LAZY UPDATE #12

This past week has been pretty packed with events, and I think it's only going to get even more busier now.  School's out for the summer holiday so everyone's going to be out and about now.  Seoul is raining cats and dogs at the moment.  I've never seen it rain so much for consecutive days before.  There's a typhoon coming according the forecast, but right now the weather is nice and breezy.  It was really sticky and humid before.

Last Friday was the last gathering of all the international students at CAU.  We went back to where we first started off in February, Mom's Touch, and just had a good time.  It was really strange to think back to four months ago when no one knew anyone, whereas now it was like we were all best friends.

Afterwards, a small group of us decided to walk out to the Han River.  It was about 2 am and no one wanted to go back to the dormitory yet, so we bought some drinks and some snacks and sat next to the water.  Music, laughing and crazy lack-of-sleep-induced dancing ensued.

Saturday was Randy's, an American friend, last night in Seoul, so we went out to Korean BBQ and another walk along the Han River.  I used to go hiking with Randy in the mornings when we first arrived, and during those times we became pretty good friends.  Hiking ceased as the weather got warmer, but we'll always have good memories.

On Tuesday, the day after my very last exam, I went to Incheon with a few friends to look at the 'Chinatown'.  My Korean friend told me it was government funded, which explains the lack of authenticity and plenty of Koreanized Chinese elements.  We discovered a shop which sold 豆浆 and 面条, and were so surprised to find out that the old grandpa owner, despite having been raised in Korea, could speak perfect Chinese! He even had the accent.

The actual place was pretty quiet when we arrived.  There were lots of stores selling Chinese souvenirs, different types of foods and there were a lot of lanterns hanging around.  In fact, the streets were decorated with a lot of red stuff.

Wednesday night was the last night my roommate was going to stay in the dormitory, so we went out to dinner in Myeongdong with another friend.  We went to this Indian place called 'Saffron', where everything they served was Halal, which mean my Muslim roommate could eat whatever she wanted there.  The food was quite nice, but I think it was a posh-ish kind of restaurant so the prices weren't that cheap.

My roommate moved out on Thursday, and for the whole day I was kind of depressed.  Luckily I had already organised to meet up with a friend from Ewha University for dinner.  We went to eat at this 'famous' naengmyeon place, except when we got there we were both highly disappointed.  To cheer ourselves up we went to have dessert at Holly's Coffee.

I met up with some of my classmates for dinner on Friday night.  These classmates were from the class I hated the most, but surprisingly the class where I made the most friends.  We had the best pasta I have ever eaten in Seoul, and then went to Hongdae for some shopping.  It was a fun night.

This was a very brief update because I'm sick at the moment, so my brain's not functioning properly.  I'll probably tell you what happened on Saturday morning after I get better.  Over and out.

ALL FINISHED

다 긑나다! I finished my last exam one hour ago, and now I am relishing the deliciousness of not having exams while my friends in Adelaide are studying away for their semester exams.  Actually, I will be perfectly honest and say that the feeling I have right now isn't that much different than what I was feeling this morning.  I tried to study hard for this exam, but the knowledge that I just have to pass (which I really hope I do because I did study for it) isn't too much of an incentive for lots of study.

The next few days are lined up with outings and meetings to which I am SO looking forward to, but I'll also have to figure out what to do with myself without spending money everyday.  Window shopping or just walking along the streets is torturous for me.  The streets are filled with food and clothes and little trinkets so it's difficult to walk for a long time without buying something. Maybe I should limit myself to 10,000 won a day (except when I'm meeting up with someone) until I leave for Beijing?  Sounds like a good plan.

The weather is definitely heating up.  Apparently this summer is going to be hotter than ever because the past winter was the coldest Seoul has had in 30 years, so I'm looking forward to that a lot.  Not.  The monsoon is also apparently coming early this year as well, so the rains will be coming and I can finally wear my lovely rainboots!

P.S. The potato pizza has no relevance to this post whatsoever.   I just like looking at food, so I decided to spread the food love around. :)

THE END IS NIGH

The end of my stay in Korea is sadly looming up ahead, but that's not for another few weeks so I refuse to think about it.  But how can I?  This morning I said goodbye to my Finnish friend, who lived opposite me in the dormitory, as she left for the airport to go back home.  In the next few days, most of the international students will be packing their bags (they're already started) and we will be saying goodbye for maybe forever.  It's not being dramatic, unfortunately.  The truth is that a reunion will be pretty much near impossible unless someone makes it big and hires a private plane to jet around the world and pick us all up.  I was telling my friend last night how he was lucky, because there were three other students from his university which came to Korea with him.  They didn't know each other before, but now they do, and it's easier for them to catch up.  Australia is on the other side of the world compared to everyone else.

Oh well.  Another end is night, and that's the end of exams!!! I have one exam left on Monday evening, and then I will be officially done with the semester and free to do whatever I please without any guilty feeling for not studying instead.  This time round I haven't been so prepared for the exams, so I don't feel as good as I did for my midterms after I finish the paper.  But over time I've learnt that it's no use worrying about what I should have put in, or what I did wrong - if I've learned something from it then it's all good.

P.S.  Sorry for not writing anything for so long.  I have literally been in the library and in my room studying (or trying to) or at church for most of the time.  Oh, and downloading stuff as well.....so looking forward to holidays!!

LAZY UPDATE #10

Sorry for not updating for a long time.  Blogger was down for a a couple of days before and this week has been so. freaking. BUSY.  Like, really really busy.  But many exciting things have happened as well, and I am excited to write about them! It's been so long since I wrote my last post so I'm not going chronologically.  I'm just going to state the exciting things which happened during the last two weeks.

Firstly, I went bowling with my volleyball team last Saturday near our church.  I haven't been bowling in a long time, but I thought I was still pretty good at it.  Unfortunately, pride always comes before fall and I ended up being the ultimate loser amongst the whole group.  My scores were 32 and 41 - don't laugh.  But it was still a really fun night! I always appreciate the time I have with my volleyball team because it's a chance for me to practise my Korean.

We also went to Lotteria afterwards to eat 팥빙수 patbingsoo (shaved ice and other condiments).  It was the rule of the game - whichever team lost had to treat the other team to dessert.  My team lost spectacularly to the other team - they had the two best players out of the whole team (no...not a sore loser.  Honest! hehe) - so we bought the ice as well as some chips and ice-cream.

Another exciting which happened this week was my university's festival!  It was called LUCAUS (can't remember what it stands for) and it went for three days.  There were lots of booths around the campus selling things like beer, fruit, t-shirts and other things.  Unfortunately I didn't get to take any photos of the booths since I was normally rushing to class when I saw them.  But I did take photos of the most important part of the festival: the concerts at night time.

We had a lot of celebrities come for the night concerts like 김태우 Kim Tae Woo and No Brain, but the biggest and most popular star which came was 2NE1.  I just thought I'd bolden that word in case you missed it.  They're not the first celebrities I've seen since I came to Seoul, but definitely the ones which the most people know about it.  

The night concerts were really loud.  Each night I could hear it from my room in the dormitory, since the events are held in the sports ground right downstairs, but I attended the last one in person.  The atmosphere is pretty much like a real-live concert, with glowsticks and people jumping up and down to the songs.  After the concert a lot of people go drinking, but I didn't.  

I also dyed my hair for the very first time this week.  One of the people I sing with at church is a hairdresser, and he came highly recommended amongst my church friends, so I went to him in Gangnam.  I will be honest, as usual, and say that the colour which it turned out to be isn't what I wanted.  I actually wanted a dark red/purple colour and fully dye all of my hair, but right now it's highlighted red and gold.  It looks nice, but whenever I don't get what I was expecting in my mind I get a little iffy.  Maybe I'll change it later on, but I think I have to learn how to be patient with myself.  

LAZY UPDATE #8 (Part 1)

(I'm dividing this Lazy Update into two parts because there is just too much to write in one post.)  This past week has been crazy - both physically and mentally.  Midterms finished last Friday so the following four days were a mini-holiday.  I got lucky with my exam timetable though.  A lot of people, especially the local students, had exams up until Tuesday which was the last day of the schedule.  The four day break was really good for releasing all that pent up stress about my mid-terms and 'refreshed' me for the next two months of school work.  Speaking of which, I feel like these next few weeks are going to be so crazy again.  I have so many projects due within the same time, plus church work, plus meeting up with friends (I know that's not necessarily...necessary...but!) plus figuring out how to fit in exercise everyday.  I am getting fat.  :(

Soo, last Tuesday was the last day of my four-day mini holiday.  The weather was so horrible and it was raining all day, but I had to go out and do some gift shopping.  I had no idea what I was going to buy, so I was station hopping around Seoul in hope that I could find something good.  I ended up finding what I wanted at 이대 Idae (Ewha University) and 명동 Myeongdong.  That night I went out to have dinner with my room mate for the very first time!  We've been getting closer and closer lately, which I really like because this was how I wanted to be with my room mate in the first place.  It only took two months to get to this stage....
Anyway, after that I joined some other exchange students at a nearby bar where I met some Koreans who frequent the E-Lounge (English Lounge) in our library.  We then proceeded to the noraebang and spent an hour just singing and tiring ourselves out before walking back to the dormitory in time for the 1 am curfew.

Wednesday was the first official day back after mid-term exams, and for some reason it felt really good to have classes again.   I guess I like the structure and order of school.  After my classes finished, I went to meet up with a friend who had come from Hong Kong.  She and her other friends were in Seoul for three days and they asked me to join them for dinner.  We went to 광창시장 Gwangchangshijang near 남대문 Namdaemun and had tastings of three kinds of food - 김밥 kimbap (rice rolls similar to sushi), 빈대떡 bindaeddeok (green bean pancake ...soo good) and  육회 yookhwae (raw beef strips).  The first two items were really delicious, but the raw beef wasn't really my thing.  I ordered a bowl of 냉면 naengmyeon (cold noodles) instead.  At the beef restaurant, one of the owners started asking us how to say things in Cantonese after finding out that we were from Hong Kong.  It was really funny hearing him pronounce the words wrong, but I honestly applaud him for trying to learn it.  I guess you learn whatever you can and whenever you can; that guy will definitely go far.

It was really nice to see my friend again, and to meet her other friends as well.  After dinner we went to Doota, one of the biggest shopping malls in Seoul.  The group of friends spent a long time looking around and trying unsuccessfully to bargain with the shop keepers.  That's one of the things here - you don't haggle that much.  You can ask for discount but it's seen to be rude if you start haggling.  I guess that's the one of the differences between Koreans and Chinese people.

Thursday was really tiring, but one of the best days during my week.  I had originally planned to visit my buddy's home and have dinner with her family, but her mum thought I was coming next week instead.  It didn't matter though, because we ended up going sight-seeing in Seoul instead.  First we went to 청게천 Cheonggyecheon which is the small river running through inner Seoul.  There were lanterns hung up everywhere in preparation for Buddha's Birthday.  Apparently it's really beautiful at night time when the lanterns are lit up, so maybe I'll go have a look when it's closer to May 10th.

After that, we went along 광화문 Gwanghwamun which is the gate right outside the biggest palace in Seoul.  There's a massive statue of King Sejong and statues of the three inventions he's most famous for - the sundial (pretty sure that was invented by someone else ...), celestial globes and of course, Hangul.  There's also a huge statue of one of the best soldiers of Korea.  I can't remember his name, but he was the one who defeated the Japanese back when they invaded....so I guess that's pretty important.

We arrived at our destination - 경북공 Gyeongbukgong - the biggest palace in Seoul.  This was the place where the king and queen used to live during the old days.  It was humungous.  And SO pretty.  I don't think I've ever seen so many trees in one place since arriving in Seoul, and the flowers were all blooming and out.  It was also really peaceful and quiet which is another thing you don't get a lot in Korea.  My buddy kept saying "Oh I feel so refreshed now" (sounds kind of funny in English but makes better sense in Korean) and I knew exactly what she meant.

Walking around the entire palace would have taken over two hours, but we had other places to go so we left after only an hour.  We were looking for 북촌한옥마을 Bukchonhanokmaeul Bukchon Hanok Village, but it was already six o'clock and we were really hungry.  She took me to this restaurant which is famous for 수재비 soojaebi (noodles in hot soup) and it was soo good.  Especially since the weather was kind of cold, the hot soup and 'noodles' (it's similar to 餃子皮) made me feel SO much better and energized.  

My buddy didn't actually know where the village was so she asked a couple of policeman.  They were entirely unhelpful so we had to walk around and look for signs ourselves.  Eventually we walked into the right place and behold - silence.  There are actually signs saying that you shouldn't make noise as to not disturb the residents, so it was extremely quiet.  Even though there weren't signs saying you couldn't talk, my buddy and I felt compelled to speak in whispering voices rather than normal volume.

Part 2 will be up soon....

MARCH SNOW

It was snowing yesterday! Despite the fact that it's almost the middle of spring, the snow kept falling down rapidly during the later part of the day and into the night.  This morning I went for a walk up the mountain trail and took these photos because it was SO PRETTY!

Besides from snow, nothing really interesting has happened this week.  I have some saved posts lined up for later publishing; they're on specific topics e.g. what my professors are like, the girls I live with etc.  When I decide to un-lazify myself I will write them up properly and take appropriate pictures.  

LAZY UPDATE #5

It's the weekend!! This week has been pretty quiet for me, compared to the first and second week.  It still surprises me when I realise I've only been in Seoul for three weeks - that's not even one month!   During the first few days, it felt like a rush to see and do everything I needed and had wanted to for a long time e.g. food, shopping, sight-seeing.  But things have fallen into a comfortable pattern now.  I sleep, I eat, I go to classes, I shop, I eat, I sleep.  It's becoming a little bit more home-y, I guess.

Interesting things that happened this week:

1. Yesterday I went to the Immigration Office with Jooyoung (my buddy) to put in my registration form for my alien registration card.  The application process took less than an hour, which I didn't expect at all because they had told us it could take up three hours if we didn't register online (which we didn't because it didn't work :( ). On the way back to the subway station, Jooyoung and I had some pretty interesting and funny conversations about our families and how we grew up.  When I first met her I felt like we had a lot in common, but after getting to know her I realise we're almost the same.  I'm glad God gave her to me as my buddy.

2.  On Wednesday night, I went to have a look at the university's dance club - Dance P.O.zz.  Words fail me when I try to describe what I feel like when I see other people dance, so I'm not even going to try.  I'll just say that they were amazing and I wish I could be like them.

3.  Today I walked into a shop called Jamilro and got a shock when I realised they had a website and they actually did photo shoots inside the shop.  The backdrop of the pictures in their website? I SAW IT IN PERSON.  It's very exciting stuff you know.  I've seen a lot of Korean online shopping sites so to see the place where they actually took the photos is pretty cool.  Although the stairs in the pictures where the models are posing are so scary.  진짜 장난 아냐.  I also chatted with the owner of the shop - in Korean - and it turns out her daughter is going to Australia! Well, that's what I think she said.  When I say 'chatted', I really mean that she was speaking proper and complete sentences and I replied with two or three words.  But I'm still happy that I understood most of what she was saying, even if I couldn't really say anything to her.

4.  This one is about my friend, Sanna, who is an exchange student from Finland.  A few days ago, she went to get a haircut and colour from one of the hairdressers around our campus area.  She had gone out for a very, very long time and we were wondering why she was taking so long.  When she finally came back, her hair cut was really nice, but the colour looked a little off - in the light, it looked a little gray blue (her hair is blonde).  She told us that the first time the hairdresser dyed her hair, the end colour was white-blonde with yellowy-orangey tips on the end.  Sanna wasn't pleased and said "Noo! Can we change it please?!"  So the hairdresser said OK and proceeded then to change Sanna's hair into a lovely light BLUE.  Sanna: "Nooo!!" At that moment both Sanna and the hairdresser were completely horrified.  Because you see, it was the hairdresser's first time to dye blonde hair.  In the end she was able to change the colour back to blonde-ish, but you can still see shades of blue when her hair is in the light.

And that's pretty much all the 'big' things I've done.  Little things include walking the mountain behind the university every second morning, missing breakfast because it finishes at 8:30 am (so early :( ) and watching Dream High whenever I am free, which is a lot of the time actually.

P.S The photos are pretty random - some are from Hongdae, some are ones taken inside our student union hall and the others are just what I see everyday around the campus.

SOME OBSERVATIONS

Okay, so after being in Seoul for a week here are some things which I've noticed.

Firstly, no one holds the door open for you.  Well, none of the local students do anyway.  The teachers, other international students and exchange students do, but if you're walking behind a bunch of people then expect to get door swung into your face if you're not careful.

Secondly, almost all the professors (almost of all of mine anyway) will discourage you from taking their class.  I think it might be because all my classes are the ones being taught in English so they don't want that many people, but I don't really know about that.  Lots of professors who are teaching the English classes openly say that they don't want to do it - they were 'forced' to do it by the university.  So I think local people don't really like to speak English.

Thirdly, every girl pretty much dresses the same except for their shoes.  There are four types - high heels, converse sneakers, boots/booties or ugg boots.  For the boys it's almost like a uniform - cap, baseball jacket and jeans.  You'll get some guys looking fashionable but they're mostly in the Arts department so go figure.

And lastly?  All the things you've seen in dramas? The coffee cups with straws, the modification of faces, the super-packed subways, the drunk ahjusshis who go very red in the face?  IT'S ALL TRUE.  Oh, but no crazy, four-way love story.

Here, have a bagel.

HAPPY TIMES

Yesterday I went back to Idae with Heidi where we spent four hours shopping in and out of numerous clothes, shoes and bag shops.  It was so insanely freezing during the time when we were there, but it didn't really hinder us that much.  Heidi had never heard of the 'service' system before, so she was happily surprised when a lady outside Etude House offered her a basket with free samples inside them.  'Service' in Korea is pretty much free stuff.  The main reason for service is so that they hope to remain in a customer's mind and hope that the customer will come back.  We both love free stuff (heehee) so we happily took the basket and went inside the shop where we ended up buying a few items and receiving even more 'service'.

Both me and her were looking for specific items - I wanted shoes, jackets, coats, a bag (....and more) and she was looking for boots, gloves and earmuffs - so we kept our eyes out while walking along the streets.  I ended up buying a pair of really pretty flats for 29,000 won (25 AUD) and we both bought some books for university classes.  The mini-mall where we bought our books was really cute.  Downstairs there was a vintage clothes store and upstairs was taken by a fashion brand called codes-combine.  It was really fun shopping with Heidi, mainly because we have similar mindsets when it comes to shopping - 5,000 won rack? Chargeee!!

Today I went to Yongsan with Jooyoung to fix my phone.  My SIM card wasn't working so I couldn't make any phone calls out, but now it's all fixed!  Afterwards she took me to Myeongdong where I had a look around the famous tourist shopping destination.  I was by myself because Jooyoung had to leave for yoga class, but it was still fun.  The items in Myeongdong are definitely overpriced though, probably because of all the tourists which flock there all the time.  If you're looking for a place to shop, I wouldn't really recommend it unless you want to pay more for something which you can get for much less if you go to other places.  But the vibe of it all is very good.  There is one loooong street for unbranded fashion shopping, another street for branded shopping and then another street for food.  I was so tempted to buy food but this line from In Her Shoes kept coming back to me: "Clothes never look any good... food just makes me fatter... shoes always fit."....so I skipped the food and bought another pair of shoes.  heeeeeee :)

More happy things have happened other than shopping though.  My classes started yesterday, and so far I'm finding it to be pretty interesting.  I didn't realise so many Koreans would be taking the courses I was taking - in fact, I had initially thought my classes would be full of exchange students.  Not the case, however.  I have one class where I am the only international student and the rest of them are local Koreans.  Therefore, the teacher said he would have an 80:20 English:Korean teaching style.  I don't know, I really hope I can understand the lectures.  All I need is a pass in all my classes, but I still want to learn as much as possible.  Another good thing is that I've opened up my bank account, so now I have a safe place for all my money.  For the past few days I've been carrying around 2,000,000 won in my bag, occasionally taking some out for my necessary purchases (yes, those shoes were necessary!! :) ).  It wasn't too scary but just inconvenient.  I like carrying cash with me, but not that much...you know?

TOILET WISDOM

The first two days has passed by pretty quick in Seoul, and it was only this morning when I was sitting in the toilet (half-asleep, may I add) and think about what I've experienced so far.  Two days might not seem like a lot of time, but I realised that I have actually lived a really sheltered and comfortable life.  And while that life was really good back home because most of my friends from church had also lived a similar life, it didn't really prepare me for living by myself.

What I mean is that while doing my personal business this morning, I was thinking about how little I knew of social etiquette and how small I felt when I realised I was just a young, naive, inexperienced girl trying to learn about life.  Does everybody feel like this at some stage?  Hmmm...I'll answer my own question, and go out on a limb and say that I don't think so.  For me, it happened only because I really wanted to go overseas and study - to leave my little group at home (I love you guys!) and try something new.  Some people don't ever feel this way, which is fine, but I honestly think that the adventurous spirit goes hand in hand with personal growth of a person.

A Lazy Update is coming up soon, because there's been a lot going on and I haven't felt like writing about all of it in detail so, like how Koreans say: Please anticipate it greatly and I'll try to show a better side of myself.  haha :)

HELLO SEOUL

I have arrived in Seoul - yay! I am also really tired and feel like a loner because I don't know anyone and I am still yet to see the face of my room mate.  Her luggage is in the room, but nothing has been unpacked which is kind of weird.  Anyway, this post is just a short update of what's been happening in Korea.

This morning I met my buddy, Jooyoung, at the airport.  She and another CAU student were waiting for me and Michael, the other UniSA exchange student, so we ended up taking the subway and taxi back to CAU together.  It must have looked kind of strange to other people, because our suitcases were actually really, really big.  After we parted our ways to separate dormitories, Jooyoung and I went up to my room.  I unpacked all the immediate stuff that I needed, and then we went to go eat brunch.  We were both so hungry since neither of us had eaten breakfast this morning and it was already the middle of the day.  We ate at this little shop called Momochi - no photos because I forgot my camera and my iPod (and my passport....) - where we had the Korean/Japanese fusion curry.  The little restaurant had no one else in it and the shop owners came to talk to us for a little bit.  I could understand a little bit of what they were saying but didn't really get the gist of the conversation, so I just sat there eating.  The owners were so nice though.  On a part of the wall near the door they had all these loyalty cards for different people - if you eat there, you get a stamp on the card.  It's similar to what we have in Adelaide, except they keep the card for you.

When we finished eating lunch, Jooyoung took me around the area to buy all the things that I needed.  I bought blankets, a pillow, a hair-dryer and shampoo/conditioner.  The walk back up to the dormitory was intense.  CAU is built upon a big hill so there are steps and steep roads everywhere.  I guess I'm used to climbing stairs and hills (thanks to Cambodia and my mum), but Jooyoung was really puffed out by the time we arrived back at the dormitory.  She had to leave for a meeting afterwards so I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking all my clothes and other stuff.  I now have everything packed away in it's rightful position, and although my desk doesn't look clean, it's really not that messy either.  

Tonight I went downstairs to eat my first ever canteen meal.  It was SO GOOD.  The main meal was fish, but I saw someone mixing the side dishes (kimchi and bean sprouts) into the bowl of rice so I copied them.  There was 고추장 gochujang (hot pepper paste) in a big bowl as well as seaweed, so I mixed them all in together as well and ta da! I had 비빔밥 bibimbap minus the vegetables, beef and egg.  

That's pretty much what happened during my first day in Seoul.  There's still a lot of other stuff which needs to be done like renting my phone, opening my bank account, getting my alien registration and figuring out how to use their transport system.  It's kind of overwhelming when I put it all together, but I have to keep reminding myself that today is only my first day, and there are still lots and lots more days to come!

ANY DAY NOW

It's kind of crazy to think that I'm going to be leaving in three days.  People have been saying things like "good luck with everything!" and "Have a great time!" and everything, but why has it still not sunk in that I am going to Korea?! My mum has been telling me to clean up my room because she'll be using it once I leave, but I haven't even started.  I actually think it's gotten messier ever since I started packing.

I received an email today from CAU which contained both good news and bad news.  The bad news was that the Korean government has changed it's policies on foreigners purchasing health insurance in Korea, which means I have to buy travel insurance here.  I freaked out a bit.  I'm leaving in THREE DAYS (yes, now it's starting to sink in) and they only tell me today that I need to buy health insurance here.  I was planning to buy it over there because it's cheaper, but luckily my parents and I found a good deal with an insurance company we've used before so it's all okay.  I have to admit, I know Koreans are quite known for their abrupt changes and general tardiness but I've never experienced first hand so this was pretty shocking.

Good news is that I now know who my room mate is!!! Well, I know what her Hangul-ised name is.  I'm guessing she's French by the sounds of her romanized name, but I can't be too sure.  Either way, I know she's definitely not Korean.  To be honest I had hoped that I could be housed with a Korean room mate, just so I could practise Korean with them.  But having someone from another country is just as cool.  It's definitely going to be strange living with a total stranger, but that's why they're called strangers right?  Yes, exactly so.

ANOTHER STEP TAKEN

My exchange university sent me my buddy information today (finally...!) and now I'm super super excited!!  I kind of fretted over the buddy thing because I thought the information would be sent earlier, but then I saw the list of how many exchange students there would be and realised it's a huge job and it was pretty selfish of me to want things to happen faster.  I hate it when people rush me, so yeah.  No hard feelings to the exchange team at CAU! :)

What's kind of unsettling me now is that I think about the fact that I will actually, really, literally, irreversibly leaving next Friday afternoon and it makes me a little bit scared.  It doesn't actually feel like I'm leaving.  I don't even have the luggage bag suitcase in my room yet so it doesn't feel real.  Maybe once I start putting things into the suitcase I will have a feeling of "wow...I'm not going to be here for five months."

Speaking about packing....so packing in itself is not hard - in fact I've always had a very positive attitude towards packing.  I love packing for holidays.  I don't know why but I think it's exciting when I need to decide which pieces of clothing will be my wardrobe for the next few days or weeks, however long the holiday is.  It's even more exciting when the place I'm going to has no shopping facilities which means whatever I bring is what I'm stuck with - so I have to make a good choice.  That's the thrill of packing for me.

To be honest, I'm kind of not in the mood to pack at the moment.  I've written a list of what to bring, but my wardrobe is kind of messy at the moment so I don't particularly want to sift through it all.  Since I'm going at the end of winter until their mid-summer, I have a feeling I'm going to need to pack for all four seasons.  My mum advised me to just pack a few things for each season and continuously wear the same clothes over five months.  Umm...if I was a guy, yeah...maybe.  Too bad I'm not, which means I will want to wear something different almost everyday.  Or at least have enough options for different combinations to last me a few months.  I envy people who can wear the same pieces of clothing and make it look new because they're creative enough to make it work but the truth is, I'm not one of them.

There's also going to be a wedding, house-warming party, farewell lunch and wedding dinner to go to as well this weekend and I'm still trying to figure out my head around those.  Packing, although it should be, is not really high on the list.  And I don't know....maybe I've been using the word 'pack' too much, but now it sounds really weird to me. Pack...pack...packing....quack quack quacking...

P.S. sorry about lack of pictures. I'm not a huge fan of just text posts either, but I fully intend to take lots of pictures in Seoul so do not fear!

PREPARING TO GO

I bought my first app from the iTunes store last night and it is ....a Korean-English dictionary! I've been trying to find a Korean-English dictionary for ages, even before I found out that I would be going on exchange to Korea.  I took an eight-week Korean course at the WEA centre a few years ago when I first started becoming interested in k-dramas and kpop but it didn't really help me with too much since I had already learnt the Hangul alphabet by myself online beforehand.  So now I have a dictionary on my iPod to take with me wherever I go instead of carrying a book around.  It's good because I am guaranteed to take my iPod around everywhere I go since it's my source of entertainment, whereas it is pretty likely that I will forget a book.  

This is what the app looks like:

 

When I was playing around with it this morning, I realised that I had previously installed the Korean language writing ....thing (....) on my iPod and could actually type using Hangul letters.  Initially I was kind of worried about what I'd do if I encountered words in Korean and I didn't have a way of finding out what they meant, but problemo solvedo :)

I still haven't started packing yet, but I promised my friend that I would start this Wednesday and he told me was going to check up on me so I have to do it.  To be honest I don't really know how much and what I'm going to take.  My dad left for Hong Kong this evening and he had almost nothing to take with him despite going away for a week.  Five months and one week is a big difference, I know, but there isn't anything here that they don't have over there....I think.  아....몰라!

The university is supposed to set me up with a buddy who will pick me up from the airport and show me how to take care of things, but they haven't emailed me anything.  I sent them an email last night so I guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow to see if they reply.  

26 DAYS LEFT

Korean visa? CHECK! The last piece of my Korean exchange puzzle has fallen into place.  I am finally all ready to board that plane on the 25th of February and land in the delightful land of Seoul.  I'll be honest, I was really worried about my visa.  I've never done anything like that before, and I was so scared that they would reject it for some reason (....like, maybe I looked fat in my photo and they went "ew..not sending her to the land of thin and beautiful") but I prayed really hard and God answered!

It's kind of scary knowing that there's only three weeks left until I leave.  I'm not even sure if I'm ready to start packing yet, let alone leaving.  I've been checking the Korean online shopping sites to see what the weather is like and what I need to take over there.  Although, I'm thinking maybe I should pack lightly and just buy whatever I need when I get there.  I mean, it saves my luggage space which means I can take back more with me when I come home, right?  Yes of course.  No, it's not just an excuse to go shopping.  I am saving ...something.  I don't know yet.

I've done my initial course registration for university already, but their final course registration isn't until March 2nd, which confuses me a little bit because I thought classes started on March 2nd.  I guess we'll have to see how it goes.  I'm actually reeeeally excited to see their university.  I like looking at school buildings.  There's something really prestigious and classic about them, especially the old brick buildings.  Modern buildings are nice too, but I've always loved the English-style buildings.  It gives off a really historic touch.  I can't wait to see their library as well. I hope they have English books....

CONCLUSIONS OF MISSION TRIP

Our mission trip work in Phnom Penh is over now.  It's been almost two weeks exactly since I've been able to have access to the internet, and it's definitely been a strange two weeks.  I'll expand a bit more about Cambodia in later posts, but here are some points which sum up my thoughts about the mission trip.

1. It was very different to my first two mission trips in Thailand, and I think I was disappointed that it wasn't the same.  That in turn affected my overall attitude.

2. I wish we were able to spend more time with the university students.  It would have been nice to be able to build a deeper relationship with them and talk to them more.

3. I'm glad we were able to build relationships with the children after seeing them almost everyday.  We all had our own favourites and agreed on the general not-so-favourites.

4. My personal relationship with God? A strange and interesting development, and perhaps not the way I expected it to turn out. 

I'll definitely post some pictures and more detailed blog posts about Cambodia later on! I just need to get the pictures from everyone else. 

Now our team is resting in a very nice hotel in Siem Reap.  We had been looking forward to this hotel the whole trip, and were anticipating what it would look like during our bus trip here.  We saw lots and lots of big, beautiful hotels and were all like "Wow! That's so pretty!"  We had just pointed to one gold hotel and exclaimed that it was so big, and then our car turned the opposite direction into a smaller, wooden-looking hotel.  It was quite funny.  In a way, it's slightly ironic and meaningful.  I guess it teaches us that big is not always better, because our hotel is extremely comfortable and lovely.  There's a pool, buffet breakfast, free internet and air-conditioning.  Those four items alone made all of us smile and laugh with happiness. 

I finally recieved my offer of acceptance from CAU after checking my email today.  I can't wait to go home and start preparing and packing.  In less than two months, I will be in Korea and living a life which I have been dreaming about for quite some time.  I have heard that there has been an outbreak of bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease in Seoul, and it's quite scary.  I can only pray that God will look after me!