Phobia

After a year in elementary, 6 years in primary, 5+2 years in secondary and 4 years in tertiary, I have not face such a fear before.

Shortly 5 month in my postgraduate, it was time for final exam. Some how I grew to have exam phobia. I am not sure if it was due to my lack of confidence or due to the fact that I am going to fail looking at my poor carry mark and my incompetence. My financial status made my scenario worse. If I am to fail, then I will most probably have to quit and repay my company for the sponsor.

Anyway thank god that I have finally finished the 2 papers. I did try my best. Now I can only pray for miracle.

Close to drown

To much of distraction at a time. I could not concentrate. This song totally spell out my feeling now.

11th July 2010: Goodbye Korea!

It has been years since I last stayed up all night long. Song and I spent so much time together for the past hours.

Finally in the morning, we got ready for our last breakfast together....more kim chi for the last time :D. We finally departed for Incheon Airport at about 8.30am and arrived at about 9.30am. There were long queues at the check in counters. We quickly checked in our luggage. I was thankful for the extra baggage allowance. My luggage weighted 31.7kg and it was checked in straight all the way until Penang without additional charges on me....yahoo! We bid farewell to Kim and Song and headed to our gate. It was such a waste that we didn't have time for the KAL Golden Lounge or time to admire the world class airport.

We boarded MH067 and flew straight back to Kuala Lumpur. This time the business class was completely full but I was too tired and slept on most of the time. We finally arrived in Malaysia at close to 4pm. I bid farewell to the other folks and headed to the Golden Lounge. I continued my flight back to Penang and arrived home at close to 9pm.

These 10 days were very exciting. I got to see the world and enjoyed world hospitality.

For more photos,please refer to FB album

10th July 2010: Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty

This was my 9th day in Korea.

In the morning, we had a very satisfying breakfast prepared by 대모. Yummy cakes and buns...so much on the table :D. After the breakfast, we followed 대부 and 대모 to do some shopping at the local supermarket. The supermarket has all sorts of things and they were all so fresh. 대모 also showed me tips in buying Korean ginseng and Korean chopsticks set. Thanks 대모 for all those tips! My mother would surely love those ginseng and chopsticks.

In the afternoon, we learnt to cook Korean style vegetarian curry from 대모. There could be so many flavours of curry and I love them all. The Korean style was pretty much the same as the Japanese and Hong Kis style. So nice to cook, eat and wash up together.

After the meal, 대부 and 대모 arranged to bring us Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. I was so excited before our road trip. It felt like I was about to go for a family outing. I missed those days going out with my family members. 대부 and 대모 showed us around the world heritage site and told us about their legend. I enjoyed spending time with them and this ended my homestay experience in Korea.

Then we departed back to Seoul and checked in to Lexington Hotel. It was just a quick stop at hotel to drop our luggage. Then we went shopping at Namdaemun market again. I got a lot of souvenir there at a very good bargain but those guys were even better shopper than me :D

Later we walked to Myeongdong Market and met up with Soomin, Jisu and Cha Hee for another round of pizza as dinner. Another special treat for us again. This was the best pizza we got in Korea. I love their beef pizza. It has my favourite beef chucks and onions on it.

Later at night, we went to Hongdae with Jisu, Cha Hee, Song and Kim for supper. We ordered Shoju, 삼겹살 and another meat dish. They showed us how to make delicious fried rice on the pan. The oil and crust were excellent to make fried rice. The night was still young. We continued on our night walking along Hongdae area. We searched and searched for the ideal club for us but we finally changed to a bar instead. It was an ideal place for us all to chat. We were there until 3am and Park asked us to join him in the hotel.

Park bought us another round of drinks and we continued our night in the hotel room watching the 3rd place World Cup Play-off. This was a fascinating day in Korea with the Koreans. The Koreans really exhibited the true Asian hospitality spirit.

For more photos,please refer to FB album

9th July 2010: Cultural Exchange

This was suppose to be a very interactive day with a lot of focus on cultural exchange.

We have Yueun, Jisu, Inae, Seolah and Sehee joint us at the "Cross-cultural Awareness Programme" at Miseong Middle School. The school visit was very impressive. The environment was very conducive and with complete facilities, WEE room, art room, music room and all that I could name. The middle school students were very hyperactive too.

Our cultural presentation was not satisfying especially with the non Malaysian culture Chicken Dance and Fruit Salad. Perhaps this was my worse ever cultural exchange event. We have no Malaysian music, no Malaysian dance, no Malaysian food and nothing Malaysian other than 15 of us. I blamed on myself for not getting any posters or promotional items from the Malaysian Tourism offices.

The 2nd exchange program was cancelled. We continued our program with lunch at Mr Pizza Restaurant. This time we got a special pizza to ourselves...yummy bacon pizza but again the salad bar was better. Thanks Kim for the special arrangement!

After the great meal and dropping off the Korean youth delegates, we headed to the Goyang City. It was almost an hour ride to the city. We arrived at the Goyang City for the Home-stay program. We were a little early so we got some time to do shopping. I bought a jacket there...hooray!

Finally back in the city council, we were assigned to our homestay. I was with Gangga and Ain. We were picked up by Mr Jung. Mr Jung and Mrs Jung were a nice mid age couple. They have 2 children but both were not at home. I was really impressed to see how this couple able to show their affections. Mr Jung told us a lot about their family. They have a cosy and comfy home.

Later in the evening, 대모 was so kind to make us home cooked meal despite her busy day at work. She purposely made us vegetarian bibimbap. She mentioned that she did a lot of research online about our eating habit. She cracked her head over the appropriate menu for us. Thanks her for the excellent meal and for teaching us how to make a simple Korean meal.

After the excellent meal, 대부 and 대모 brought us to nearby park. for the nightly Water and Light Show. While waiting for the show to begin, we walked round the park. It was a huge park with numerous theme garden. The locals enjoyed exercising in the park. We enjoyed the show very much. According to 대부, this was the largest scale Water and Light Show in Asia. It lasted about one and a half hour.

We got back to home and retired to bed early after a short chat. This was the earliest day I was on the bed.

For more photos,please refer to FB album