My Bucket List, 내 생각

Sometimes, I always wonder what were my goals in life. I am undecided due to the lack of opportunity to make mistakes because it was risky if I fail or maybe, I was too ignorant in what to do in the future.

Spring 2012

As one of the final year undergraduate students, I started to worry a lot about my future: the next phase of my life after graduation. Well, my life until now was already set up when I received this scholarship to continue my studies here. Every paths had already been decided: graduate with a degree and leave the university with good memories.

My turn is coming soon

Is that all?

As imperfect as I always am, I always try to be the best. Ambitions, successes, wealth and positions used to be my main goals when I was young. Of course they still do now, but I do not crave for them anymore. Successes always equate happiness? Aren't they? 

As we were all taught from young that getting good grades, awards result in better future and these were reinforced by movies where the victors are often portrayed as the happiest persons on earth.

So, I competed.

Puff your face and let's eat curry puff

Now as a young adult, the meaning of successes started to be redefined. It is more to achieving your goals and be contented with what we have. Living within our means, be humble and grateful with what we have is not easy. However, easy or not, nothing is impossible. These days, I am trying to connect the dots, dots that have meanings to me. 

Dragonfly at Gyeongju

I also learned that as we grow older, the friendship circles around us will start to shrink. Facebook is the opposite though. On the flip side, the friends we have when we grew older are the closest, the ones we can rely most. Anyway, I am always inspired when I watched some classic ol' movies. 

Vanilla or vanilla?? Nom nom..

Forrest Gump is my all time favorite. It tells the life of a young boy growing up with clutches who never fails to work hard and achieve his goals. Along his journey to adulthood, he began to walk unassisted, help his friends, serve his country and meet the love of his life. lalalala :)

Hi Kid, can you pleaseeeee stand still? -_-"

Then comes the "bucket list". I wrote down a list of things I would love to see and make them happen before the time comes. Honestly, I have no idea how or when I would be able to accomplish them but I will try my best to cross the list out one by one.          

1. Help the orphans (or anyone in need)

2. Be proficient in Korean (Take and pass the Korean proficiency test)

3. Get a job

4. Travel to Shanghai solo

5. Travel to Europe

6. Start my own business

7. Speaking to the public in an important event

8. Lean more about other religions

9. Contribute to an orphanage

10. Waking up with the feeling that I have accomplished my goals in life

11. Publish my own book

12. Try bungee jumping or sky diving

13. Play chess against a complete stranger in an unexpected place

14. Say "hello" to Taj Mahal

15. Nap under a tree peacefully with no one bothering me at my high school

16. Witness the most beautiful thing in the world

A never ending journey with my Lala-land military ration (milk)

I felt, it's better to live with goals and dreams than to live just for the sake of living.

It's a female cat without even looking at the "ahem ahem", wanna know why? Search for Calico cat!  NEVER MESS WITH A SCIENCE STUDENT!!! RAWR!

어제 신문 읽었다가 내가 앞으로 뭐 될지 갑자기 생각했어.. 사실 난 부자 아녀서 기회를 누구나 주시면 난 어쩔수없이 받아야해죠. 이땜에 원하는 길 미리 못찾고 그냥 일반사람들처럼 살기 위해서 내 운명 감수했어. 진심으로 난 좋은 인간처럼 살고 싶어.. 그런데 우리 인간의 마음을 아무거도 추측못하잖아. 오늘은 이렇게 되지만 내일 다른거 생겨도 됨. 인강 살기가 참 힘든데 우리 항상 무시했나봐~ 아무튼 난 꼭 열심히 살아~ 꼭 행복해~ 

Daegu: Of Summer, Life, Happiness, Korean Photo Studio and KNU Festival

This will be my last post of the month, exam's nearing and early preparations are essential to achieve my desired results. Now, it is summer in Korea, there aren’t any cherry blossoms to be seen blooming or cool weather to be felt anymore. It is also highly unlikely that I can wear my favourite outer every time I am outdoors.

Goodbye Spring...

Exercising under humid and warm summer weather has become a physically demanding routine. I felt I am now at my peak of physical capability. I used to run 12 km every day. My love for sports and running began after I realized I had grown a lot fatter since arriving to Korea in 2009. 

My weight was 76 kilos and in just less than 2 months, I ballooned to 82 kilos (Argghh)! Then, I felt I need to do something about myself. I started walking, and walking, and finally running. Now, I am 67 kilos but I used to be 64 kilos. What about you? There's nothing to be embarrassed talking about weight. ^^ 

The worst thing about losing weight was I couldn't wear most of my cloths. Every cloth I have now is either new ones or bought after I shed kilos. In Korea, the most common concern for the men was height issue. The taller you are, the better your "status" is. 

However, it's very amusing to see some people who purchased elevator shoe just to look taller. When I see short guys wearing basketball sneakers, high heeled boots or shoes with padding, just to look taller, I can only wish for them to be contented with whatever features they have.

Platform shoe

I am taller than the Korean national height average of 1.74 m but even if I am shorter, I couldn't care less. My height? Ahem, secret. When I was in high school, I always dread going to the school assembly because I felt teachers are always looking at the tall guys first before looking at others. Come on! Isn’t it so obvious? 

So, I learned to discipline myself by paying attention during assembly, this leads to paying full attention in classes and somehow, not liking to be distracted while focusing on a task. Frankly, I am also not very tall but during my "formative" high school years in Malaysia, I was among the "above-average" or "tall" in height. I never knew height was such an important issue until I was in Korea.

The Spiciest bun ever eaten in Korea! 

After living and mingling with the Koreans, I discovered that most of them are generally more sensitive and more concerned about how they present themselves to others - Are they good enough? Are they comparable with others?, etc. This is why Koreans are very obsessed with rankings. 

Rankings among the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries as the most technologically advanced country, ranking on YouTube on the latest pop culture (The K –pop), and the nomination of Jeju Island as the seven natural wonders of the world and so forth. They are very proud and happy.

However, by being too engrossed in the chasing after rankings and material wealth, they do not know how and when to be satisfied with what they had. Not many Koreans would like to be farmer because they always assume farmers earn very little. However, once they obtained high paying jobs, they are still dissatisfied because of the unending monotony of their job. They also work long hours. 

But they are never happy. Yet, they want their children to get high paying jobs like they themselves. How ironic isn’t it?

Recently, I attended a class but instead of normal lesson, we watched a video on a lecture about “Happiness” conducted at Harvard and a short slide on happiness. I was attracted to the slide presentation more than the video. It was about “What is Happiness?”. There are 3 types of happiness. 

The first one is “The Pleasant Life”, it is about being in a place and spending your time doing things you like. The second is “The Good Life”. This means doing something you are good at and when you lose track of time such as spending time with the people you love or your job. Finally, it is “The Meaningful life”.

Lets have a meaningful life... 

This means knowing your strength and using them in the service of something higher than yourself such as volunteer service. There are many occasions whereby I am happy because I am doing things I like, being on special place and helping people. 

When I think of “The Pleasant Life”, I felt I am always happy when I am inside my room, looking at the greenery outside the window just after it rains and eating a variety of cakes - fruitcakes, layer cakes and chocolate cakes. Yummy... 

**

In Korea, taking photos is an essential activity for many occasions. 100-day boyfriend-girlfriend anniversary, class picture and even a plain-looking group shot are all taken in a photo studio. In Daegu, I would suggest going to a photo studio at Banwoldang Subway Station (반월당역). It is located at W427 near the Hyundai Departmental Store and opens from 10 am till 9 pm.

PhotoFun - Taking photos is fun? I don't think so..

"Hey, remove that ugly pimples!!!"..

What's next? Photoshop!

This studio is highly recommended because the price is affordable and for around 4~5,000 Won each person, you can get a set of photos. However, my only problem with Korean studios is that they photo shopped most photos all the time! 

Most of the time, they will make a fat guy appearing thinner on photo, a chubby lady suddenly having a coca cola bottle looking slender waist, dark skinned to a fairer skin (Sigh…), and some other basic retouching like removing wrinkles and pimples.

Tadaaa!!! (Don't ask why I had to pose this way... -_-") 

I love and very contented with everything I have.

**

Stalls (주막) selling you-can-get-them-cheaper-elsewhere alcohols and food

From the top of my dormitory, wow! 

KNU festival was held from last Wednesday to Friday, I attended on Wednesday but fell ill on Thursday and was too exhausted for Friday. I slept early but I watched the fireworks display on the most romantic spot in my dormitory. The open space on the highest spot is where you can see stars, moon and sun, if only the girls can enter the guys dormitory… 

Daegu Restaurant Review – 소담정 (Soh-Dahm Jung)

Continued from here.

After a few minutes of walking around the lake, we headed to the restaurant called 소담정 (Pronounced as "Soh-Dahm Jung"), well known for Korean medicinal cuisine. Yak Sun (약선) or Food therapy is based on oriental medical theories to promote well being and prevention of diseases.

You are here...

Most food was catered to suit one’s physical condition and many of the restaurant’s orders came from hospital patients craving for healthy meals.

Side dishes for the rice wrapped in lotus leaf

When we first arrived there, we were served with a few plates of appetizers. To be honest, I expected a decent tummy filling meal because I did not have my breakfast yet. The appetizers all came in small portion for a table of four people.

The food (Check the ratings below) - Colorful huh?

The best - Fried fish with soy sauce! 

After the appetizers, individual dishes were brought out to be served. The meatballs were good – not too sweet and they were so chewy (Rating 3.5/5), fried fish (It reminded me of home because the fish was perfectly cooked unlike in most places I had tried – 4.5/5), roasted duck (so-so, there are better places for it – 3/5)... 

There was also the mushroom, dried orange with slices of garlic/bamboo shoot dish (OMG, my mouth! I hate raw garlic/bamboo shoot! I don’t eat them! 1.5/5) and common Korean side dishes (반찬) such as Kimchis, seaweed, etc. 

The last individual dishes served for lunch were the beef slices with tteok or rice cake (Rating – 3/5), Korean jelly (2.5/5) and the rice wrapped in lotus leaf (Soft, smells good – 3.5/5)

The persimmom-shaped tteok! 

Anyway, I am very strict with the rating so a low rating does not means the food is so bad. The most unique dish was the tteok that looked like dried persimmons (Rating of 3/5 for its uniqueness). Finally, we finished our lunch with a toast of Korean Ginseng tea (a 3.5/5!)

Good till the very last..

The end.

After lunch, we had the tea ceremony. We were taught how to bow in a Korean traditional way before the tea was served to everyone. It was quite interesting to know the complicating steps in preparing a cup of tea. It was not easy either for the tea presenter because everyone looked forward more to drinking tea than learning about the culture and manners.

I was more interested in learning about the types of teas, the most expensive tea, history of tea and the medicinal purposes of tea. The Korean tea history began in Year 828 when the Korean King asked his subjects to plant the tea around Sangye Temple and Haem Temple (Hopefully they are correct). Tea from Korea originated in China.

Snacks for tea time - a requirement.

During the Shila Dynasty, two princes ordered 10,000 people to plant tea and to drink it. To cut the tale short, the rest as they say is history. Tea has 5 tastes. The bitter taste means it’s good for digestion and it has important role in making the “taste” of tea. Spicy flavor in tea is good for the lungs, sour taste means lots of Vitamin C and it is also good for the heart, salty is good for the spleen and the sweet taste of tea is for relaxation.

When preparing tea, the most important criterias are the warmth of the tea cups and water. Tea pots and cups must be warmed in advance before the tea leaves were added and when pouring the water, there must be a sound.

Daegu Social Media Team (I am not in the picture).

Restaurant Business card (In Korean).

Getting there? (Click on it for higher resolution)

The lady who prepared our Korean meal. 

According to the tea presenter, ginger tea is good during cold weather and green tea is best selected as an ideal drink in hot weather. The restaurant provides tea drinking session and it is best to book beforehand to check the availability of tea session.

Summer 2011 : Back to Korea

I wish my summer vacation was a little longer. Bounded by scholarship regulations, 1 month was only how long the duration that I can be back home. My journey back to Korea was interesting and I did bring more stuffs back than I had ever expected. I bought a travelling backpack in Malaysia, the big one you see when people go backpacking or hiking so I stuffed it with things that are fragile (such as cookies and lots of it) and heavy (so as to reduce the main luggage limit). ^^

Luckily after all these years working out, carrying more than 8 kilos on my back was still bearable. My main luggage (24.5 kilos) was actually nothing in particular - gifts for friends and some "bribe" to the pretty teachers (if there are any.. *stares*) in my department (Just joking lah!). Gifts for friends and some for myself. Of course, my laptop bag too. Since I often travel to Korea in and out, it's best to take advantage of the few loopholes if travelling by premium airlines (like the Malaysia Airlines).

Malaysia Airlines allows each passenger to take up to 20 kilos but somehow, it's stated 20 ~ 25 kilos. So it's okay to bring up to 25 kilos per trip. Budget airlines like AirAsia are all together a different story - bring only how heavy you are suppose to carry.

**

Sights around Penang Island



Penang Custom Office Building, built circa 1907



Ferry, preferred mode of transport before the Penang Bridge was built




Penang Bridge and the Betel Nut Tree ("Penang" was derived from the tree's name)



Penang High Court at night



Funfair is coming to town! - at Queensbay, Penang

My holiday in Malaysia was great. If I had more time, I would be able to do more things that I wouldn't even dream of in Korea. I always want to know how some swimmers would be able to dive underwater and jumping from the board (No time to learn this, unfortunately). I am curious to learn how they did it so I enrolled myself in a proper swimming class.

"Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?..."

At first I thought I was already too old to learn but thankfully, with a helpful and very patient instructor, fueled with determination to learn and the couldn't care less attitude about drowning and so on- I finally did it! Yes! At first I was drinking chlorinated water all the time (maybe phobia.. phobia of depth.. :P) and really, it didn't feel nice when the water enters the nose like being stuffed with a flowing pipe. Ah... the bloop bloop bloop..

Anyway, finally able to go deep underwater and float up without using legs, unaided. Weird huh? The thing about most swimming classes are that they tend to focus only on swimming styles (such as breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke and butterfly) and not on how to swim/float when we have cramps in the leg or stomach. Highly recommended to find Mr. Neoh at Permata Swimming Court in Penang (if you are interested to learn from him)

Since I swim almost everyday (minus weekends) and was already exhausted by end of day, the vacation passed faster than I thought. Other than going out with friends and family, I cannot even recall how this vacation was over so quickly. Sigh.

**

We have many things we want to achieve in life. Henceforth, I try to make my university life something different from high school so as there can be more varieties in my somehow monotonous life. Contrary to popular belief that university and high school's life are totally different, it's almost the same (or maybe while I am in Korea). Here everything is about studies and only during free time, outdoor activities or hobbies can be done.

Though I'm not saying to neglect your studies but to be good at things we young adults are now ought to be now besides only studying. Maybe improving communication skills? or our social skills? or even be involved in sports? I have a short list of things I want to achieve, goals that I couldn't achieve during high school. One of it is participating in athletic track event. During high school, maybe because I was a bit unhealthy and it was impossible to even run and outbid any cikopek classmates. :P So secretly, I made it a goal to participate in track event one day and not getting last place anymore.

Guess what? I won 3rd placing in Inter University 400 m race!!!

**



Postcard from Penang

Where to eat in Penang, Malaysia? Penang State consists of an island (half the size of Singapore) and a large swath of land on the mainland. Since I am from the island, firstly any tourist should do when coming to Penang Island is to try the food and it's the Indian Muslim food - Nasi Briyani that I would recommend first besides the famous Penang Assam Laksa. The most mouth watering Nasi Briyani is at Kapitan restaurant next to Queensbay Mall. With a quarter tandoori chicken served with the uh la la briyani rice. It was heavenly..

Of Curry Mee for my belly at the Alley



KOMTAR tower



Along the lane for..



Curry Mee!

Chinese food? Nah. Okay, in my opinion, the best Penang Chinese food is still Curry Mee (PS. It's non halal). Instead of going to hotel or the Old Town restaurant serving expensive curry mee - Why not head to the stall by the street next to Kinowak School Uniform Supplier (I think the shop's name is somehow wrong) with KOMTAR building full in sight.

Meal by the sea

It was delicious but with no chunks of meat (only 2 meat balls), yet it's okay since it's fairly cheap (less than RM 3 or 1 USD per bowl). Over here I ordered the famous peanut soup. Tasted so-so but it was tasty the previous week. Also, do drop by at the restaurant next to Tarbush in Tanjung Bungah. They served excellent dishes with nice beach scenery.

**

My university semester will start again next Thursday. The feel of going back to classes is quite exciting. This time, I took all major subjects with no non-major classes in between to back me up with better results. :( Trying not to be pessimistic since this feel could spoil my day. Aiyah... Sup Sup Soi lah (Translation - Easy as peanuts *Was trying to be sarcastic*). Yet.. Nothing is impossible! 아싸!

Have a fabulous new semester!