My 2013: Once upon a time in Korea...

It has been almost 5 years since I first set my foot on the "Land of the Morning Calm" - Korea. Come to think of it, I will miss Korea very much even after I have graduated and returned to Malaysia for good. I will miss waking up early under the nice cool weather of spring, experiencing the scorching summer heat wave in Daegu, listening to the sound of rustling leaves in the autumn, and trying to catch the first snowflakes of the winter. I will greatly miss my friends too.

My autumn 2013.

It was sad knowing I will leave the land I now consider my second home. I have so many good memories and I am sure I will never experience some of them if I am to continue my studies here in Malaysia. 

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Few months ago, I backpacked to China and Taiwan alone. It was really an awesome experience and if I have the chance to do this again, I would. Travelling alone (especially when I was in Taiwan) taught me a lot about life. I learned that not every things in life goes the way we want them to be - I was in Taipei when typhoon struck so I had to change some part of my trip itinerary and skipped some places. I will write about my trip one day.

The Bund, Shanghai 2013

The Bund at night 2013

Stone carving at the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou

Outside Suzhou station

National Palace Museum in Taipei- the best museum in Asia!

Hi Taipei!!!

Life must go on...

Jeremy Lin who?

While I was in Shanghai, I made friend with a lone Dutch backpacker and we traveled around Hangzhou together even though neither of us can speak in Chinese. Over there too, I met a friend who I had known for over 6 years when we were in Singapore for the first time in person, therefore fulfilling one of my bucket list - travel to Shanghai. 

We visited Suzhou together and it was quite interesting to know that in Suzhou, the residents speak in their own distinct dialect like my friend with her distinct Shanghainese dialect when she spoke to her mum. And I was invited to her home for real Shanghai food. Cool huh? :)

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Of late, I am extremely busy and sometimes, I felt very exhausted. Tired of finding job, stressed from juggling my time between attending classes, gym and other priorities, and worrying much about my future. Unlike my peers who already knew what they want to be in the future, in my case, I still do not know what I am suppose to do with my life. If I already knew what I wanted to do in my life, my life would be very easy.

KNU Graduation Album Photo shoot

I would just work hard to achieve that primary goal and everything else will fall in place. Sadly, it doesn't seems to be like that for me. I always want to find a career that I can dedicate my whole life on because I will love doing it. I have yet to find it. On the other hand, just in case you didn't know, I already got a job offer from Samsung in Malaysia before I have even graduated but I am still considering whether to accept it or not. 

Finally, after 5 long years... almost done...

The main reasons are that I enjoy studying more than working and I would like to work elsewhere first before coming back home for good. In my case, entering a foreign university to continue my studies requires lots of money and I vow to myself not to depend on my parents after graduating. I want to stand on my own two feet this time. I am fortunate though that my parents are still working and not dependent on me.

In Korea, unless you are an engineering student (to a smaller extent, business school student) or a graduate student, the possibility of you getting a decent job in Korea is quite low for foreigners. I am a science major with a minor in business administration, applying for job here is horrifying difficult because they seemed to reject applicants majoring in science. Or maybe I am not good enough... :(     

Busan Firework Festival 2013

To see as much as I can before I leave Korea for good...

Nevertheless, I am not a person who gives up quickly and moreover, going back home for good doesn't sounds so bad at all. It is just that I am quite nervous of whether I will get used to living in Malaysia and starting all over from the beginning again here. One more month before the end of my university life and may it be a memorable one.

Journey to the West : To China and Koreans

Just another random thought coming out from my mind somewhere :

Supposedly I walk around the streets of Korea, the most obvious thing is that I am able to blend into the Korean society but when I walk on streets in Malaysia, I will be immediately judged based on my colour and ethnicity.



If I am a fair person, most probably I am a chinese while if I have dark skin, I would be immediately be thought of as an Indian, etc.

Korea is still a monoethnic country, a country with supposely only one "race" but for people like me, the feeling of being able to blend into the Korean society and not be classified as a foreigner is great.

But once the people (Korean) starts speaking in Korean so passionately to me and at the end of the sentence, I would like "Huh?", only then the Koreans will think I am a foreigner.

Blogging :

I like to blog but to blog consumes lots of time (like this post). I prefer to write long and by writing long it will be more interesting (I think). Writing a long blog needs time to think. Thinking of what to say and write needs a hell lots of time.

I have lots of assignments, homeworks and other commitments that I need to pay more attention to. I really hope I am free like last year when I was learning Korean language. I had so much time then.

China Trip :

I went to China on the 12th of February last month, actually it was an unexpected trip. I went to Beijing. Beijing is a country with nice roads but when you are at the outskirts of the city, then you can see that the developments seem to cease.



However, buildings around the city are spaced so far apart between the other buildings and it's incomparable to Seoul. They were all built side by side in Seoul.



I had been to almost every touristic places in Beijing, from the Great Wall of China till the Tiananmen Square. Beijing is big and the buildings are big. The air quality was okay, luckily the sky was clear throughout my stay in Beijing. I thought it would be bad as told by my former Korean language classmates about his trip to Beijing.



An odd thing about China is that it's freezing cold with chilling wind blowing here and and sometimes the people are so.. Have you ever been surrounded by people trying to sell their wares, foodstuffs to you forcefully? Have you ever been asked for tips here and there?

It happens in Beijing but maybe because I do not look like a Chinese. Funny huh? In Malaysia, I am a Malaysian Chinese. In China, I am a foreigner. In Korea, I am a Korean, Chinese or Japanese. Who am I? ;)



I wont be posting all the photos of my China trip but only a few places I think it's worth mentioning. I like Great Wall of China, the mountainous scenery was picturesque, The Summer palace because it's huge and it took me more than 30 minutes to walk from one end to another and the Donghuamen night market in China that is selling all sorts of nice (and sometimes exotic) food.



Chinese food are all salty and oily. It was delicious but not for the health conscious people.



Chinese in Beijing are very enterprising, I saw many people selling all sorts of food to the extent of surrounding the whole group of tour groups and asking everyone to buy their foodstuffs. In my case, it was roasted sweet potato. It was delicious though.



I would ride that if I have the time. Death and Life is just part of life so why be so afraid of "it". I would try it during my next trip to Beijing.



The same place in the picture from above. It was all about carved ice. It was really big and that time, I was really exhausted to the extent of wanting to go back to my hotel. I had flu and running nose so I can't really enjoy this trip. This place is really freezing. Colder than in Seoul and Daegu. I wished I brought more tissue (for my running nose) instead of my glove and thicker clothing.

End

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