Day 40 in Korea.

Countdown: 75 days.

Temperature reading: 17 degree celsius.

And so I went for my Game Theory lecture as usual. I shan't talk much about Hye Ji since I don't even have the balls to talk to her face-to-face. Today we are starting on a new topic - Mixing strategies. Fun and exciting and helps me to understand how humans operates based on payoff/reward system. Class ended, I collected my previous assignment and I wasn't so shocked that I got 3 marks for it. Afterall, I am only aiming for D+ and above *lol* Emilie and Anne are badly affected by it because back home, their education system is such that is u get anything less than 50%, you fail :) In Asia, there is such a thing called bell curve!! and I love it!!

Lunch wasn't fantastic - noodle (otherwise, known as ramen). I am gonna have a test in the noon - Introduction to Multimedia. Okay, the test was rather general (as in really broad) and there are lots of ways to express your answers. Total 7 questions - no question papers, no marking scheme and no time limit, only a projector screen with a Word document that projects the questions and answers to be written on foolscrap people. I submitted my paper 1 hour later and head down to Dunsan-dong to order my guitar!! Ibanez ART120WH... Evil!!

neck type: ART Mahogany set-in neck
body: Maple top/Mahogany body
fret: Medium frets
bridge: Gibraltar III bridge
tailpiece: Quik Change III tailpiece
neck pu: LZ1-N (H) neck pu
bridge pu: LZ1-B (H) bridge pu

After that, I came back to school around 5-ish and settled down to study some Computer Animation since I have not touched the book since the day I bought it and there are dust on it liao. Later on, Divyan invited me for a sumptuous Japanese dinner @ Jeonmin-dong. Utterly grateful for the free and nice food!! Now I am back in the computer room doing my self study and I got a project proposal to submit and present on Thursday (which I have not yet done, so wish me luck!!).

Day 39 in Korea.

Countdown: 76 days.

Temperature reading: 13 degree celsius.

Yet a fresh new start for a new week and I am entering into week #6 of my academic year in ICU; 9 more weeks to go!! I woke up a little late today cuz it is my free day and I head down to Jeonmin-dong to eat Isaac's Toast again. I went strai8 back to school to do some revision for Intro to Multimedia cuz tomorrow got class quiz. I met Enazi along the way and got his bike to go to town to do some guitar shopping.

I have decided on the model I wanna buy - http://www.schoolmusic.co.kr/Shop/index.php3?var=Good&Good_no=7172



Oh, I also bought some Nutella from the Expo Core along the way back to school. I had BBQ Pork with Rice for dinner and head straight back to the computer room to do my self study + finishing some last minute touches to my Game Theory assignment, which is due tomorrow. Ah, slack day!!

Day 38 in Korea.

Countdown: 77 days.

Temperature reading: 13 degree celsius with forecast of rain tomorrow.

Weight check: 73.75kg.

Sunday is always a good day. You dress your best and head on to church and meet wonderful people. I just made friends with a young dude, Samuel, whose dad is an English man and mom is a Korean. He is a gorgeous young boy and we are good buddies now, right after yesterday encounter. After church, I had lunch with Travis and we ate out @ McDonalds. We had a real good chat before we part ways. He went back home and I head straight to the Galleria to shop. Shopping alone is dangerous. I saw too many things which are too nice to be missed and there ain't nobody to give me 2nd opinions, so anything goes for me. Luckily I was able to control myself and eventually bought just 1 item - Ipod Nano Chromatic (Orange). Man, the deal was too good to be true. Singapore is selling it @ $248, but I rode on the good exchange rate we have and bought the Nano @ $220. On top of that, I got a tax refund since I am a visiting student so I got a rebate of $10 (to be collected before I leave). That makes the deal even more tempting - $210 compared to $248. Man, I sound like the uncle from the marketplace I used to hang out with my grandmother and cousins.

After that, I went back to dormitory because I had to prepare for the main event of the day - Jjim Jil Bang (aka SPA)!! Woohoo, there were a total of 9 people - 4 guys and 5 ladies. Of cuz the spa is separate for males and females. It was a culture shock for me. Although in NS I used to shower with tonnes of naked men, but this time it felt really weird to see many *ahem* rambutans. I had to strip down naked too and it was really embarrassing (or rather uncomfortable). We went in for a shower and a dip in the warm spa (41.1 degree celsius). After that, we went into the furnace - 69.9 degree celsius and I could literally feel my body melting away, but it was good for the skin and may help to reduce some fats from my body. We stayed there for 3 minutes before we realized that it was too unbearable. Then we jumped into the Massage Bath pool which was ultra cooling and there are some water therapy for the body. When we are all done with the water, we went for a 2nd shower where we cleaned and dried ourselves up and then went over to the other levels where we ate and have fun and did dry sauna-ing. I manage to sweat away some of fats while watching SBS tv channels. The whole place operates 24/7, which means it doesn't close and there is no limit as to how long you can stay in there, so we just keep exploring around and running about like it was in my own house. Shiok~

Finally, the time has come for all of us to return back cuz tomorrow got class, so bo pian, we have to go and shower for the last time and then chiong back to Hwaam dormitory by cab. It was a gre8 and fulfilling day!!

Day 37 in Korea

Countdown: 78 days.

Temperature reading: 14 degree celsius.

Woohoo... It is a cold windy and chilling Saturday morning, I woke up around 11am and I have a meeting with Mr Bongsu from Sae Ro Nam church because of an appointment we made last Saturday. He is gonna show me around Daejeon where I can buy my guitar. We browsed many areas, but it was rather disappointing and I did not find the guitar that I set out to buy. So he was kind enough to drop off @ Galleria where I had my lunch and shopped around the area before meeting Divyan and the church guys opposite the church. We headed off for a noon game of bowling.

Woohoo, it has been a long time since I bowled and to be honest, I was kinda not so good but since it was just for fun, I can be not so pro. It turned out that I was the better of the players haha - having 3 strikes in a game and I cleared many spares. Hmm I think this game is not about skill; it is more like understanding the Newton's Law of Motion and applying it appropriately with the right amount of force and direction *lol* After that, we went to Ashley's place @ Homever (something like our Ikea) and had English/Italian buffet. The sausages, pastas, soupies, spaghetti, salmon etc. were fantastic (of cuz it came with beautiful price tag too) but I really had a my first ever, very full and satisfying meal in Korea. After that, we went to shop around the mall and I found a cheap polo tee which cost only 3,000 won (approximately $3.68) so I bought it and you guys can see it from the photo above.

Finally, all good things must come to an end, so Divyan fetched me back to ICU where I took a bus back to my dormitory. Good night.

Day 36 in Korea.

Countdown: 79 days.

Temperature Reading: 13 degree celsius.

One thing you should never do to a Singaporean cockster is to subject him to cold weather because no matter what happens, he will still strap on his usual plain tee shirt with a pair of Levi's jeans, with no jacket or windbreaker on and walk through the cold weather with a cramped face. That cockster is me. I freaking went to school with just a tee and a jean and the weather was around 13-15 degree celsius. I think I must be crazy.

Anyway, today is sports' day so noon classes are cancelled. I went for my Movie and Society lecture as usual and we watched a movie - Chasing Amy by Kevin Smith. It is a show that depicts homosexuality and liberalism of the States in the early 90s. The show stars an array of celebrity including Ben Affleck (Daredevil), Ethan Suplee (My Name is Earl), Matt Damon (Ocean Twelve), Joey Lauren Adam (The Break up) etc. Not to mention, the film is filled with ultra loads of f**k words and alot of statements either starts or ends off using God's name in vain. I was rather uncomfortable but I had to respect the class and the teacher so I just tried to avoid those touchy issues.

Class ended and I had a sumptuous lunch in the cafeteria - today menu is pork cutlet (as if I even enjoy it; the meat is not even fresh)!! So I head over to the computer room to do my homework since I am not participating in the sports' day and one thing I tell you about Koreans in ICU - they are operating on a closed door system. They are either too shy to come talk to you or they just hide in one corner with their clicks and pretend you don't even exist (of cause, I don't wanna stereotype all of them, but this is the vibe I am receiving; not just me, but many other foreigners here). You can see foreigners stick together and the Koreans among themselves. One very bad thing about this university - they allocated all the Koreans students to stay in-campus while foreigners are considered 2nd class and dumped over to a dormitory which is outside school and you have to take the freaking shuttle bus everyday. Not that it is a chore, but once you miss the timing, you are screwed. There is no nearby bus stop and the dormitory is so out-of-place from everywhere. Sucks!!

Also, 1 thing about their CCA system - they do not accept any intakes for newcomers or exchange students in the Fall semester. Everything must be done or auditioned in the Spring semester, after which there will be no more intake. What kind of nonsense is this? I came and I want to participate in some clubs and sports, only to be disappointed. Please, for goodness sake, if you are out there considering a university to go for exchange, PLEASE do not choose this university that I went. Why?

Reason #1 - don't be deceived by the large amount of courses they listed on the website. It looks good, but when you arrive, they will tell you most of them are not offered in this semester or some courses are only conducted in Korean or the textbooks are in Korean blah blah blah. They are so full of bullshit.

Reason #2 - this university is far from all the happening area. If you are one person who can thrive on minimal entertainment and enjoys living a routine and mundane lifestyle, most probably this university is the best for you. They even got an "ulu" dormitory for you outside school that nobody would even dare disturb you.

Reason #3 - like I said, people in this university takes pride in their studies, which is very true and they live it out in their lifestyle. So they do not have very much social life e.g. hanging out in the library is cool even till late hour and hello, it is not halfway through to mid terms yet. People here just study and study and study and the only thing they are really good at, is studying. Heck all the entertainment. As long as they get really good GPA score, they are happy and contented. Life to them is mugging!!

Okay I am done voicing out my sorrows. I wished I could join fen and company in Seoul. Why did I even choose this university?? Images can be real deceiving. However, I found some joy in making new friend, learning foreign culture and languages and I even have some friends who are part of my new renegade regime - play hard but study smart!! I have an advantage over them because I am English trained (kam sah hamnida Singapura!!) and my England is way more powderful than theirs, considering I got the gift of yapping and my expression is rich.

I think I must have typed too much today. Chi leh hamnida (Excuse me).

Day 35 in Korea

Countdown: 80 days.

Brrrrrrrrrrr... The temperature today is 18 degree celsius + raining + wind blowing and I only wear tee + shorts + a sling bag to school... Shiok~ The cold air is freezing my body and I can feel my heart beating profusely.

I went for Game Theory class in the morning and I saw a different Hye Ji today. She looked much more matured with her hair tied up and she wore hot pink heels to class. She didn't look too good to me, in fact, her left eye was a little swollen and her face is like quite puffy - must be all the late nights of mugging. Poor girl. I wanted to say a word of well wishing to her, but I guess I never had the courage to approach any girl I like to say it to them. I may seem extroverted on the outside, but inside I am just like any other shy guy.

After class, I went for lunch in the cafeteria and I had supah spicy pork kimchi stew with rice, but totally tongue whooping. I have to attend a weekly SAFE meeting to plan an English week activity, but as all of you know, I am bad @ organizing event, so this meeting is kinda total waste of my precious time since I have to leave early for my other class.

Since my Computer Animation lecturer is away for a meeting in Seoul, so I have time off and so I decided to go for my Intro to Multimedia lab to do some openGL coding. I never enjoyed lab so much and in the evening I have Computer Animation lab. We are getting hand-ons for the animation stage and it is totally cool. I need to do lots of read up for the course cuz I think I am too slack and it is weird to slack off in a subject even though I am enjoying it but at the end of the day, I am on the losing end. My dad didn't foot $1.4k to send his son to Korea to slack. I better make sure my dad is assured of his investment in me.

I finally solved lab 4 today (after some tips and advice from my T.A) so I went for early dinner @ Isaac's Toast for my usual MVP Toast then return to school for lab again. Thursday is always a "siong" day for me cuz I have classes from morning 10:30am til night 9pm. Athough I have sufficient break in between, but the feeling of class not over is getting on my nerves.

Today I have hit episode 16 of "We Got Married" and I must say it is fun to watch this tv series although we all know it is fake wedding and relationship. When celebrities get to be themselves, it is the funniest. I never felt so much joy watching couples fight, joke, do things together etc. Sometimes I watch it, I will think about the things I did with my ex-gf and it is just so beautiful - the quarrels, petty arguments, late night chats, go out, holding hand, making small talks, whispers of sweet nothings and blah blah blah.

I am so jealous of my past.

Day 34 in Korea

Countdown: 81 days.

As you know, these few days I did not take any photos because there is that much you can do in Daejeon. Apologies for the lack of exciting photos amidst this dry period of my life because there is really nothing to do and I am gonna become a routine soon.

Anyway, today I have no class, so free day allows me to rest and to relax and to free my mind from unwanted stress. But there came my powerful room mate who storms into the room in the noon and caused me a whole load of disturbance - the lights, the music and the motion. I figured I should be a nice guy and just keep my comments to myself (considering we fought last night over petty issues). 1 thing that really gets to me is that, he told me to listen to his favourite song and the lyrics goes like "Get the f**K out!!" and it keeps repeating itself in the chorus. I am trying to keep my cool, but this dude is a good test of my patience. I am happy to say that I have walked off like a man.

So I came to school, not exactly school cuz I dropped off @ Jeonmin-dong to eat my favourite Isaac's Toast!! Ma-chi-soh-yeo (meaning, delicious). The auntie recognized me as a regular and I am happy to watch her toasting the bread for me. It feels like she instantly became my god-mother. Anyway, I went to school to do my self revision (this is unlike me, but I guess it is a good change for me) cuz next week got quiz and I have a homework to submit + a lab assignment to do. I am busy but I really enjoy being busy and I even have the time to watch "We Got Married" (kyul-hun woo-ri e-soh-yo) in the night, at the expense of my room mate :)

The moment came for me to go play soccer. Today turnout was disappointing due to the monthly university hour where most of the students have to attend. But it was all fun cuz we got to play against ICU Graduate students who were old but fit to the maxi spider. We drew 2-2 with them but I was rather disappointed at my performance and fitness level. I don't want to admit it, but I think I am losing my fitness and stamina gradually. I need to do something about it.

Night came and I returned to Isaac's Toast for my MVP Toast and straight after, I head onto the computer lab to do my coding. I seriously can't solve the codes and I guess I just have to submit whatever I have in hand, knowing I may not do well. Die~

Alright, that is for all. I hope I haven't been boring you guys out. Take care, I am turning in now. Nights~

Day 33 in Korea

Countdown: 82 days.

Wah today started with a huge disaster. I was 25 minutes late for my Game Theory test and I had to chiong cab down to school to finish the last 15 to 20 minutes of the test. Lucky for me, the lecturer is supah nice so he allowed me to finish a little later. Ho seh, 70 marks 3 questions and I didn't manage to complete question 1 (20 marks). If I can pass, it must be Him who is at work in me. As usual, in class I would steal some glances at Hye Ji. She is too adorable to be missed and she is sitting diagonally left of me. I can feel my heart pounding so heavily and when she turns her head, I would shy away and look into other directions. What a wuss!!

After class, I met Yong Han and the rest of the guys @ the school cafeteria for lunch before going to the lab of brain damage where I did my lab work for Intro to Multimedia. The VC++ codes are gonna finish me off soon. I was coding and coding and time just fly me by in an instant. I had to go for my lecture @ 2:30pm and it is in that same ol' room and that same ol' lecturer doing the same ol' boring stuffs again. To my horror, next week got class quiz. Wah, sian... 1 quiz ended and another pops out!! Great... Now I need to mug again...

After class, I went back to the lab to do my coding and I can't seem to solve them, so in the end, the time came for dinner and I had BBQ pork with rice, sat down and discuss a script with Melodie (pronounced as Melody).

Tomorrow is my free day and I am gonna play soccer again. Woohoo I love Wednesday, but Thursday will be a killer for me.

Day 32 in Korea

Countdown: 83 days.

Free day is not always a good day. I had lotsa work to do today cuz tomorrow is a mini quiz for Game Theory and I had to work hard to impress my eye candy. I settled down @ Isaac's toast for a MVP Toast before heading to the school computer lab, but again it was closed, so I had go to the computer room @ level 1 to do my self mugging then I met James in the evening to go to Dunsan-dong to check out some electric guitar cuz I wanna get one before I leave Korea.

I went also with James to his music academy - half an hour for guitar and half an hour for vocal training. I must say the place is rundown, but the quality of the recording (he did a mini recording over some popular tracks) is super darn good - almost can whoop SG's ass. I met his parents and we had a mini chat before we came back to ICU.

Today blog is short because tomorrow I got quiz, so see you guys. Nights~

Day 31 in Korea

Countdown: 84 days.

Finally, I have been here for 1 full month. Today is Sunday and so as usual, I will go to church. This week, I visited Sae Ro Nam International Church. The church building is uber big, but to my disappointment English service is conducted in another building which is so much smaller and it used to be a restaurant. Wah. Major letdown, but hey I have no complaints. I got free shuttle service to fetch me from dormitory to the church. The sermon today is about "The Prodigal Son". We can take home 3 important lessons from this parable, but I can only remember 2 pointers cuz I didn't jot down the notes and I think they are relevant to me.

 (1) do not be hasty in making decisions (sometimes we get impatient and miss out on the good plans that God has for us. When we are hasty, we become irrational and make decisions that sometimes hurt ourselves and the people around us).

(2) the freedom we wanted is sometimes not the freedom that God intended for us.

I get to meet a couple of people from other part of the world - Africa, America, Indonesia, Mongolia etc. I left shortly after to roam about the streets of Dunsan-dong (the happening area). I went to Time World to shop, then window shop around the area, went to Starbucks for my Green Tea Latte!! I saw a Converse leather bag which I would like to get and the iPods here are cheap!! I want to get one when the exchange rate is good. Last week SGD $1 = 808 won. This week is sad - SGD $1 = 768 won. I went back to school by bus 513 and I met Emilie along the way. She didn't tell me it was her birthday today, but kindly invited me to a dinner later @ night with Emma and the rest of the Frenchies.

We went to 2ND for dinner and it is a restaurant that serves foreign foodies!! I ordered Carbo Pitta (Pizza with Carbonara sauce and fillings) + fried chicken fingers coated with mustard sauce and lettuces. We had lotsa fun eating and talking and debating between the Sino-Korean tension that is in subtle existence in the society and talking about my favorite girl in Game Theory class - Eun Hye Ji!! I was given a couple of dating tips from the experience ladies themselves and I realized I have so much to learn about making a good impression and maintaining it. Sometimes I feel that it is so hard being a guy.

Anyway, we left the place around 8 plus where Emma and I travelled back to school while the rest of them retreated to the comfort of their rooms in Hwaam. Along the way, I had a hearty chat with Emma about Hye Ji and how should I improve myself as a guy and make myself more presentable in the Korean context.

So after that I went off to the computer lab to study on my own and the day ended with a nice draw between Chelsea and MUFC. Woohoo!! It is so weird. The Korean news only features Ji Sung Park in the replays and all the nice shots of him. Wah, it is super propaganda!!

Day 30 in Korea

Countdown: 85 days.

Out of a sudden, today started pouring cats and dogs and I had to meet Sung Jin, Yong Han and Hyung Ju in school cuz we agreed on going out. As usual, I am late for the appointment. Meeting time is 1pm but I came to school @ 2pm due to the rain. We then took bus 750 to the Galleria (Time World) to have my lunch cuz I woke up late and I am cold and I needed some food to keep me warm. We ate @ the food court in the mall. I had Japanese soba with the tako pachi topping. Yummilicious!! We then proceed up the level to the sports section and got myself a black NY (New York Yankees cap). Yong Han and Hyung Ju each bought a pair of coolio Converse sneakers. Right after purchase, we went to a guitar store in the building @ basement 1, but to my disappointment, the guitars there are of weird brands or rather, un-commercialized brands. To make things worse, they are super overpriced. On the way, I discovered more familiar makan places - BURGER KING!! and Auntie Anne (nice pretzels). I bought a pretzel coated with cinnamon sugar to munch on the way back to school. Sung Jin was so nice - he bought all of us teriyaki bbq pork on stick.

~Back in ICU~

We settled down in Sung Jin's room. Ha Mok went back to Busan (his hometown) because during Chu-Seok he was caught in a traffic jam so he didn't have time to go back. We chilled awhile when we were joined by super emo boy - Jang Ha Jong. Why super emo boy, most of you must be wondering? He behaves like tomorrow he is going die!! Serious he needs to chill on school work and learn to relax and enjoy. We went to Jeonmin-dong again and this time we headed to a Cheena restaurant to makan. I had JaJangMuien (noodle with jajang sauce) + we ordered a large plate of dumplings and lemon chicken. Woohoo~ Whooping cheap and good - 3,000 won which equates to SGD $3.76.

What a wonderful way to end the night than to sit in the computer room doing a homework that is due next week - I seriously need to get a life.

Day 29 in Korea

Countdown: 86 days.

I love Friday. Thank God it's Friday. Friday lectures are the slackiest among the days I have. It is like having 2.5 days of school a week. Woohoo~ Shiok!! Today I watched a film by Zhang Yi Mo, entitled "Raise the red lantern" which depicts 1920s monarchy and male chauvinism in China. The film is great, but unfortunately stretches over the lecture time and I had to meet Max and James for sok-khal-be (pork bbq on stone) lunch. It was uber delicious and we had purple rice (top quality rice in Korea).  Later on, we head over to Expo Core where there is a Woori bank branch. There I made my first Korean bank account and received my first Korean debit card (see above picture). At first I thought, what a name for a bank - woori (sounds like worry), but after clarification, woori means we or together in Korean.

James drove Max and I back to school before he went for his haircut session near school. I chill in the computer lab for a while before going up for my final lecture of the week - Intro to Communication. Trust me, the lecture is not fun at all and the lecturer seems to behave like she was under drug influence. This kind of course is quite smoky (meaning, easy to bluff your way through) so I won't be focusing too much effort on it. She guided us through the 1965 Rosenberg Self-Esteem test and I scored a healthy 17/30, meaning I am a confidence person. Anything below 15 meant that you have low self-esteem.

It was 6pm so Max and I were a little hungry and we went to eat pork bbq dinner. Trust me when I say I am not rich but still can afford such meals because Koreans simply love bbq foods and there are so many stores offering it that it becomes a perfect competition market in the area (pardon my economic terminology). I am starting to get accustomed to the kimchis and Korean side dishes.

Since tomorrow I am going out with Ha Mok and Sung Jin, I figured I will be better off coming back to mug a little so as to make up for the weekend playing. Until tomorrow, nights.

Day 28 in Korea

Countdown: 87 days.

I almost could not wake up for class this morning, but still I forced myself out of bed. I seriously need to sleep early, but the thing is, I am hyper in the night. Thinking about Game Theory makes me all excited!! HYE JI for the win~ However, the end of the class was a terror for me - I got back my assignment 1 and I got 6/20 for it. What the world is going on? Feeling down, I went to the cafeteria to drown out my sorrow by eating ramen (Koreans pronounced as ra-mi-ern and Singaporeans just call it maggi mee). I also busted some cash on Computer Animation textbook - 29,000 won. Woohoo~ I must be crazy.

After lunch I went to Mr Jung Il Lee office to collect my alien registration card and a letter from my ex-gf. Suddenly, I am loss for words. For a moment, I couldn't think right or rationalize. As I read the letters, memories of yesteryears come crashing through my mind and I was overwhelmed with many unspeakable emotions and feelings. I guess I had a revelation at that instance about myself - I begin to look back at my past.

Then I went for SAFE meeting cuz they gonna organize some English academic-cum-"fun" activity for the semester and decide to engage the help of foreign labourers like me. I hate going for the meeting, if not for friends, I would have quit long time ago. This club is seriously boring.

Lucky I have to left early for my Computer Animation lecture. This week lecture, we talked about different types of curves, b-splines, nurbs, rendering and modeling in 3D world etc. The memories of CS3241 comes flooding my mind. What is more - this is the 1st time I am ever happy and un-bored to be in the lab doing up animation stuffs. Firstly, no programming codes need. Secondly, I am actually getting hands-on lessons to do up my first ever animation project!! Nice-si (Koreans like to pronounce it this way). But shucks, I must submit a pre-proposal for my animation project on 1st October. Ottokay ("how" in Korean)??

Never mind, hack it for awhile because James is bringing me out for Haejungguk (Korean beef rib soup) to reward me for helping him out with C++ programming. Easy job, but great reward. Inho also joined us. I learnt some foul Korean language which I would not share with you guys since I am a *ahem* clean guy.

End up we talk cock and joke till 2am in the morning. I hope I can wake up in time for tomorrow lecture @ 10:30am.

Day 27 in Korea

Countdown: 88 days.

Today I got no class, so I got up late and went to school in the noon to finish my lab assignments as well as my Game Theory homework. I then went to play soccer with the university soccer team - Aquila (seems like I am one of the strongest player there *lol*).

After the game, I met the 4 French girls for dinner in the school cafeteria and then went back to continue my lab assignment. The C++ codes are really squeezing my brain and I figured I will just submit whatever I have completed even if it does not fulfill some of the requirements. Oh yah, I bought new pair of soccer socks from the Expo Core near my school and also a new thumbdrive (2gb) cuz the Toshiba thumbdrive my mother gave me must have been spoilt due to my mishandling. I am so dead!! 

I came back @ 11pm after finishing what I have to do and now I am going to watch "We Got Married"

Check it out on my personal blog - http://neuro182.blogspot.com

Day 26 in Korea

Countdown: 89 days.

Hmm, maybe it is because I have been having too much late nights and holiday that I forgot I actually got a class this morning and I totally missed it. It is one of my favorite lecture - Game Theory where I can steal glances @ my eye candy - Hye Ji. I am so gonna take photo with her one day and make you guys jealous. Haha. So finally I got up @ 11:30am, washed up and get dressed for school.

I had ramen (aka maggi mee) in the school cafeteria before attending a boring lecture - Intro to Multimedia. After class, I am thrown with loads of assignments, homework and lab work. I decide to do my homework in the computer room till dinner time where I headed down to Jeonmin-dong with Enazi, Emilie and Melodie to have chicken fillet, fries and wedges. Today is a little different from usual - we ate in the park nearby and were greeted by friendly mosquitoes who were feeding off our blood as we feed on the tasty meat and fries. I wanted to come back to ICU to do my lab, but to my disappointment, the labs were closed already. I guess I just have to continue tomorrow. So now, I am gonna watch my favourite reality tv series - We Got Married.

I have uploaded a couple of episodes on my other blog - http://neuro182.blogspot.com. Please go check it out.

Day 25 in Korea

Countdown: 90 days.

It is finally Monday, the start of a new week, but then again, Chu-Seok festival spills over from last week, so today is still a holiday for me. I got up late and saw Muugii (my room mate) eating food he brought from last week's Chu-Seok celebration. I, in turn, went to Jeonmin-dong to have my meal @ Lotteria. I ordered Giant Double burger. It is not exactly as fantastic as the picture suggests, but still a very nice eating burger.

I went back to school to find Max and retrieve my watch, then again the piggish me followed him and his cousin to Jeonmin-dong to eat Sam-joke-sal (in English, 3 layer meat aka bbq pork). It was super duper delicious man and man, I love Korean BBQ. It is the true blue thing you can get, as compared to SG. To spice things up, we had 2 young and pretty babes sitting near us and it definitely sizzles the atmosphere!! *whistle*

I met Muugii back in school and we head onto this store Hi Mart (which is like Sim Lim Sqaure in SG) and then proceed next to E Mart to get our daily groceries. The day ended off in James and Max dormitory room where we chill and talk cock and play guitar and sing the night away!!

Day 24 in Korea

Countdown: 91 days.

Today is Sunday and I missed church again. It is not healthy for me to do so because I got no one I can account to and I don't want to make it a habit. Someone please pray for me.

Anyway, I woke up around 3pm today, made my own Korean ramen (in Singapore, we call it Maggi Mee). Today is the 2nd day of Chu-Seok, so no shuttle bus to school. I had to walk all the way from my dormitory to school. It takes 10 minutes by bus, so you can imagine how long I took to reach school by foot. To cut the long story short, I met Muugii in the computer room and we waited for Max and his 2 energetic cousins to get ready before we set off to Jeonmin-dong for dinner. Max brought us to Lotteria (the Korean version of McDonalds) and we ordered set meals, chill and sat down beside 2 chio bus. Too bad, I alway forget to bring camera @ the wrong time. Darn!! After which, we went to a local lan shop to play Star Craft, War Craft & the Korean online Counterstrike.

We then hit back school to play squash and indoor golf. Woohoo. It was uber tiring but satisfying because it is the first time we did something different for the night. After thrashing all of them at squash (I am quite good @ it k, played a little during my first 3 months in TPJC), we followed Max back to his dormitory in school. His cousins suggested food + beer, so again, the nearest we can go is Jeonmin-dong (we could go further, but James is out and he is the dude with the car) and we hit Fish & Grill, an eatery which offers grilled seafood + beer. We ordered, strawberry soju (ooh, fantastic drink) + a hot plate of grilled seafood. We talk cock and have fun while poking fun @ my roomie's Mongolian accent (okay the funny thing is, Mongolians like to pronounce words very heavily, like seriously heavy) and Korean culture (like men always think they are the best and Korean guys aren't exactly good looking at all *lol*). They told me their female friends who went to Singapore for exchange and came back, learn to appreciate Korean guys more *like "What the Heck"??*

The night ended off with all of us parting ways - Max and his cousins to their dorm and my roomie and I to ours. Daejeon is starting to light up for me!!

Day 23 in Korea

Countdown: 92 days.

Today the Koreans hail Chu-Seok (also known as Thanksgiving) and they declare 3 days holiday til Monday (now how come we Singaporeans don't have such a festival?). All my friends have gone back to their respective home town and the streets are uber quiet and most of the shops are not open, so it sucks for me. 

I got up uber late, round 2pm cuz last night we were out clubbing till late and the house music is still ringing in my head. I had to eat bread and wait for the French ladies to get ready before we head out in the evening @ 7:10pm to E-Mart to makan dinner. We had Popeye, (woohoo I thought only SG has Popeye) then walked around to shop for some daily necessities and foodies before going to Time World to watch Mamma Mia *for all the musical and ABBA lovers out there, this is the right show for you*

Shortly after, we took a cab and taa-daa, I am back in my room, writing this boring blog.

Yawnz~

Day 22 in Korea

Countdown: 93 days.

Due to last night noraebang (aka K-Boxing), I woke up late and missed my Movie and Society class today but it is all fine because according to my mates, the lecturer did not go through anything major. I woke up around 2pm, then took the shuttle bus ride to jeonmin-dong to makan lunch @ Isaac Toast (man, I think I am addicted to the burger that the auntie prepares and she is a very nice lady). My initial plan was to go to school lab to complete my C++ programming assignments, but to my disappointment (or rather happiness), the lab was closed because tomorrow is the beginning of Korean Chu-Seok day (aka Thanksgiving day) and will last till Monday. Shiok~ I got excuse to postpone my submission date!! I went to chill out @ the computer room before going to jeonmin-dong again for dinner (how interesting right?). Lucky for me, I met Mr Jungil Lee @ the duc-khal-be place and got a free treat from him!! Woohoo...

On the way back to school, I met Ha Mok and Sung Jin and went with them back to their dormitory in school to relax and talk cock sing song play mahjong before meeting Enazi to go to Santa Claus (a favourite hangout for foreigners). We were supposed to meet the French ladies there, but we came too early so we waited around. Just nice saw Malaz and Simuel @ the Shisha House just nearby, so I went in and talk cock with them, smoke some Shisha and drink latte. Half an hour later we head onto Santa Claus to drink beer and meet some new foreign friends. Amin, a super cool Tunisian guy brought us to clubbing areas in Daejeon. For a moment, I feel as though I have been revived again. Just when I thought that all hopes are lost for this boring city, a beacon of light came to my rescue. The place we went were filled with shopping malls, clubs and pubs. The people here are generally more well dressed and much more exciting than those people in my school area. We settled down @ J Rock Bar where we meet even more foreigners (Americans, Canadians, Kenyans, Columbians etc). We danced the night away with all the loud blasting R'n'B + House music and went to Mac @ 4am for the breakfast!!

Nice pipping hot Big Breakfast Meal awaits me~

ICU Bus Schedule

Okay,

I am damn lazy to bring the guide book along with me everywhere I go, so I will post the bus timetable here so I can check whenever I log onto the internet.

Day 21 in Korea

Countdown: 94 days.

Today is my most "siong" day - Game Theory from 10:30am to 12pm, S.A.F.E meeting from 1pm onwards, Computer Animation from 1:30pm to 3:30pm, Lab from 7pm to 9pm. I kinda hate Thursday.

Lucky for me, today I met James (Bond), Max and his 2 cousins and we all go for a Guys' Night Out to noraebang near Gung-dong. The city life lights up in the night and you can see all the flashy lights firing away into the sky with young and hot-blooded Koreans littering the streets. We went to this "Singapore"-style karaoke and we sang our hearts out in the room like little mad boys on steroids. It was fun - we laughed, we cheered, we jeered and we partay in the mini room like we own the entire place. After 1 hour of throat breaking session, we went to a beef barbeque place nearby to have our supper before going back to munji dormitory. Man, the beef + vegetables + the side dishes were fantastic. Too bad I left the camera in the car, else, I would have shot them and enticed you, my viewers!!

All good things must come to an end and so we went back to ICU @ 3:25am, waited for the shuttle bus and took the 4am shuttle. I feel so alive!!

Day 20 in Korea

Countdown: 95 days.

Days come and go. Today is Wednesday and Wednesday = FREE DAY!! Yahoo!!

I went for a soccer tryout for the university team for this semester and surprizingly I can play better than them!! Haha... The captain asked me to come back to train with them in the following week - does it mean I am in?? Haha... Who cares?

And I realized there is a ICU Rockers' performance tonight @ the auditorium!~! Yahoo x2!! I didn't even know that such a boring school in Korea do have rock bands performance; MUST SEE TONIGHT!!

~TONIGHT~

I went for the Rockers' performance and I must say, the in-house bands are not as good as I expected them to be. The guest band from KAIST University can pwn the *toot* outta our school's rock bands. The girl is pretty, the guitarist uses PRS and the bassist's technique and sound puts all the other to shame. It was a gre8 experience and an eye-opener, but I think the people @ KR can do so much better, right?? The only redeeming factor is the 2 girls in the band - 1 plays keyboard/guitar and the other sings. The keyboardist/guitarist is hot and the singer's vocal power is un-matchable (very close to Shi Li, but still Shi Li is the rock queen!! *lol* ultimate por-ness).

Day 19 in Korea

Countdown: 96 days.

I am so tired today because last night, I stayed up late to watch "Windstruck" featuring Jang Hyuk and Jeon Ji Hyun. It is a darn sad show and I am sucker for these kind of shows. I went for my Game Theory class and there is one thing I really hate about graduate students - they like to act like they know it all and ask lots of redundant questions in class. I developed a philosophy today: Geraldosophy - when things are simple,do not complicate it. When things are complicated, keep it simple. After that was a sumptous lunch - rice with pork. Not exactly tasty but still passable.

I went to computer lab to chill abit before going for my Multimedia class. The lecturer seems to enjoy murmuring to himself and I can't really understand him very well. I had to read the notes and follow on my own. The class was very short, so I quickly went back to dormitory to leave off my barang barang then chiong back to school to meet Enazi who bought me to buy my 1st ever cell phone in KOREA!! I bought a Samsung phone which I have absolutely no idea what model is it, but it looks good and it is maroon (close to red!!) - everything for just SGD $55. Song boh~

Due to large amount of language barrier, we came back to ICU late, but still in time for the welcome party organized by the student club UnI, to welcome international students. A huge saving on dinner for me!! I met more English speaking Korean friends and went to their dormitory in school and chill out with them, drinking coke and coffee, playing pool and table tennis.

What a fulfilling day!!

Day 18 in Korea

Countdown: 97 days.

Hmm I just love Monday and Wednesday because they are my free days!! Yahoo!! Although it is my free day, but I am determined not to let the day past without doing anything, so I got up in the noon and went straight to school to print out my "Game Theory" assignment + study ahead of the course schedule to get a better understanding. Also, I have to fulfill 20 hours of community service work at a Day Care Centre just behind my school for a module I am taking - Social Service.

I met Min Chul (a Korean student who is volunteering as well) at the centre and I was given my task for the day - (1) play soccer with the kids and (2) do the dishes. The first task seems fun as we had a lot of shouting and screaming and cheering and booing on the pitch when I interacted with the kids. Though I did not understand them and they did not really understand me, but I guess fun and laughter are universal language across borders, cultures and countries that need not be spoken because it is something we all feel most of the time. I really love the kids, they are smaller than I am, they are childish but I find it such a joy to hang out with them; it is like they have been my homies from way back then. Maybe I am just a kid stuck in a grown up body. After that, I returned to the centre to help washed the dishes. Man, this is the tough part because I seldom do my dishes and this is a good lesson in humility, a very smelly and dirty, but well it helped me understand how other dish washers feel when they have to do it everyday. I feel so fortunate.

Time for me to leave, I met Enazi in school and he brought me to town area to look for a mobile. Along the way, he kinda "stalk" a ChungNam University student (as shown in the picture). I mean, in all my years of experience, I would never ever go near a girl who is standing all by herself in the middle of the street because I don't believe in that kind of stuffs. But for Enazi, haix!! He can't control himself.

Day 17 in Korea

Countdown: 98 days.

Today is a lazy and sunny day. I managed to meet some friends and chill out. Nothing really interesting that happened except that this female Korean student showed me a really good BBQ pork restaurant in Jeonmin-dong :)

See you tomorrow.

Day 16 in Korea (Seoul)

Countdown: 99 days.

To begin with, the day started uber early @ 6:30am when Nina, Melodie and I went to school on bike to meet Nara (a Korean student who stays in Seoul). We called a cab to fetch us to Daejeon Terminal to take the Korean Train Xpress (KTX), which takes approx 49 minutes to reach Seoul station. Nara brought us around the vicinity upon arrival and we had a fun time taking photo and chilling out before we went to a palace near the area to watch a daily procession that is put up for tourism interest. I manage to take some photos with the Royal Guard!!

Noon time, Nara brought us to this famous Noodle House in City Hall (nonono, not Singapore City Hall) to eat Din Tai Fung-styled noodle & "xiao long bao." Bon appetit. Nara had to part ways with us because she had to attend a dental appointment, as well as to go home to rest and mug for tomorrow's chinese test (WTH?? Test on Sunday??). So Nina, Melodie and I formed an alliance and advance the rest of Seoul on our own. We followed Queen Nina's command to go to Gyeongbokgung station by subway to view Seoul's largest palace. The scenary is ultimately beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather and the construction deterred us from advancing further into the palace. We then head for the museum to see some historic artifacts before going to Sinchon station to chill out @ Starbucks Coffee (uh-uh, Green Tea Latte for the win!!). We walked the entire radius of the area and tour around before settling down @ a Duc-Khal-Be restaurant, but this time it is less spicy and more cheesy!! It is like you can never get enough of nice foodies in Seoul + the eye candies are definitely much better than those in Daejeon. Rock on~

Finally, we decide to walk on foot from Euljiro1(il)-ga back to Seoul station. Man, was it tiring but yet fulfiling and we had the "privilege" to watch a minor bike-vs-car accident but thank God the motorcyclist (a Pizza Hut delivery dude) was left unhurt while the car just hit and run. We managed to catch the 9:13pm normal train back to Daejeon - price 10,500 won, time 2 hours approx.

Okay, time to chill and shower. Have fun and good night people.

Day 15 in Korea

Countdown: 100 days.

Where should I begin? Movie and Society class today was superb. I had a lot of fun learning about films, movies and cinematography. We also discussed quite on social, cultural and industrial impact. Man I just love the assignments - we have to watch 2 movies (it is compulsory), Independence Day and Good Will Hunting.

After class, I went for lunch as usual and I had this Japaghetti (which is supposed to be Japanese-styled spaghetti) but it tasted nothing more than a black-sauced Maggi Mee!! *Disappointed* I went to computer lab to do some self-study (woah that is a result of really bored-to-the-point-where-I-don't-even-know-what-to-do-anymore syndrome) until 2:50pm before hitting my last lecture of the week - Information Policy.

Here is the tricky part - the lecture is conducted in English as per normal, but the textbook is in KOREAN language?? How the heck am I suppose to read and understand the course if the textbook is in Korean language and they didn't even prepare an English version or a similar text in English. I am doubly disappointed. In the end, I decide to drop the course after attending it for 15 minutes.

End up I went back to dorm to put my bag down and then met the ladies back in school for Duc-Khal-Be (Korean BBQ) dinner. The ladies never fail to fascinate me with their uber phobia of spices and what was little to me was quite "HAWT" for them!! I had a fun time laughing @ their misery. We met Enazi along the way for coffee before going back to school to meet the UnI club members to hang out @ Jeonmin-dong (AGAIN?). We hang out @ this bar and man, the jug is really huge!! I can just get fat on it. I also had my first taste of Korean Soju here (a little like vodka but very mild)!! Howard and I drank like there is no tomorrow. We played "Truth or Dare" and the entire crowd just gone wild, it was so darn FUN!!

Unfortunately, time do not permit us to stay long as we need to travel to Seoul early in the morning to do some shopping!! Hehe... Good night for now.

Day 14 in Korea

Countdown: 101 days.

Today I went for my Game Theory lecture and I got my first assignment for the season... YAHOO!!! Finally I got things to do, constructive things to do!!! For the past week I have been lazing around and all my subject modules are not confirmed and I am just a wandering ghost moving between lectures, appearing at one moment and disappearing at the other. This is the lecture I look forward to every week. It is a business course, but I call it the arts module. Why? There is no right or wrong answer; just how you justify your stand. Woohoo. Smokey smokey~

After lecture, I went for lunch and then attended the SAFE meeting. SAFE meaning Student Association For English *lol* What kind of lame name is that? We are supposed to plan a program with the students to promote English. Their kind of activities are like speech contest, English quizzes and all those academic stuffs blah blah blah. No wonder this university is so boring. I propose song writing or like an English debate contest where we dish out controversial topics for people to argue and maybe poke fun into. They seem a little afraid to execute the plan. What a wuss. The teacher in-charge got this damn snobbish kind of face and attitude, but then again, who am I to judge?

Back to a more important topic - I can't seem to thank God enough to make the impossible possible. Last week only 6 people signed up for the Computer Animation class and the entire course was supposed to be closed by this week due to lack of numbers to kickstart the course (min. of 10). Asking 4 people to last minute join this class would take a miracle and God performed that miracle right before my eyes. He enrolled 5 more people into this course and that makes 11. Woohoo~ God is good!! Anyway.,this course is darn important to me cuz it is a level-4 elective module I have to take, die die also must take in NUS. Since I am here, why not take it and then S/U it? Haha~ Shiok... I got my hands on 3D animation using this program Maya Unlimited 5.0. It is super duper awesome. You can create your own characters/objects using the template shapes and polygons or being tracing them out using a pre-made image file. AWESOME DUDE~

Okay, I haven't eaten anything yet so I am gonna head out to Jeonmin-dong, just behind school to makan. Take care take care take care!!

Day 13 in Korea

Countdown: 102 days.

Okie, today is my free day so I decide to laze a little in bed till 1pm before heading out to school for lunch. I went to the gym to work out @ 2pm til 2:45pm. After that, I went to Mr Jung Il Lee office to redo my course registration. Lucky I met Enazi in school and got his motorbike, so I drove to E Mart and did some grocery shopping - bought bread, ham and milk just in case i feel hungry in the middle of the night. I was searching high and low for a sepak takraw ball, but to no avail. Let's hope I won't get rusty for IHG. I went back to dormitory to put down all the barang barang before coming back to school to attend an English meeting for all students. They call it SAFE, but actually I don't know the full name for it. It was nice hanging out with Korean students and lecturers who can speak good (and fluent) english. I made a couple more "funky" friends who know where are all the hotspots for nightly hangout!! AWESOME DUDE~!! I got treated to free dinner, as well as desserts. Woohoo~ This sure is a good club eh!!

I followed the students back to their dormitory on-campus, played a couple of table tennis and pool with them before coming back into this inferno-like computer lab to blog. Pretty much for a day and no pictures today as well...

I forgot the cammie!!

Day 12 in Korea

Countdown: 103 days left.

Okie today no photo cuz I never bring my cammie out.

I went to school for my Game Theory class, went back dormitory to sleep and then come back here for an Operations Mgt lecture, which was a disaster because the language of the entire lecture during the course of 13 weeks is gonna be fixed as Korean. In other words, I am gone. The module is gone for me!!

Haix.

Day 11 in Korea

Countdown: 104 days.

Okie, today is a rainy day and I got no classes today because thanks to ICU, my subjects and schedules are all screwed up now. Sucky life!! I came to school in the morning to work out @ the gym because I figured if I keep eating and not working out, I will turn into a fat pig in the later part of the year. Shape up or ship out!!

I headed back to dormitory to shower and get changed and smell good before going to meet my Asst Professor (of Engineering), accompanied by Mr Jung Il (pronounced as Jungle) Lee. We discussed the issues about my subjects and like after half an hour of debate and complaints, he finally agreed to work out something for me. Just at this moment, I received good news from my faculty administrator, Arifah that 2 of my modules are not approved for mapping, but they can map them to a dummy code module and write it off as my elective. Praise God!! Also, 1 other elective module has been successfully mapped over, so now I got 3 down with 2 more to go.

After that, I was cordially invited by friends to attend CF @ the basement of the school. It was fun time to meet other christians from all around the world and the first person that caught my eye was this really beautiful worship leader and her name is Becky. She reminded me of this close colleague/buddy I used to have when I was younger (her name is Yixian or I would prefer to call her XianXian). The entire meeting was really great and I get to make new friends as well; friends I have seen in school but never really spoke to. What a coincident?

It is still raining cats and dogs outside and the weather is getting chill-ier these days. I am gonna hang out for awhile before heading back to dormitory - the student prison!! ARGH!!