The End of February

February is about to end. Spring is approaching. Birds have started to come by. There is hardly any snow on the sidewalks and the snows have melted into drizzles and tiny raindrops.

Cathianne wakes up to the sound of her 8:00AM alarm. She realizes she has a roommate, and this roommate, she still has to meet. She gets up and makes her bed. As her roommate comes out of the bathroom, she introduces herself. She feels a warm welcome from a seemingly shy but nice new roommate. Or rather, it’s the other way around. She’s the new roommate of her roommate.

Penny is the name of her roommate and seems to be eager to make friends with her. Unfortunately, Penny hardly speaks or understands English. This is a great challenge for Cathianne. Now she really needs to hasten her Hangeul lessons in order to communicate well with her new friend. So hanging in there, Cathianne hopes soon that they will be able to talk more.

As Cathianne finished her morning routine, she heads down to the laboratory and upon her entry, no one was there. A few minutes after, she heard someone enter but she was busy learning Hangeul on the internet with her earphones on. Gil oppa greeted her as he passed behind her seat. Everything seemed to look busy for Gil oppa as he started typing on his keyboard. In a short while, some of the labmates have arrived while she was busy burying her ears in the lessons she’s becoming more eager in learning. Too busy to mind the noise, she got shocked when suddenly MJ oppa’s head popped on her side to say hello to her. *laughs*

Cathianne has been learning how to speak several phrases and has been practicing how to write the characters and even typing them in the computer. She’s been enjoying these new findings. It was approaching lunch but no one seems to be hungry. Her stomach is starting to grumble but she decides to leave it alone as for sure, one of the labmates would call her to join them for lunch. While keeping herself busy learning, she was once again surprised by another oppa, Kimp, who suddenly greeted her just behind her head to see how she’s been doing. At that she responded with a chuckle and showed him the lessons she’s been trying to learn online. He’s making brewed coffee again. She remembers that he was also the one who made brewed coffee and the first person she saw using the coffee brewer. He must probably the only person not lazy enough to use the coffee brewer. Hah.

MJ oppa finally asked Cathianne if she was hungry and without a doubt, she said yes. So they went to eat lunch together at the cafeteria behind Coffee Bean where they had their first lunch when she first arrived in Korea. At that, she finally remembered how to use the vendo machine in order to get the food stub. For 3,000KRW, they each had rice, several sidings, the never ending kimchi and a bowl of “bin” (if that’s how it is correctly pronounced) to warm the belly. This time, she almost finished everything. Lunch is definitely the perfect time for her to fill up her stomach. Last night’s dinner was too good but she simply has a small appetite for any evening meal though.

Back at the lab, she pursued her lessons online. At almost 5:00PM, Prof. JY called her to his office in order to discuss her tasks for the semester. After having confirmed all that has to be done, she’s finally been given a project to start reading on. Hoping she does well, she listens to the professor intently and prays that God will help her in understanding the project particularly the derivation of all the equations that were shown to her. It’s been a long while since she last had encounters with the “curves” and “snake-like writings” on equations and she admits to herself she’s not a big fan of integration. But this time, she has to be braver in facing these “cobras” as this will be her foundation in building up her future researches and eventually, her thesis.

It was already 7:00PM and Prof. JY dismisses her. She returns to the lab and reads on it. She decides to also finish whatever document submission she can and set the schedules of her submission. MJ oppa then asked if she was busy and invited her to join them for dinner. So up she got and went with MJ oppa, Kiko oppa, and John, the youngest one who was always bullied by being dared to speak to her in English. It was drizzling outside so Juan they had to get them umbrellas for protection. To the familiar road they walked to where the restaurants were. This time, they brought her to the place that served kimchi fried rice. The restaurant was on a cozy place where one has to go up along the small, almost slippery, cemented stairway that led them to what seemed to be a house-turned-into-kitchen with a huge living area. A TV was open and it showed an American movie that starred familiar faces for Cathianne. She’d be glad to watch but was too hungry to be bothered. The food didn’t take long to arrive and whoa! There goes another huge serving of fried rice. She took her android out and took a picture of her food and Kiko oppa teased Juan by taking his own food for Cathianne to take a snapshot of. The three had each a bowl of kimchi fried rice with tuna and egg while Cathianne had almost the same but with a bit lesser servings and without the tuna. The dishes again came with several sidings like the kimchi, the yellow round sweet radish (that up to now, she’s still not one hundred percent sure if that really was radish even if she has eaten it several times), more sidings she can’t name, and a bowl of spicy noodles with sticky something that tasted like the familiar rice-made sticky meals eaten for breakfast or meryenda in the Philippines. Before they left, she paid 4,000KRW for the hearty, overly-full meal that she still can’t fathom as to how she can ever  finish one for the future dinners she’ll be having with them.

Back to the lab they walked as she tried to practice Hangeul in vain. *laughs* They still can’t get what she was trying to say when all she wanted was to practice saying “this is ---“.

After more readings in the lab, Cathianne finally ends her day by going back to her dormitory by 10:00PM. Looking forward to the National Holidays and she hopes to buy herself a good dictionary and the things she need to help her better work things out in her dorm room.

First Mass in Jochiwon

It rained the whole day. They clouds covered the whole sky and gave the sun only enough space to peep through to light up everything. Although it is a Sunday, the school is filled with people; parents and students checking into their dormitory and preparing to settle for the start of the Spring semester.

Cathianne was alone in her room. She woke up at 9:00AM and thought of attending the 10:00 mass. She made preparations in order to walk downtown to the church. But before she could leave the building, the rain kept pouring hard. She didn’t have an umbrella. She’s stuck.

She opened her laptop and facebooked her family instead and updated herself with the notices. She was too lazy to go down to the convenience store to buy some breakfast or lunch and she wanted to keep herself from spending as much as possible. She remembered the bread and cake that was sent to her during her last dinner in her homeland. She opens and finally savours the taste of the chocolate cake her Tita Bing brought for her farewell dinner. And she’s full.

Waiting for a text message from her lab-mate or at least, for the rain to mellow down, she decides to lie down for a while. She decides to attend the evening or youth mass instead since it is half past two in the afternoon and the rain was still pouring hard. MJ texted and asked if she has already transferred to her new dormitory. Unfortunately, he couldn’t help her since he was also stuck in Seoul due to the bad weather.

After half an hour of waiting in vain, she decides to go down and ask the staff. She goes to GS25 and buys herself a folding umbrella for 12,000KRW. From there, she started walking towards her new dorm and confirms the reservation. She finally got her key! Upon opening her room, she discovers that she’ll be sharing the room with another schoolgirl. (Along comes the hope that this roommate will be nice and will help her learn Hangeul faster).

She went back to the guestroom and got her biggest maleta, the blue stroller bag. With all her might she pulls it up the rainy pathway while the left arm is holding the umbrella. She gets in her dormitory room and starts unpacking her things in order to keep it well arranged. She feels a bit troubled by the space she’s occupying because of the size of the bag and worried about how she’ll organize her clothes without the hangers! Anyway, she decides to go back for the other bag. Not for long, she has already checked out of the guestroom by half past four in the afternoon. She goes back to her room and fixes up all her things to where they should go trying not to invade her roommates seemed privacy.

It was Already half past six and she decides to start walking to the downtown to attend the 7:00 mass at the Jochiwon Catholic Church. She didn’t realize it would be that far, only then when she had to catch up with the time. She got to the church just in time! 7:00 sharp in her android. She goes in the church, dips her fingers in the holy water just behind the entrance door and goes to sit at the pew located at the left area; she chose to sit near the back of the church since she knows the mass will be said in the local language and she wouldn’t understand. Truly enough, the mass started and the first words spoken were in Hangeul. Cathianne beams at herself for attending her first authentic Korean Catholic mass!

There were some practices of the mass that she has observed that were slightly different from the Philippines. The church had a daycare center-like area where children can stay to keep them from disturbing the Eucharistic celebration but they can be seen from the inside of the church through a huge glass. The seats of the pews were covered with sort of carpets or rags and there were no kneeling pads or anything to kneel on. She followed how the mass was begun, with signs of the cross while following the rhythm of the song. It was not only one cross but two or three at least. Then everything was already familiar. The church had a band for a choir since it is normal for a youth mass. After a while, the priest spoke and it seemed that people where looking at one another. A nun started her direction at people who were probably familiar, most likely students, as they were asked to volunteer for some tasks to be done in the mass which Cathianne couldn’t obviously relate to at that moment. She was guessing it could be for the readings or the offertory.

A girl was seated in the pew in front of Cathianne and the former seemed uneasy at the sight of the latter. The girl kept texting and seemed to be waiting for someone to come (who didn’t come anyway, if that was really the case). Cathianne naturally answered in English what part of the mass she was familiar with and the girl seemed shocked at how different the responses obviously were as she kept looking behind her shoulders to see why. She probably couldn’t figure out as Cathianne seemed to look Asian, but definitely not a native because of the way she spoke.

During the offertory, only two women went to offer and eventually, people started standing! Almost horrified, she remains seated at the sight of them and finally realizes that they all stood in order to place their offering in the baskets in front. This is not the way it is practiced in her homeland but she follows, stands up with a thousand won in her hand and goes to the front to drop her offering. She smiles at the thought of a different culture seeping in her slowly. Then she waited for the part of the Eucharist where, in the Philippines, they were supposed to kneel to honor the Body and Blood of Christ. But this didn’t happen. The people simply stood and bowed a little for the gesture of reverence. Know she understands why there’s no kneeling pad.

During the giving of peace, Cathianne bows her head as she says “peace be with you” slowly instead in order not to unease the girl in front of her even more. Alas, the mass ends with the final blessing and the priest leaves into the side door near the altar. Another fond discovery is the fact that the people really waits for the final song to end before they leave. The correct practice, she thought.

It was exactly 8:00pm when she got out of the church and started timing her walk from there towards the laboratory in the campus. At 8:36pm in her android, she arrives the building. Knowing this, she knows now that she would need at least 40 minutes of her time to walk from the campus to the church. It was a very cold walk, a rainy cold walk and her cheeks turned red when she looked in the mirror after freshening up in the ladies comfort room. She takes off her coat for the first time and goes in the lab without it on her. Warmed up, MJ offers her the menu and orders Chinese food Korean style fried rice. She got a text from her mom that her family and relatives are celebrating their late grandfather’s birthday at their home and hoping that she could video call through skype so everyone can talk to her. She downloads skype from her lab computer and calls them. As MJ saw them on the screen, he fondly waves at them. Cathianne felt as if she was also just with them celebrating. A few minutes later, her Chinese dinner arrived. It definitely shocked her appetite as she used to eat only 40 pesos worth of meal in the Philippines. Here, when converted, a typical meal would cost 200 pesos and she could hardly finish them. The fried rice was tasteless if eaten alone but with the sauce, it tasted good. And because it is Korean style, there was kimchi, more sidings like the sweetened, yellow radish and onions with the black spice paste, and the spicy red soup. Cathianne eats and hoping that the more-than-half-an-hour walk will give her a big appetite. But no, she could only eat as much as half of the meal and only sip the soup and a couple of the sidings and the kimchi. That was a tummy booster! On the computer, her family teases her with the food they’re having, the leche flan and her mom’s specialty --- moist chocolate cake, both her favourites! But she was too full anyway to even be jealous of not being able to bite them. Haha! She enjoys her chats with her siblings, parents, aunts, cousins, grandmas, and everybody who were squeezing their faces into the monitor. At half past ten, she waves them goodbye in order to go back to the dorm and hopefully meet her roommate (if she’s there or is still awake).

Now in the dorm, Cathianne discovers a sleeping roommate and doesn’t want to bother anymore. So she unpacks slowly and sleeps for a good recharge for the following day’s adventure. c”,)

Talk To Me In Korean

It's my first blogpost here as a third person storyteller and I've got so much to tell about Cathianne's adventure for this day.


Today, Cathianne marks her first Saturday in Jochiwon, Korea. She wakes up at almost 9:00 AM and prepares herself for new discoveries! As she walked out of the dormitory, she realized that her boots are starting to wear out real bad. But that's the only pair of comfortable shoes she has with her since she left the Philippines. So she has to live with it...or buy a new pair? She's thinking (smiling)...


After a couple of minutes, she arrives in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory where she will be working with several graduate and post-graduate students who are all Korean nationals. She's the only foreigner under their advising professor and it's her first time to be alone in a foreign land. She is also the only girl in the laboratory, good thing that her labmates are all gentlemen and kind enough to help her get settled down for her first month. She also finds it hard to converse with them because the only Hangeul word she knows is "annyonghaseo". Since today is a new day for her, she has to learn at least one new word in Korean.


In the lab, Cathianne has been keeping family and friends posted through the social network and she found out about this website www.TalkToMeInKorean.com that teaches Korean Lessons for beginners! This is what she definitely needs! So there she goes, saving the site so she can come home every night and learn more from it.


While waiting for any possible instructions from her professor, she heard Minjue come in the lab. That's her lab-mate and will be her classmate in some other classes that she will be taking for her first semester in Korea University. And that lab-mate of hers is a very nice person who has been helping her since her arrival. He is going home to his hometown, Seoul, for the weekend.


It is almost lunchtime and Cathianne starts to feel hungry. She decides to go eat lunch at the cafeteria where Minjue taught her how to get the food ticket. When she got out, she didn't know how to lock the laboratory! It was her first time to use the student card of her other lab-mate, Gijung, and nobody is in the lab at that moment. She calls up Minjue and he tries to explain. Fortunately, another lab-mate, Wayne, passes by and she asks how to work the lock. And successfully she's done it!


At the cafeteria, she realized she can't read the instructions in Korean. She decides to go by the GS25 convenience store instead to buy some food ending up with an instant spaghetti! *laughs* A few minutes later, Minjue calls up to check on her if she has had lunch and reminds her that instant food is not good for the health! "This is just for now while I'm still finding my way through", she responds.


After lunch, she goes back to the dormitory, unpacks her bag, brings her camera with a big smile on her face. It's her free day today! Remembering the pathways where she and her lab-mates have gone to during dinners, she walks past the Library and down towards those familiar pathways. To the right of the road, she sees the colorful but abandoned elementary school building. Straight she goes towards what seemed to be plowed empty lots. K-5 is the landmark that she kept in her mind, that's where she turns left and towards the highway she goes.


From the highway, she sees the half-football-designed plant boxes, her favorite landmark of all. She then waits for the green light in order to cross the street. 18 seconds, 17, 16... As soon as she has crossed the street, her face lit up at the sight of the entrance to the downtown area!


She remembers the tunnel that her professor has pointed out to her when he taught her the way to the church and the pharmacy store. Amazed by the walkway of the tunnel, it is her first time to pass by that tunnel where even bicycles and motorcycles also go about to enter the city. She takes out her slr and snaps some shots of the tunnel and the people passing by on their motorbikes. Too bad, they were just too fast for her to capture them. She continues to walk until she sees the familiar main road, Gil Rd. At the corner, she stops and takes a picture of Family Mart at Saenae 16-Gil Rd in order to remember in case she loses her way. From the intersection, she turns right and saw some shoe stores right away! Along Gil Rd., she crosses the street to go to Converse. Hoping to buy a good pair of shoes this time, the shoes that will comfort her feet for the next two years! With a nice greeting "annyonghaseo" from the sales guy, she greets back and asked for some shoe sizes. The man is glad to help her out. After some time, she picks out the black and purple shoes of the same type and asks the man which one is better. The man points out, smiling and says "purple". And there goes the 69,000krw to the store. Cathianne bids them "kamsahamnida" and tells the guy "I hope next time when I come back I already know how to speak (Korean)". Off she goes to more discoveries.


Along the way, she discovers the Traditional Korean Market to the left of the road. Minjue and the professor had already pointed it out to her. It sells just about almost anything. She goes in and finds vegetables and fruits, fishes, seafoods, more foods, then coats, clothing, utilities, furnitures, decorations, and just as she was about to exit the other side, she saw BOOTS! Boots with furs! *laughs* She takes some pictures and goes near the store, starts to ask the lady how much the boots cost. It's being sold for 30,000krw. Not bad for the winter boots, and their cute! *wink*


She decides to go straight the street parallel to Gil Rd. She remembers that the church is along Saenae 6. Upon reaching the said street, she turns left. After a few meters walk, she realizes it was almost the end and no church was found. "Don't panic" she says to herself. She walks the opposite direction. After a few meters back, she finds the cross of the Jochiwon Catholic Church! She is glad to be in the right direction. Good intuition! She spots some puppies on a truck and takes some snapshots of them. Then she goes in the church grounds and takes some more photos. Too bad, the church is still closed. She heads back to the direction going to Gil Rd. and finds Power Pharm at the corner. Smiling at her sense of direction, she galdly turns right and started walking back to her original route. Along the way, she meets and greets old people with a smile and "annyonghaseo" and when they answer her back, she'd just shake her head and say that she's not a local. *laughs* While taking a picture of the LG store, a cab driver approached her. She does not understand a word and he seems to be making a gesture of wanting to have his picture taken. So she does and says "kamsahapmida" and waved goodbye 'cos she didn't want to cause anymore trouble by any misinterpretation. A few more blocks and she met a couple more cab drivers. Seeing that she is holding a camera, they have guessed right that she is a tourist but she shakes her head for whatever they are offering her and continues to walk back to Saenae 16. At the intersection where she has marked the Family Mart store by a snapshot, she turns left and sees the tunnel and walks right in it. More snapshots of the tunnel and through it she finds her path back home.


Seeing the half-football-designed plant boxes again, she waits for the green light and crosses the street. Remembering the K-5 store, she walks past it and through the empty plowed lands. Continuing her walk she stops along the area where there is the abandoned elementary school and takes some photos of it. With the sun still gleaming on her face, she takes some photos of the university as it's winter season is fast giving way to spring. Back she goes to her dormitory to take some rest.


At around 6:30pm, she feels hungry and decides to contact Gijung oppa if she can come along with them to dinner. Since he's not around the campus, she is to be accompanied by the other labmates, Ko and Gwang. These two are kind enough to keep her company for dinner and asks her if she'd like to try bulkoki since she has no food preference for that night's dinner. And so they walked out of the campus and went to the restaurant where they serve bulkoki. She remembers her aunt who told her to try the bulkoki because it is one of the best Korean foods her aunt has tried. She was excited and gives it a try. Just a few minutes after her lab-mates ordered, the meals have arrived. Again, appetizers, especially the kimchee, never got out of sight. And the bulkoki definitely tasted great! It makes up a lot for the poor lunch she had. The best thing is that it was Ko's treat! And dessert in the form of icecream became Gwang's welcoming treat!


She comes home full and energized to skype call her family and tell them of her new friends and new discoveries. c",)

Freedom Tunnel to Adventure

The Tunnel to Jochiwon Downtown

This tunnel caters pedestrians and bikers alike. This is the tunnel that symbolizes anticipation to new discoveries and adventures! Getting lost isn't hard as long as this tunnel remains as the guiding path. c",)




(c) 2011 CathiannePhotography
Jochiwon, Chungnam, Korea

Korean Food Appetite

Cathianne's Journal:

25 Feb. 2011

Getting Back My Appetite for Korean Food

I felt a lot better today compared to my condition yesterday. At least I seemed to have my appetite back. I ate half of the tuna roll for breakfast that my aunt sent me, spent some time on the computer, and prepared to go to the lab.

At the lab, I finished my course registration. So for my first semester, I'll be taking up 3 courses: Water Resources Systems Engineering during Tuesdays, Urban Hydrology and Chemical Reaction Engineering during Saturdays, and as a freshman, it's been a requirement to sit in the seminar for thesis/dissertation during Fridays. So that means that I'll be in Seoul at least three times in a week!

Seeing the course description, I informed MJ oppa that I have already registered all three. He told me to call our advisor. After I did, I was advised then to take a look at the syllabus of each course. Seeing Chemical Reaction Engineering's syllabus, I'm getting cold feet upon seeing more Chemistry in it, haha! I can do this! I don't have to remind myself that I'm not a big fan of Chemistry. I will do great in all three subjects no matter what, each day is a new adventure! Aja! *wink*

It was almost lunchtime then, my lab-mates and I went to lunch at another cafeteria (just above the cafeteria where I first had my lunch on my first day here). There, I really saw my appetite coming! I thought I really wouldn't be able to eat well. For KRW4,500, I had kimchi and sweetened radish for sidings, squid calamares, tangerine (or kiat-kiat in the Philippines), kimbap (which is almost similar to maki except it was being eaten as it is without the wasabi and soy sauce), and what MJ oppa called the "PARTY NOODLES". Party? Haha! They gave huge servings for the noodles! I can't even finish half! The diameter of the bowl was probably about 10 inches or even a bit bigger, and the depth was about 4 inches! Talk about PARTY noodles...=))

Since I haven't had a campus tour yet, I asked MJ oppa if he can accompany me and give me a more detailed tour around the campus. And we did tour! I got to see more of the library, the "English" building or the one that contained the English Cafe and the English Clinic (funny as how they emphasized English in it), the newest building with what they described as having a "European" style of architecture, the buildings with more glass facade (this being a trend according to oppa, and I believe this is the practice of green building or green infrastructure already), the "playground" or the football field and other outdoor sports area, and more... After the tour, oppa bought us some drinks at another store somewhere (I forgot what building that was) where they also sold school supplies. Because of this tour, I've known that oppa took Environmental Engineering in his undergraduate studies and now is majoring Water Resources.

Back at the lab, I've decided to make more friends. I talked with Uijeon oppa, from the ground water laboratory, and I've found out that he's already been to the Philippines. Also along the way, I was again introduced to "Chinese man", and I finally got his real name. I was a bit shocked when he said MABUHAY but he was too shy to speak to me in English, haha!

Still, the language is a barrier. But hey, I'm starting to remember and learn more from MJ oppa. Like the word "Professor", they call it "gyu-su (nim)"; nim is to address an older person or elderly. And I have to keep in mind the word THANK YOU being "kamsahapmida" or "komhapsupmida". More words and phrases to learn! I do hope my one or two future roommate(s) will also be kind and nice to me and would be glad to teach me Korean. c",)

Jochiwon Catholic Church and Power Pharm

Cathianne's Journal:

24 Feb. 2011

Locating the Pharmacy and Church at Jochiwon's Downtown

I woke up really early as planned because I wanted to do a photowalk around the campus. Too bad, my stomach started to hurt and I felt like throwing up! Just yesterday, I was enjoying everything and the food, now it was quite different. It brought me to a trip downtown...

I tried to stay for a few more hours in my room, placed some ointment on my stomach to ease the pain and frequented the bathroom for I was throwing up a bit and having lbm. After feeling a little better, I walked outside and went in the lab. Only one labmate was in. I was to meet my professor for the first time and waited for his call.

At around 11:00am, Gwang answered the telephone and informed me that it was the professor. After a few minutes, I went to visit the office of Prof. JY. Finally, I was able to meet my professor face-to-face!

We discussed about the courses that I should be taking up this semester and before ending the conversation, I asked him where I can get some medicine for my condition. He then toured me at the campus dormitories and pointed out some restaurants where I can eat and where I will be transferring on Sunday, the dorm that will house me for the whole year.

Then I also needed to know the directions to the church. Good thing my professor is also Catholic, so we both go to the same church. In his car, he taught me the road to take when going to the downtown. Just as we were looking for the church, we found Power Pharm, a drugstore just at the corner of the street where the church is near! Talk about hitting two birds with one stone. Neat. =)

We first went to the church and asked for the Sunday mass schedules. Everything in the leaflet was written in Korean. So Prof.JY had to teach me how to read at least the AM, PM and SUNDAY. Next stop was the pharmacy. Again, the pharmacist didn't understand English so I had to describe to my professor. what I was going through then he relayed the message to the pharmacist. Then after, I got a couple of boxes of pills to take 3x daily. Hoped a lot this would make me well!

He drove backwards to the route we took going to the church so I could remember how to get there. Then back at the university, we went to the convenience store to buy lunch. I only bought water as I had no appetite at all and I didn't want to throw up along the way. It's good too that the cashier understood and spoke English when I spoke to her.

I went back to the lab to rest. I tried browsing youtube for glee episodes. At around 3:00pm, I and MJ oppa were called by Prof.JY to his office. There we discussed the courses we will be taking this semester. As freshman grad student, I had to take 3 courses at least. Nice to know that I'll have MJ oppa as my classmate, at least I would have some company whenever I go to Seoul for the lectures. After having discussed everything, I went back to the lab, took my things and went to rest at my dormitory. I slept for about 2 hours and woke up eating some blueberry muffin my aunt sent me. It seemed like the longest meal of my life. Though I was feeling better, I finished the muffin for about 2 hours! It was like torture just to have something for my stomach! At around 8:00pm, my professor dropped by to check on my condition and gave me some juice to drink which might help me get better. I know that Welch's grape juice tastes good so I tried the green bottle first. It's like something citrusy and not the kind my tastebuds would like to have that time.

I was still feeling cold so I've decided to get something warm to drink, even just hot water. When I went out to the convenience store, I was all wrapped up in four layers with my heeled boots to keep me warm and the mittens on my hands and I found out the store was already closed! Oh, snap! I decided to go back to the dorm and try out the vendo machine which had everything written in Korean except for the "Hot" and "Cold". I was praying the machine wouldn't eat me alive. *Laughs* I pressed the button that was below the "Hot". Got a cup of warm drink. It was brown, but it was neither coffee nor tea! It was the same as the one I had on my first dinner. The last drink that seemed to top off the meal as "dessert". It tasted something minty, sweet, seemed to have a hint of ginger --- it was a funny tasting warm drink. At least it was successful in keeping me warm!

Now I'm off to bed. Tomorrow again!

Smart Phones -- The Trend in Korea

Cathianne's Journal:

23 Feb. 2011

The Longest Waiting Time -- Buying A Smart Phone

Let me share with you my adventures for today.

This morning, I woke up at 8:00. I had some bread with me so I ate some for breakfast. Good thing the room had a couple of bottled water so I didn't have to go out to buy some drink anymore. After getting prepared and dressed up, I walked down to the laboratory and waited for GJ oppa. When he arrived, I tasted my first instant coffee in the lab with the paper cup vendo to put my coffee in. I'd usually drink coffee while sitting down and relaxing except for that morning. For the first time I was carrying a cup of coffee that was almost full while catching up with his pace because we were going to the downtown area to buy my phone! WEEEEE!!!

Upon reaching the place, everything was "deserted". Everything seemed still. Almost all the shops were closed! To think that it was already 11:00 AM. The SK Telecom store was also closed. It was where we were supposed to buy the phone. Then we went to Qock (I don't know exactly how it is pronounced but the logo looked like it was spelled that way) and it was open! Hurrah! GJ oppa knew I needed applications like wifi, free chats and internet services so he suggested several smartphone models. I ended up with a Samsung Anycall Android. I'm not a gadget geek but it looks great. The first and last time I bought my own phone was way back in 2005. This is the second and I needed oppa to help me out because the sales guy didn't know how to speak in English. Oppa did all the discussions. The phone came free with a 35,000 KRW monthly plan that I have to use for at least two years. Not bad for a smart phone!

Tic tac...

It's 12:00NN. Fortunately, I have eaten breakfast. Poor oppa hasn't eaten yet and I had just known that they had stayed up til morning in the lab finishing some final reports. I started listening to my sister's shuffle. Oppa did some talk with the local manager (probably asking how longer it will take...talk about waiting for an hour already!).

*** Cellphone store scenario: It's just a small glass enclosed store, probably with an area of 20 sq.m. more or less, we were entertained after about 15 minutes because there was a customer who came ahead of us. It seems that they can only entertain one person at a time. Then there came an old man in his early 60's maybe who was seeking their service. He also had to wait and ended up talking and having more conversations with the manager and sales guy. Oppa has already gone out for some air while I kept listening to the iPod. After about another 20 minutes, the sales guys said to just wait for 10 minutes more... Tic tac goes the time... I'm starting to starve and feel the need to go to the washroom because of the coffee!... Tic tac and a few minutes more..

Finally! Oppa got the paperbag with my smart phone! Yey! It was already 1:00pm in my watch. 2 hours?! Does it take that long to buy a mobile phone? Or was it just not a good day for the store... Oh well... I got what I needed anyway. ***

We walked back to the university, I was chillin' and really needed to go pee! [Oh, stop light, please give me a go green...NOW.] By the time we reached the cafeteria, everything was done and we can no longer buy our meal. *Sigh* Oppa brought me to another cafeteria. It was more of like a sandwich store because all they served were sandwiches and fruit juices. A good choice for the health conscious I guess. And again, thanks to oppa. If not for him, I wouldn't know again what to eat. Everything was written in Korean! I simply said yes to the suggested bacon sandwich and chose orange juice for my drink. All I could understand were the numbers. The sandwich prices ranged from 1,200 to 2,200 krw. The fruit juice were like from 1,200 to 1,500 depending on the fruit. And again we waited. What was cool about the place though was that it had a cellphone store inside it. Funny reaction by oppa: "oh, there's just one here [cellphone store]". The fact that we went out of the school and walked far downtown and waited so long just to find out there's one open inside the campus! Haha! *Charge it to my experience*. I also noticed that the caf had a TV that was tuned in to what seemed like a Korean drama series. But I couldn't understand anyway, so I didn't bother to watch anymore. *laughs*

After we got our orders, we walked to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where our other lab-mates where seated outside with their coffees. We ate our lunch there. I knew another lab-mate who was younger than I, Gwang. So I'm not the youngest in the lab anymore, hahah! Just the unica hija. He was "bullied" to speak to me in English.

We all went back to the lab after lunch. There, I learned to use the smart phone with the help of oppa. He changed the language to English 'cos it will be of no use for me if I couldn't read a thing!

After several applications, I tried downloading and installed chikkatext on my computer (so I can chikkatext even in the lab to send messages to family and friends in the Philippiens for free, hahah!). After a while, oppa gave me some lab reports to read. All I could read was the English part. And it was only 3 pages! The Summary. Bow. T_____T"

A few minutes later, he handed me a lab report which had "more" alphabets in it. Only to find out most of it were in Turkey language. (^_*) It was only almost 7 in the evening and we went out to eat dinner. I guess everyone was hungry.

This time, the restaurant didn't require the shoes or footwear removed! Yeah..! And the tables were the normal type where we all sat on chairs (not pillows on the floor). Poor me again, no idea of what to order because "I know no read". T___T" Oppa suggested something about pork that I didn't understand and I told them to order whatever is the best and as long as it's edible, I'm good with it! Hahah! A few seconds later, the famous radish in red (kimchi) came, and round yellow thin sliced vegetable (?) that I don't know what to call. Wayne oppa said it's also radish but sweet, not spicy. Then there came the ramen! Something to warm the stomach for the cold walk we just had. I was introduced to whom they kept teasing as Chinese. All I could remember was the first letter of his name -- it started with C... Too hungry to remember the names? He became too shy to speak because he was being pressured by the rest of the group to talk in English. Poor guy, not until I joked that I wouldn't eat him, all he could say was "Shy man" and everybody heard and laughed.

While waiting, I kept observing my surrounding and the show on the tv even if I couldn't really understand a word. I just knew they were advertising some cooking ware that made the food on tv look so tempting. The walls of the restaurant was covered with rose pink colored wallpaper with some flowers all around. It's like being in a doll house or origami!

The main dishes were served and I got PORK KATSUDON! I remember this being my youngest brother's favorite. The serving was big, really big! Or was my appetite just really small... Anyway, I was only able to eat one piece of the two-piece serving and finished the rice. I love the rice -- sticky! YUM! And I tried the ramen. It tasted way better. I guess I just have had enough of the katsudon, it tasted good too but the serving was just too much for me. For the first time, I paid my own meal and that pork katsudon cost me 4,000 krw. It was a good meal! That meal will be giving me a good night sleep now.

--- Til here for now as I'm signing off ---

Cathianne Sets Foot in Kimchi Land

Cathianne's Journal:

22 Feb. 2011

Warm Welcome in Kimchi Land

Incheon Airport (Google Images)

The plane touched down at approximately 5:50 am (Philippine time). The temperature was -1 degree. Finally, I touched down to Korea! My new adventure was about to begin!

In Korean time, it was 6:50 am. We had to get our luggages. Micah and I were about to start our Korean culture experience.

After getting our luggages, we met with our schoolmates from UST and waited for Micah's lab mates, the ones assigned to fetch her. I was supposed to go with them. The problem was, My luggages can no longer fit in CC oopa's suv because both Micah and I have extremely heavy and huge maletas! We were told to expect a cold climate and bring clothes for winter, so there...

Good thing, Kurishee was there to accompany me. The weather was really cold (for me) and I was blowing out fog from my mouth. We took the bus going to Cheonan where were going to meet our fellow Thomasian engineers who are studying in Kongju National University. The bus was big and the seats were comfortable. I was able to sleep well during the two-hour trip to Cheonan station.

Just as we got down the bus at Cheonan station, MJ oppa, my fellow lab student, caught up with us. He and Wayne oppa brought us first to Kongju where we had our small "Thomasian-engineers-in-Korea gathering". We met Ate Marla's professor who enthusiastically welcomed us.

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NOTE: Koreans are very particular with addressing those who are older or younger than them to show respect. The term "oppa" means "big or elder brother" for females.

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After a few minutes of chitchats, I had to leave with my lab mates because I had to check in at my temporary room in the dorm inside Korea University in Jochiwon, which is another 1 hour drive from Cheonan.

Upon arrival, MJ oppa gave me a small tour of Korea University and brought me to the dorm where I was given a reservation. The university was breath-taking aside from the cold climate that was giving me goosebumps and a nice feeling about my stay.

Back at the dormitory, we're using key cards! Cool! As I entered the room, all I could say to my mind was "awesome" with the internet cables, tv, two beds, cabinets, heaters, some bottled water and coffee, mini refrigerator, and a neat bathroom with a pair of bathroom slippers! I left all my bags and went to eat lunch with oppa at the nearby cafeteria. The best part of it all was the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf just across the dormitory! Sweet!

Just as my friend advised, they love having things through vendo machines. So indeed, at the caf just before getting our meals, we had to pay at the vendo machine to get our food stab for 3,000krw per person. Not bad cos the food served were kimchi, breaded porkchop with teriyaki sauce, some noodles, seaweed wrap, soup and steamy sticky rice. The meal was just good for my hungry stomach! I had to check out the toilet fast and everything was so clean and neat. Back at the caf, it's a CLAYGO or Clean As You Go system. It's good that they have a system for disposal such that garbages have to be separated from the plates and utensils. The spoons, forks and chopsticks were all metal by the way; and even the cup. There's a water dispenser (hot and cold) at the end of the caf and they have this neat way of collecting the cups just beside the dispensers. Wish I took pictures but I was still dizzy trying to pick up the pace to adjust to this new life! IT'S SO MUCH FUN!

MJ oppa asked me if I wanted to take a cab to the downtown or just walk. Knowing myself, I've always loved walking as much as I can (of course other than to save more, I also wanted to burn all the calories the simple way). At the downtown of Jochiwon, he accompanied me to KB, a local bank, so I can open a local bank account. Good thing indeed that MJ oppa was with me or else my nose would have been bleeding1 all day long cos I know not a single word in the Korean language except "annyong hasseo". That time, I also just learned to say "thank you" / "komhapsupmida". It started to sink in that I have to learn the language fast too! At the bank, I needed oppa to be my translator. Funny thing, I just remembered, it's also oppa's birthday. What an effort to tour a foreign student around on his birthday.=))

1 The term bleeding has been used in the 21st century by Filipinos to mean that they do not understand English or are having a hard time with the English vocabulary. It is also being applied to other foreign languages as well especially Chinese, Japanese and Korean since these languages do not use the typical 26 letters of the alphabet.

After I had opened an account, oppa brought me to a cellphone store and talked with a sales representative. He was told I had to present a certificate (which will be given by next week when classes will start) in order for me to buy a line because I'm a foreign student. So we had to come back next time instead. My Pinoy phone is about to die on me, only hanging onto 1 bar of battery! Oh no...

Sensing oppa got tired of walking, I agreed to finally take the cab with him back to the university. It's just a quick ride indeed. But I still find it fun to walk (as long as the weather is nice like a cold sunny day)... *laughs*

We went to our laboratory where I finally met our senior lab-mate, GJ oppa. He was the oppa who helped me out with my registrations and dormitory reservations while was still in my homeland. I had my own table already with the computer and some office/school supplies. What surprised me were the colored post-its! I'm about to go back to being "O.C." again!

As night fell, we all went out to dinner together. I wasn't sure if it was to celebrate MJ's birthday but it was a cool way to introduce me to their culture -- dinner at an authentic Korean restaurant. I was amazed by the appetizers alone! I thought they were already the main dishes but I kept wondering why the servings were small for a group of 8 guys and an unica???.. There were kimchi, oysters with spicy sauce, seaweeds, crab with spicy sauce, crispy shrimps, and more of which I cannot describe perfectly. The table was definitely FILLED UP. If only they could cover up each space on the table with the bowl of appetizer, they literally would; that's how FILLED UP the table was such that some of the appetizers that were still unfinished had to be taken out by the waitress in order to serve another set of appetizers. How is that for a meal?!

Then came the pork and more spicy sauce. I didn't see them eat the leaves at first cos there were about 3 plates with piles of purely leaves of various types and sizes. I didn't know what to pair it with until one of them gave me a demo by getting a leaf, putting it on his palm, took a pork with the chopsticks and placed it on the leaf, added some spicy sidings on the pork, wrapped the leaf around it all --- and chomped 'em. GJ oppa told me to dip it in the separate orange colored, more spicy looking sauce and so I tried it too. AND I LIKED IT! It would have been better though had I not tasted the fat. Then steaming black rice with some beans and whatelses were served to each one of us. Oh, I just remembered, they didn't serve water. It was cold service tea for the drinks. Weird but I managed anyway. And on the rice, some ate half of 'em and poured service tea on the steaming bowl, which made more steam because the cold tea mixed up with the steaming bowl. And I felt horrified at the sight of my rice being done with the same practice too by my senior! He told me it's the "real appetizer" for Koreans! Weird at sight but I tried again. Rice was eated with spoon by the way. With my spoon, I dipped and took some rice to my mouth and it almost burned my tongue! I had to blow just before eating. Almost lost my appetite for having to blow the heat off but it tasted...well...just ok...manageable...like "lugaw" but watery and less dense with more rough texture on the rice... And to top off the dinner, they served this "appetizer" or what might have tasted like dessert to me because of the familiar sweet, mint-like taste. It sort of had a hint of ginger to it... Anyway, I got FULL tasting almost all of it except for the mushrooms that looked scary to my taste buds...

This ends my first day adventure and now I shall rest here in my cozy haven! I just wish my permanent room will be as cool if not more awesome than this! *wink*