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!