Final stop in this UOS-ISS experience is a homestay at Suz's place. Her mom is such a wonderful cook. The dishes are all so delicious. And this is really those traditional Korean meal where they have like more than ten dishes on the table. I'm impressed.
After the wonderful dinner, we went off to the World Cup Stadium and the park around it. Said goodbye to Teresa that night. Another person to miss. See u in NYC gal.
The next day, went to watch The Simpsons with Suz before heading off to the airport. This feeling sucks. Missin this missin that. Missing everyone. Argh. Anyway, I must really thank Suz's family for being such a great host. Feel totally at ease at their home. Hehe.
Seoul has been wonderful. But the fun time is up. Heading back to SG for the real harsh life. Give me strength to get through this.
3 more days before I leave Korea. Sigh I really dun wanna leave man. Today is also the last outing of this holiday that I will have with my brother YJ. Went to Dongdaemun for another round of shopping. Hehe. Think I am really spending too much man.
We were lucky to see some rehersal ofa huge show for later the night. Haha. Seen some famous artists for free. Woohooo. But poor brother never get to see famous gals. Haha. Only famous guys appeared.
Headed off to our normal gym routine before going Han River for the final time in this trip. Thanks to his pretty gf for coming. I get a free ride back. Haha. Gonna miss seeing those beautiful lightups on the bridges ans most of all will miss my dear brother. I wanna stay in Seoul. Argh.
Remember I promise to upload photos from my birthday a month ago? Gotten the photos finally. I am doing a recap on the events that happened that night. Certainly one of the most happening Birthday of my life. Gonna miss those crazy time man.
First up a group photo.
Happy to receive a wonderful gift from Suz and YJ.
Just as I thought everything will be normal after all this years, someone slammed the whole cake at me.
Forced me to drink the potent 'Brithday Drink'. Ingredients includes chewing gums, cake, sweat, fruits, beer, soju, confetti, etc.
Doing the love shot. I cannot remember what number it is.
But dancing on the table was a fun thing to do. Many thanks to Helen for being such a sport.
Ok end of story. Time to puke away the alcohol................
The last day of the program. Cannot believe one month passed to fast. Really hate the thought of this coming to an end. But its life, Cest la vie.
Had a pretty easy exam today for my classes. Here is a photo of how my Korean tutors looked like. Both very kind ladies. I'm gonna miss going to Korean class so much with all of the poeple here.
Had a farewell party in the school hall. It was such a pity that they never thought of having a ball at the place. The hall is certainly large enough for such purpose. I'll let the photo do the talking from this point as I am at lost for words.
Finally a photo of my nice buddy who has been very kind and nice. Its never easy sharing a room with another person. Thanks for being a wonderful roomate.
Bing xuan arrived yesterday for a short stopover. Its like a small reunion for us here. Miss those days In Calagry so much. Need the UofC life once again. Anyway, I joined them pretty late as I have lessons to attend.
Went to COEX, a huge shopping mall in Seoul. After that, we headed off to Lotte World Amusement Park. Which turns out to be disastrous. We do not know why there is so damn many people here on a weekday. Irritating. We queue for more than 60 minutes for each ride. Ended up only taking 2 rides. Pathatic isn't it. The ride 'Atlantis' was fun though. Neverhteless, the queue is such a turnoff. I doubt that I would ever go back there again.
Anyway, the reunion was good. Hope that we can meet up like thise again every now and then. Meanwhile, Alanis where are you? *crosses fingers*.
P/S: Good photos are in bx's camera. Bear with photos from my sucky camera first ok.
Went to the National Museum of Korea. It is the 6th biggest int he world. I dreaded going there as I am still suffering from the history overdose from the previous field trips.
The only thing that really impressed me was the technology they used. It is like a PDA which works by sensor. Everytime you walk in a room or near an exhibit, the PDA automatically comes on to give you info about the exhibit. Save time and energy of reading the thingy. Good way to prevent congestion too as the number of ppl there on a weekend is crazy. Think everywhere in Seoul is so crowded on a weekend.
After the museum, we decided to play board game. We had no Korean buddy with us. Scary. After much walking, we settled for a cafe that serves bitter kiwi. Damn it. The games however, was fun though. Coyote....Rounded up the day by buying some books to learn more Korean. Haha.
We went to the gym pretty early yesterday. Round 7am. And guess what? Nobody was there. Almost nobody. Being the one and only me, I took some snapshots around the locker rooms and workout area. Hehe. I am so gonna miss all these when I go back. And I will lose a workout buddy too. Sigh.
Btw, I found a new accesory, it is called towel. Haha.
Went for the super famous Korean teather. Its called NANTA. Basically it is about cookin'. You must be askin how cookin can be cool? Haha. No its not the delicious food. It is the marvellous music they made with those cookin' utensils. So coordinated, creative and powerful. I was super impressed.
The tricks done with the kitchen untensils are just unbelievable. This people are super good drummers. They did the 1.5 hours show without intermission. Crazy. Haha. Wonder where they get all those energy. I pretty much enjoyed the interactive show they have here. This show helped to alleviate the steroetype that Asian teather are inferior to western teather. Cheers to NANTA. This is a must watch show if you ever come to Seoul.
Salmunori. A traditional instrument or rather i call them ochestra of Korea. Wahaha. Learn to play it today. They do not have enought intrument so I had to share it with Daniel. Its so tiring to continously hit the drums. Mind you, it is harder to coordiate when sharing an instrument. But we made it anyway. Haha. Good job to the Wayl n Daniel Partnership.
Went for a little shoppin today. Kinda regreted. I am almost bankrupt now. Argh. Waiting for money to come in. All I have not is just 20 USD and credit card. Yes. I am this broke. Anyone wanna contirbute to the 'Save Wayl Foundation'?
Gotten myself a haircut today. Hehe. Thanks to KJ for bringin me there.
Some random shots just for fun. This is what happened at the waffle store yesterday.
While waiting for food to arrive.
They got our order wrong. Sob.
Blaming each other for ordering the wrong food.
Finally the right one arrived. Happy ending. Wahaha.
Sometimes it is about all the simple things. Nature and scenery. That's what today is about. We planned to go picnic at the waterfall today. We got more than what we asked for. We have a huge waterfall even in Seoul city, on the road. In case u dun get what I am tryin to say, I meant super heavy rain. Haha. So basically our picnic plan is screwed. We pinicked in the car instead. Haha.
We were lucky that the rain stopped round afternoon time. So we headed off to Bukhasan National Park. Here in Seoul all places are crowded. I cannot believe it. Its like u see a mass crowd everwhere u go. Even at national parks. Siao. Here are some pics of us foolin around in the crystal clear water.
We also hike to see the falls. The water here is so clear. It is just amazing. The fact that it is only an hour from Seoul is unbelievable.
The night was spent in a park near the Han River. I truly luv the weahter tonight as it was super coolin. Thanks to the rain in the mornin. The view around the park is just marvellous. Here are some of my favourite shots.
I found new hangouts. Its already into my second week here in Seoul. Gangnam is the place. Woots. Gotten myself a california fitness membership too. This is gonna be great. I truly dig how vibrant the place is. People people everywhere. Think I am gonna be here most of the weeknights. Mind you it is about an hour bus ride from my hostel. See the two red circle? Still, I dun mind as I loved the atmosphere there. Wahaha. By the way this is how confusing the Korean Metro is. Too many lines.
First field trip of the 4 in the summer school. Turned out to be pretty interestin. We first went to the Changdeok Palace. Do no expect me to explain too much bout it. I was busy runin around taking crazy photos. Hehe. Loved the surroundings. Green and cooling. Here are some photos of us.
Nextup was having the ginseng chicken and tea ceremony. Tea ceremony is so complicated. I wonder why people call it enjoyin tea. There are so many steps to making just a small cup of tea. I say get me the tea bag and hot water. Haha
Tryin on the Korean traditional costume was great. We learned that different colours and patterns represents different status. The one that I wore is actually some high officer clothes. But every citizen can wear it during theri marriage. The caligraphy lesson proved that I have no talent in this issue. Well, I'll stick to typewriting.
I caled off the day with a little dinner and shoppin. Lookin forward to the mud festival tomorrow.
Woke up round eleven today. Went outside to grab lunch with Teresa. Had a really hard time tryin to get food. I couldn't read a single word in Korean. My limited spoken Korean made the matter worse. I lost count how many gestures I used tryin to get just a sandwich and juice for brekafast. I ended up with vege in my sandwich and Banana juice. Stuff that i really hate. Argh. The sandwich tasted good after the discarded the veg though.
Tried to get Suz to go shoppin with me but failed. Irritating. Found out later at night that the batt was low and she was sick. Alright I forgive you. But u owe me a shoppin' trip. Keke.
Decided to join a group of people from the Summer school to shop. However, they all went out already. Poor me have to try to get to the station to meet them. Is about an hour away and I needed to find my way there using Korean signs. Buyin the transportation card was damn funny. The lady in the store was pointin all over the place as I gave a blank look when she tried to explain something to me.
When I finally reached the shoppin area. I realised how crowded it was. The most crowded I've ever seen so far in a normal day. Its like people are gathering to see fireworks on New Year's Eve.
We headed off to the peak of Seoul, Namsan Mountain. The air is so much cooler up there. Did not went up the obsevatory as it cost 8000won (about 8 USD). Been to enough tower from my trip in Canada.
The group photo up there reminds of those time in Calgary. But these photos are now just photos of smiley faces. It lacked the bond, laugther, happiness, tears and hardship and time spent together in Calgary. I still cannot understand why I cannot get over it. Perhaps it is really the best time that I ever had in life. Calgary, I miss you.
An unfinished clip on the last few weeks in Calgary. I miss spending time with all of you guys, my dear friends. I have not gotten over the life there after all this while. Perhaps it is really the best time in my life.
Ok a little recap on my first day in Seoul. Arrived as early as 6 after a short flight from Kota Kinabalu. That places sure changed a lot. Thanks to my cousins for taking me around. Back to Seoul story. It raining whole day. It did not dampen my happy mood at all. Here is the view right outside the university. So vibrant right?
After checkin in the hostel, I took a pretty well-deserved nap. I really luv my hostel room. Its air-conditioned and looks pretty new. They even have a fitness center at the basement. Cool.
Right after i get up, i went to see YJ and Suz. Although we did not meet for only 2 months it seems long. So glad to be able to relive those days in Calgary. Teresa from NY joined us for grocery shoppin'. Poor gal, it seems to me that her buddy is not nice to her at all. I am prayin' hard that I would get a good buddy. But, well I got Suz and YJ so everything will work out fine no matter what. Hehe.
Me and YJ went for a 'Meet the parents' session. Hehe. Its just a dinner at a pretty famous restaurant named Sam Won Garden. I must say that the food there are pretty special. I have never really tasted something like that. The beef, cold noodle, red bean fragrance soup. And guess what? I ata a whole lots of vege today. Amazing isn't it. We tried out food wrapping skills too. The dinner is damn expensive but it is a must try. If you are thinkin that my pocket must be burnt, you are darn wrong. Thanks YJ for the treat. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Muacks.
Just in case Hal-muh-ni is thinkin thanks for the lunch also ya.
