Myeong-dong, Han River

Went out with Singapore friends today. Ooh, another freezing day today; luckily I was well-equipped with my coat, scarf and gloves. Bought our lunch at Hansot today. Woah, I love Hansot! It's a very family-friendly restaurant that sells lunch boxes at very low prices. I got my Tonkatsu chicken (fried chicken cutlet) rice set, along with kimchi and pickles for only 2,200 won (which translates to less than $2.50)! It's really the cheapest eating place that I've found so far, and the auntie there is very friendly too! Anyway, we dabaoed and ate at the plaza in school. It's like a picnic, but only better, cause it's cold, and has no ants, mosquitoes nor flies. Picnics here are damn nice!




The vending machines in Korea are also much better than the ones found in Singapore. Look at the variety of foodstuff that you can get here! In school, I can actually buy really good quality tea, coffee and hot chocolate with 10 cents, and it's really super tasty good!

This is one of the must-trys in Korea: Banana Milk. It's really one of the rare few kinds of milk that I actually dare to drink, and it's really tasty! The banana taste is really strong; unlike any found in Singapore. And it's real cheap too; around 70 to 80 cents.

Here's Myeong-dong. It's like the Orchard Road of Singapore, only that the shops have their own individual buildings, and there's a lot of action everywhere.

Olivia's eating something called hottock. It's like the green tapioca kueh found in Singapore, only that there is a cinnamon sugar syrup inside, which oozes out while eating. One costs about 50 cents, and it's great to eat something sweet and piping hot on a freezing day. There are stalls selling hottocks and odeng (a kind of yong tau foo) everywhere. I think I eat one almost everyday.

This poor girl got saboed by her friends on her birthday. Her friends made her carry a Free Hugs sign and stand in the middle of the square. And there were actually people who went to her to hug her. The poor girl actually looked embarrassed doing that; quite a funny scene.

Along the streets are street stalls selling hats, accessories, tee-shirts and other fashion items all for low prices.

Below is a picture of American Apparel. Apparently it's very famous in USA and overseas, but it's not found in Singapore. Heard from a friend that they are famous for their colourful wear, like in the bottom picture, where the briefs are available in so many colours. And there are female dresses upstairs that can be worn in 20 over styles purely (not mix and match)!

This shop sells bags that cost $10. Every bag in the stall sells for $10, which is rather unbelievable, cause the quality is really good!

Even the Giordano here looks better than the ones found in Singapore. Way more posh.

This is Han River. We are at Han River park, but as seen in the picture, there's nothing at Han River park. All we see in the 6 or 7km radius is this lone 7-11 stall. And it was so cold at night that we had to seek shelter in this store.

Here's another of their vending machines. This one dispenses ramyeon for around $2, and there are sheltered seats for people to have their meals here.

We walked for probably 1.5 hours, and there's absolutely nothing to see here. Look at the sad faces of Olivia and Le Hia. We were all famished by the time we reached the nearest restaurant.

Glorious view of the Han River.

MSN and heat packs

Oh my! I am actually MSNing in Chinese for probably the very first time in my life. Hahah that's the experience of going on international exchange. And I discovered I am damn pro in typing in Chinese!

Just opened a reusable heat pack that Youli passed to Ziyi when we were in Beijing. Woah, it's freaking amazing! The liquid inside turns hot immediately when I break the iron sheet; it's even hotter than my shower! I should have brought this pack out when I was outside yesterday. Irritating Ziyi told me that the weather was rather warm (comparatively) yesterday so I ditched my thermals and wore a light blazer. I got so cold my teeth started chattering and I had to hide behind my friends while walking. He is damn scheming!

No matter what weather it is today, I am wearing thermals. And a thick coat.

Outdoor show at Dongdaemun

Here's something I caught when walking along Dongdaemun, which is like the Orchard Road of Singapore. There was some outdoor show outside a shopping mall and I stopped to watch. This particular scene was a game segment where the host pasted post-its on a guy's body, and a blindfolded girl had to swipe her hands over the guy everywhere so as to remove all the post-its. It was interesting watching the show, and everyone was laughing when the girl touched the sensitive parts.

Nice bakery outside school

Noticed a nice bakery outside of school while exploring the neighbourhood today. Look at all the nice breads and pastries that are found here. I liked the pastries so much I really wanted to buy them all. It's so Paris-ty here, except that I haven't been to Paris before. And there are metal tables outside the shop for people to sit and enjoy the outdoor view. Singapore should have such bakeries!

Byeo-Ri

Here's a picture of Stephenie and her KU buddy, Byeo-Ri. Since my own buddy doesn't speak English well, Byeo-Ri has been helping me much with adapting to life in Korea. She is the nicest Korean buddy in the group, and a funny friend as well. The day before meeting us exchange students, she actually had her long hair cut into bangs so that she would look cuter. And because her grasp of English is not that good too, she was always using her translator on the phone to find the right English word she wanted.

According to her, Korean students take university life very seriously, because they believe that the university that they attend will determine their future in life. That is why everyone studies very hard in order to get into the 3 best Korean universities, known as SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University). It can get very stressful, as the high school students need to take up to 8 subject papers in just one day for their university entrance examinations. For Byeo-Ri, she took the high school examinations twice so as to get into KU. For her school, not getting into the SKY universities meant that the students become failure in life.

In Korea, students will go to the school that they applied to to check the results of their entrance examinations. For Byeo-Ri, she went to the KU gate to see if her name was pasted on the acceptance sheet at the front gate of the university. She said the minute she saw her name, she broke down immediately. And her parents were so estatic that they held a celebration party when she got back, and all her neighbours in the neighbourhood came to her house to congradulate her.

This is how important a top university matters to a South Korean. Interesting huh! Wonder why Singaporeans don't find it as proud to get accepted into NUS.

Orientation at Insa-dong

My final day of orientation!! Today's schedule was a sightseeing trip to Seoul city. We were first brought to the National Folk Museum of Korea, which is in this huge space with ancient buildings, like the one seen underneath.

The weather was damn cold! For the previous 2 days, the weather was actually warming up, so I wore less for the trip, and I was so so wrong! It was totally freezing that I could not bear to stand in the outdoors at all! In fact, most of the exchange people there were feeling so cold that everyone was rushing to get into the museum so as to escape the cold.

The amazing thing was, however, the Korea University girls. My OGL, in particular, wore only a tee-shirt and jacket with super mini shorts and socks. I have no idea how she could actually stand the cold with her bare legs, when I myself was freezing with jeans and thermal wear inside. Apparently, I was told that the Korean girls would rather look pretty in nice clothes and bear with the chill. Also, all the university girls wear make-up. And it's really the full makeup, with mascara and foundation and lipstick etc. It's really amazing how they can wake up early to perm their hair and put on make-up every single day, when I am complaining about wearing so much clothes in the morning when I wake up.

Singaporeans gathering at a Korean pagoda.

The folk museum is really quite cool, and it's free entry! There are a lot of stuff to look at, and the museum uses quite a bit of new technology inside, so there are 3D images, and falling plum blossoms and moving images everywhere. It's like visiting the science centre, but in a historical manner.

Stephenie and me with 3 Japanese that we met on the exchange program.

Surprisingly, there are quite a number of Japanese that are here on exchange. I thought most people would travel further on exchange, but I see Japanese everywhere in school. And they are super fluent in Korean language and are quite competent in English language as well. Really cool.

A Turkish ice-cream stall. The man is actually playing tricks on the students by snatching the ice-cream away and preventing the students from taking it.

Our meal at a tea-house. And as always, the side dishes are all free. The bill came up to 10,000 won, which translates to less than SGD$11.

After the trip to the National Folk Museum, we were given time to shop at a nearby neighbourhood, Insa-dong. Here, there are many streets selling handicrafts, art pieces and quirky clothing. Many galleries are located here, many of which are free to enter.

Me with my buddy, Jang-ho. He has been helping me with a lot of administrative matters since day 1 of orientation and is really friendly, except that he speaks very little English, which means that I basically cannot converse with him at all. Example of our language barrier: On day 1, I asked him where he stays, and he didn't understand what I meant. And he is a student at a top university. Imagine the shop vendors on the streets; it's even worse!!

Here's a group picture with some promotors with Shinhan Bank. They are all dressed up in traditional Korean hanboks, and were going around asking people to write their wishes on the post-its. The girl with blonde hair behind is a Masters student from Sweden. Before this, she was actually stopped by a group of high school girls to take picture. At first, she thought that they wanted her to take pictures for them, but in actual fact, they wanted to take pictures with her because she was very pretty! According to the guidebook I was reading, Koreans seldom get to see caucasians, and like to approach them when they see one because they think caucasians are very good looking and speak very fluent English, unlike them.

The Korean words here means Starbucks Cafe. According to another buddy, Koreans love Starbucks, because it connects them to American culture. Korean guys love to bring their dates to Starbucks, because it shows that they are rich enough to bring them to expensive coffee joints. The special thing about this particular Starbucks is that this is the only joint in the entire South Korea that uses hangeul (traditional form of Korean writing) in their shop sign. All other Starbucks in Korea are written in their original English language.

We ended off the tour with a special viewing of Jump at a theatre. Jump is a martial arts comedy that combines martial arts with light-hearted comedic antics and is very popular amongst Koreans. I actually didn't have a very good impression of the show, as I have seen snippets of it on this Channel 8 show hosted by Belinda Lee as she goes around the world to learn new dances. I though that Jump would be really boring, but I really enjoyed myself during the show. If given a chance, everyone should watch it. And because dialogue is minimal, and does not play a crucial part in the story plot, there is no worry over communication problems. Meanwhile, here's a snippet I found on Youtube for everyone to view.