My Korea Trip

samgetang

2010-07-22T14:45:00.000+08:00

here u go! i ate this one monday! we purchased takeout at a shop near our dorm... hmmm.. but it doesn't seem to have ginseng though.. but there's like rice within the chicken too, and it tastes like "ba zhang".. i dunno why, but .. yeah.

maybe i'll eat another time! see how it goes... but its still good though!

Lotte world!

2010-07-17T14:22:00.002+08:00

thurday's lunch =)

2010-07-15T13:46:00.000+08:00

Here you go! these are pictures of my lunch today.. spicy tofu stew. really really nice!!! =)) 4000 won.

oh yeah, i changed money today, and you know what, the person counted wrongly, i got much more than expected... which was really weird, cause she gave us the rate in sg currency, but when she changed the money, it was for US dollars. so i got 80000 won more. oh well.

mould

2010-07-14T21:05:00.000+08:00

never got a chance to show u the mould in my room, its not very clear though.. the white stuff is the growing stuff, the black stuff, erm.. i really don't know how the mould works, but yeah, that's the mould.

watermelon

2010-07-14T17:23:00.000+08:00

we bought that today. really heavy, really big.

day 18

2010-07-13T21:06:00.000+08:00

what's for lunch?

I don't really know what this is called, i just randomly picked from the menu because most of the time all the menus are in korean, so ta da! its like mee sua..only better!

3000 won for this =)

dunkin donut for my break before korean class!

tada! dinner, my onigiri. And i had another chicken stick thing that i ate along the way back home, so i didn't manage to get a picture of it.

the third sunday

2010-07-11T22:08:00.008+08:00

its a super tiring day today, i've walked miles and miles, and i really mean miles. i went to a couple of museums today, took more than 300 photos, so i'll be taking a while to upload the photos and show u guys. Went to a toy museum and the teddy bear museum. Once again, spent a lot of $$, too much on admission and transport. hee!
oh and we had a really really really awesome lunch today. pricey, but good. and hey! its the weekend! so i'm spoiling myself a little as well. look at these!

side dishes! raddish and kimchi

our boiled dumplings! damn nice!

my close up! woooo

ok this, is really really good. Its seaweed and abalone noodles. tastes really really really really good!

pancake!! seafood flavour with chives and onions i think!

close up of pancake!

seems like my shot of the abalone is really blur.. but oh well! this is the most i can do

abalone!!! good right? not forgetting, there's quite a number of "ham" cockles inside as well. oh man.. freaking good. but yes, pricey. 5000 won for dumplings. i think the noodles is 10000 and the pancake is 8000. Shared between 3 of us, soleha didn't join us for today...

let me show you some shots of the seoul tower at night first, really nice

i'll definitely post up more shots, but i'm just really tired for now, so i'll post some bonus pics of me at the teddy bear museum!

okay, and another bonus, this one i thought was hilarious and cute at the same time!

presenting.. the Joon bear!

do you know who is this? u know right?? haha =)

toy musuem!! some are blurry i noe.. but make do with it!

saturday's lunch

2010-07-10T21:58:00.000+08:00

videos of my field trip!

2010-07-10T00:18:00.002+08:00

hidden dragon crouching tiger

2010-07-08T20:12:00.000+08:00

you know for some reason, i'm not even sure if i got the title right, i have to think so many times if i got it right before typing it down.. can't believe i watched that today!!! of all shows.. shitty shitty. i really hate zhang ziyi.. oh well.. on the bright side, i'm waiting for discussion on monday so that he can enlighten me on the show.. so i guess its good in a way. 2 freaking hours of it.. damn.. anyway, we had a mini discussion on it... i guess its still pretty cool.
site vs. tool
man-made vs nature.
basically... we focused on the tool, like for eg the sword. The tool itself is powerless without a man to use it. When one believes in the tool, the usage is priceless. The tool is only as powerful as our ability to believe whether it is indeed powerful or not.

anyway, i took a photo of prof today. its a lil blurry, but still cool nevertheless.

Ta-da... if u see right, he's disturbing the korean guy on the left. He's holding this thing pretending its a machete, and he's going around fighting people. And because he's moving everywhere, its so hard to capture a shot of him!

okay, so today, we had onigiri for lunch, u know those rice ball thingy covered with seaweed? Because we ate it while walking back, i didn't get to take a pic of it.. and besides, i don't really think u want me to take a pic of it also, if not you guys will just feel sick about what you're eating currently.. muahahahaah! and then, i bought street food a long the way, i only remembered to take a pic of it when i was eating it.. so here are pictures of half-eaten food

that's like rice cakes and kimbap! haha! 2000 won each packet, shared between me and sol.. Its really really filling... oh and we have macs for dinner!

day 12! Can't wait for it to double up!

2010-07-07T13:25:00.000+08:00

Wednesday! Woot! If i were to be completely honest, things are not getting better and are in fact getting worse with the other two girls. So i was telling u guys that today's my only free day after class, i dun have anything in the late afternoon, so i wanted to spend more time on the assignment and sort of get it done if possible. So apparently they got mad because she wanted to go teddy bear museum or something, and her plans got whacked or something. Anyway, the two of them are out, and i'm here with sol doing work. so i sort of wanted to clear the misunderstanding as usual... and i was told that she is not very happy with the way things are because things aren't going the way that she expected it to be. Yup, that's exactly what i was told. So i think i actually pondered about that the entire class time. I seriously have no idea why i was so bothered by it, or so caught up by the whole situation, sometimes i wish that i wasn't made to be such a person. But i think after thinking it really hard and long, i decided that they will definitely not be a long term friend of mine, and when we're done with our degrees, i don't really think we will keep in touch and stuff. Or at least, they aren't friends who truly understand me and know me and stuff. So because of that entire thought, i finally think that its stupid of me to think and be bothered so much by people who are selfish and don't spare a thought for me either. I guess i thought that being together for about 2 years, they would know what kind of character i am, what kind of personality i am, i can always foresee what they will say about certain things that me and sol do, but it seems like up till now, they still don't know what kind of person i am. So i guess they don't really treat me as a friend too... so i think i'm done thinking about them as well.

So because of that wall that i guess we indirectly created, me and sol finally gotta have lunch on our own! Hee... waffles and gelato.

Nice right? And there's chocolate and espresso gelato as well =) Costs 9200 won, so its about S$10.50, shared between the both of us, and its surprisingly filing for me. Ha!

And then we bought back a bagel and doughnut for each of us, and i got my cappuccino again, nice =)

And seriously, its really not a crime to stay home and complete homework and not go out right? Please enlighten me really.

Oh and i took shots this morning of my site in black and white, let me know if its better as compared to the coloured ones okie?

What do you guys think?

Anyway, our prof went through the saying that " there is no place like home ".

In one way, it can mean that there is certainly no other place that can be compared to the warmth and likes of our own house, and that that is indeed the best place to be.

However, in another way, it can also mean that it is non-existent, it does not belong in reality. It is just a fantasy and a fragment of our imagination.

Tuesday oh Tuesday

2010-07-06T12:49:00.001+08:00

I don't think i told you guys, but there's actually a blind guy in my class and he has the dog to aid him everywhere. So it so happened that i got to seat next to him for class today, took pics of the dog, ha!

He was sleeping throughout the lesson anyway. We watched Manny and Lo today, the scarlett johansson one. Wasn't that bad.. then we compared it to wizard of oz and where the wild things are, its actually pretty cool, so once again, so far so good.. i'm really liking classes so far and that's so rare back home. Oh and prof talked to me today, totally scared me. He was asking me during break time who i thought was the best sleeper in class. He kept asking me even though I said i dunno, haha! Damn weird right? Then he was telling me who he thought was the best sleeper and asked if i agreed... he's really really wacky seriously.

Anyway, next, lunch! Woot, finally ate the black bean paste noodles, the jajungmyun thingy.

This is what it looks like when it was served.

This is how it looks like when i mixed it up!

Ta-da! my close up =)

Okay, now focus on the assignment, i took some pictures on the site today while walking to school, these were what i got.

So i was thinking of making the photos black and white, and maybe use all the photos that i've posted to show like the degree of closeness i am to the site, which also means like according to how i have posted it, it makes it feel like one is advancing towards the site. Hmm... does that make sense? Then i was thinking of putting like a couple or more stanzas on which photo... what do u guys think?

Nanta

2010-07-05T23:35:00.000+08:00

Nanta performance for today was really good and hilarious! here are some pics i took along the way, but i didn't really take much though.

This is cool right? these statues are like that! i didn't minimize the photo or anything.

There, this is the ticketing office, didn't get to take much photos cause there were way too many people around.

This is the stage before the performance, i didn't take with flash so not very clear and stuff.

And this is the stage after the performance, notice that the floor is very untidy?? there's a lot of those balls around that we see in fun dazzle! I took a green one! they threw all these at us towards the end of the perfomance! All in all, it was pretty good, and really really funny, i enjoyed it!

So as i was saying, we weren't provided transport back which was really irritating, but i guess we got to explore around the area. We're at city hall! literally the city hall of the city hall drama okie? Cool photos all around, do take a look!

This is cool right? whatever this thing is? anyway, this thing keeps moving! keeps moving the hammer up and down!

See the billboard!! ANYCALL! woot!

Oh and this place is unclear, do u see some statue right smack in the middle? Its like a ancient warrior kind of thing. Anyway, soleha told me that this is part of the place where the shooting of the seoul mv took place. Its not all that clear but there are fountains around the statue area. So its actually the place where Shindong and Sunny are, Sunny bringing the small kids, then Shindong was directing the traffic, that's the place, got it? =)

Monday's lunch

2010-07-05T13:09:00.000+08:00

Just got back home from school, and now i'm gonna post up pictures of what i ate for lunch!

Its called mandu ramyun i think, mandu means dumpling.

See! cute right? tastes good too =)

My close-up! its mainly vege and those noodle (tang hoon) inside !

Oh and i'll be going for a performance later this afternoon, its called Nanta, go google it, i'll be back with photos later! Should be going to start on the assignment now. Today's class was great! Teacher's hilarious, nice nice really. He looks like the grandpa in the UP movie, except that he's not that grouchy.

Sunday's lunch

2010-07-04T16:47:00.003+08:00

Hee, we went somewhere near myeong dong to meet up with the other 2, so we had lunch around that area and had bibimbap again, u know, the mixed rice with all the stuff.

This is my meal, its with fish roe and no egg this time round.

Once again, not forgetting my side dishes =)

And of course my close ups! its was so so so filling! i took so long to eat! fish roe everywhere! pretty cool, hmmm..... but slightly pricey for me though, its 5500 won, so about S$6.50? Nice right?

We went sight-seeing today at the korea forest research institue, pretty cool! its like a botanical gardens kind of thing. so i'll just post up photos, nothing much to really comment about , but just some really cool plants and all, and if they are blur, i'm sorrrrrie! I'm just not apppple.

Oh and this, if you look closely, the leaves are of the clover shape, really cute!

oh yeah, this is pretty cool , though its upside down, but there are fungi growing on the stump.

oh and i don't think its clear on the picture, but then these leaves, they are of a star shape, so its really cool =)

This is a small stream right smack in the middle of the forest.

Oh yeah, can u see the bird in the center? i was trying so hard to get a full shot of it cause it kept moving and flying...

Its really beautiful, really nice colour to it =)

Oh and this, they are growing tomatoes and cabbage i think!

This one is a parking lot btw.

There you go, thats all of the photos i took at the place, pretty nice right?

I enjoyed it a lot, its a really great alternative to shopping really, and admission was free also, they only open during weekends, i think the other 2 didn't enjoy as much, but i thoroughly did =)

stream, i forgot the name!

2010-07-03T23:04:00.000+08:00

I went to dongdaemun on thursday for a while during the break in between my lessons, so here are some pics of the stream, its really nice n refreshing!

I'm not sure if u know, but u can usually see this place in drama serials or the reality programmes also!

Really happie to be here.

My Museum Trip

2010-07-03T09:57:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, Friday 2/7/10, we went on a field trip to tour the city of seoul. The weather was bad though, and it rained the entire day, so it was wet and cold... We first went to a musuem, then to lunch, then to Seoul Tower, then to a cruise of Han River. So for now, i'll upload pictures of the museum, because i took quite a lot of it!

This stone looks like its constipated and having a stomache right?

This is like some palace, but, they don't allow admission for this one, so we just walked down ahead to the museum.

Okay, so this is where i went, The National Folk Museum of Korea.

Okay and at the bottom, the next 3 photos are about praying to the deity for safety when they are travelling i think, if i remember correctly.

And the next 4 photos are just random pictures of porcelain vases.

Okay, and now some random writings in the ancient times.

Okay, and more random stuff that i took.

This is a tobacco pipe by the way, that those people use to smoke back in the days.

Okay, from here on, we move on to another section, mainly about the war era.

my korean textbook

2010-06-30T20:08:00.001+08:00

Ta-da! that's my korean textbook! looks cool right? there are 6 levels, soleha's 4!!! My korea's teacher is really nice, she's pregnant also, but subtlely fierce.. hmm.. but still.. i've learnt a lot! We're gonna start on the korean alphabets tomorrow! so.. i think i'll learn how to write tomorrow!

2nd class

2010-06-30T14:51:00.001+08:00

Okay, i have to admit that i was in a super horrible mood this morning.. mainly because of a particular person or persons. So breakfast was horrible, but i really loved today's class! It was a discussion for the movie that we watched yesterday. I think it reminded me of the good old days where i had my literature classes.. The discussion was fruitful and it was really thought-provoking, so i liked it. And it certainly made my day better. Forgot to tell you, it was raining this morning .. so hmmm... very mah fan.

Oh, and i managed to take a photo of my professor through the webcam thing, so here he is! on the far left of the screen.

Not so clear, but this is the best that i can do. When he comes next week, i'll take a better photo.

And here's what we have for lunch.. after second thoughts, i think we're spending a lot on food.. so i'm gonna like have bread for dinner if possible, or something else that is not such a huge meal, if you guys get what i mean.

Hmmm.. okay so these pics are what we've eaten for today, still good stuff nevertheless, and as usual, full shots and my personal favourite of the close-ups!

This is the kimchi kimbap with no meat!

Miso soup (free), tastes like lotus soup actually.

Kimchi side dish (free), i've never told you guys, but it actually taste like chicken rice, i don't know why, but it gives me the feel of chicken rice taste.

Ahh... okay, poor quality, my hand was shaking, maybe the food was too good, Ha! erm... this is the beancurd side dish (free).

Another side dish, this is called oden, and its fishcakes. So another fish side dish! nice!

Another side dish! potatoes! (free)

This is soleha's meal, the rice that's mixed with everything one.

This is curry rice that i shared with the other 2 persons. Hmmm... but i only ate one mouth of this actually.

And this is udon! erm.. i forgot what flavour it is, and this one is really spicy! so that's y the other 2 person didn't really touch it, and was sour too. But it isn't bad.. for me i think spicy food keeps me full, not because i drink a lot of water, in fact i didn't! But because it burns up the stomach, i feel fuller, in a good way yeah? And the total we spent here is 13000 won, which is S$15. So if you do the math by dividing it by 4, it ain't that bad also.

Tuesday's Instant Dinner

2010-06-30T14:18:00.000+08:00

I told willette that i'll post a picture of my instant udon noodles for dinner yesterday, so here it is!
nothing fantastic though! but it was nice.. spicy.

First class

2010-06-29T13:17:00.001+08:00

Started our first class today! Taking creative mind in life, so its pretty philosophical, professor asked lots of questions that seemed unanswered for me. Anyway, there's a stand-in lecturer because our lecturer will not be in Seoul till next monday, so we conversed through skype. He's quite funny and nice, and really old, bascially he just kept everyone thinking about life issues really, early in the morning some more...

I didn't take a lot of photos, only one of the classroom of where i was seated.

Here's our lunch! hee.. pizza...

this is a potato pizza, its really good though! we asked for the version without meat cause soleha can't eat.

And this is the cheese pizza, its damn nice.

And not forgetting, the close-ups!

And the brand of the pizza...

Oh and by the way, the pizza cost 11000 won, which is about $12.70, divide by 4 people ok?? We ate 4 slices each.

Its so tiring everyday now, the walking is crazy, and now that we're back.. we dun even have 2 hours to rest... have to get back to sch for a placement test for our korean lessons. Timetable is really horrible... i'll show u guys if possible.

Saturday's Dinner

2010-06-27T10:11:00.000+08:00

Ok, i know i gave you the photos of whatever i ate yesterday, but i think i just have to do it again!

This is the place where we had our dinner, its kinda small actually but its really nice though!

This is like a free appetizer, similar to coleslaw, and its really nice =)

This one is soleha's meal, the seafood udon, i took it immediately when it arrived, so you can see the whole thing boiling. Oh and did i tell u that the waiter was really helpful? I think he knows that soleha can't eat pork, so he was telling her which dishes were with pork in it, and when they conversed.. it was really cool, cause i think he was quite surprised that soleha was able to speak Korean.

This one is Chloe's meal , the pork with curry and cheese on top, if you look at it, its boiling too! Oh and their pork is damn good, it doesn't get stuck on your teeth and its really tender, not those tough ones like char siew we get back home...

And tada, i took a better shot of my meal! Its pork cutlet with kimchi and cheese, i know it may not sound that nice, but hey, it really taste good! It was a good mix actually, and kimchi does not taste that bad at all. But.. It was quite spicy though, so... i'm training my tolerance for it!

Finally, our fried udon, it doesn't look spicy right? But surprising, this is the most lethal one out of every other dish. This was really spicy, even more spicier than mine. Basically, me, Geri and Chloe shared our dishes, oh and we had a bowl of rice as well. So that's really a lot of food!

And this is our complimentary dish!ITS FREE! i think we're the only ones who got it! So nice right?

So all in all, we spent 27800 won for this meal, go do the calculation online or something, and its like S$8 per person if i'm not wrong.

Took this picture on our way back, was really full, so we really took a long and slow walk back!

Walk to SKKU

2010-06-26T21:20:00.000+08:00

We tried walking from our dorm to SKKU, and its really really awefully far! at least 30mins walk, and we spent like an entire hour just walking around the school becos its so huge, its really big, with so many faculties and there are so many slopes, uphills and downhills here and there... there's just a really huge amount of walking to be done. And there are also lots and lots of shops throughout the entire journey, just think heeren times 1000, all the shops are really interesting and nice, i took quite a number, so have fun browsing!

This is a family mart just opposite our dorm from where i'm standing. Its sort of like a 7 eleven convenience store.

And from here on, i'll just show u some pictures i took along the way from the dorm to school.

Oh and these kind of flowers? There are a bunch like this at every lamppost.

And i think this is like a side gate to one of the palace along the way, i'll try and go visit it soon!

Oh and look at this, one of the trees, weird trunk right?

And this is another part of the palace i think, the main entrance is under renovations.

And we also pass by a science museum along the way...

From here on, i think we are moving into the smaller streets.

Basically there will be these kind of shop houses along the way to school. Its like the entire stretch of streets, and they have really cool shops. Their cake shops are really nice too! i didn't get to take a pic, but i'll take lots more throughout the semester =)

So now, we proceed on to an intersection between the streets. Actually according the survival kit that SIM gave us, we were supposed to walk along this route, BUT, we realised that we could have walked further down the street and get to the main gate of the school. So when we continue on along this way, its like an uphill climb and we end up at the side gate to the law faculty instead. Take a look!

Tada! That's the side gate i was talking about, from now on, i'll be showing u pictures i've took of the campus, i think i gave Willette some, but i'll post up everything anyway.

This is the LAW faulty!

This is the soccer field.

Basketball court

This is called the Hoam Hall i think, not sure what is it used for yet.

I think its not very visible, but there's this board some where in the middle, its actually like those big lcd screens that you see on suntec.

This is kind of like a lounge area for students i think.

And this will be where we'll have our orientation on monday.

Looks cool right? This 600th anniversary building will be where we'l lhave to meet first. So we'll be like having orientation at 930, then we'll have classes at 130 if i'm not wrong.

And there you see, we have to walk all the way down....

This is directly outside school, after making it all the way down, i'm taking this pic from the main gate. So you will just see this kind of little shops everywhere down the entire street. Really cool.

And then we went to a mini mart, and these are what i found =)

I think these are really fascinating man. Oh and even with soleha around, it seems like people assume we can speak korean, which is really weird... even though we converse around loudly in english so that they know, but nope, they assume we know how to speak korean.

bonus picture

2010-06-26T14:08:00.000+08:00

My instant udon cup!

Please don't scold me.

My dorm! ~ Sima Ville ~

2010-06-26T13:15:00.000+08:00

Okay, at first i was worried about my dorm cause it sort of looks unfinished from the outside, but when we got in and everything, it was actually cozier than i thought!

Anyway, the administrator of the building is this man, he's old, so don't worry, and balding too if you like to know, Mr. Kim! But he's really friendly, helping and everything. Soleha tries to converse with him the best that she can, and its really hilarious, and he's teaches us along as well, how to pronounce. Oh and a aircon remote controller? its called "remote con" , seriously! damn funny. Then for me and soleha, we changed a couple of times because the aircon wiring wasn't connected, and for some, i think the lights weren't done yet also. So we went around choosing our room, oh and there's a dispenser outside to refill bottles, so don't worry! And its quiter than i thought because the walls are all hollow, and i thought we would be able to hear disturbance from outside, but hey! all is good. And all the electrical appliances are being shifted in today also, like the irons are not set up yet, and some other stuff i think. ok, so here are my dorm pics, starting with the exterior of the building!

Okay, and now our room! Room 309!

Okay! this is it for now, this is all that i've taken, i'll probably post more later! show you the levels with the eating area, stoves, washing machines . And many many more!

My First Day!

2010-06-26T12:38:00.000+08:00

Hello! My flight was super uncomfortable... back ache, neck ache, everywhere ache, plus the turbulence... oh my stomach. But still, it was really quite fun, was so excited when it lifted off, oh and the weather in seoul is really really good! its cloudy at the moment, not much of sun, but its really breezy, say around 25 degrees or so. Really nice =)

anyway, i have to prove to you that the picture quality on my handphone is still acceptable, so here are a couple of pics on my flight first! My midnight snack! Funny thing is... Soleha's halah food was so much more appetizing. There was a choice of eating the korean food though, but i didn't choose it, da jie and willette should know.. the kind where they just dump everything into the rice and mix it up, kimchi, red pepper paste, oooh, i wasn't sure if i was ready for that yet, so i stuck with the fish choice instead.

And here's a closer look at my main meal...

Oh and the black thing? its mushrooms, ha! dehydrated ones, no juice.

Ok, and the entire plane was filled with lots and lots of koreans, and woah, some of them are quite fierce actually, kind of scary. And just like the drama serials that we watch, when they argue, they just have to shout really loud to let everyone see and hear.

Anyway, it was quite impossible to sleep on the plane, wake up and sleep, wake up and sleep, definitely less than 4 hours i think... we reached at around 5.45am, so that's 4.45am at singapore time when all of you guys are soundly asleep.

Okay, are a few pics that i took of the airport, not much really, but anyway, it still looks great =)

Things did not go the way we want it to be also, because our pick-up, it didn't come. So we spent like an hour or so, trying to get phone numbers, trying to learn how to use the phone and its horribly crazy i tell you. The information counter was not very helpful, she could not speak good english as well and she wasn't friendly. We end up having to buy one international phone card and one local phone card and they cost 10000 won each! But anyway, don't worry, the administrator back home in singapore called me, she was not able to be of much help but in the end, we waited for geraldine to touch down as her pick-up arrived for her. Anyway, this pick-up, its basically a student volunteer from SKKU to bring us to our dormatories. So we took a bus, lasted for around 45 minutes or so i would say, and here are some pics along the way! Oh and really, please don't worry, everything went fine anyway, and the bus fee its free, its provided by the school.

Okay, these pics are mainly from the highway, now we go into the more bustling area!

Okay, this picture above? its yonsei university, looks really cool rite? i couldn't take a lot of pics.. the bus just keeps moving and moving. Oh and our student guide? he's a guy, called sung won, their english... very cute! broken english, but you basically get what they are trying to say. He's been helpful also, helped with our luggages, so ... no worries ok?

More PICS!

And this is some college of medicine i think.. by the way, you can always click on the pictures to enlarge them ok?

Okay, these are basically what i took during the bus ride, the rest of the girls were just basically sleeping! and the weather is so good that even the bus didn't have to on the aircon and it still feels cool!