Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

I got my shades today! MJ oppa got it from the main reception of our building. Blooper: My name was written on the address and they didn't know where to bring the package..Nyark...! LOL

The whole day I've been working on the Fortran code and finally had a meeting with my professor. Getting things done soon! After the meeting, as I got back to my seat in the lab, GJ oppa asked me if I wanna join the others watch Transformers 3. Oh heck yeah! I TDAP want to and I need a good movie break! That movie sure will tweak my wicked programming brain! LOL.


By 6:20pm, I rode a taxi with Jungeol, MJ and Hwanseok to Jochiwon downtown and we headed to CINUS. And whattabonus! It's Hwanseok oppa's treat! How cool is that?! :D


It was still early so we still had much time to have dinner. At the ground floor of the building, we ate at a Japanese restaurant that had this rotating conveyor on a long table where you can just get your choice of food placed on the belt. Pay for the price of the color of the plate of course. :D


I had 알밥 (Al Bab - fried rice with fish eggs) for dinner and it was good (KRW 5000)! After eating, we still had more than enough time so we played some arcade games. First game, Hwanseok asked me to join him. It was a funny game, like a race, where you had to be fast in pressing the huge buttons and the animations were also funny, like crying babies LOL. MJ and Jungeol played table hockey and other shooting games. By 7:15pm, the two bought some popcorns and HUGE DRINKS and we entered the movie. My coke was so large, I could barely drink a quarter of it!


AND TRANSFORMERS BEGAN!!! Wooooot! XD

Korea University Sejong Campus Open House Party

Korea University Sejong Campus is known as the "Best Boarding Campus". Indeed it is. The dormitories have great facilities and a home to a lot of students away from their hometowns. The open house party started last night and is celebrated annually for two consecutive nights with temporary hofs (tents were put up around the place for drinking) and a stage facing the Truth Building for the entertainment and all-night singing and dancing. Just tonight, before finally hitting my pillows, I decided to get my camera and take some photos of the people partying with the KU Cheerleaders on the stage dancing and singing. The funniest part was the red plastic bags that were inflated and used as props! I haven't seen any crowd gone crazy and raised up plastic bags whirled above their heads. Students were very energetic and I took the opportunity to capture the moment. *wink*

Just as I was about to head back to the dorm, a song to the tune of Canon in D (my favorite instrumental ever) was played! I couldn't resist and took a video of the happenings until the song ended. =)

Spiciest Dinner: OCTOPUS MUCH

02 May 2011


This is just a blog post of my dinner for tonight. It was an unusual dinner with the lab brothers cos we went out this time. Cindy and I rode in Jungeol oppa's car along with Kyeongjin oppa. We went to a restaurant that was somehow off the highway and was about 5-10 minutes away from school by car. Cindy told me that we'll be eating a very spicy dinner, a very spicy octopus that is. I guess it was just right that I didn't put on my sweater anymore!


There were 9 of us in the restaurant - Oppas - GJ, MJ, Jungeol, Kyeongjin, Changhong, Kwanhyeong, Wayne - plus Gwang, Cindy and I - the "kids", hahah!


When the dishes came, it was a mix of seafoods but with a huge octopus that the immonims had to cut first in front of us. It looked like a nice ritual. Unfortunately, I'm just to shy to take photos when I'm having dinner around a lot of oppas. It would have been a good photo op. Tsk tsk. There should be a next time - hopefully with Pinoy friends so that I won't feel restricted to take unlimited photos of the food. LOL.


A dish was shared by three persons so there were 3 of that octopus dish that was placed on our long table. After eating almost half of the dish, the immos came back to get them. Time for the "paella"! They get some of what's left on the pan and mix it with rice - which is called "bokkeumbap" 볶음밥. It's soooo delicious and still soo spicy! But while everyone else where wiping with tissues and sweating, I was still cool with just my t-shirt and kept digging in despite the hotness building up in my mouth! LOL. All I could say was: "HOT but NAMIIIIIIIIIT! Aaahhh!" *wink*

ID Key Card Trouble

I went to the lab early at quarter to 9 and tested my keycard ID. Sadly, I still can't use it! I went to the Department Secretary to have my ID checked. After making a call, we found out that I won't be able to use my ID as passport for a week because I have not attended the safety education! (WHUUWAAAT?!!) So just because I forgot about the seminar I'm being punished by disabling my access to the building and the lab?! T___T"


1100 h
I was still sleepy that morning and decided to take a 30-minute nap. But a few minutes later, the phone started ringing. Much later on, GJ oppa asked me to make a reservation. In short, I wasn't able to take my 30-minute power nap anymore. LOL.


1130h
I made some phone calls to a couple of hotels in LA to reserve rooms for my professor and oppa who are attending a conference sometime in May. As I finally reached the booking number, I was glad to hear a familiar accent. The way the call center agent spoke in English was comforting, not too fast and perfectly clear and understandable. I had a strong feeling she's a Filipina like me! But I was too shy to ask her. LOL.


1300h
For the first time, my 3 oppas - GJ, MJ, and Hwanseok - and I went with our professor for lunch. As we met outside the building. As we met our professor outside the building, nobody had an idea of where to eat yet. MJ oppa thought I didn't like spicy food because of yesterday's lunch (it was the tofu that stopped me from going for second round), so we went to a noodle store. Our professor became sort of an interpreter cos my oppas would talk in Korean. He teased them that they should talk with me more often to practice their English skills. LOL.


1450h
Since tomorrow is my midterms, I decided to go home early and take an early afternoon sleep. I woke up by 1730h and from then on, I didn't sleep anymore. ~ Tomorrow's an exciting sidetrip adventure with Tin!!! c",)

Nonsan City: Site Visit to Wetlands

28 April 2011


Wetland Site Visit Day!


1030h I left the campus with MJ oppa and traveled by car to Nonsan City to take a look at the wetland sites of of Kongju National University. It was both our first times to be at the site. It's my first time to see constructed wetlands as well. At the first wetland, pig waste is being treated. We also went up to the waste treatment facility --- and ooooohhhh! How nasty! The smell clung to our clothes and my hair!!! Eeek.!


We had lunch at a nearby restaurant with the students of KNU. Unfortunately, none of my Filipino schoolmates were there.


After lunch, we visited another wetland which looked a lot better than the first. I even saw a huge crane flying over but I didn't have my camera with me! <sob>


1530h We traveled back to Jochiwon. Along the road, oppa and I saw a reversely-driven truck! It's head was facing us! Only to find out it was being pulled by another truck behind when we overtook them. LOL. We almost thought of how crazy and excellent the driver would be had it been really driven reversely.


1830h The day wasn't over. Oppa and I had to proctor the midterm exams of our TA class. So we had to eat dinner early at the teachers' cafeteria. The exam was to start at 7:30pm and would end at 10:00 pm.


1920h We went to the English building and entered the hall where the exam was scheduled to be held at. Taking a look at the problems, they seem quite hard! And indeed, several students maximized the time and submitted their papers at exactly 10 o'clock in the evening!

My discoveries for today:
A car rental would cost around 70,000 won
Nonsan was an hour away from Jochiwon and there were several toll gates as well
Gasing up may be approximated to 10,000 won for that trip
20,000 won for all fees on the road might be more than enough


Rough estimate: A roadtrip to a 1-hour long drive to another destination might need 100,000 won. Would be good enough to share it with 5 people. *wink*

Rendezvous at CBTL

"My First CBTL Ice Blended!"


1200h


Only Sok oppa and I were the people in the lab. The rest of the guys were in Seoul having classes. So for lunch, oppa invited me to join him and I'm glad that he's also not a fan of the cafeteria for the professors! I like bibimbap so much and so we went to eat at the place where I had my first bibimbap. I learned that oppa was planning to proceed his post-graduate studies in the U.S. and heard from my professor that he's one of the brightest students even during his undergraduate years. Seems like it cos he was a double major degree holder (Environmental and Civil Engg) during his Bachelor's.^^


At the resturant, oppa ordered spicy ramyeon and bibimbap and I didn't know that it was a treat! Cool! ^^, I was supposed to have lunch with a couple of friends but they had classes still. Because of that, I got treated for lunch! ^^


1320h


I met up with BJ oppa and Keo, who had his head shaved just before we met (LOL), in front of CBTL. They're the new friends I met at the English Cafe. BJ oppa bought coffee for us and since it was a very nice warm day (22 degrees), I decided to have white chocolate dream latte ice blended - my first ever ice blended drink at Coffee Bean here! LOL. We sat outside at the porch area and I was already brave not to put on a jacket or sweater. The warm sun was really such a bliss to my skin! ^^, I loved it!


BJ oppa told us about his interview with Asiana Airlines yesterday and when I found out he applied for FA, I was so amazed and said that that's one of the jobs I'd fancy and I definitely don't see it as a job, it's more of fun than work because it's traveling!!!^^ But it's funny that he doesn't like flying! Both Keo and him have phobias in airplanes! LOL. And so he's expecting not to get accepted, the experience of the interview was enough for him. kkk...

BIBIMBAP PLACE (not exactly the name^^)

2000h


Alone in the lab! Sok oppa already went back to Seoul so I have the lab all to myself and I can sing all I want! LOL. Just kidding! (Half - hahaha!)


I thought I would be having only oranges for dinner. But John came and so I went to dinner with him, Cindy and another friend of Cindy who's living in an apartment just outside the campus grounds. We went to a restaurant that's just a few steps from the apartment and Cindy told me to try the 청둑장. At first I was hesitant cos it was neither beef nor chicken and I didn't want to have pork as much as possible. Then she said something about beans. "Oh, soy beans?!" And I was thinking of tofu already - I'm not such a big fan of tofu. I was hopeful that the way the tofu was being cooked was tasteful even spicy cos I rarely eat plain tofu! When the dish arrived, it was a red soup filled with tofu! @_@ hahah! I didn't know what to say really and so when she asked me how it tasted, I just said "Ok". LOL. It smelled not so good too as what she said. Good thing there were lots of side dishes / appetizers and the seaweed wrap which they call "KIM". I preferred the sidedishes more than the main course we ordered. LOL. It tasted just well and blended with the kim and other appetizers at least, it wasn't that bad and it was just OK. c",)

청둑장

청둑장 (Ch'ong Dook Jang)

English Cafe - Rendezvous Not

It was almost 2:00 PM and the people in the lab have not yet eaten lunch! I'm getting so hungry cos I haven't had any meal yet and everyone were just too "busy" to bother about their stomachs calling! T__T" My tummy was already grouching. I decided to pick my reading materials and go to the English Cafe at the building just to the right of our building.


I was looking forward to eating some real lunch - sandwich and some beverage - and I even thought about splurging on lunch for today. When I reached the cafe, I didn't know that everything was for free! Free indeed and there was no food menu to choose from cos whatever there is, that was it - coffee, tea, toasted bread. T___T" Oh  well, at least I saved for lunch and remembered that I still had some bread in my table and thought of eating it when I go back to the laboratory.

A few minutes when I found a place to sit, a couple of guys also sat beside my table. All people staying in the English Cafe really spoke in English. If they were Korean Nationals, some of them were there practicing their English skills through some foreign acquaintances or with their friends who are also knowledgeable in the foreign language. These two guys seemed to have been there for the first time as well. I was buried in my reading materials when suddenly, one of them said "hi" to me. I thought they were referring to someone else near me, but they were actually really saying "hi" to me. (My reaction looked stunned and awkwardly funny). Then that's when I met two new guy friends who are, this time, not from my department! Now I have friends from the Business Management Department and who are very eager to talk with me in English! =))


I guess it pays to be hungry sometime? Haha..Good thing I went to the English Cafe. I simply wanted a place to relax and have some food and I got two new friends to top it all. c",)




Back at the SciTech Building...
11:00 PM
I decided to go home early and bring my materials at home. Hyunjoo called me up and asked me to pass by the laboratory at the 2nd floor. Bean oppa was there with her drinking some Cass beer and just before I headed home, I also took a shot of Cass. kkk...Hyunjoo and I went home together to our dormitory ready to get some deep sleep. c",)

Just Scrambled Eggs

Oppas finally got tired of the cafeteria food today. For lunch, we went to a nearby restaurant outside the campus. Since I still cannot order food by myself, my friends would still suggest and describe the menu. Hyunjoo suggested that I either try the Pork Cutlet (동까스 "tong ka su") or the 오미라야스 (omi rice), kimchi fried rice covered with scrambled eggs on top (literally, it covered everything!). I decided to try the fried rice since the last time I ate there, I remembered ordering the port cutlet and only finishing half of it. When the dish arrived, I was like "Oh, breakfast - egg and rice in tomato ketchup for 4,000 won"...Hahaha!


This is how the 오미라야스 looked but with more egg on top!

Photo from: http://mybakingcottage.blogspot.com/2008/01/lunch-bento-tomato-fried-rice.html


This almost resembles the pork cutlet but the size of the pork they served at the restaurant was way bigger like 2 pieces of quarter pound pork! :))

Photo from: http://www.lastappetite.com/eating-japanese-food-like-a-complete-jackass/


For dinner, we ate at the professors' cafeteria. This time, I met another female grad student who is staying in Anam where she's doing her lab duties. She hardly spoke English but she is able to understand me anyway. We became friends from then on. ^^ After dinner, we went to Coffee Bean (I was about to go straight to the lab when an oppa told me to follow them at CBTL --- I don't want to buy an expensive coffee for now please T__T") and yey me! - It was Changhong oppa's treat for everyone! Cafe Mocha on the house! ^^,

I Shopped at Jochiwon Traditional Market

It's a Sunday! I feel so lazy and the weather seemed so cold! I got up and stayed longer in bed. LAZY DAY, magnetic bed, ZzZzZzZz...


I decided to get up and do some laundry.


I finished by 2:00pm and went to the downtown to attend the 3:00pm mass at the Jochiwon Catholic Church. By 4:00pm, the mass ended and I decided to go around and look for some stuff I might need to use in the dormitory. I went around the traditional market and looked at some shops that sold clothes and accessories. After several shops, I ended up in this one that I always found to have a lot of customers. So I got in. No wonder they always had a lot of people because the clothes were so affordable! And they are of good quality, mind you. Just be careful and choose wisely cos they also have really nice designs! Simple yet durable and posh! ^^, I ended up buying 2 thick jackets, a long hoodie, a "posh" sweater, and a couple more collared blouses that cost me 62,500 krw! LOL. And because I took long in the store, I even made friends with the lady assisting me and the older one. Both hardly spoke English and so we made use of sign languages. LOL. Jin Xiang Xian was from China and I remembered some Chinese I learned in highschool. So I asked her name and she was glad to know that I knew a bit of Mandarin. She only spoke Hangeul, Mandarin, and some Japanese but poorly in English. She was so eager to know me even if we hardly understood each other and we had fun trying to express each other's ideas. We even exchanged mobile numbers to keep in touch (I wonder though how we are going to text each other with that huge language barrier. LOL). She was so excited and we found out I'm a year older than her, so I called her "dong saeng" while she happily called me "unni". I got my stuff with a huge discounted price, by the way, cos the ladies were amused by me even if we didn't understand each other that much. I simply asked if there was a discount since I was buying a lot and the older lady (whom I started calling "unni" as well), even taught me to say "kack-a-ju-sae-yo" - which means, to lower the price please... ^^,

I went out carrying a huge plastic bag then. I went to Daiso to buy a broom and other stuff I needed at the dorm. Then another plastic bag came with me. I also needed an iron and a hair blower so I went back to the first store where I bought my stuff weeks ago. An old man was the one in charge this time. By the time I paid, he gave me a potpourri too! And a points card. Because of the points card, I now know the name of that store --- Living Mart Corporation (Li-bing-ma-keu). ^^,

Three bags with me and they're starting to get really heavy. If I walk to the campus, wow...That's a long walk! I remembered that the free campus bus would pick up near the train station starting 5:00pm. It was almost 6 already and so I decided to take the free bus ride. Before going up the overpass, I bought some oranges from an old lady who was offering me to buy. And again, I used "hankook mal jal mot heyo" to let her know I can't speak and just said "Ku-de hakseng" which meant that I'm a student at Korea University. kkk...^^

By the time I reached the campus, I decided to drop my stuff first at the dorm. Seeing the dust on the floor, I decided to sweep the room! I wonder when was the last time this was cleaned. @_@

1900h

I went to the lab and found out that MJ, John and Kiko were already having dinner. I gave them some orange and they invited me to join them for dinner. They were having budochige! One of my favorites! And they had an extra rice too! So my dinner for that night was free and "belly-fulfilling"!!! LOL.

Til my next blog! - Cathianne c",)

Black-billed Magpie

bluebirds_04, a photo by cathiannephotography on Flickr.

Finally! I caught these lovely blue birds with my lens! These photos were taken last on March 13th while I was walking on my way to my laboratory. It so happened that I also brought my camera with me. Perfect timing for a photoshoot with these lovely magpies!

CLICK HERE for more info on Black-billed Magpie

Lunch at Truth Building Cafeteria

Cathianne's Journal:


Truth Cafeteria and Pick-nick Dinner
30 March 2011


Menu for Today:
Lunch - 돈갈비김지찌개 (Dak galbi kimchi jigae) for 3,000 krw

Dinner - chicken tomato green veggie salad, cold cuts, cut egg omellete, and rice balls

1210h

 I had lunch for the first time at the cafeteria inside the Truth Building. It was more spacious and cleaner compared to the usual cafeteria where I eat lunch with my oppas. I like the ambiance of the Truth cafeteria too! They had a good set of menu for lunch as well that I could not choose between the Dak Galbi or the Chamchi Bibimbap! But I wanted to have seaweed wraps so I chose the dak galbi even if I wanted some tuna bibimbap...If I could just switch some of the food then...LOL.

돈갈비김지찌개 (Dak galbi kimchi jigae)

This is my lunch! Dak galbi kimchi jigae^^
Photo from android

Two of Four of Today's Lunch Menu at Truth Building Cafeteria
Photo from android

It seems I'm already having SPRING FEVER. I learned the term from Jongchun yesterday. The feeling of being sleepy especially after lunch time. Being drowsy and all. The whole afternoon I was reading the same chapter of Fluid Mechanics then I would stop for a while and play some PVZ cos I got to the point of actually napping for several seconds already. LOL. That's not good...

1910h

Since this afternoon, the headset has been covering my ears to keep my mind awake somehow. MJ and GJ oppa called me to join them at the other table for dinner. It was from Kyeongjin oppa's girlfriend who visited the lab earlier. She left food for dinner. Everything was delicious! There was this rice ball that I'm not sure of how they call it, some cold cuts, sausages, egg omelette and the winning piece of all --- the chicken-tomato-lettuce-yellow bellpepper salad! That was really 맛있다 !!! ^^,

Doengjang Rice Ball
Photo source: SEMPIO 

*** Though I'm not sure if the one we had is similar to the Doenjang Rice Ball. ***

http://www.sempio.com/eng/recipencooking/recipe/view.asp?IDX=150

Here's a link for those who'd like to try this one out! Seems the same only that the one we had for dinner was really round and ball-shaped. ^^,

********************************************************************************************

That's all for today! Til my next blog! c",)

Bad Computer Day

Cathianne's Journal:

Bad Computer Day

16 March 2011

Today was a bad day for my computer. I can't work well cos my assignment depends on the computer! Huhuhu...


GJ oppa realized that my computer cannot safely remove any portable drives so he recommended it to be rebooted. So there, we had to reboot my computer which means that the newly installed English version of MS Office will be gone again. T___T"


It went on literally the whole day. It was past 8 in the evening and oppa was still on my computer. By 9 o'clock, he suggested that I go home to my dormitory...


I SLEPT EARLY! c",)

My First TA Session

Cathianne's Journal:

I Start Today My Real TA Work

15 March 2011

Menu for the Day:
Lunch and Dinner were both cafeteria food
*Lunch in Anam Research Center cafeteria (and it was a treat!^^)
*Dinner at Sejong Campus cafeteria for professors (that's where oppas love to eat...)


Good morning! I woke up early and got to the bus station just in time to buy my ticket and something to much on while waiting for the bus.


I arrived early in school and reached the classroom by 8:30am. I was too early that the room was still closed! Haha! So I waited outside til a lady came by to unlock the auditorium just 10 minutes before our schedule. Some of my classmates just arrived too.


0900h
Professor arrives and collects our assignments. I was a bit shocked to see that they'd make cover pages for assignments! I thought it was only done in college, never thought graduate students would bother to do cover pages just for a few page of written report. T___T"


In the class, the subject was getting more complex even though the topic was called SIMPLEX...Oh dear, I wish my brain is working supersonic...


1200h
Lunch at the cafeteria. Jongchun, a new friend of mine whose been trading languages with me through Kakaotalk (I teach him English, he teaches me Hangeul), invited me to join him and the others for lunch. Before our class ended, our professor gave us another manual to read. Good thing, Smartkid's (what I call him cos he's a genius) office had an extra copy of the manual and they gave it to me! ^^ So i need not to worry about where to find one anymore...One less thing to worry indeed but another to read..T___T"


Lunch was treated by Mr. Lee, one of my classmates who is working for a company and is also a PhD student in Anam Campus. ^^


1300h
Walk back to the subway.


1510h
I rode the bus to Sejong Campus.


1700h
I went in the lab and read the chapter of the book for my first tutorial session with the class I am helping MJ oppa as teaching assistant.


1830h
I had an early dinner with MJ oppa, Gwang and Dae-uk oppa. After the dinner at the cafeteria, Dae-uk oppa treated us some coffee at CBTL! Another Coffee Bean for me! My second here! Haha! I miss Coffee Bean and thanks to Dae-uk! c",)


Dae-uk only comes to Sejong during Tuesdays because he is a TA for one of his professor's undergraduate class.


2000h
I went up to the 5th floor with MJ oppa and he introduced me to some students who were there for the tutorial. There was about 10~12 students from Prof.JY's class. I was too conscious about it so I kept asking oppa to let me tutor without his presence, LOL...I didn't realize I was already taking too long! I ended the session a few minutes past 10 o'clock! Whoow...!


When I returned to the lab, Gwang asked for some help in his English assignment. It was about is vacation in Jeju Island and he needed to have his grammar corrected. Then GJ oppa saw it and showed me some more about Jeju and other beaches in Korea. Then he told me about Daechon beach and I learned that during summer, they have this mud festival held for a week long! Cool! I wanna go there too!!! ^^


To explore more of Korea also comes with the hope that this winter break, the professors will bring us, graduate students in the lab, to Jeju Island too! ^^


c",)

KALGUKSU for Dinner

Cathianne's Journal:

Kalguksu with Mah Bros

11 Mar 2011

Menu:
Cafeteria food for lunch
KALGUKSU for dinner!


Nothing much happened today. I just learned that Uijeon oppa was already leaving by the end of the month for his job at the U.S. Navy Corps of Engineers! WOW! That's the first real conversation I had with oppa and I opened up about how I feel when I'm in the lab because I cannot understand what people talk about and I don't know how to approach them because they don't seem to want to speak in English. And he feels sorry that most guys do so because they feel shy to speak. =|


I had an early dinner with my brothers, Gwang and Junsik at the Good Restaurant just outside the boundaries of Sejong Campus. It was again one of the restaurants that made you remove your shoes and sit on throw pillows on the floor. They served noodles and it's my first KALGUKSU with seafood. YUMMY! =))


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KALGUKSU
Ref: ZENKIMCHI
Kalguksu literally means ‘knife noodles,’ referring to how the noodles are made by cutting with a knife rather than extruded or spun


More on Kalguksu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalguksu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FORTRAN - I Need Help

Cathianne's Journal:

Obviously Lost in the Wilderness

Programming, You've Done It

10 Mar 2011

Lost in the world!

I have a programming assignment due in 9 days and I have no idea how to do it! I stayed up late in the lab and saw some websites on Fortran Programming but I didn't even know where to start. My older lab brother, GJ, saw me working on it and was worried that I'm staying up late in the lab. He tried to find some files from his previous semesters but didn't find the one similar to my current programming assignment.

So yeah, I have to read about FORTRAN. The book, the manual, anything that will teach me how to do it!

I got two books from oppa. How will I understand them in a few days and finish the project??? T____T"

FORTRAN, I need more time!

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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*