Missing TYA!

I thought this blog would be dead forever, since i'm so so so so lazy to blog.. But.. Exams make people emo (haha).. and.. Just wanna say.. I really miss YA!! Looking at the photos and video from Port Dickson, and reviewing those pics taken from long long time ago.. Makes me really really misses YA more than I thought I would be!

Miss the smiles of the children, their mischief, their nonsense, their chatterings, their "jiejie I want to hold your hand!" "jiejie teach me!" "jiejie sit with me!".. Miss seeing JT throw tantrum and showing her black face *evil laughter*.. Miss RY's dao and bo chap look.. Miss SL's talking non-stop.. Miss alllll the other kids as well.. Miss holding their hands, playing with them, scolding them..

A thousand misses.. I can't wait to be backkkkk in club

Areum Hall Pets!

Specially for Joce !

The Long Weekend

Finally, here comes some updates about the fun and interesting weekend last week with my fantastically fabulous roomie during Chuseok!

A picture paints a thousand words.. Let the pictureS paint the thousandS words!

I know I can't describe how I feel with words.. Haha..

Witnessed the ceremony they hold during Chuseok.. And saw new brides (new as in married within the year) wear pretty Hanbok.. And ate a lot..

Went to her grandparents' house at Cheonan after the ceremony.. They brought me to their mountain where all their ancestors tombs and urns were kept.. And went to pick chestnut too :)

Cool thing.. Her grandpa is a farmer! Went to his rice field.. caught grasshoppers (And fry and ate them!! Yummy!)..

And they bought a cake on Sunday morning for my birthday :) They were discussing in Korean on sat night thinking that I don't understand.. But.. I sort of could understand what they were saying haha..

And back to school on Sunday, and had dinner cum mini celebration with the other exchange peeps :)

And had pretty surprising stuff from Singapore!

Crystal's innovative idea which took me a long time to unwrap everything! -- 21 little stuff all wrapped separately.. haha my roomie and her friends who saw were all wow-ing at the presents from crystal and video from joce :) !

And guess what.. I'm off to Seoul AGAIN this weekend! (Mid-term's starting this coming week! Hahah :X )

Singapore's Proud Invention

Roomie just said: "My friend says our room always smells of Tiger Balm"!

Hahah we were being bitten by mosquito and were just applying tiger balm at the same time, and hence that random statement! She was in Singapore for exchange, and she brought a lot back for her friends as souveniors! Cool huh!

Tiger Balm, Singapore's proudest creation, Singapore's symbolic representation!

Anyway weekend was great! But lots of assignments due this week, lecturer just gave more today and due on Wed! ROARS! Will blog soon about Chuseok!!

The Mass Conversation!

A really rare one -- First time, hopefully not last! Haha

The Warmth of A Home

Current location: In my roomie's house in Seoul!

Current status: 200% full due to the hospitality of her mum! She has been feeding us non-stop from the past 4 hours, since we arrived here.. Fruits, lunch (with 2nd and 3rd helping...), fruits, coffee, more fruits, snacks, and more snacks, and some rice-bread stuff with honey.. I think I've eaten 4-meals-worth of food..

There goes yesterday's effort to run!

But.. the warmth of a home - Awesome :)

Fall Is Here. Chuseok Is Here.

Leaves are starting to trun red.. Air is becoming dryer.. Temperature is starting to drop.. Night is becoming longer, and day shorter.. It starts getting dark at 6 plus, and its like night time already by 630pm.. What a gloomy sign! Well.. Fall is here!

And its Chuseok this weekend! Korea's Thanksgiving Day; its like our Mid-Autumn Festival (I want mooncakes! They don't have it here in Korea! Their mooncakes are like Mua chi-alike..) -- They celebrate Chuseok like how we celebrate Chinese New Year, its a big holiday for them! And my fantastic roomie invited me to her house and her grandparents' house! To celebrate with them :) Oh so nice.. Will be going to Seoul (again) tomorrow to her place, and to Cheonan on Saturday morning to her grandparents place.. Be back on Sunday!

And the battle with the never-ending amount of homework still continue nonetheless..

Hope everyone is doing well in Singapore, Aussie, London :)

After A Month

Past week has been busy busy busy.. With lots of homework (really a lot a lot) and quizzes.. I've never done SO MuCH homework in my entire life before! Everyone is kinda stressed up! Haha especially us NUS-ians who're not used to doing homeworks! Well.. I think its important to be dilligent in completing them.. But not get overly stressed up! Its easy to be sucked into the competitive and muggerish spirit when all other students are like that.. But.. I think no matter how hard we mug we can't beat the Koreans! If you think NUS is mugger.. NUS is only 5/10.. Its like 9.5/10 here! People camp in the library since week 1.. And do lab through the night.. And they've tutorials from 9 to 11pm here.. and sleep at 4am EVERY night! And they've ridiculous amount of homework and quizzes.. How can we beat them? We can't! And I definitely won't want to as well.. We're here on exchange! (Just need to pass.. Since its S/U! haha) But.. Still gotta do homework and study for the quizzes la..

Some INTERESTING observations here:

1) Korean guys like to wear socks with bathroom slippers! Its like.. EVERYWHERE! See picture below.. I tried to take a picture of the guy walking in front of me, subtly.. (But blur.. haha) In school especially, like lectures etc.. But they exist in subway stations and along the street too! Its like... Ewww.......... They don't wear slippers (as in nice havianas etc..) here, apparently its rude to expose their feet or something along that line.. But.. In what way are socks a good substitute for shoes??? I rather they wear havianas! (Its cheaper here than in Singapore!)

2) Korean girls like to SHAKE THEIR LEGS! (JOCE! Think you'll freak out here! Haha) Seriously.. Its REAL SHAKING OF LEGS.. Some can shake till their whole body starts shaking too! Especially in lectures (again, in lectures..).. I think I'm following the trend soon since it seems so normal here! LOL!

3) Koreans aren't as friendly as they are known to be.. Friendly ones are only salesgirl, cashiers, security guards etc.. Normal people aren't! (Not until you start a conversation with them supposedly).. Apparently they're just.. Shy? Especially to people who speaks English.. But, Can't they even flash a smile? But according to my roomie, Koreans are too shy to smile too! *Faints*

Ok enough about those weird discovery.. Some pictures and a little update about the last 2 weekends!

Went to Seoul again 2 days back, and met Alison! :) and spent A LOT A LOT of money! (But not my money ah.. Haha) Quite shiok to spend when the money you're spending is not yours! (Don't kill me ling.. But they're really nice stuff! worth it! lol) Found more new and interesting shopping places! This is like the last weekend we can find the summer clothings before everything changes to the fall season's..

Haven't seen Alison for YEARS! And its kinda strange that we're meeting in Korea when we don't even meet in Singapore! We used to be really good friends in secondary school! Thought its gonna be awkward and all when we meet.. But.. We still can talk laugh and play just the same! :) I pray God bless her with favor and lead her to her destiny, and she'll know its His hands guiding her and blessing her :)

So good to meet fellow Singaporeans! And talk in Singlish! Haha.. Feiyee (cousin!) is coming in 2 weeks time! Excited to meet her!! (I don't meet her in Singapore TOO HAH)

And check out the nice coffee places! (Starbucks and Coffee Bean are like nothing fantastic here..)

And I went to Yoido Full Gospel Church! (Pastor Cho-Yonggi's church!) This congregation alone (1 service) is about 120k? 6 times that of CHC.. And they've 12 services a week! It was really a blessed time.. And much new insights.. Blog about this another day :)

And we saw them filming for Gatsby! (We think its Gatsby.. haha)




And now about the previous weekend! Went to climb Gyeryongsan Park! I think I'm never going hiking again.. Once is kinda enough...... Gotta eat more cartilage after the climb man!


Wooo~ I conquered the mountain!

More Seoul Please

I'm getting lazy to blog, and more busy too with more and more homeworks coming in!

Anyway weekend was spent in Seoul! Went to Insa-dong, this artsy place which I really love! They've lots of coffee place scattered along the whole street, (Yes talking about coffee, I need a coffee partner here! No one to enjoy all the nice coffee places with me! Boo!).. Street stalls selling lucky charms, accessories, snacks lined up.. Makgeolli (traditonal alcoholic drink) tasting fair with lotsa weird flavors of Makgeolli..

And went to the Seoul Tower at night.. Totally a couple place.. You can see couples everywhere.. Its really out of 10 people there'll be 4 pairs of couples, the remaining ones would be people like us... Haha.. Oh and the surrounding fences are all full of locks! All sorts of locks -- whereby couples write their messages and lock it there!


Went to Gyeongbokgung Palace the next morning.. Interesting fact: the palace has no screws or nails, everything is built using interlocking system! Hmm.. but I think all olden days palaces / temples / buildings are all made this way.. Saw a group of Ahjumma wearing Hanbok! Which is supposedly a rare sight according to my roomie, since she says people these days don't really wear Hanbok anymore except during weddings!


Went shopping shopping shopping.. Then back to KAIST.. More trips to Seoul pleeeeeease!

I think.. I'm adding one more lesson to my timetable..

Anyway.. leaving for Seoul in a few hours time.. Will be back on Sunday night!

Till I blog again..

Oh yea HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIE JIE~! :D

0.1% per question

Okie dokie timetable's more or less finalised, finally! Taking 6 mods here since its S/U!

Oh once again, thank God for favor! To cut the long story short, approached a prof to appeal for a mod, again, and he agreed to let me take the class! Hooooray!

And I'll be learning tennis here too, they have it as a module here (additional to the 6), and I just bought a tennis racket! Haha..

And did I mention before they give a lo of homework here? I've never been so hardworking in my whole uni life before.. I'm like doing homework everyday! Yes EVERYDAY!

Gotta complain a bit about this one, there's like about 10Q given per chapter, and more than 10 chapters would be taught, and all in all homework only takes up 10% of the total score! So its like.. 0.1% per question?

Fly!

From chao :)

Instead of the usual day-to-day-what-lijuan-do-everyday.. lets talk about how I've been.. Remember the prayer requests I posted sometime back? I think God answered them all! :)

My roomie is really really nice! After staying together for about a week or so, I think we get along pretty well together! Some daily small issues like.. Our sleeping times are more or less the same, which is good.. If any of us sleeps later, we'll use her table lamp :) She usually wakes up later than me (haha so far it happens everyday, cos my lessons start at 9am everyday! hers would be 1030 or so..), but she uses ear plugs when she sleeps! So no worries about making too much noise or what! Haha.. Oh and neither of us is a clean-freak nor a dirty bug.. So our level of cleanliness/dirtiness is more or less the same.. Both of us leave our clothes around on the bed, on the chair etc.. But nothing gets too dirty don't worry! She has a fridge, a hair dryer, a printer.. And she shares everything with me! :D In return I'll try to get her fruits, coffee, biscuits etc.. She's not too quiet or unfriendly, nor is she too noisy or talkative! Pretty much enough of personal time and space.. And we always have things to talk about, seldom would there be awkward silences.. And she's helpful in answering my many questions, and she introduces several of her closer friends who are all nice too (and she introduces me kpop too haha)! They will drop by almost everyday for little chats! All in all I think we live together quite well! :)

Oh we went out for dinner together just now! Boyeol (my roomie), went to NTU for exchange 2 semesters ago.. And the other 2 girls were in NUS! So we decided to have dinner together.. Which was a good time talking and laughing! And even the simplest thing of eating ice cream from the convenient store after the yummy meal seems to be so heart-warming and happy!

Choo-Hee. Ye-Seul, Boyeol and I! :)

Next, about school.. Lessons have been ok so far, not that challenging yet since its only the start of 2nd week.. But there's much more homework compared to NUS.. I've never been so hardworking in my uni days before! Its like, I really put my heart and soul and mind to researching and getting the right answers.. (ok chem students.. one of the Q is to calculate the packing efficiency of HCP! its different from what Dr Ship taught us in CM2111! HCP is different from FCC! haha) I guess I have more time to study with my timetable.. Every late morning-early afternoon is used to do homework/read textbooks (and to blog and do random stuff also la :P).. There's time to really study.. And I think I'm beginning to like studying all over again! (after the achievement of solving the packing efficiency of HCP! haha!)

God has been really good -- answering my prayers and blessing me with favor and a carefree heart.. I know I wouldn't be able to survive in this foreign land without Him watching over me, and the confidence and security I can have in Him.

A usual day here would be like.. Waking up at 750am, getting ready + breakfast by 850am, cycle to class for 9am lesson.. Come back after 1hr or 1.5hrs.. Do a bit of stuff, lunch, continue doing random stuff or take a nap.. Cycle to class again for 230pm or 3pm lesson.. Come back to hall for personal time, and sometimes visit doggie on the way back.. Meet up with friends for dinner.. Sometimes grocery-shopping after that.. And back to personal time again! Haha.. Enjoying the personal time here :D

반달 !

Think I'm going to visit him often! He's really big, friendly and adorable! And really a beauty :)

반달 is pronouced as Pan Del in Korean, which means half moon in English.. He's only about 2 years old!

Kumdori-land!

Daejeon is not exactly an exciting place actually.. With the few choices we had, decided to head to the EXPO park and Science park, which has an amusement park (Kumdori-land!) and some exhibitions.

The seemingly most harmless ride is the major killer! Really totally regretted once the machine started and I was just closing my eyes and counting down to the end of it! Opening my eyes took so much effort, and to just catch a glimpse of us heading towards the ground. 360 degrees spinning with full force swinging. Not for the faint-hearted definitely. I think I belong to the category..

On the other hand, Kumdori was really cute! He and his friends! They have their own personality, and the orange guy (see picture below!) was apparently trying to give me a kiss! Haha! He's supposed to be the flirty ah-beng!

The deceiving picture.. We were not on a real coaster! Check out the coffee can.. Haha..

Well, I'll let the pictures do the talking! :)

My roomie's friend, Mi Hee! She joined us for a day! :)

Went out shopping and eating with Xinnie while the rest went back school to rest! Haha..

Angels :)

Another thing I gotta thank God for! I really meet angels everywhere :)

My roomie, Boyeol's parents came with her on the first day she shifted in. When they saw the blanket the school gives us, they thought that its too thin, especially to last through the winter. And guess what? They mailed a blanket over from Seoul!! I was surprised by their kindness, and really touched too.

And before the blanket arrived, Boyeol's friend (now my friend too!), Hana, has an extra blanket and she passed it to me too! And now I've three blankets! Scares me to think of how cold winter can get! Haha.. But.. They're really really REALLY NICE! :)

I'm surprised by how easily we can talk to each other, to Boyeol Hana and their friends.. Think among the Singaporeans and HKers, I've the highest record of new friends right now! Hee :P

I've a lot of blankets now! School's, Hana's, Boyeol's ! (Top to Bottom)

Prized Possession

God really answers prayers!!!

Today's the 3rd day of school.. And was just walking back to hall after the first class in the morning.. Its quite nice to walk around around actually cos its quite cooling and windy at this time of the year.. But its really bright and sunny though its cooling and windy! Oh well.. But it takes about 15 minutes to walk at a comfortable pace to class! And it'll be 2 trips of to and fro since I've really long breaks in between classes everyday..



After 3 days, I've already dispelled the thought of getting/finding a bike cos I'm already slowly getting used to walking.. But.. on the way back, it was really sunny and just can't help but to tell God to give me a bike! I didn't want to go around hunting for abandoned bikes (a lot of people do that!) since I'm really really lazy to do so.. And quite paiseh! Haha.. So I prayed.. "God, I know this is a want and not a need.. Give me a bike the proper way (didn't want to feel like I'm stealing!).. I know its a want!"

And I didn't expect Him to work THIS fast! 5 minutes into my room.. A knock came! Caren (HK exchange student :)) came to my room saying she found TWO BIKES! One for herself and one for me! (The other 2 HK girls already got their bikes!) It was like.. WOW! Really astonished by how God's goodness! And how fast He answers prayers!

We went to get locks and pump air into the tires and get the bikes into proper condition immediately! Paid only 14,000 won at the bike shop (about SGD$16.50)!

God has been really spoiling me ever since I reached here! Haha really.

OH YES ITS PINK AND ITS SUPER CUTE! (i think its TOO cute and girly for me actually.. but oh well.. its still A BIKE!) :D

School Day 1

Ironically, today is my first day of school (its Teacher's Day in Singapore!) Woke up feeling kinda excited, yet nervous at the same time too.. One, I don't exactly know where're the classrooms located. Two, I just realised last night that the two classes I wanted to attend are supposedly held in Korean! Emailed the office lady for help, saying I really really really REALLY want to and need to take these classes and if any special arrangements could be made? Didn't hold my hopes too high in case it can't be changed..


Yea so I made my way to the first class, asked a girl for some directions along the way, managed to find the classroom and waited for the prof to come in.. As expected, he started speaking in Korean when he entered! I gathered all the courage I had and explained the situation as much as I can.. and.. guess what? He changed the class to English ON THE SPOT! Hip hip hoooooray! (was quite paiseh though.. could sense the 'huhhhh' thing from some of the students.... hahah oh well..)

Anyway this lecturer is really intelligent! He contributed to some textbooks writing and stuff like that.. Quite a funny man.. But the class is sooo small, gets a bit nerve-wrecking! Make a guess, how many students are there.. 12! 12 today la, not sure if it'll increase.. but definitely wouldn't be more than 20! Perhaps there'll be lesser students after he says he's going to teach in English! hahah


Ok next class.. Was half expecting to talk to the prof before class or something.. But.. More and more people started coming in before the prof arrived! There were about 40++? Bigger class, even more paiseh! After some time.. Prof arrived.. And as expected again (i kept role-playing in my mind! haha!) he started off with Korean too -- taking attendance, distributing handouts... I really didn't know when's the best time to tell him and he's starting the lesson any second.. Didn't have that much of a courage this time round (its inveresely proportional to the number of people!).. And.. Guess what? He started proper lesson in ENGLISH! Wooo hoooo~!

Really thank God for His favor! Like what Joy said.. Its really like God holding your hand walking around the campus with you.. Sitting in lectures with you.. Helping you with the things which you think you can never do, but still did in the end!




Photos from yesterday - shopping and dinner with the NTU guys and HK girls

School Is Starting!

Do u hear an agonising whine..... Yes school is starting again! And I haven't got my timetable done yet when lesson is in 8 hours time! I'll update about the fun we had today tomorrow! Time to plan my timetable and find out where're all the lessons held!

Despite all, I still thank God for today! Because His goodness and faithfulness never fails -- I am witnessing it every moment :)

Time for timetable planning and getting ready for school after all the fun!

Till i update again..

Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical & calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing... Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.

-Oswald Chambers
"My Utmost for His Highest"

So true.. indeed :)

Everyday Gets Better

Today is sunday! Church day! Haha we went to KAIST church, which was quite an interesting experience.. Well, it was supposed to be an English service according to the student guide book they gave.. But.. Guess what? Yesss its in KOREAN!

A very major learning point from here :) God never felt more real than this.. I guess it was just such a relief to be in a community of God's people again, despite language and nationality differences.. Community is really important, for growth and to uphold one another. Even when we worship in a language I don't understand, I know God's presence was there. It felt even better than worshipping in a language we understand -- it was really not about the words and the music anymore. The focus was really back to God.

During the sermon, we managed to get translational sets, which I supposed haven't been put to use in recent times? Haha.. But the pastor's sermon really spoke assurance and comfort to my unsettled heart. God always keep us in His sight, call on His name and know that we are not alone.

After service, I went for fellowship.. I began to see the true love and acceptance that God's people have in them, despite having to move out of their comfort zone.. They usually conduct fellowship in Korean, but had it in English today due to my presence. It was quite a comfortable session sharing and listening to them.. Had dinner with them too! And went to our FCBC-SOL-alike class in the evening, with Yun Suk as my translator! Yun Suk is my new found friend! She speaks good English :) and is really really nice! And she's in Chemistry Year 3 too, in the same hall, and we might be taking a module together!

Oh and my roomie came in today! Thanksgiving :) Some quick profile about her: she was on exchange in NTU 2 semesters ago! And last semester, she had an NTU girl as her room mate.. What an affinity with Singaporeans! Haha.. Her parents are nice too met them earlier :) Well, gotta get to know her better throughout the semester! Hopefully we won't be awkward each time we talk, and edifying topics would just flow!

I really hope I can blog everyday and encompass everything I encounter and have to say.. But the thoughts of what to blog never really stay that long, and they get lost along the way! And blogging is taking more time than what I expected.. I'll try! But maybe not everyday..

Everyday gets better. Thank God :)

Mozzies Love Me, Still..

As you can tell from the title.. Guess what.. There's a mosquito in my room! There WAS one, i killed it last night.. I think there's another one today cos I'm feeling all itchy again! Roars!!

Anyway anyway.. We went out shopping today! To explore the area would be a more exact term than shopping! Haha.. Wanted to take the shuttle bus out of the school, but realised there's no shuttle bus on saturdays! So we cabbed out instead.. Cabbing is quite cheap when its shared among 3 or 4 people.. About the price of taking a bus to the nearby train station in Singapore!


Actually we didn't quite know where to go.. So we stopped random students along the way in school and asked them! Their command in English wasn't that strong, and with the little communcation we had, it was still quite an achievement we managed to find a rather nice place! (the guys were all dying of boredom when we girls shopped happily...)


Oh we saw this chihuahua which is amazing! She just follows her owner around without a leash, and when the ajumma wanted to go into the mall, she just had to turn over to this lil dog and mutter a few words which I've yet to understand, and the dog would just wait at the door for her! Mentioning about the dog, I miss Cookie! And my family too definitely :) I've our family photo up on my wall over here! And I heard that Cookie has been waiting for me at the door for the past few nights! :( Wanted to cry when I heard that..! Boohoo!


Food is still as delicious, peaches are really sweet, pears are huge, watermelons are enormous! I'm starting to like grocery-shopping too, except the carrying-the-heavy-stuff-back-to-areum-hall part.. Thinking whether to get an iron! Or should I just buy more clothes which don't require ironing? hahah..



Travelling friends!! :)

A very pretty shop!

And I found my daily supplement!

And I saw this really encouraging advert at the subway station :) God is love. And I know He loves me (more than the mozzies). And He loves you too! I'm going to church tomorrow! Wonder how it would be like!

My prayer requests:
1) Roomie haven't shifted in yet.. Pray for a good roomie!
2) School doesn't get too stressful.. Which I think there's a high possibility since the people here are all really smart and hardworking! Hearing a lot of horror stories about how hard they study!
3) Favor from the professors and classmates.. Doesn't really feel that confident about attending lessons alone? I'm the only exchange student in Chemistry.. So there.. Haha I'm really praying very hard that everything's gonna be alright, with the molecules and lattice structures and thermodynamics etc..
4) Good health! Pray that my gastric problem doesn't act up here.. I won't have constipation! hahahah i'll eat more big juicy yummy peaches and pears! And just overall well-being la! Right leg feels a bit weird after walking around for somuch these few days.. I think its old injury.. Not too sure but hope it gets well soon!

Thats about all for now, time to sleep with mozzie..!