I miss home.

Gah, not in a peachy mood tonight.

The feeling's particularly strong right now but I miss home..

I miss talking to my family,
I miss seeing my family,
I miss my bed and blanket,
I miss the kitchen,
I miss my study table,
I miss the fridge,
I miss the television, (it's so bleddy boring in the room)
I miss my row of toys,
I miss the clean toilet,
I miss clean floors,
I miss my wardrobe,
I miss good food,
I miss lunches with my mum,
I miss dinners with the family,
I even miss the radio at home.

I miss chatting with my friends,
I miss seeing familiar faces, (yes, I miss you)
I miss having someone to confide in,
I miss having someone to laugh with and truly feel happy,
I miss having someone to share the wonderful moments with,
I miss the theaters, (and my movies)
I miss the food,
I miss the clean air, (at least, not the haze for now)
I even miss the heat. (not too much though)

If you're going to be judgemental like someone and think that I can't handle independent living (you shouldn't, if you do know me), then perhaps you shouldn't be reading this, or any other posts. I got highly pissed off when someone snapped "grow up!" at me when I lamented that I missed home when someone with the same car model as my mum drove past me (all I said was, "I miss my mum."). How in the world is missing home an indication of not being grown up? Why is it fine to miss your friends, miss your girlfriend/boyfriend, miss your whoeverelse and yet, not acceptable to miss the family? I think you should be the one who really needs to grow up. Why, is it too uncool for you to admit that you miss your family? Or that perhaps it's almost like a badge of honor to have a partner to miss? Don't kid me. Independent living is not mutually exclusive with the idea of family (why should it ever have to be) - I can feed myself, clothe myself, clean myself and basically live a decent life perfectly on my own - that's independent living for you. That doesn't necessarily mean that I have to be totally happy doing it - because the mind is separate from the body, duh. I love my family and I'm proud of it, I don't have to prove anything to you. Continue judging (I know you already are) but who gives a damn right.

(interrupts) AND CAN THE PEOPLE IN THE GYM STOP DROPPING WEIGHTS OR WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU ARE DOING - IT SOUNDS LIKE A FREAKIN' BOWLING GAME HAPPENING ABOVE MY ROOM EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! IF YOU CAN'T LIFT IT, FOR LIFE'S SAKE, DON'T TRY (OR AT LEAST PLACE IT DOWN SOFTLY)!

Right, I just realised that university education doesn't actually do much for character-building. All of us are university students here in the dorm but it's hard to believe that there are still utensil/soap/pot-thieves residing among us. I can't believe that you made it all the way to university and you're stealing soap from someone's else's storage box. I don't even know if I should laugh, cry at that or fry you in a pan (whoever you are). And even if you don't have the decency to ask for permission or better, buy your friggin utensils, at least put the things back where you found them. You DO NOT (I repeat, do NOT) steal my dishwashing liquid and place it ten columns away and make me hunt for it. I'm just one step away from installing grilles at my storage area and using my pan to whack you. GO BUY YOUR OWN SOAP AT DAISO - it's a mere 1000W, that's 1USD, S$1.25. I know my soap smells of grapefruit and lemon (how fragrant) but STOP STEALING MINE.

Speaking of which, a few days back, I heard about this particular exchange student who sponges off people. She befriended this other girl and got her to pay for her groceries, food, drinks etc. by making up different excuses each time (e.g. she doesn't have small change, they can share the items etc.). In addition, as this other girl is recovering from broken ribs (or some injury), she travels around by cabs and this leech just goes along for the free ride every single time. The other girl recently came to the realisation that she was being used and broke down, but when she went to ask for her money back, the leech had the audacity to tell her that she (the leech) thought the other girl was doing her a favor each time, that friends are supposed to do favors for each other and that she (the leech) had done a lot for the girl. Apparently, she had helped the girl with her luggages and heavy bags (cos the girl is recovering from her injury) and somehow, expected all the freebies in return. I was speechless when I heard about this from my roommate - it was both surprising and shocking. I know that there are many horrid people in this world but.. doesn't it just feel shocking to find one such specimen in your midst? I don't know said leech's name yet but I guess I should be more wary of the people I meet here from now on. 

The world's a scary place, isn't it.

Home is still the best. Love you all! :')

Yisze's Mission: Photos with 10 Hot Guys!

MISSION: 

Take pictures with 10 hot Korean guys by the time exchange ends.

I have to say that this is probably one of the more interesting things on my to-do list in Korea ahaha *winks* It isn't an easy mission for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's quite unlikely that I'll approach a hot Korean guy just for a picture. Secondly, I don't know that many locals of the opposite gender (I hardly know any locals at all apart from my mentors, lol). Thirdly, the few whom I know prolly won't make the cut. Fourthly (and most importantly), I don't think there's a huge supply of hot Korean guys here! Hahahahah XD It's easy for us/people to be under the impression that Koreans are an exceedingly good-looking bunch, what with the stunning appearances of Kpop idols and age-defying actors and actresses, but hmmm, that's not really the case here. The ladies are considerably pretty because everyone's make-up's done so well (there are, of course, natural beauties but those are pretty rare occurrences around this area) but in contrast, cute/handsome/charming/dashing guys aren't that common heh. They look like the typical male walking in the streets. The fashion sense's great as usual, the hairstyle's awesome (did I mention how much I like the hairstyles of guys here) but their 얼굴s... average? Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining(!) but it just makes this mission more difficult *guffaws* ahaha

Anyway, by a stroke of luck, I've already managed to complete 30% of my mission!! *victory dance*

I don't find them particularly handsome (or "hot", a term I hardly use) but since they've put so much effort into their make-up and they're from a rookie Kpop group (called NOM.. ohmygawd HAHA I just realised the group name is printed on their shirts), give chance okay? :P I don't have the original photos but these will do fine!

10% 성공!

This is entry no. 1 because.. I like blonde hair :D and the colours came out really well!

20% 성공!

Umm more cute-and-young-baby-face-than-hot, but he'll do for entry no. 2!

30% 성공!

Orange hair doesn't match him (or any other Asian) that well so.. he's entry no. 3!

70% more to go!

열심히할게요!! ㅋㅋㅋ 

Update (14/03): Chanced upon another public event today! It was a free hug event by some rookie group (didn't manage to catch their names) but alas! My handphone battery died 1 minute before I noticed the whole commotion on the other side of the street (squealing high school girls - it feels good to be young).. or I would have completed another 20-30% of my mission heh :D That said, I wasn't sore about losing out on this opportunity to take selcas with them (no, I wasn't planning to hug them) because firstly, I've never heard of them and secondly, they didn't exactly look good..? Haha the makeup wasn't well done and I guess whatever lies under that makeup wasn't that 짱 either! X)

Ah, I did a simple search on Twitter for '신촌' and it turns out that the group I saw on the streets was BigFlo (빅플로) - a group that either debuted this year or has yet to debut. I got some pictures off Twitter so that you'll know how they look like (disappointingly, their skin wasn't that good up close though). I'm not sure if it's happy or sad for them to be doing activities like these just to promote themselves. It works, definitely, but seeing the halfhearted hugs just makes me feel a little sorry for them.. ><

Just waiting to meet my hubbyyy or my 'angel JJ'! Teehee, such photos would be worth waiting for.

 Slightly different shot from the picture in the 'SPORTS' post

At the 40% mark!! 40% 성공!

50% 성공!

Umm... does this count? Hahahahahaha :D
55% 성공!

(Update: 15/07) Okay that has to count (5% for 2D guy) - or I'm not going to complete this mission successfully. Expect more pictures with Do Manager ahahahha! I didn't realise the dismal progress for this mission (I thought I had hit the 70% mark already gosh!) so now, I am just gonna dig up any photo I have with Korean guys - of which I do not have many (cues sad sigh).. I'll leave it up to you as to whether they fulfill the mission criteria!

Well, I have to make it a nice percentage first so..

Smokin' hot GD and me!

60% 성공!

I never expected for my friend to make a cameo on this page (privacy!) but.. yay! :D

70% 성공!

I know #23 has appeared above already but... give chance please! I don't know many hot Korean guys (in fact, if you have any - intro please bahahahah) and this was taken on a different occasion! Bonus points to us for mustering up the courage again to request for a post-game picture! 

*stares at you with puppy-dog eyes* 

80% 성공!

Umm.. the English translator (who is also a guard of some sort helping to keep the foreigners in order) at the MBC Show Champion recording! I saw some foreigners taking pictures with the translators and since he actually spoke to us that day (he probably remembered us from the previous week), no harm in taking a picture with him! I took a photo with the Chinese translator as well (that lady was a total sweetie) but I doubt she can help me with my mission right now.. lol!
90% 성공!

Aite - I admit, I'm out of pictures. Unless.... you can accept my professors as being 'hot' - okay, that's pushing it a lil too far hahaha (but they're highly intelligent and capable people who are attractive in their own ways alright!) so here are more.. pictures with 2D guys! *guffaws* 4 for the price of 1!

  (from upper left) GD, Kim Sung Gyu, Kim Soo Hyun, Park Yoo Chun <3
100% 성공!

Busy Already?!

#howisthisthelifeofanexchangestudent

That's the biggest question I have right now..!

I haven't started on my readings for tomorrow's Constitutional Law classes so I think I should have about 50 pages waiting for me when I get back from LE's (Language Exchange) Orientation Night. Hohoho, coupled with this headache, I don't see how I'm going to blaze through 50 pages in the 1 or 2 hours before I conk out. Seriously... I don't even recall reading that much (I still have my Comparative Corp Governance module's readings) in week 2, back in SMU. In contrast, it seems like the local students do their readings religiously - they turn up with scary stacks of readings and scribble their notes furiously - and since I have to submit weekly reviews, I really have no choice but to read them. I'm going to skip the submission of reviews for this week though because I still haven't figured out how the printer works (teehee, what a valid excuse).

Anyway, it's 6.02pm and I have to rush off for dinner and then LE. ): Gah, I've only been back in my dorm for like what, 20 minutes and now I have to rush out again. Mentally tired and probably, physically tired as well. (still haven't gotten my thermometer urgh). Apparently, Koreans don't fall sick on Sundays because woohoo, all pharmacies are closed on Sundays! -_______________-" I completely get it if a eatery closes on Sunday but.. a pharmacy? You're there to save people - you have a noble purpose - you do not close on Sundays. At least open for a few hours..? Orz

More on that later! Till then! (:

Addition:
I'm going to start on my readings now... and it's 9.59pm.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻"
I'm more than happy to blog.. but when it comes to readings.. HAHA I'll gladly skip it! Can they grade me based on my blog posts instead of the weekly critical response paper? Pretty please? *stares at them with puppy dog eyes*

Hahaha I'll have to stop blogging now even though I have some stuff to talk about ): and I don't think I'll be able to blog daily anymore >.< but I'll still try to get a post out every 2-3 days though! So don't forget to check back (and of course, don't forget meee)!

And since I haven't posted much in the last couple of days, here are some pictures for the past 3 days!

Taken on the day I went to the zoo - just had to show off my new space sweater! (check out those space shuttles and cool planets!)

The day after the zoo trip - a sick me who.. didn't forget to take a selfie even when I was feeling downright shitty (all feverish, sniffly and uncomfy) ahahahaha *coughs* Looking quite pale though.. D: gah signs of sickness..

Me today! Feeling a lil better (I hope the fever's gone!) and piglet wanted to say hi too!

GOODNIGHT FOR THE DAY!

Zoo Visit!

It has been a really long day today - woke up at 8am for the zoo visit and we didn't leave the zoo till 4-ish in the afternoon - so I'm totally bushed right now. It was a pretty long train ride to the Grand Park Station (around 45 minutes from Sinchon) and to our utter horror (actually, only much to my horror), the Seoul Zoo is a 1.2km walk from the ticketing office! We chose to walk there instead of taking the tram because the latter would involve us missing out on certain attractions, and boy- did it turn out to be the right choice! The view was simply mesmerizing and the air - cool, crisp and fresh. You don't get sights like these in Singapore and I took the chance to just soak it all in (:

Oh right, and did I mention - I was a giraffe for the day! I actually bought it for my sister (who lurvess giraffes and is a bit of a giraffe herself aha) but since I was at the zoo, why not I just wear it first? (;

So here's a picture of our group! You might spot the 4 familiar faces (Lewis (Thai but studying in Australia) on the far left, Jamaica (Singaporean but staying in Australia) next to him, Shaun (Singapore) and Kevin (Hawaii) on my right) which have been popping up in recent pictures - this is the group of friends that I usually hang out with and they're all wonderful and friendly people! Today, two new friends joined us for the zoo outing and there's Erika (a huge Infinite-Sungyeol fan who's Japanese American) with the bunny ears and Moses from SMU Economics on my left! It's always great to meet new (good) people and I genuinely enjoy striking up conversations with them to get to know them better. As always, I've been talking more than usual but oh well, this is part and parcel of an exchange experience, isn't it! (psst, we smelled the zoo before we even saw it haha)

(I'm just sitting here waiting for it to snow because the weather forecast predicted a 40% chance of snow today, which is quite high!... ... but... it's... not.. snowing D:)

Here's a picture of Erika and myself (aka the bunny and baby giraffe cos apparently, I'm short sigh)! Um, I had a bad-fringe day so please look past the imperfect fringe and focus on the giraffe ears heh :P

Enough of me/us! We went to the ZOO so how can there not be pictures of animals! TADAAA! These are the true HIGHLIGHTS of the day!

Zebra! One of my favourite animals at the zoo (: I never fail to be amazed by the perfect prints on their hide..

Ostrich.. (smelly... ahaha)

 Momma baboon with baby baboon (their red butt cheeks look better when they're young) X)

  Chimpanzee and Gorilla - so human-like, it was both intimidating and amazing. 

Too-cute Fennec foxes (you cannot deny that it's cute when it sleeps with a Snoopy plushie).

I think this is the Black-tailed Prairie Dog..?

 I didn't manage to get the name of this majestic creatures (loving those horns!) ):

(I'll continue this post tomorrow cos I really do need sleep!)

On a side note, I should really get a thermometer one day. I have no idea if I'm just having a bad headache and dry throat or whether it's fever and sore throat. ): When I was sick back in Singapore, I could go around, completely unaware that I was having a high fever (I just dismiss it as a splitting headache), but it's quite damaging to the body so I don't want to repeat that again. Perhaps a Panadol will solve the problem! And off to sleep I go!

Reminder to Self:
Attend these: Music Bank, Inkigayo, M-Countdown, Immortal Song
Go watch: Running Man, Dream Team, Hongki Oppa's drama
Can check out: Teentop, Infinite, MIB, Led Apple, Aziatix, BtoB, Beast, 2AM/PM, BAP, IU, Sungsikyung, KWill, Roy Kim (if he comes back) etc.

Culinary Adventures

This will be a log of my cooking adventures in Korea! I'll update it every time I cook :D

(It's getting late so there will be fewer words but I'll edit these when I have the time!)

First self-cooked meal in Korea: Ramyeon (라면) with mushrooms, soya beansprouts and broccoli.

The soup base was quite tasty but I would attribute it to the seasoning (aka. the dreadful MSG) and not the ingredients D: Overall, it was a very satisfying meal however, because I had SHROOMs <3 and loads of vegetables. I practically ate the entire box of mushrooms, 3/4 of the stalk of broccoli and 1/3 the packet of beansprouts. I couldn't finish my noodles (only cooked 1/2 pack) but the ingredients were more than enough to fill my tummy. It was a good meal and compensated for all the drama prior to that. (which I will talk about tomorrow heh)

Subsequent meals:

To start off...

 Soup with egg, carrots, capsicums (superbly bad idea), mushrooms, wolfberries and dates

 Soup with anchovies and instant brown rice! (psst, the capsicum totally killed the taste of the soup - never ever put capsicum in soup!)

The next meal was...

 Challenge: Cook Mapo Tofu, Singapore-style!

 Tried cooking Mapo Tofu (with Mapo tofu paste from Singapore) - my friend thought it was fine but I totally hated the taste of the mapo tofu sauce. I have never tried any sauce quite like this in my entire life (I'm pretty sure mapo tofu doesn't taste like that) - it was awfully spicy, salty and left an immensely uncomfortable burning sensation on the tongue. I had to rinse all my ingredients in hot water before eating them (still had that disgusting peppery taste) because I couldn't bear to waste them ): It was such a waste to have used such nutritious and wonderful ingredients in that sauce (cries out to my shrooms and vegs). It was either that the sauce was horrid through and through or the red pepper powder's fault. I can't figure out which is to blame for the ruined meal but I'm never going to try both ever again. NEVER. EVER.

Moving on...

 Didn't really have time to cook (must have been studying or watching drama muahaha) so I just cooked instant noodles with shrooms and vegs! Most of the time, the motivation to cook is simply to use up all the ingredients before they expire aha  (in this case, it was the vegetables) :P

Lunch!

Highlight of the cooking adventures so far - my first ever packed lunch! \(^_^)/ 

I felt so excited and gleeful when preparing my lunchbox (wow, lunchbox!) hehe my 爱心便当 consisted of rice, fried egg rolls and a generous serving of seaweed flakes! Did I hear someone say おいしい/美味しい?

Well, we need a bit of Western cuisine to balance it out...

  Cute people eat adorable pasta ^^

 

 One word - HEAVENLY.

And then there was this...

 I.. uh... totally cannot remember what this dish was. Oh right. I recall now - it was the leftover shrooms, cabbages and red pepper sauce from that pack of shrooms you see in the previous meal. Salty. Uncomfortable peppery taste again. Nono. 

Soon after, I discovered the wonderful things called broccoli and sausages at Grand Mart..

 As you can see in the picture, fried broccoli with carrots and sausages in a tasty all-purpose sauce

YUMMY!

Saw pictures of this particular breakfast (it was an incredibly chill and lovely morning) and decided to include them here heh ;)

Lunch in school sometimes...

 I didn't cook this but the kimbap wanted some screen time too :3

The real chef maddie emerges again.. 

 This time.. 

 with rice cakes!!!

 End product: Fried rice cakes and ramyeon with Korean fishcakes, shiitake mushrooms and carrots

One thought - why is my cooking so good AHAHAHAHA X) 

Lol jokes aside, it was a very satisfying meal that was not only healthy but fun to eat (had so many different tastes and textures!) :D 

Craving for Western food returned and here we have...

 Broccoli pasta!

 *awkward cough* The broccoli filled up 75% of the entire lunch box so I had to stack the pasta on top of the broccoli... I got full from the broccoli instead of the pasta (fortunately I only cooked a small portion of pasta).. It's difficult to keep broccoli once you cut them up so I usually end up eating the entire broccoli.. Orz.. that's like 10-15 florets of broccoli.....

And since I like rice cakes so much, I had to try the authentic flavor.. (this was just a week ago, during the last week of April)

 See the green stuff? Apparently, it's green pumpkin and Koreans use it in most of their stews. I totally lurveeee it and woohoooo, I finally found it at the supermarket!

MMMMMM LIP-SMACKINGLY GOOD.

Decided I had to get a more balanced diet so I got meat - crab meat!

 好.

 好.

吃.

<TO BE CONTINUED>