Monday, March 31, 2014

It's here!

I can't even describe how happy I feel right now because... the parcel that my mom sent has finally arrived!!! *whoop of delight* You might be wondering about the kind of contents (of the parcel) that can make me this thrilled andddddd *drumroll* it's none other than the Magic Cleaner!!!

NOW, I CAN FINALLY CLEAN MY ROOM AND THE TOILETS!

I'm so done with this dirty and filthy room/floor/toilet/sink/living space - it has been close to what - two or three weeks since we last swept and mopped the floor (I had to do it with wet wipes -.-) - so I honestly can't wait to be able to sweep away this dirty mess and have a truly clean room for once. The floor's littered with strands of hair and whilst I do pick them up with tissues occasionally (when I get too disgusted at the sight of it ahhaha), it's getting out of hand. The floor isn't visibly dirty because of the texture and colour of the tiles but.. no floor can stay clean for such a long period of time. It must be teeming with germs and bacteria (horrified look) by now ahahhaa X) I'm making it sound way scarier and gross than it actually is, but really, I need a clean room. My roomie doesn't want to buy the magic cleaner here - it's around S$25 - and I really hate the idea of having to constantly borrow the cleaner from some other exchange student. Why should we have to inconvenience another person every week when we can just buy one on our own? It doesn't even cost more than two good meals. Moreover, since I don't know that other exchange student personally, I can't even go and get the cleaner from her because I don't know where she lives - and I don't want to have to ask my roomie every single week to get me the bleddy broom because she's just going to find me naggy. Now that I have my savior (thanks mummy!), I can live in a sparkling clean dorm room! (beams) :D

Anyway, today has been an exhausting day. I had my first ever project for my Comparative Corporate Governance module. We didn't have to do an oral presentation (just do up slides and field questions in class) but I left the class feeling more tired than ever. I had 6 hours of classes today because of a make-up (night) class and coupled with the fact that I had only 6 hours of sleep, I was pretty tired right from the first lesson. To make things worse, instead of having the presentation questions split equally between Deannie and myself, I think I kena-ed about 75% of the questions today. T^T)/ The professor usually asks the presenting students a fair number of questions each but today.. I have no idea why he kept calling, "Madeline?"! During the first half hour of the morning class, I almost suspected that he forgot the presenting group consisted of two students.. Orz.. He did call on Deannie a few times during the evening class but somehow, I got arrowed the rest of the time. Can't let up, can't relax! Initially, we split the work up (2 articles each) but I am so, so thankful that I took the time to read the other 2 articles last night and this morning... if not for that, I would not have been able to answer the professor's questions.. I think I'm going to dream of the professor calling me, "Madeline?" (it has this strange ring to it) tonight. #nodreamsplease

I have to work on my two response papers now - probably starting at 11pm so I have a 20-minute break for now - and I have to say, I can't wait for Wednesday to arrive! I won't have class this Wednesday so I'm looking forward to some downtime and me-time. I really need it - I'll tell you why in my next post but till then, let's hope I stay healthy and well!

Things to look forward to in my next few posts:
:) Hangang River + Avengers-spotting Trip
:) Celebrities Sighting + Missed opportunities
:) Jholic Cafe Visit
:) Noryangjin Fish Market Visit

Note to self: Buy a stapler and file stand! Oh, and wet floor wipes too! (need to mop the floor teehee)

Till then!!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Self-realisation

I realise I shouldn't be too critical of the things here - I'm here for an amazing, eye-opening, superb, once in a lifetime exchange experience so I should just quit complaining and enjoy the things as they are. I'll try haha (whine less, post about happy things more)!

That said, I do have to clarify..

I really do like the food.

the music,

the street atmosphere,

the natural beauties in the environment,

the clothes,

the weather (save for the Asian dust),

the chance encounters with Kpop groups (feel really blessed and lucky to have had these chances),

the intriguing conversations (I love to learn new things),

the new friends,

and the interesting sights,

it's just.. the people, I guess.

It has come to a point where I'm just so sick and tired of how xenophobic they are (and they claim the Japanese are the xenophobic ones) and how their national pride sometimes interferes with the building of relationships. As I've said, it would be much more pleasant if they pretended to be friendly, whether to earn/scam your money or to further some other agenda, rather than be looked at with distaste and treated to a complimentary round of sniggering. Sometimes, I walk on the streets in Korea and think - somewhat sadly - to myself that, "living in Korea isn't that great after all." The feeling doesn't linger around for long but these moments do occur - and it's usually during these times that I find myself missing home a lot.

Then again, not everyone has this ahhhhmazing opportunity of getting to see random Kpop idols live in Korea so.. let's just focus on that and try to ignore the negative aspects of living in Korea as a foreigner. KPOP WOOTS! *\o/* Hahahahah SMILEEE :D

Turning to more positive things..

I was SO happy yesterday to have seen BtoB yesterday! It was apparently an America's Next Top Model filming session and BtoB formed the judging panel. I didn't get to see the entire event because we were busy having dinner (and missed the performance and street walk) but I still got to see them up-close, and FOR FREE! Muahahaha the 'free' part made the experience even better! ^__^)v I mean, you can pay S$120+ for a concert ticket and get to watch them perform live, but you're at least 20-30m away from them? Yesterday, I was about approximately 4m away from my favourite member, Eunkwang (and perhaps Ilhoon too) and I didn't have to pay a cent. (cues maniacal laughter again) Hehehehe I didn't get to see them perform but they did dance a lil to their song and even went around waving to fans and shaking-or-slapping-their-palms. Ah, if only I were taller and had longer hands haha - I was behind this really tall couple (who had another tall girl in front of them) so.. it was difficult for me to reach out to get a handshake or to even get a constant clear view - I had to tip-toe the whole time whilst dealing with this crazy fangirl (behind me) who kept pushing me away (and off-balance, tsk). I fully understand that she has problems getting a perfect view as well since she's short but hey, I can't see that well from my position too and it won't help if I fall! Heh fortunately, weeks of climbing the hill in school have helped strengthened my calf muscles and I kept my balance :D Here are some awesome pictures - fine, they are not that awesome cos I took them with my phone but still GOOD. The downside of having these ad hoc/pop-up/surprise Kpop events/appearances is that I'm almost always caught unprepared though ):< I don't usually bring my camera around with me when I'm in school or out in Sinchon, so I only have my iPhone to rely on. Then again, I'm more worried about the memory space running out than the poorer photo resolution lol!

ENJOY!
           
             



 (left) Miss J and someone from ANTM  (right) Eunkwang!

Anyway, I DIDN'T SNACK AFTER DINNER TODAY! 天大的喜事! HAHAHA XP I've been snacking so much since I've arrived in Korea (guilty look) - teehee - that I really need to control these crazy snacking urges! It doesn't help that the convenience store is a mere 3 minutes away and it's filled with oh-so-delicious Korean biscuits/snacks :D (piggy look) My favourite snack has got to be this Simpsons cereal-biscuit-thingys(?) - it's crazy how many of the Simpsons characters I can eat at a go (feeling fat again) and I'm already on my second box in 2/3 weeks. I chomped on it this afternoon and to stop myself from eating too much, I ended up "hiding" it on my highest shelf ahahaha It's really crunchy and addictive! It also reminds me of home because I saw the very same pack of biscuits at Candy Empire just a couple of days before I left for Korea. <3 haha gotta stop snacking too much though! Still, I have to admit that my snack shelf is extremely well-stocked and very appealing though heh


I just spent 20 minutes on a call and this post so I gotta return to my dreary readings! GOGOGO!

Some pictures of me at the KBS Exhibition Hall yesterday, just goofing around and having fun. Best part was finding where the recording studios are (for live radio broadcasts) so I now know where to go if I wanna catch SJ's Kiss the Radio session! ^^ I also went to Noryangjin fish market yesterday but I'll leave that for another day!


 (left) Check out the similar expressions! (right) Jamaica and I (:
With my new friend, Tilda from Finland (land of Santa Claus!)!

 Just playing around with the interactive media displays X) (epic fail at trying to dance with them)


 For QiQi - Not sure which one is your favourite - I'm guessing second from the left - but 2D1N pictures for you! 

 HAPPY TOGETHER! BERRY HAPPY TO SEE YOOJAESUK, EVEN IF JUST IN A POSTER!

 Meow~

They were filming something in the studio downstairs but I have no idea who they are or what it's for - fun to 'spy' on them though!

Missing all of your silliness and laughter! Goodnight, world! (:

Meanwhile, something to think about for the rest of the day and week..

Friday, March 21, 2014

Pensive mood


I thought Spring had finally arrived when I woke up to blue skies and fluffy white clouds this morning but that notion was dispelled almost immediately by gusts of cold wind. Brrrr thankfully, I was wearing thermal today (just the shirt only though, legs were freezing as usual) and the cold was still bearable.

Anyway, I just got back from Hapjeong after meeting my LE buddy, Jiwon and boy, my throat's really dry.

I've pretty much been talking the entire afternoon and now, all I wanna do is to hole up in my room (away from these icy and chilly winds) and read a magazine/watch a drama/sleep/sleep more and just hibernate. A similar situation happened yesterday during the cell meeting where I found myself talking and talking, yakking on and on so as to maintain a conversation. It really is quite perplexing. Why am I the one who's doing most of the talking? I joined the Mentors' Club because I wanted someone to talk to me! I want to meet a local who's interested in making friends, in meeting exchange students and just being friendly! Not someone who sits across me quietly whilst eating dinner! >______< I hate awkward moments so I had to fill up the void with incessant chatter (nah, not at that level) but after 10 minutes or so, I got tired and just withdrew into myself. Just eat, look at other customers and continue eating. My mentor wasn't that much friendlier either - she seemed to be more at ease talking to the fellow mentors (in Korean) than engaging us in conversation. I tried, I really did. But I'm not here to get stressed out over whether I can build friendships with my mentor(s) or not - if they can't do their part, I'll just do what I can (I'll still try) and if it still doesn't work out, then so be it. *shrugs* I've been 'putting myself out there' already (funny, the way my friend describes it) and also putting in so much effort to be chatty and outgoing, so if they can't invest the same time and effort as me, then fine by me. The best part? I found out yesterday that my mentor hates Kpop. Wow, just wow. I've known all along that not all Korean youngsters listen to, or like Kpop (some even despise it), which is why I had specifically requested for someone who listens to Kpop, so that we have at least one common topic. Now, I've ended up with the exact opposite. (awkward)

Haha just gonna take a break from being sociable-maddie and get some precious me-time!

In any case, I really enjoyed my lunch today (it was free woohoo) because I got to eat my favourite sandwich and the tomato soup I ordered was FANTASTIC. It was chock full of vegetables like potatoes, broccoli, carrots, onions and everything wonderful *-* (moved) ahahah sadly, it was a small bowl and I slurped it up in no time :D Nyamnyam! It's a tad expensive for such a small bowl though - 6000W (S$7.50). My buddy made me order too many things and so I ended up packing the sandwiches for tea (nibbled on them at like, 5pm) haha

 
Shop's name is SLUNCH - it's a franchise and since the franchisee is my LE buddy's mom, I got the meal for free haha ^^)b (I offered to pay of course but she didn't want to take the money)

 The sandwich was DELECTABLE, the soup was MARVELLOUS and even the salad, with all the almond slices, was DELICIOUS! (I miss the Tanjong Pagar salad though >~<)

Anyway today's record: Finally drank a full cup of beer! The only reason why I drank it was because I had to pay for it (one of the downsides of huge group dinners gah) and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat 10,000W worth of chicken (yes, oh dear we had ChiMek again - CHICKEN ARGH - only ate 4 pieces of chicken in the end). I had to hold my breath with every sip though because I really dislike the bitter/sour smell that goes up my nose when I drink. I just focused on the fizzy aftertaste and tried tricking myself into believing that it was just bitter and gassy water. I've never been happier to see a cup become empty because that simply meant that I wouldn't have to go through that again! hahaha what weird logic, I know T^T Sorry to all beer-lovers out there but I honestly have no idea what's so good and enjoyable about beer. It's darn bitter, it makes you fat and bloated and it's just.. not tasty in the least.

The chicken's the only one smiling after dinner - everyone was so annoyed over the food being served.

This jug of beer was even larger than the one in one of the earlier posts - this was more like a bucket of beer already -.- and that's my delightfully empty cup yay!

Everyone got quite antsy after 'dinner' so we headed to a jajangmyun shop thereafter and I shared this with a friend (communal eating everywhere). It was goooood though and I'm definitely going back there to try the other dishes!

Oh, have I mentioned that I'm so SICK of eating chicken already? The vegetarian place at Sinchon is now my new favourite eatery and I'm sooo gonna try everything on the list hee :D Eating vegetables keep me sane, satisfied and happy! 

Anyway, popping off to bed now! Didn't end up sleeping at 12 or doing my readings lol - goodnight photo for the day and till we meet again! 
GOODNIGHT and SWEET DREAMS! <3


Thursday, March 20, 2014

Time flies.

Wow.

It has been exactly 1 month and 1 day since I've arrived in Korea.

I wonder if things have changed back home, if anyone has changed, if relationships are changing, if certain feelings have changed (since then) and I also wonder about whether I've changed in any way.

Wow.

Time just flies.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

11 minutes to a new week.

The weekend's over even before I realise it - I haven't even had the time to recharge properly (slept at 2.20am last night because of the constitutional law reading - I don't even do this back in Singapore lol) but now, a busy week already lies ahead of me. "Stop complaining and start dealing with it", I tell myself constantly, but if dealing with it entails being cooped up in the room every single day trying to finish the readings, then perhaps, no thanks?

I'll have to find a way to finish all my constitutional law readings by tomorrow though because I need to churn out 2 response papers by Tuesday morning. :| This is no joke, I tell ya. Two constitutional law modules... what in the world was I thinking?! It feels like LTP all over again, but twice or thrice as tedious and cheem (sometimes, I don't even understand the assigned readings). I enjoyed LTP a lot (the content taught) but somehow, the level of enjoyment for these modules is like... hovering around 7% to 12%. Haha I need someone to help me with my readings, any volunteers?

This week will be especially busy because FLC Orientation is happening tomorrow night, I have to attend some SMU event on Tuesday night, there's a cell group meeting on Thursday night and LE buddy meeting's on Friday afternoon. With all these events going on.. GG for week 3 readings already la

Sian. 

On a happier note, I saw 6 different artistes/groups today - namely, radio hosts Jo Jung Chi and Harim, San E (rapper), Tiny G, Yoo Seung Woo, AT (not sure if this is her english name)!! I also saw SPICA, who appeared later, from a distance. Heh it was super tiring but I enjoyed it immensely! :D I only have a few pictures right now (phone ran out of memory again -.-) while the rest are in another friend's camera so if you know them, enjoy!

 San E

                      JoJungChi, San E, Harim (from left)                                   Tiny G

 Tiny G (not so tiny anymore because some of the girls are growing taller)

I'll insert the rest of the pictures when I get them!

:D

Picture from yesterday (didn't bother to comb my hair nicely and stuff cos I was just getting dinner from a cafe within my hostel teehee :P):

Pictures at the shop was actually taken for this purpose! (it was my cute lil niece's birthday party yesterday!)

And as usual, picture for the day - this time, with my friends at the Cheonggyecheon stream, Gwangjang Market!
Missing everyone immensely! <3
(dedicates my bright smile to you)

Saturday, March 15, 2014

White Day.

It's White Day today and it's a BIG DEAL here.

The city of Seoul has turned into a city of couples. (do you sense any bitterness here haha)

All the shops here have some sort of White Day discount/promotions, there's street busking (singing love songs), street events (like the free hug event mentioned in the post, 'Yisze's Mission') and the entire street - and probably everywhere else in Korea - is filled with couples. Holding bouquets of flowers or chocolates or balloons or urgh, everything sweet and lovely ahahah X) White day is Korea's version of Valentine's Day (contrary happens), where guys buy gifts/chocolates for girls or their girlfriends and really, the whole place comes alive with LOVE. I can almost see heart shapes and teddy bears floating around in the sky already lol! The air's turning pink! <3

Valentine's Day is typically observed by girls and women presenting chocolate gifts, usually to boys or men, as an expression of love, courtesy or social obligation. In South Korea, White Day is also observed as a day for men to give women sweets, as a sort of repayment for the gifts women gave on Valentine's Day (usually of the chocolate variety). It also symbolises boys or men reciprocating the feelings which girls or women have for them (and have expressed on Valentine's Day). In contrast to Japan, men in South Korea generally purchase lollipops or other hard candies for the holiday. (from Wikipedia)

That said, it's a great and lively atmosphere so I'm not complaining! It just reminds me of something that's less-than-happy and about who I would have given chocolates to if said person were here. Heh. It's a fleeting feeling so no worries!

Anyway, they have interesting and funny events like these:


 Paris Baguette White Day goodies

 Grown men wielding huge lollipops and talking to females on the streets (I think it was a street promotion)

 
 Couple bike competition/event outside the Uplex mall (it helps power up the LED lights on the building)

White Day chocolate bars that I got for my friends (:

One of them very kindly bought me this in return :D (made my day hehe)

and..
I spotted a Korean guy waiting outside the dormitory with a little pink box hidden behind his back. How sweet! :D

해피 화이트 데이 to all! ^^

That aside, I spent most of the day out on my own at Myeongdong (sobs, on White Day), eating and shopping haha! I was supposed to accompany a friend to Gangnam (with others) for his Lasik surgery but I overslept ): and by the time I left the Sinchon train station, I was informed me that one of the girls had to be back at dormitory at 1pm. It didn't make much sense for me to take the 45-min trip there, only to return to the same place after 10 or 20 minutes so I hopped off the train and started on a new journey! It was too early though - around 10.50am - and I was just wandering around because it was too late for breakfast but too early for lunch. I didn't want to go back to the dormitory either (no!) so I made a last-minute decision to go look for Cafe Jholic (JYJ's Kim Jaejoong's cafe) at Myeongdong. Since it was a last-minute thing, I didn't even have my camera with me.. orz.. and I ended up taking phone selfies there haha (this will be the subject of another post!). I spent a couple of hours there doing my readings (only managed to read 16 pages gah) and then, went out in search for lunch!

This is a really good fried rice (볶음밥) place called 유가네닭갈비. It can be found in many places in Korea but I just know the ones in Myeongdong and Sinchon! For some inexplicable reason, they have exceedingly bad reviews on Naver (Korea's Google) but I think it's really delicious though.
I ordered 콩닭 쳘판볶음밥 (chicken and bean sprout fried rice, yummyyyy)!

If you're interested in visiting, this is the shopfront at Myeongdong:

After that, I just roamed around Myeongdong for like, 5 hours haha and went home with a new pair of sports shoes (like finally!!) and 2 pairs of jeggings! :D  I'm a Nike fan so I went straight to the Nike section.. 

Considered these and..

 Ended up with this! It's quite pricey to get imported sports shoes (like Nike, Adidas) here though >< This isn't even the best pair of running shoes around but it already costs S$120+ (99,000W). The pair I would have liked to get looked sturdier and had a better design but it was about S$170! D: Too expensive for a pair of sports shoes. (Note: Koreans love their New Balance shoes though - one of the MOST popular brands around here)

Yupp, so after roaming around Myeongdong till 5pm, I decided to head back home and get much needed rest. I didn't get much of that because I reached home at 6pm and my friends wanted to get takeout at 6.30pm. (faints) haha so I had to drop off my shopping goodies and troop off into the kitchen after a measly 20 minute break... However, due to numerous technical difficulties, our pizza only arrived at 8pm.

They have very unique pizza flavours here - the one pictured in the foreground and in the second photo is the Potato Pizza. The one on the upper left corner is Bulgogi Pizza (beef). The last one at the upper right corner is called the Super Supreme - described to be a colourful pizza in their menu, it is a pizza filled with beef (again), pork, ham, onions, mushrooms, pineapples and random stuff. They even have stuff like Sweet Potato Pizza (I wanna try this!) and Sweet Pizzas! Pizza proportions here are quite small though (8 slices of the one pictured on the right for a Medium pizza, 24,000W) so we ended up having to go for dessert at Sinchon. We left the dorm at 9.15pm and only came back at 11.40pm... /(>.<)\ So much for getting enough rest and staying in for the night, as I originally intended. It was fun certainly, but I'm just crazily tiredddd.

Can't wait to try out my new shoes though :D
NEW NIKE KICKS!
(gotta go finish my Running Man episode and then, time for the dreaded readings meh)