Day 43 in Korea.

Countdown: 72 days.

Temperature reading: 14 degree celsius.

I think Fen is gonna kill me cuz we planned to go Jeon Ju for some festival/concert, but end up I told her I overslept. She is so gonna not talk to me. Cui~ I slept late last night and got up real late, but I did msg her that I am not going :( Sian half.

So I woke up @ 4pm later today and I went to school to mug for my Computer Animation when everyone is out having fun *sad life* I am glad I did some self studying so I don't feel guilty for sleeping the entire morning away. I didn't even realized I mugged til 7pm before I went down to Dunsan-dong by bus 750. Along the way, I saw KFC and so I got really excited since it was my first sighting of KFC... As usual, I can't help myself but dive into the restaurant and grab a 2-piece chicken meal (otherwise known as "Smart Choice"). The chicken tasted fresh and not so oily unlike SG. It is crispy, but not oily and definitely the healthier choice. One thing I am very amused with Koreans is that, they like to eat spicy food, but they do not offer chili sauce for the chicken in any of those western restaurants!! WTH!! How can they eat chicken without chili sauce?? It is a sin.

Hmm, shortly after my sumptuous dinner, I went down to E Mart to shop for my daily groceries. I bought ham (3 packets for a good deal), 1 pack of milk, bread, a bigger bowl, a knife-like spreader to apply Nutella on my bread, green tea latte, instant noodles and Korean yakult!! Total amounting to 21,870 won (which is a whooping SGD $26). Man, I am overspending, but I am happy I bought the green tea latte because I never tried making my own GTL before. Sherilyn would die for this GTL!!

So now, I am back in my room enjoying my very 1st, home made GTL!! *yum yum*

Day 42 in Korea.

Countdown: 73 days.

Temperature reading: 17 degree celsius.

Thursday = siong day for me. I have class running from 10:30am all the way till 9pm. Tiring, but satisfying. I had lunch with 2 Korean students who were kind to bring me go eat Korean pizza (otherwise known as flour fried with green onions and squids). We also had BBQ pork!! Woohoo a fantastic lunch + the fact that they treated me, so it is extra joy. I felt bad so I decided to treat them to Vero Espresso for coffee.

The highlight of the day - I received my Ibanez ART120WH. A definite white beauty with that Eclipse-shaped body and the fierce Ibz active pickups like that of EMGs. I decide to name her "Snowey"!! I manage to meet a Korean guitar teacher in the store and he is really a blues/funk maestro. The feel he had when he played my "metal" guitar was fantastic. I wished I could be like him one day. I did a free jam with 2 of the bassists in the store and had lotsa fun, but time do not permit me to stay further, so I had to make my way back to school cuz I have got a lab session going on @ 7pm.

I was so excited that I missed my dinner, so now I am gonna get down to cooking. Take good care cuz tomorrow is national holiday for all Korea!! Rocks~ I am going to Jeonju.

Day 41 in Korea.

Countdown: 74 days.

Temperature reading: degree celsius.

I love Wednesday cuz it is a free day and it is an indication that the week is half way done. Today I slept in a little late and woke up around 1pm. I got up, washed up, changed up and head straight to school @ 2pm. I had Kathu Donburi (Japanese Pork Rice) and afterwards went to computer room to do my self study till 4:30pm before going for soccer training. Today is a homecoming day for the seniors of the Aquila football team so they had alumnis vs the young boys. I felt really honoured to be able to play on this occassion. Obviously I did not malu the Singaporeans and did pretty well *lol*

After the training, I went to Jeonmin-dong for dinner. Bet you guessed it - Isaac's Toast FTW!! And then I came straight back to school to study. I don't know why but this 2 weeks I have been mugging really hard. Oh no, am I transforming into a mugger machine??

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.