Gangnam Christmas Outing & 10 things to do this Christmas

I went to sleep last night at 4am and whilst i was falling asleep, random thoughts and words just flooded my head.

Christmas. Gifts. Dinners. Hang out. Friends. Family. And suddenly i wanted to climb out of bed to write about these following 10 things that came to my mind...

The TEN THINGS to do this Christmas:

1. Help - Because you have been helped some way or another and it brings immense joy, both to you and the party on the other.

2. Give - Because that means you have excess. Of what? Everything.

3. Receive - Because it simply brings joy to the giver.

4. Love - Because you have the capacity to. But first, love yourself.

5. Be loved - Because when you allow yourself to be loved., it means you can too, love.

6. Forgive - Because you have been forgiven too. If you don't forgive, it is your heart that's breaking.

7. Smile - Because some people can't even if they wanted to.

8. Hope - Because it means you are alive. Every breath represents a hope because you never know.

9. Laugh - Because taking everything too seriously will only make life harder.

10. Live - Because your life does not just belong to you, it also belongs to the people you love and love you.

Don't do these just for Christmas - do these everyday - i cannot guarantee 100% happiness or satisfaction, but i can guarantee you will feel different even if your situation remains constant. YOU - cannot change the environment, but YOU can change your mindset.

Here are just some shots of Christmas in Gangnam...

*Ahem* Yes, i organised a small class outing with my Chinese and Japanese classmates

Gangnam is known to be the high-class area where the who and who's hang out. This location is often related to wealthy people and hence, the place is often buzzing with life, good food and good brands.

Definitely looks more upmarket isn't it? 

Random street shots of the tall commercial buildings here.

I guess shopping here is comparable to Singaporeans shopping along Orchard road? 

Things are slightly more expensive.

 

Having a taste of Singapore!

Today, we decided to do something fun! For all the times my home mates cook for me, I decided that I would cook for them our local Singaporean dishes this once since my friends brought me all the relevant ingredients lest I miss local food!

  

 It was like a major team-building activity cos everyone was activated!

Feel so disturbed looking at this basin full of dishes!

And finally, our fruits of labor was borne!

Chicken Curry - the hot favorite.

The whole pot was "snapped" by my hungry home mates and they absolutely loved it!

Among the others, were

"Bak Kut Teh" - which was not the favorite (alot of left over!)

Garlic & Mushroom Stir-Fried Vegetables

"Where did my pan-fried eggs go?!"

Well, anyways, we were too busy eating we forgot all about the photos! Darn!

*Feeling especially at-home with these local dishes*

Going to Jjimjilbang 찜질방, random updates for the past week & bidding farewell to Huiwen

I am really bracing myself for the Winter as it is just getting colder and colder every day! Now that all my "local" friends have returned to Singapore and the 3 weeks of term-break was spent playing, touring etc. (instead of revising my Korean), finally have some time to myself. 

So what did I do the past few days?

After the playing so hard, going around, sleeping late etc. my body finally decided to break down so I can rest. (Just at the point when I could spend more time to myself!)

My good buddy - Huiwen, who has been my Seoul travel partner is finally leaving Seoul for Taiwan today! She is finally going home and I am so gonna miss her!

She's my listening ear whenever I complain and in difficult times, my companion after class as we study in the Ediya Coffee Joint near school, my partner in roaming and experiencing Seoul as a student, above all, my friend who always offer her help readily whenever I needed it. 

So for the last few days of her Seoul adventure, we (as in her other Taiwan friends and myself), planned a number of activities so as to enjoy the last bit of time with her.

First, we went to Jjimjilbang (찜질방). Let's talk abit more about this Jjimjilbang - pronounced as "Zim-chil-bang". This is like a spa centre. A place that is always featured in Korean dramas- where people go for a "public bath", spa in their preferred pool, then they all change into a PJ and hang out in what looks like a huge living room. Some watch TV, some just hang out, eat, talk, read etc.

Example of jimjibang? 

This is a shot taken from the super popular Korean Drama, Secret Garden that is currently airing!

In the JJimjilbang, there are 2 main areas. The BATH area & the COMMON LIVING ROOM area.

In the BATH area (Women & men bath areas are separated, so no men goes to the women bath areas and vice-versa). The BATH area is a huge shower room where you and your fellow females share 1 public shower space. (Of course you don't need to share shower heads as they are many available)

So you enter the Jjimjilbang, where you have to pay a small fee (usually 10,000 won, and for some good ones with alot of facilities, it can cost up to 20,000 won), and they will pass you a locker key, a towel & a PJ (pyjamas!). You can then head in the Jjimjilbang. Before entering, you will have to remove your shoes and leave it in one of the pigeon holes meant for shoes. 

You then head to the women's BATH area where there will be a locker (look for the number on the locker key that they passed you). In this area, you start seeing naked women hanging out around you. DO NOT START AT THEM. Put your bag, accessories, and whatever you are wearing on you in there. Everything has to go in there cause you don't carry anything to bath do you? (Yes, this is where you have to strip and bare it all!)

 The consolation is that, everyone happily struts around naked and they don't stare at each other. So you shouldn't feel too conscious about it too. (though I felt REALLY conscious and awkward!)

Oh, and there are toilets and sinks available for you to do your stuff before you go bath. e.g remove make up, pee etc.

Next you proceed to the shower area where they have shampoo and soap all in-built. Everyone showers in this area (imagine a super big bath room).

Then you can choose to go to the hot pool (some JJimjilbangs have multiple pools for you to choose from and some only have 1 or 2). These hot pool ranges from super hot pool (to open your pores), to mineral pools, jacuzzi pool with water spurting out of the vents, to super cold pools to close the pores. And no swimming costumes allowed. You go in there stark naked, please.

After that, you can also choose to go to the steam room (depending on whether that centre has it) or you can go for a massage (which is payable, but very cheap and subject to availabilities. Different centres have different facilities). Then you can opt to shower once more (if you want), get changed to that PJ they passed you, blow your hair etc. and head to the COMMON AREA.

Whatever it is, this place is a cool place to go and they sell everything you may need in there for a good shower (bath cloth, scrubs, panties, t-shirts etc etc).

I also spotted girl friends scrubbing each others' back - it's like girl friend bonding time!

Next, we move on to the COMMON LIVING ROOM. This is the one and only common area that is shared between the women and men and that is somewhat like a huge living room where they have multiple rooms (some even made of mineral stones) of different temperatures for you to "sweat it out" or "cool down" etc. (It's strange to like bath and be so clean only to sweat it all out again isn't it?)

This is also where they serve food, drinks, have television for you to watch and floor mats and head rest for you to grab and laze around with your friends. So you basically just spend time with the people you go with or just hang out alone going to those rooms to de-stress. You can sleep in there for the next 24 hours and nobody will stop you. Otherwise, once you are done, you can just return to the BATH area, take a quick shower, get changed and go off from there.

Back to my story. At first, I felt really awkward that we have to take off all our clothes and bath in a common area. It's just not a regular thing we do in Singapore so I felt really strange. But my Taiwanese & Japanese friends are all really used to this sorta "hot spring" thingy and they totally enjoyed it and encouraged me to stop getting conscious for nothing!

So we had our dose of massage and steam baths etc. and ended up in the common area where we went to a heated stone room for "therapy". Nobody takes pictures in the Jjimjilbang! We were the only strange ones.

Cheers to friendship and sister-bonding!

And 1 shot for the stone room!

Somehow, this Jjimjilbang thing made me feel better in terms of my cold. I guess it was just too cold outside and I really needed the warmth in the jjimjilbang! Ultimately, we got changed and went home to spend the night.

When I got back home, look what I found?!

I was pleasantly surprised with this awesom home-made remedy for my cold! 

Made with love from my super loving home mate 언니! 고마워!

I am really blessed to have such awesome home-mates. Who else could be more blessed?

*Feel loved instantly!*

언니 said that this would be soothing to the throat. It is a pear that's been sliced n mashed up, with red dates and honey. Smelt and tasted heavenly! Seeing this already made me feel better!

*XOXO*

So, then as usual, I met Huiwen the next day to do some revision together (and the day after as well). She wanted to shop at Ehwa, and so that's where we went. 

I have to study alone from now on... :(

The night was so chilly it started snowing. And it was quite a heavy one at that! The mood is already so blue and the cold snow makes it blu-ier.

And the day came when we bid farewell to Huiwen in the KTV! 

"우리 서로 사랑했는데 우리 이제 혜어지네요!"

The good thing about KTV in Seoul is that - we can openly bring food to the room and it's OK.

(Singapore is the only place where everything is NOT ok)

Look at them both with new hair-dos!

And I croacked away in my sore-throat voice!

I prepared a special video for Huiwen to commemorate ther achievement in Seoul for the past 6 months!

 Huiwen, I wish you all the best, till we meet again. Thank you for being that special friend! :)

I will be negative no more

Time really pasts by like *blink*

It's the last week before my next school term.

I have been busy since the last school term ended on 19 Nov. First Hweeli came over, then Rose and family came over. I am really glad they came. Because of them, I felt some sense of "familiarity" and warmth.

For the 2 weeks or so (before they came) I was feeling sort of melancholy.

Yes, I was the one who chose to stay back to study. But the excitement of "adapting" and "learning" has evolved into some sort of "unfamiliarity" and "fear". I guess it is normal to start missing your comfort zone and family after the initial adrenaline.

On the contrary to what some people may think (by "people" I mean to say my family, friends and all those who are involved in my life and who knew I made this decision to stay back) that I stayed on because I was having too much fun to return.

It is not true.

I am NOW already counting down to my return to Singapore on 24 Feb. I miss home so very much.

But, I made this decision to stay because I know, if I went back not fully doing my best and making the best effort to learn whatever I can, I will surely come to regret it.

At that 3-month mark, there were just too many distractions. First to adapt to the new environment, then to make more friends, then to go experience & "play", tour re-discover myself, draw closer to God and to top it off - to study. That's a bit of a mouthful. More than I can swallow isn't it?

Along with all those "try-tos" you somehow face disappointments, when the outcomes are somewhat different from what you expect.

I haven't really talked much about some private thoughts that's been bugging me, but they will all be in this entry.

Times when people don't take me seriously (possibly because I am foreign and adapting to a new environment). Times when I get "flown a kite" or requested to attend something only at last minute.

That's when I feel I am not being taken seriously and this has not happened for a long time. Not for a person like me. Someone who shoots my mouth off, giving anyone who does that to me a wholesome piece of my mind!

Times when I study so. darn. hard. and the results still sucks! And some other negative experiences, that I have chosen to forget. (Just because I don't write about it doesn't mean there are none)

Times when I am just so cold. I wish I could teleport to Singapore. It is really getting to me. I cannot express how much I am starting to hate the cold and gloomy weather. Just puts me back into a hibernating mode every time I wake up.

And there are times, I "lack attention" the feeling that nobody cares.

Of course I know my family and friends love me and are just 1 phone call away. But. There are just times like that.

You wish you could spend time with people you know and you love and not be alone.

I do enjoy being alone. But the feeling is somewhat different when you live alone abroad. And it doesn't help when my mood is gloomy and the weather gets gloomy. And I don't know which one comes first?

So now, after recognizing all that, I have learn to focus! (Am I a die-hard FOCUS Adventure fan or what?!)

Focus on the positive. Focus on the hope of God. Focus on keeping the faith.

GO AWAY all distractions and negativity!

I am going to overcome these!

I decided that nobody makes me feel "negative" apart from myself.

I have decided to convert all the negativity I have accumulated into positivity. Logically, if you had the ability to think one way, you have the ability to think the other. It's not "can" vs "cannot" but "want" vs "don't want".
 
Imagine the kind of emotional damage those negative emotions can cause?

Then imagine how my world of thinking would change if those negative emotions were converted to positive ones? Whatever you think (negatively), think the opposite.... that's a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!

The joy of God has somewhat lifted me up even though I "feel" down.

From the time I was back in Singapore - up to now - nothing is too hard for my Abba. He is with me everywhere. Though the flesh is weak and we often "feel" sad and negative, "feelings" ain't reliable. They change too often.

The only constant is Him. And He has shown me His presence in so many ways. How could I ever think I was not cared for?

He always sends "angels" to drop me a  msg just to remind me that I am loved. A phone call from a random acquaintance to ask me how I am doing whenever I feel down.

He blesses me with a great Taiwanese friends whom I can complain to or whenever I have a problem.

He always never fails to fix things.

He makes a stranger an angel.

He sends me the right information. Places the right people in my way. Plans for my friends to be here at the right time, just when I need it most. Talk about the meeting the right people at the right place, and the right time? He does all that!

Even now, that I am down with flu, my housemate (sister) just makes me a steamed-pear remedy to help me feel better.

He blessed me so much, how can I ever feel negative?! I don't have time for that.

From now - NO MORE negativity.

I will only focus on studying and experiencing, and God handles the rest.

Cucumber Kimchi Making?

As agreed, I am back at Uncle Daniel's place for a session of Kimchi-making. But this time, I brought a guest - Huiwen - my Taiwan buddy!

Kimchi is a staple in Korea - I don't know any Koreans who don't enjoy Kimchi. Not yet.

Presumably most married women should be able to make their own kimchis for the family.  (I assume of all natures- radish, cucumbers etc.) 

So, without further ado, we arrived at Uncle Daniel's place to find his so-very sweet wife ready for action with all the raw ingredients needed for the session. Namely, onions, spring onions and cucumbers.

So we each had a part to play in the preparations by slicing, peeling and chopping.

This is the teach at work.

 

 Me looking so domesticated!

Hey yo! No skiving with the kid - taking selfies and all!

  

To balance the equation, here she is taking our share of selfies!

 Seriously, I should have been more serious and take notes instead of selfies, cos I cannot recall what are the next ingredients. All I remembered was the mixing, stirring and playing etc.

Was that salt and vinegar?

 

Oh well... to some extend, the fun was not in learning to make the kimchi, but the time spent having all our hands dipped in the same pot, mixing the vegetables thoroughly and working the sauce through all the vegetables as a team in momentum.

Needless to say, the Kimchi came out "daebak"! Can't expect any less from the expert home-maker!

We even got the approval of her girl!

At the end of the day, what was really memorable was that of spending time together, working towards a common goal. 

The night ended well with another session heart-warming dinner, reading stories to the girls and basically just chilling at home with them - just so awesome!

Ending this day on a high!