the moving after that. It had been really a while since I last saw him.

Our “new lab”, which is not confirmed yet, is rather small as we were only having half of the lab. It was rather impossible for all of our furniture to fit in this new space. The professor will be using the next room to us, together with another professor.

At around 4.30pm, we finished moving all the stuff, without unpacking and arranging them. Then, together we went to “cincuiban” for bathing and relaxing. It was something like “sauna” but not exactly the same. At first, we paid at the counter and they gave us 2 small towers and 1 set of clothes, which are uniforms. Then, we went upstairs, put our shoes in the locker and the receptionist will give us the keys to our lockers for the bags. 1 tower is use during bathing and another one is for us to dry our body after showering.

There were a few pools in the shower room, normally around 38-40 degrees. Some got massage facilities, some got herbs. We must take the shower first before entering the pools. There were 2 steam rooms, one more than 40 degrees and another one at higher temperature. There was a pool with ice cold water. I like the shower with the cold water from the ceiling, it is really refreshing. It was a really nice experience, though at first I was having culture shock. Everyone was walking around naked. My onnis kept on assuring me that it is something normal in Korea. Don’t worry, the guys’ shower room is separated.

After showering, we went upstairs. The guys had already finished their shower and was lying down, relaxing on the floor. Jae Hoon oppa looked really funny with the way he tie his tower on his head. We were really hungry and thinking of having dinner. But, Daniel oppa did not have enough cash and they did not receive credit cards. Ah… the disadvantages of relying too much on credit cards. We ended up with only Sikhye and Green Tea for the beverages and eggs for dinner. Sikhye is a kind of traditional Korean drinks. It was white in color, with some rice-look-alike thing. I was kind of unfull with only an egg for dinner. Daniel oppa bought me a bottle of Fresh Tomato and Onions favour Pringles as extras. But, we shared it out since everyone was not full as well.

At around 9pm, Min Ho oppa departed back earlier as he will be going to Seoul. Ah… what a busy person. We also departed home shortly after that. Luckily Daniel oppa offered to drive me back, else I might be taking the taxi.

That’s all for a series of events on that day. I need not go to the lab for the next 2 days as our lab is not confirm yet, and we will not be arranging our stuff.

The Malaysians trip to Haedong Yonggung Temple

August 6, Saturday – Wei Shin, Ryan, Yushu, BJun, Eileen and I departed from DSU at 11am to Haedong Yonggung Temple. It was the first time all the Malaysians in DSU went for a trip together as our big brother, Wei Shi is always very busy. We took the subway to Haeundae and had lunch at KFC there.

The menu of KFC here is different from in Malaysia. There is no Original and Spicy chicken to choose from for the chicken. They have other options instead. One of them is herb and another one is quite plain. There are different sauces for each. For the herb chicken, they have onion sauce and for the plain one, they have Thai chilly sauce. They are less oily than those in Malaysia. The potato wedges here are not so crunchy. The way they serve the food also differed, such as they use a basket to serve the chickens instead of a paper bucket if we order quite a number of chickens. The cheapest set cost 3,900 won, which is less than RM16. Wet tissues are prepared in the restaurant and there are no basins to wash hands.

After lunch, we took bus 181 to Haedong Yonggung Temple. It was located at the outskirts and we need to walk for around 10 minutes from the bus stop as we arrived. The road to the temple was filled with trees, like a mini jungle, which reminded me of the tropical forest in Malaysia. There were surprisingly quite a lot of people for a small temple. It was located by the beach and its entrance has statues of the 12 zodiac animals. They looked like as if they were guarding the temple. There was nothing special about the architecture of the temple; it was the same as any other temples in Korea. But, they sure have a lot of statues for different gods. The main attraction of this temp is the stone like thing with a sharp triangle on its top, pointing up to the sky and its view facing the sea. However, I still prefer the beach at Taejongdae as it is not so polluted.

At around 3pm, we departed from the temple. The weather was really hot that day and there was only 1 bus back to Haeundae. We waited near the bus stand for quite some time. The place nearby was quite deserted, with no trees and a lot of dust. It seemed like as if we were waiting a bus in the desert.

As we reached, we had a walk around the beach. There were surprisingly a lot of umbrellas on the beach, covering all most every part of beach. The waves were very strong and no one is swimming there. There was a very grand stage at one end, with spot lights, speakers, a few big TV screens etc. It seemed like a concert but it was actually a game tournament. Wow… Koreans are really crazy when it comes to games.

At around 6pm, we departed to Goejeong by subway and had our dinner there. Wei Shi treated us for this meal. Thanks a lot! Then, we took bus 96 to Dadaepo for the Busan International Rock Festival. It was an annual event held in Busan. There was no admission fee for this. Korea's top rock bands and chart topping world rock bands will be performing live there. The bus was extremely packed. We barely have any place to stand. We reached after 20 minutes and everyone stepped down at the same bus stop. Wow…even aunties and uncles were interested in such an event. There was a huge crowd there. It looked like as if it was a real concert, with the lightings, settings, effect, cameras etc. There were police directing the traffic near the entrance and a bus of police in the venue, prepared for stand by. There were quite a number of foreigners there. Everyone is enjoying themselves, jumping, singing along. It was really loud and noisy, it just doesn't feel nice when a bunch of sweaty people accidentally knocked me. Overall, it was okay.

We departed after staying there for 55 minutes with bus 98 to Seomyeom. The bus was more expensive than the normal ones because there were more seats. The journey from Dadaepo to Seomyeom was a long one, around 45 minutes. Then, we took bus 167 to DSU.

Week #10

This week was a busy one. Many of my labmates, who came back from overseas, came to meet my professor. Poon and Aa oppa came back from New York while Min Pyo oppa came back from Australia. I am not sure about Young Kyu oppa though. But, his English is really good. He can speak in normal English, with correct sentence pattern and grammar. I was quite shock when he spoke to me in perfect English. He looked different from his photos on the lab’s website as he has changed his hairstyle and wearing contact lens now. Poon and Aa oppa’s English are better than normal Korean’s, above average but sometimes their pronunciations are not so accurate. Min Pyo oppa looked the same as in his photo, but he sure is different from what I expected. He was a skinny and average height guy. I expected him to be the tough kind of person from the looks of the photo.

On Wednesday afternoon, I went down hill to Hanaro mart to buy some groceries. It was a big shopping to refill my food supply and I really had problem carrying all those stuff home. The weather was cloudy on that day as 2 days before it had been raining heavily and the wind was strong. It was drizzling when I was walking back and I had to rush back to the lab. When I reached Internet Engineering building, Singh reminded me of the university shuttle bus. Ah… what a fool of me for not taking the bus.

At night, we went with Wei Shi to meet his Vietnamese friends. We took the subway to Kyungsung University/Pukyong University station. They are all quite short, except for a few who are taller. The way they talked and expressed themselves, makes them really cute. Their looks are almost the same as Malaysia Chinese. All of them can speak Korean as their major is Korean literature or Korean language. One of them is currently working in Kojedo Island. It was her one day trip on that day, we are lucky to be able to meet her. We had dinner at a restaurant near the subway exit. It was something like fried rice in Malaysia but not exactly the same. Wei Shi treated us for this meal.

Then, we went to the “noreban” (karaoke shop) just opposite the restaurant for some singing. The decorations of the shop were really different and cute. There were around 10 of us and it costed around 1, 500 won each(RM6), without food and drinks. We sang Korean, Vietnam and English songs. It was really enjoyable. I was the first time I had been to such a place and with people that I had met for the first and maybe the last time. They will be going back to Vietnam within a month. Van treated us for this. Thanks a lot!

Around 9.30pm, we departed back earlier as Wei Shi and Eileen had something to work on and I will be attending Qiao Lei’s farewell party at the sky lounge. Qiao Lei, the China student studying here for 6 months English program will be going back to his country the next day together with his good friend, Okano, a Japanese guy. Okano, who is very fond of Chinese food, will be going there for a trip.

On Friday, I went to Seomyeom alone for sight-seeing and shopping after I had completed my assignment in the afternoon. I was kind of lost as I get out of the bus at the wrong place due to lost of directions. I walked down from the bus at around Beomil-dong, which are 2 stations after Seomyeom. I found my way back by following the signboards and with the Lotte department store as target. It was lucky that I somehow managed to get back. But, it was a good experience as I got to know the area better. I went shopping in mainly 2 stores. One of them is a shop selling only clothes and another one is Mini Mall. There was something weird about the fashion shops in Korea, most of them do not have changing rooms, unless you are going to those expensive, branded shops. The clothes here are quite cheap during sale. It was even cheaper and more fashionable than in Malaysia, and the most important thing is, it was made in Korea.

Though it is a small building with around 7 floors, it has a lot of customers. The place is always packed with people. Mini Mall is really a paradise for girls. Most of the things there are really cheap, compared to normal price. The 1st floor was selling a mixture of stuff and underwear. At 2nd floor, they were selling cosmetics. There are a variety of brands there, both imported and Korean goods. There are around 2 rows, only for eye shadow; 3 rows for lipsticks and lip gross and many more. All the cosmetics come in a variety of colors and package. There are testers available, even for those expensive brands. We can go around testing it. They are selling aroma and shampoos on the same floor as well. At 3rd floor, they are selling hair accessories, necklace, earrings etc. The designs are really nice and it is cheap, for the given design. The other floors are selling male and female clothes, dolls and shoes. Only the male session have a lot of guys for this shopping mall. I got to meet a Korean girl here. She is an English and Chinese language student in Pukyong University and is of the same age as I. We even exchanged email address.

I went back after spending around 4 hours there.

Pictures in Korea - Batch 15

Here are some of the photos taken during farewell parties, at Hauedong Yonggung Temple, Haeundae beach and Busan International Rock Festival:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b378/dellachew04/Korea15/

Enjoy!

An unusual day

August 1, Monday – It was a special day. Many people came and see my professor this day. 2 guys came and they happened to know Jae Hoon oppa. They are actually my labmates as well. I wondered how many more labmates that I have that are not listed in the lab’s website…They treated me some juice and then talking to each other in Korean. I did not understand a word that they were saying. But, I guess they were talking about me.

After the drink, Jae Hoon oppa left and we went back to the lab. As I was busy coding, Min Ho oppa came in to the lab. I thought that he was supposed to be in Europe now, for his vacation. Maybe he finished his trip early. He was really busy packing stuff and moving his PC into boxes. Poon oppa began telling me a bit of what they were talking just now. Jae Hoon oppa told him that only a few of them talked to me, such as Jae Hoon and Min Ho oppa. Hmm… how come they always like to relate their questions to Min Ho oppa?

Poon and Aa oppa was busy talking to the professor after the seminar. I do not know what they were talking, but it seemed that they were presenting something, informal ones.

Before my professor went home, he told me that he stayed in Daegu, a state located next to Busan. It took him 5 hours per day to travel to and fro. I wondered why he was telling me this all of a sudden…

In conclusion, yesterday was really different from the usual days. People just keep on popping out and asked me and telling me unexpected things. Well, I guess it is better than another boring day ^^

Likes and Dislikes of Korea

Wow… I have been in Korea for 2 months already. I am getting used to the life here. Yet, I still have culture shock sometimes and dislike some of the food that is too salty or/and spicy here. Here is a summary of what I like and dislike about life in Korea:

Likes:
- the culture where man must protect women
- the army training has make the younger generation of Koreans more discipline
- special privileges or treatment for foreigners – sometimes the aunties even give us food for free
- the weather here is not so hot – it will never be as burning hot as in Malaysia
- get to know many other foreigners from different countries
- the learning environment and culture – students here are not so book worms, they learned from seminars, experiments, research etc
- students here are good academically and active in club activities – students even come to campus for club activities or to their club rooms during holidays
- close relationships between juniors, seniors and professors – students here respect their professors a lot
- comfortable and homely lab – there are coffee, hot water, towels, fridge etc
- more peaceful – do not need worry much when walking around the campus late at night
- there are a variety of ice-creams. Yum yum~

Dislikes:
- 90% of the population smokes and it is increasing.
- most Korean guys smoke and drink(soju in Korea is cheap, less than 1,000 won each)
- the food servings here is too much – around 2 times the amount of food in Kuala Lumpur
- I do not like the cabbage kimchi here! It is spicy and served in all the restaurants that I have being to
- too many staircase – going to anywhere requires a lot of walking
- high cost of living – things here are generally 3 to 4 times more expensive
- expensive “Made in China” goods, though the quality is much more better
- Koreans generally have a bad command of English, leading to communication problem
- Koreans like to talk to each other in Korean, forgetting us who do not understand Korean language
- some of the weird ways of dressing, especially girls when their make up is too much