Korean house visit tip 1: take off your shoes

When I just checked into the dorm with my buddy, I went into the dorm with my shoes on because my luggage was killing me. My buddy was so shocked and she said, "in Korea, you have to remove your shoes before entering the house." Ahh, first lesson learnt.

Anyway, I'm wrapping my textbooks now and I really miss my primary school days when mummy used to do it for me and my brother. How nice. I miss mummy and my home.

Living by myself is not easy at all. I have to take care of my own laundry, food, administrative matters, clear the bin and above all, be sociable enough to make more friends here so that I won't feel alone. So far, it has been good. My korean and international friends here are really nice. I think it's because we are all we have. So we tend to be very friendly and treat each other really nice. Whenever I meet someone new, I would feel the need to introduce myself and get to know that person better. It's very different when I'm home. In SMU or anywhere else, we could have seen the same person for a hundred times but never got to know the person and we're still perfectly fine with it. But here, it's different. I will feel uneasy somehow. I guess it's the same for everyone.

Waking up at 8am in the morning for the past 2 days have been killing me. I've got more to come. But I think it's worth it. Korean language (Hangeul) is interesting :)

I went to Namsangol (Southern Mountain Village) with the exchange students and buddies. I think some parts of it is artificial. Anyway, we tried on the Korean traditional clothes. It was cool. haha. I wouldn't say that we look good in them because we don't have the oriental face but it a great experience. :) Hang out with Shalini Oni Alexis and Wisara later on. Awesome bunch :)

Just came back from buddy lunch. It's a weekday affair where international students and the Ewha peace buddies meet to go to lunch together. It's not compulsory but it's sweet of them to organise these outings so that students like us won't be short of lunch mates. We had shabu shabu! yes, beef is spicy soup with mushrooms and veges. It was awesome.

Meng xuan, Kyung Mi, Youna, Jonas, Johan and me

I just bought my Korean cell phone. Couldn't imagine that I survived 1 week without a cell phone. haha. Dinner with them was AWESOME. one of the best I've had so far. the food is FREAKING GOOD. I mean it. It has chicken and vegetables mixed in spicy paste and served on a pan and topped with cheese. It was really spicy but it's very nice and flavourful. And after we finish the chicken, the pan with the remaining bits of chicken, veg and gravy was used to stir fry rice. Video below!

Though food here is great, but i still miss singapore food. Fried carrot cake, roti prata, fish soup (because I havent had fish since I came here), hokkien mee, nasi lemak and home-cooked food is nowhere to be found. I bought SKIPPY PEANUT BUTTER yesterday for this morning's breakfast and it has never taste better. My SMU friends and I will be having home-cooked style dinner (though it'll be more like can-food style because my dorm has no stove, sadly, but it has a microwave oven) at my dorm's kitchnette. We'll be buying microwave rice and some can food from the mart later. It's gonna be fun ! :D yay :))