I am sure there are many things that we want to do in life. In the course of life, there will be times when we want to achieve what we had dreamed for but had to give up in the end due to financial contraints, scholarly attainments, etc. I had a dream too.
But, I shall not dwell into this. :) I believe that life is not about remembering the past but about the present and future. Though past are said to be the guide to never repeat the mistakes, I find it a stumbling block because by dwelling over the past, progress will be hindered by that thoughts.
So I progressed, I didn't look back, I try to forget everything about the past. Along the way, there were memories but I suppressed them. I prefer to start everything afresh. This is what I did when I came to Korea.
Life is not always rosy in Korea. Some might say it's great to be able to study overseas and stuffs like that. However, I had to admit that the days when learning Korean language was one of the best days of my life. During the course of stay there, I matured I change. Change is a must and without change one will not be what we want to be.
Throught the course of my stay in Korea, I had many nice memories and of course some bad ones, lots of first and plenty of suprises. Life is so unexpected sometimes, really... ;)
Life in university is somehow stressful sometimes, I am practically alone in my practical class especially chemistry because my partner was also a foreigner, a Chinese (why the professor did not give me a Korean partner??? wth!) and he is practically clueless in every classes so I did everything by myself.
Classes were okay, the books I am using are all in English but the lectures are in Korean. Contrary to popular belief that staying overseas long will make you well versed in the country's language, it is actually not that true. My Korean might be good when I write and sometimes talk, but honestly, it is still mediocre. I learned Korean for a year and it is definately not enough at all.
In Korea, I have develop a intense liking towards photography. I am more into film photography but the film costs make me think otherwise. This year, I will be buying a new good dslr camera, my current camera is not sufficient enough to fuel my appetite for quality photos. Right now, I am restained by the limited photographic capabilities of my camera. Likewise, I am also planning a trip to Egypt. I will try to travel to one country or two every single year in Korea. I did that this year when I went to China but it was not enough.
Well, that was the uhmmn part...
Anyhow, I did keep myself updated with the Malaysian Thomas Cup badminton match, but not Uber Cup, I am not interested because the women are not yet competent and matured to win, they need more practice and coaching. Yet, it was heartening to see many Malaysians supporting our players but sad to say the Malaysian players do not play against the opponents, they think too much, they play to win the cup.
They lost so much attention in the match maybe because the Chinese were so on offensive or because the Malaysian players can feel the stress of playing against the "feared" Chinese players and the stress of the people to see the Malaysian team win. I had that feeling too when I started off with my first competitive match. The nerdiest and "mind blowing" game - chess. When I was selected to represent my school for it, I was more than happy to accept the challenge, those were the days when I want to prove my worth. Nowadays I don't have that much feeling to prove that I can do this and that. To ladies readers - Guys are competitive in nature. Ladies too ler...
During the Under-15 state level individual chess match, I was very very focused and confident. I won 5 and half point out of 8 points, making me the third best player in my school and so I was selected for the team event. Then, there were the times when the expectations to win comes into my mind. Here, I started to be burdened by my responsibility to win for the team and from then on, it went downhill. So I don't blame the Malaysian badminton team :) Better luck and focus next time.
**
These days, I am experiencing writer's block. I couldn't write well and think on what to write in english these days because I speak, text message and do assignments so much in Korean that I feel more comfortable in using Korean than English. My English proficiency had really deteriorated. Ugghh. I need to write more!
But, I shall not dwell into this. :) I believe that life is not about remembering the past but about the present and future. Though past are said to be the guide to never repeat the mistakes, I find it a stumbling block because by dwelling over the past, progress will be hindered by that thoughts.
So I progressed, I didn't look back, I try to forget everything about the past. Along the way, there were memories but I suppressed them. I prefer to start everything afresh. This is what I did when I came to Korea.
Life is not always rosy in Korea. Some might say it's great to be able to study overseas and stuffs like that. However, I had to admit that the days when learning Korean language was one of the best days of my life. During the course of stay there, I matured I change. Change is a must and without change one will not be what we want to be.
Throught the course of my stay in Korea, I had many nice memories and of course some bad ones, lots of first and plenty of suprises. Life is so unexpected sometimes, really... ;)
Life in university is somehow stressful sometimes, I am practically alone in my practical class especially chemistry because my partner was also a foreigner, a Chinese (why the professor did not give me a Korean partner??? wth!) and he is practically clueless in every classes so I did everything by myself.
Classes were okay, the books I am using are all in English but the lectures are in Korean. Contrary to popular belief that staying overseas long will make you well versed in the country's language, it is actually not that true. My Korean might be good when I write and sometimes talk, but honestly, it is still mediocre. I learned Korean for a year and it is definately not enough at all.
In Korea, I have develop a intense liking towards photography. I am more into film photography but the film costs make me think otherwise. This year, I will be buying a new good dslr camera, my current camera is not sufficient enough to fuel my appetite for quality photos. Right now, I am restained by the limited photographic capabilities of my camera. Likewise, I am also planning a trip to Egypt. I will try to travel to one country or two every single year in Korea. I did that this year when I went to China but it was not enough.
Well, that was the uhmmn part...
Anyhow, I did keep myself updated with the Malaysian Thomas Cup badminton match, but not Uber Cup, I am not interested because the women are not yet competent and matured to win, they need more practice and coaching. Yet, it was heartening to see many Malaysians supporting our players but sad to say the Malaysian players do not play against the opponents, they think too much, they play to win the cup.
They lost so much attention in the match maybe because the Chinese were so on offensive or because the Malaysian players can feel the stress of playing against the "feared" Chinese players and the stress of the people to see the Malaysian team win. I had that feeling too when I started off with my first competitive match. The nerdiest and "mind blowing" game - chess. When I was selected to represent my school for it, I was more than happy to accept the challenge, those were the days when I want to prove my worth. Nowadays I don't have that much feeling to prove that I can do this and that. To ladies readers - Guys are competitive in nature. Ladies too ler...
During the Under-15 state level individual chess match, I was very very focused and confident. I won 5 and half point out of 8 points, making me the third best player in my school and so I was selected for the team event. Then, there were the times when the expectations to win comes into my mind. Here, I started to be burdened by my responsibility to win for the team and from then on, it went downhill. So I don't blame the Malaysian badminton team :) Better luck and focus next time.
**
These days, I am experiencing writer's block. I couldn't write well and think on what to write in english these days because I speak, text message and do assignments so much in Korean that I feel more comfortable in using Korean than English. My English proficiency had really deteriorated. Ugghh. I need to write more!
1 comment:
Well, Kyle....I've recently been reading your blog and liked it:) and challenge here from a girl lets try chess or just better check I guess, if you have a board.And though you are right; language training was the interesting part I liked also the university part. I think it's real face of studying in Korea and being a student ( as a personality)...
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