One of my favourite LDR songs

Do you think time
Would pass us by
'Cause you know I'd walk
A thousand miles
If I could
Just see you...

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by
'Cause you know I'd walk
A thousand miles
If I could
Just see you
If I could
Just hold you
Tonight

My timetable

Thank goodness my courses are finally decided! After half a day of running around the campus, meeting advisors and waiting for the Language and Cultural Studies school manager, I am finally up with four courses instead of two. Here’s my timetable:

Obviously the cross ones are not my classes. As shown, I have two massive breaks in between classes in a week. There will be so much waiting to do this semester. Argh! But I’m really glad my courses have been sorted out and it will be such a “colourful” semester because the courses I’m taking differ from each other completely.

Here’s the list of my 4 courses:

1. Buddhism (Religion)
2. Asian Visual Culture (Art and media)
3. Crossing Bridges: Intercultural Communication
4. Problems in Asia-Pacific Security (Politics).

It’s crazy yet interesting to be taking a whole variety of genres in a semester! Now this is Asian Studies, where you learn everything and anything in regards to Asia.

Can’t believe it!

I always think that super hardworking people are just insane. They’re just crazy people who can be so disciplined that they cut themselves from all outside world, stay in their room/library, at their desks and study FOR HOURS. Yes I admire them, but I think these people are just mental! How does one just keep studying for hours without distractions, I do not know! And these people, in return of their hard work get brilliant results, like perfect scores!

The thing is, I can’t believe my BF is one of them! O_O;

It’s only the first week of school but he’s mugging like it’s the exam period. –_-; Sometimes I am pretty sceptical when he tells me that he’s been studying the whole day, cooped up in the library. But his ALL-KILL results from last semester tells me that it is true and also why would he lie to me (unless you know..?). But the thing is I have every reason to believe that he really has been cramming a lot. And he says he’s going to to cram like this for the rest of the year.

O_O!!

But he says, it’s a highly competitive society in Korea so he has to work super duper hard!! When I say he’s crazy, he says there are thousands more Koreans in the country studying like that too.

I’m not really complaining here, because I know it’s a good thing that he’s hardworking and smart and gets ALL-KILL results. It’s just that I can’t believe he’s my BF!

Has school started?

It has been almost a week since I came back to Brisbane. Coming back again feels like the 3 months away in SG never happened. Like the vacation was just a figment of my imagination… which is similar to my 6 weeks with A. :/

Anyway, the first week of classes was just… erm, wait- what classes?? See, I only attended TWO classes this week because so far, only TWO subjects are listed in my timetable. It was such a SLACK week I didn’t feel like I attended any classes at all. Double :/

It’s just that my Korean major classes are not confirmed yet because I’ve already taken all the classes being offered this semester. The problem is I need to take two classes this sem to complete my BA on time and continue my honours the next sem. With a loooooot of effort in attempting to discuss this issue with my prof (he is very very busy), I managed to contact him today and he said he may have some solution but needs to consult another prof on this. So I have to wait on it… until he contacts me again. T-T Korean major can be so frustrating at times…

About my TWO classes, OH EM GEE. Haha, you cannot believe what I’m taking. I’m taking Buddhism and Asian Visual Cultures. Buddhism is religion, obviously… and taking a religion class for academic purpose is kind of new to me. Especially since I’ve been growing up with Buddhism around me (my dad), yet I know nuts about it. Gosh, my dad’s a Buddhist yet I have superficial knowledge about the religion. Honestly… I don’t have much interest in it, but I have no choice but to take this course because the other courses are worst. ^^;

The other class is more of an ART and MEDIA class. I have to decipher certain meanings behind why a certain art is like that or why certain films are made like that. OMG, it’s not that easy BUT the prof is very lenient and nice. I’ve attended his classes for 3 semesters so he sorts of remembers my name and even said “welcome back” to me when he took the attendance. :p I love his classes actually, because he likes to use visual aids like videos/photos/etc during his classes and tries to make them more interesting.

So I don’t even feel like classes have started because there are only 2 classes. Haha.. but it was nice meeting up with my friends in Aus! Miss hanging out with them. :)

I hope my Korean classes get fixed soon…

Life in Daegu

I decided to blog more about the cultural experiences that I had while in Korea, especially my stay in A’s home.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of his home or its surroundings. I guess I was too overwhelmed with EVERYTHING; the fact that I was meeting his parents, the fact that his house IS actually located in the mountains (he told me before but I thought he was kidding), the fact that I’d be intruding his home for a week, the fact that everyone was speaking satoori, the fact that… oh I shall continue this later.

So in an effort to allow people, who has been asking me how his house/area looks like, to imagine how his place is like… I found some photos on the internet which look kind of similar to his home area.

His house is located at quite a mountainous area like this:
 

Unlike the houses in this photo, his house is located relatively deeper in the mountains (can’t be seen from the main roads to the city) and if I’m not wrong it sits on the middle of a mountain. There are other houses around where some of his relatives reside and neighbours around pretty much know each other. They know each other so well, they just let themselves into each other’s house anytime they want!

Although we do see that in dramas but it still freaked me out the first time someone came in without knocking/pressing the bell (if they actually DO have one). They do not have to lock their doors and cars! I’m actually kind of sceptical about not locking the doors/cars (well maybe it’s my culture or sth), I don’t feel safe, PLUS it was in a rural area which made me feel even more UNsafe (something about the wilderness…). But everyone’s part of the “village” so they trust each other, in a way as neighbours they also look out for each other. Even so, sometimes I wonder what if a criminal (not part of the village) appears out of the blue?? He may be a psychotic killer, or a thief??? ^^;;; Just scaring myself with these scary thoughts.

But I felt pretty safe during my stay there. Probably because it’s his house and he was around so there was nothing to worry about.

People from Daegu, Busan and the Kyeong-Sang province speak similar satoori…  Click! What is a satoori?

Luckily A’s family do not speak heavy satoori which would be very different from the standard Korean. But it was still difficult to understand what they were saying, especially when my Korean is still not good, it makes things even worse! ^^;;;;;; Although I can’t really understand most of the satoori, once I know what it meant, I found it quite funny when I compared satoori to the standard Korean I’m learning. Hehe. I learnt a little satoori from A and I can’t stop laughing whenever I spoke them myself!! It’s just so funny and interesting!

Staying at A’s home and “exploring” the surrounding areas were eye-opening for me. I even got to ride on a tractor while going to his family’s farm!! So exciting, just like a mini-roller coaster ride! His family owns a cow farm selling milk and, boy there are sooooooo many cows there! It would be nice milking a cow with one’s hands, experiencing a REAL farmer’s life but they don’t do that anymore because it would dirty the milk.

The good thing was, A’s house is modernized so the rooms, kitchen, toilets are similar to Singapore. So even though his house was located in a rural area, it was modernized inside. Come to think of it, it’s pretty nice to live in a nice house among nature! The air is fresher there and the surroundings itself encourages a healthy lifestyle… climbing mountains and taking a stroll around the village. As long as one has a car there, the city is just 30mins away.

First attempt at translating!

FT Island- 행복합니다/ I’m Happy
잘 가
마지막 인사로 사랑을 보냅니다
아직은 좀 부족한 사랑에 그대를 잡지 못합니다
이젠 오랫동안 그댈 만나지 못하지만
그대가 그 동안 내게 줬던 사랑을 기억합니다
때론 아팠던 기억에 눈물도 났었지만
그대와 함께한 순간은
내 생애 가장 큰 선물이랍니다

My Love 부르고 불러도 보이지 않는 내 사랑
언젠가 다시 품에 안기길 난 기도합니다
My Love 이름만 들어도 눈물나는 내 사랑아
어디든 내게 오는 날까지 행복해줘요

나는 행복합니다
그대와의 사랑과 이별 모두 다
소중한 추억이 있기에
무엇과도 바꿀 수 없기에
너의 빈자리는 내가 항상 지켜줄께요
그대만을 사랑합니다..

가끔 그리운 사랑에 눈물도 나겠지만
다시 돌아올 그댈 위해
웃음만 짓고 살아갈 나랍니다

My Love 버리고 버려도 지울 수 없는 내 사랑
끝없는 그리움에 지쳐도 난 기억합니다
My Love 평생을 살아도 하나뿐인 내 사랑아
눈감는 그 날이 온다 해도 사랑해요

My Love 부르고 불러도 보이지 않는 내 사랑
언젠가 다시 품에 안기길 난 기도합니다
My Love 이름만 들어도 눈물나는 내 사랑아
어디든 내게 오는 날까지 행복해줘요
My translations:
Goodbye
With my last farewell, I send my love away.
I could not hold on to you with a love that is still lacking.
Now, even though I won't be able to see you for a long time,
I will remember the love you had given me all those times.
Sometimes  I would tear thinking about our painful memories, but
the time spent together with you is the biggest gift in my life.
My Love I call and call yet I cannot see you, my love.
I pray that one day you will return into my arms again.
My Love I tear just hearing your name, my love.
Wherever you are, until the day you come to me, I will give you happiness.
(rap)
I am happy
The love and farewell with you, everything.
With the precious memories,
unable to change them for anything,
I will always take care of your empty seat
I only love you...
Sometimes I would tear for the love I miss
For you, who will come back again
I can only feign laughter while living through my life.
My Love I forsake and forsake yet you cannot be erased, my love
I remember even though I'm tired of the never-ending pining.
My Love Even if I’ve lived my whole life you'll be the only one, my love
Even till my last breath, I love you.
My Love I call and call yet I cannot see you, my love.
I pray that one day you will return into my arms again.
My Love I tear just hearing your name, my love.
Wherever you are, until the day you come to me, I will give you happiness.
---
I’ve been listening to this song so many times that my attempt at translating it was not that tough though I can’t guarantee 100% accuracy. ^^;  If you look at the translated English lyrics, the bolded parts are those that struck me the most, especially during those times when I missed him so much… This song became one of my most-frequently-listened songs in the 2nd half of 2010. <3

Comparing myself!

I’ve been meeting up with old friends and several people have been commenting on my weight loss. I admit that I’ve slimmed down ever since I came back from Aus. Besides my appetite getting lesser by the end of previous semester (because I controlled myself), I was sick twice before going to Korea. Those times, I didn’t have much appetite so I lost a lot of weight.

When I went back to look at my photos taken in Aus, I realised how fat my face was!!!! O-M-G…

My face is so fat in this photo I don’t know what to say…

I know it’s the angle, but still! Wah… so unglam and fat.

Right now…

Not as fat as before…

Getting sick is not totally a bad thing.