Mikyung is leaving Singapore today. How come this time feels like the real good bye compared to the one we had few months back in some tau huay shop.

4 years past so fast. 

Looking back at my past post and realized that blogging really helps to "preserve" your memories. So much memories coming back after reading them especially my first year in Korea. I was 24 then, so young.

Helped to book a room in The Sultan for staycation next week with gang, mk, j and c. Went there before during Jerlyn's bd and was impress by the interior of the hotel, very arty farty feel. Is also my first time to have a staycation, hope it turns out well.

Had dinner with mk, j and kingston. I still dun understand what is so nice about DTF..the queue is ridiculously long everyday. The boss really huat sia.. Interesting conversation with kingston on Go, we really need more of these enthu players around.

My target this week is to run at least twice! One more to go! 

This is just the beginning.

Met up with my scouts senior yesterday. It has been donkey years since we last met up. I think the last time I saw them was like 10 years ago!! Time flies... When they told me that they were all 30+ I was kind of shocked cause I totally forgot that they are at least 5 years older than me. 

2nd Feb was a special day. Me my sis n parents actually played mj together for the first time. Even though there was money involved, winning the money wasn't the objective. We really had fun and good laugh. Is something that I will never forget.

But because is such good memories, I felt a bit twitchy inside cause I know these good memories will eventually become great pain in future.

Swa cny gathering was ok, the turn up rate was much higher than I thought. Is just sad to see that not many old players and friends turn up for the event. 

 

I guess this is all over my blog now.

Will be starting a new private blog at wordpress so that I can scream and shout.

Life is tough.

i dont know where to start from.

m just now was....clearly everyone has different idea on where to go. 

is a pity..

I just wanna sleep n forget everything...

Finally I have the time to blog again.

Korea trip was ok. Everything is so familiar and it was like a trip back home. I have been asked many times that if I have a choice, would I stay in Korea. Well, is really tempting to say yes but when it comes to food and weather I may have to think twice.

Went back to myongji to meet friends and teachers. Is a pity that it was exam week and everyone is doing their last min studying and most of them are not in the department. Lunch was supposed to be a treat by Prof.Nam but because of the large group of people we decided to call for delivery instead.

I was actually happy that the lunch was delivery because it has been a while since I last ate such "local" meals. 

On the way back I went to visit my apartment and because it was still not rented out, we managed to sneak in.

This place really brings back a lot of memories. This is exactly how it looks like when I first move it except that there is this extra cupboard on the left now. If is not for the crazy heater, this place would be perfect. 

Took this pic during last year summer. What a big contrast from the pic above. Sometimes I do miss living alone in Korea.

Another angle of my place. Now that I see this pic, I realize my place is crazily messy! There are almost no walking space.

I bought this small cupboard to put my clothes and it was too small for all my stuff. I must be crazy to bring my whole wardrobe over to korea.

I even have to get this to hang my extra clothings..

불후의 명곡 - [Jung Sung Hwa] Immortal Songs 2 EP98 # 005

I was watching this singing competition call Immortal Songs 2 where current famous singer like K.Will, Hak Guk etc. compete against each other. Every week they invite a special guest who is very famous in Korea 10,20 years ago and the current singer will have to compete using that special guest's songs. So I happen to see this singer's performance and I was really impressive by his musical singing talent, I almost cry when it reach the end. Too bad the youtube version dont have eng sub.

Was taking cab to work today and there was this massive traffic jam in bukit batok. It was so bad that it reached almost 10 bucks when i left bukit batok area. I thought it was some bad accident but it turn out to be a minor road construction!! The taxi driver was really a joker, when he saw the construction he said "wah lan these C***B** people everyday dig here dig there, dig for gold isit or they trying to hide gold. So difficult to find job for us but they got job everyday"

I was looking at the dan cert com today and I was really disappointed by the players' strength. I mean how on earth did they get into this com when the you have to be at least 5k to qualify yet they play like 15k in kgs. shake head...

Saw wen bin's post in nyp fb page and it makes me think back of my weiqi days in poly. Maybe I am getting old or maybe it is too long ago (almost 5 years ago), my memories of the weiqi days in poly are slowly fading away. Even so the 3 years are times that I really treasure. It was kind of sad that I was the only one in my batch though but I met many good friends and juniors. Come to think of it how come I am closer to people like xing wei and wen jun who are 2 and 3 years my junior and not as close to friends 1 year below me? I remember first meeting xw in the club room and it was only until recently he told me that he almost not want to continue because of me, hahaha. As for wj, he came to our first meeting after club crawl with his big bunny bag. There was this incident where he was playing with Alvin's sister and halfway through I showed him a way to capture some stones and he suddenly looked at me and said "wah how come you can read so far?" But at that time it was only basic reading of 3 to 4 steps ahead. I can never forget his expression. After these years, both of them improve more than I did and I should really reflect on this.

Went to SEA aquarium few weeks back with mum, aunt and granny. It was good but because I went to the Korean version before (almost the same), there was not much WHAO factor for me. But if it was my first time I would have enjoyed it more. I have to say that my mum and relatives are very unique people because normally people there admire the fishes and say things like "wah so beautiful" or "oh, so this is the bla bla fish" BUT when they see the shark they say "wah, this shark fin must be nice", when see fishes "the market use this kind of fish for fishball" or "this kind of fish taste good in sambal chilli", when see stingray "this stingray a bit too big, the meat wont be soft". Speechless...

After watching House of Cards I think politics is really dirty and is something not everyone can handle. Or rather if you are not smart enough to seize opportunity to make things go your way or you do not have the "up there" EQ, don't bother entering politics.

Was on duty in Bugis last sat and a chinese came in asking about beginner weiqi classes and when he can come down to play with other players. Everytime when I hear this question I find it sad that I have to tell them that is difficult to find players in the club and the best place to play is on the net. I mean we have 2 clubhouses and yet no one is interested to take time to come down lets say once a week to play face to face. Something must be wrong. People may say no time to come down and is more convenient to play on the net but is not true. Look at players in Malaysia, Japan, China, Korea etc.. and the best example of all, Mr Poh and his best buddy Mr Lee. I think we have unknowingly created a culture that cuts away the bonding between players and the association.

There are still many problems and we might need to go so deep that we start questioning ourselves "what is the objective of our association"

Anyway I asked the chinese why he wanted to learn GO and he said that he is a Chinese so he should learn how to play this game. I would be lying if I am not surprised by his answer. Seeing that he came all the way here, I offer to play with him (he already know the basic rules). Is easy to tell if one is really interested when reviewing their game, he asked a lot of questions during the review like is it good to play here, where is his mistake etc and was so enthu to play the next game. By the 3rd game, he started applying things I taught before in the past reviews. I was really happy to see him improve and it was at that moment which makes me realize this is the right job for me.

I have a new name.

When I pick up a swa related call, 60% of the caller will scream into the speaker and say "HELLO!! WEIQI AH??" Hello hello, my name is not weiqi and I dont understand why do they have to sound so fierce. The word association may be too difficult for some.

Human relation is such a complex topic. Why isnt this taught in school?

Is difficult to blog these days. Everyday is about work and is not really good to write about work stuff here. There are just too many holes to mend and I am always preoccupied with other stuff. I realized that you need to have tons and tons of passion for weiqi plus good discipline to hold on for this job and I am working hard towards it.

Is depressing to see that i am one of the few minority to believe in that idea. Sometimes I start to ask myself if I thinking correctly, if I moving towards the right direction. Is really tiring to move against the wave.

But I am just not convince and satisfy with their answer.

Had my first public talk on weiqi this afternoon in Chinatown national library. Everything was better than I expected even though I miss out some part of my "prepared" speech. But I need to improve on the teaching part cause I think i din explain well enough or rather the explanation of the game was too brief. 

I am starting to think that weiqi is really hard to learn (pls dont say this to anyone might scare them off, hahaha) especially the logic of 2 eyes and the favorite question of all time "how do i know if the game has ended?" How on earth did i learn these 2 things? I am so amazed that I learnt these before attending classes in swa. My passion at that time must be crazy.

Hikaru no GO really did change my life. Sometimes I wonder what will I be doing now if I miss out this particular comic. Fate...

I was surprised that some people approached me to find out more about Myongji after the talk. They were amazed by my passion and gave me words of encouragement and I really appreciate it.

Work in SWA is good so far. Even though the working hours are killing off my social life, I enjoy the working environment.

I have to say this..I hate it when people especially friends who play GO say despising stuff  like "work in swa will have future meh?" Seriously what is the definition of future? Become CEO of a company? Become millionaire? The thing is that if you dont work hard enough and if you dont know how to grab and create opportunities you will stay the same no matter where you go. Thank you for your concern about my future, I know what I am doing.

No longer a student.

Will blog more soon...

Went to CQ's place today for lunch and took a look at coco his miniature poodle cause he wants to give us his dog. I always wanted a dog, a breed like shetland sheepdog and poodle is the last thing on my mind cause poodle always portrait a very "act high class" feel and some look very ugly for their weird trimming. I know that poodle is the second smartest dog in the world but I din know till what extend until CQ tell me about his experience with the dog and his dog look nothing like what I mention above haha. I still have not decide to adpot coco or not cause is a big decision, I even went to buy 2 books on dogs to read about them especially on barking and toilet cause these 2 problems might force my parents to put coco among their seafood display in their store.

I went with sis to her hosting event for a new singapore singer Nick,姚俊羽. It was a small event with his fans but it felt more like a family gathering with powerful connections in the media industry, haha. His uncle was a director in a recent drama in channel 8 and Julian Hee is his cousin. When this singer start introducing himself he sound like an amateur but when he started singing..wah... really different and it makes me want to have a good voice like him.

Anyone who wants to play mahjong please look for me, I am super desperate to play!!

Finally got a new phone and data plan. I bought a HTC phone again and so many friends asked me why not choose iphone or samsung because these phones are the trend now and some even laughed at me for using a ulu brand hahaha. Actually there are a lot of good phones out there just that they are not "branded" so most people wont even bother finding out about them. After having data plan i realized that it is really a conversation stopper because I became busy checking emails, whatapp ppl, instagram, facebook etc. I wonder how I survived in Korea for 2 years without it when everyone around me has unlimited data plan.

Have been going to some high end restaurant with sis for lunch these few days and I get to see how the rich society behaves. In my impression the rich are very well manner and polite, a role model for us normal poor souls to look upon. But I was wrong. Some behave as if the whole world owes them, demanding silly stuff that will make me roll my eyes. Kind of disappointed :(

It has been more than a month since I last blogged. So many things happened and sad to say that I left Korea in a terrible state. I wasnt able to walk around yongin and take photos as planned and I couldnt say my last goodbye to the shop owners around my area. The last winter was a very terrible memory for me :(

Anyway continuing from my last entry, my secondary school friends came Korea to visit me at the end of december. We went Jeju and while all my Korean friends told me that Jeju is much warmer than mainland Korea, i realized it was a scam THEY ARE ALL LIARS!!!! The wind in Jeju is 他妈的强 (pardon me for my language here, I cant find any better word to describe it) and wind in cold weather is really lethal. If you have hair problem Jeju is definitely not the place for you because you may lose half or all your hair thanks to the wind and dont bother putting wax or hair spray, they are useless in Jeju. I will never ever go Jeju in winter again. When we returned to mainland Korea, the weather became mad.. it dropped till -17. When I thought I was already "winter proof" in Korea -17 was really crazy. Now I understand why Koreans say that they will just stay at home and not go out during winter.

My worst nightmare started when my friends left Korea, my room heater broke down!!! Now when I think back I wonder how I survived the night in that room...and finally I felt sick for the first time during my 2 years Korea stay, just few days before going to London. If is not for Chaelim's help I think I would have die in Korea. I am really grateful to chaelim and her mum for letting me stay at their place before leaving Korea. I was really touched and amazed by their parents because I was so sick and they really took care of me. Is something that not everyone can do to a stranger. I hope that if I am a parent in future, I can be as good as them.

London trip (to be continued..)

Was busy meeting with friends and reading lee chango and lee sedol biography these few days. Met up with chang seok last week for a farewell lunch. He is one of the first few closer male friends I have in Myongji and he helped me with my room internet when I was first here. His english is also one of the better ones among guys but he always use very difficult words in a conversation. For example "I am happy", he will use words like ecstatic, on cloud nine etc.. instead of the word happy. He is one reason why I think Koreans are pro in memorizing english vocabulary. Is sad to know that he wont be pursuing a GO career in future, most probably sick of GO during his insei times and wanting to earn more money.

Had seba final gathering yesterday and we had a late christmas exchange too. I was so worried about receiving present from "u-know-who" but in the end I got something which suited me best among all the present, a flip clock!

Went to watch Les Miserables together and before the movie, my sis was telling me how much she loves the movie. Honestly this is the worst 3h movie I have ever watched :( I wont say is a bad movie is just that I cant appreciate this kind of musical movie. I was suffering inside a movie theater for the first time in my life and if I were to watch alone, I would have walk out halfway through. And is impossible for me to fall asleep cause whenever I was about to enter dreamland, I would get waken up by their singing!! And whenever they change a scene I was hoping so much that they can just talk normally like human being but THEY START SINGING AGAIN!!!!! I think the effect was worst for the koreans cause so many of them (even Koreans that I dont know) were fidgeting and after we exit from the cinema, most of their face were blacker than mine hahaha.  

Had my first and last overnight mahjong session in school yesterday! It was really fun and we played for 8hours straight and in the end I won 900won (90 cents), tough money!! I am always impress by people who can pick things up so quickly cause is something that I cant. One of my Korean friend who learn on the spot can start playing already!!

 I have seen this drama poster many times but I was not keen to watch cause is another time travel drama like Faith. Minyi intro me this few weeks back and after watching it, I can understand why she likes it. It is really a romantic story and the main actress is so pretty! And after the drama, the couple in the drama end up as couple in real life!!

 Went to school on sun to study but the room was electronically locked by the security guard so I have to study at the entrance of the department. One thing I hate about our school is that the heater is not warm enough and it off by itself after sometime. They say is some government regulation to save mother earth but I think the school is just trying to save money!! haha

 Went to the school dorm for dinner. The food is... well, is free so I dont expect much.

I saw the school magazine and I was surprise they openly rate the president! Imagine if we do this to LKY, we will all end up in hell, haha. Anyway the presidential election is tomorrow and the legal age for voting in Korea is 18 (19 in korea). Isnt 18 still very very young? I mean even when you are 21 I am sure there are still many things you dont know about politics.

 After dinner in dorm, a few of us went back to the department to study. My last night study in Korea :(

 And we ordered this for supper!!!!! OMG, how can I not get a tummy with all these sinful food.

 Monday morning I was surprised to see some of my friends reaching early to mug for the chinese exam few hours later. I was so confident of the exam because I studied everything the teacher told me to even though I am tested in Korean instead. When I saw the first page of the paper, I could feel the smile on my face but when I saw the 2nd and the last page, I got a shock cause the teacher put in other topics!! When I asked the teacher about it he said he forgot!!! Thanks ah..

 And after the test, chicken again!!!! gosh....I really need to run run run when I am back in SG. The end of this exam also means that I have unofficially graduated from Myongji. Feel excited and a bit scare of the life of a non student next year onwards. No more getting $$ from parents and it will be a whole new different world. Will miss being a student though I still hate studying.

22 more days..

I suddenly felt that is impressive of mikyung to study her diploma in Singapore. I have long known that she is studying in sg but getting a diploma in a second language is really not easy.

Is tough memorizing all the korean GO terms for my baduk chinese exam on mon. I have seen korean friends memorizing english words and they just have to write a few times on paper to get it into their brain. I have tried this method but after writing the 5th word, I would totally forgot about the first word I wrote. So for me I have to create story to link the korean words (some words make no sense at all) and chinese words , the lamer the better so that I would have deep impression of it. While studying I came across this korean character that has the most stroke I have ever seen 밀어뚫다. Yes, the 3rd word.

Ok, 4 more pages to go!

The time has come for me to slip and fall during winter and it is bloody painful. Today Korea welcome the "best" weather combination, raining when the ground is full of snow. OMG... it is really slippery, is like walking on a melted ice skating ring, one wrong move and you will fall like a fool. hahaha. The worst part is walking up the slope to my school, it is so slippery that if you stop walking you will just slide downwards. Good thing about my fall is that it was during night time and no one was around if not it would be really embarrassing. No wonder I didnt get to see old people on the road today.

Ordered dinner from a new shop and it taste better than I expect. And is my first time seeing disposable utensils from delivery! Cause normally the delivery man will come back to collect all the utensils back. Even though is not environmental friendly, is a good choice in this crazy weather.

Last exam left. Baduk Chinese!!!!

25 days left. gosh...

Finally!!!! I finally found the title of this song. Love her voice.

 Have been so busy preparing my exams and forgot about updating my meals photo until my sis asked if I only ate on monday so far this week haha.

Had chinese delivery for lunch on tuesday. Food delivery is super convenient especially during winter where you dont have to take a step out of the room. But poor delivery man, tough money. I was surprised that people from hong kong dont like korean version of zha jian mian, or rather they hate the black sauce. So far all my singapore friends like this dish, i will miss it.

HUAT AH!! Had mj session after lunch cause one of my friend bought a mj set from china during an exchange program and she wants to learn how to play. Mj is such a great game and of course, they were hooked immediately! Too bad that my sg GO friends dont really play mj.

Semester ending party was more peaceful than I expected because is exam period so not everyone attended the dinner and the drinking was not much too. Thank god. Have been to this restaurant only 3 times in my 2 years. Maggie mee in spicy soup and chicken in very very spicy soup are not my cup of tea.

Went to a pub after the dinner and I got to eat this again!! The secret recipe to this bloody nice desert is 70% milk, 30% cider and lots of cut fruits. I must make this when I am back in sg.

 I totally forget to take any pictures on Wednesday because I was too hungry in the afternoon and too tired at night. And the worst part is I had delivery from the same restaurant for both meals..

 Because it was such a bad dinner, I have to buy cakes from the cafe beside my house to cheer myself up haha. I never know lemon cakes are so nice.

 Had lunch today with my class because our teacher wanted to treat us. This time I totally forget to take pic because I was too excited to eat even though is just chinese food. Koreans are really scary..despite having exams few hours later, they still wanna drink chinese wine (56% alcohol level)

Dinner in dormitory  I was quite happy when I see the dish but the taste is........haiz.. bad memories haha.

Really like watching King of Dramas cause I have not watched such funny dramas for a long long time. Is good to laugh. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

was planning to wake up at 10am, have lunch in sch, do my report and meet friends for dinner. Whao, it was  my perfect monday plan. BUT when I woke up, it was already 1pm, shit..plan gone...have to get my lunch in this bento shop on my way to school.

I was upset by a very small matter. I got this friend (non korean)and we were in this same class. We are going to have this kifu exam this thursday so we are suppose to print out 7 kifus n memorize them. Today I wanted to print them so I went to ask him if he needs a copy and his reply was he already printed. I mean isnt this like "sense" (konglish) to ask if I need a copy when he is printing his especially when we are the only 2 foreigners in that class? If my son is like him in future, I think I have fail my job as a dad. These are the kind of stuff that are not taught in school so how are you going to teach your kids about it?

Had these fatty pork for dinner. They are really nice but the downside is that you will smell like shit after leaving the place. Will miss this.

since is my last month in Korea, I shall post the food I eat for my last 31 days starting from today.

went to this chinese restaurant in a mall 45mins away from my place. I always wanted to eat there but it looks so "high class" and I was afraid that they dont entertain 1 person cause is like those restaurant on the 6th/7th level in takashimaya. Black noodles was the first thing on my mind but I end up eating this beef with rice because it look really like a real chinese food. You can see how desperate I am to eat non korean food haha.

5 reports, 3 exams, 31 days to go.

Yes, it is the start of the winter nightmare! The average temperature now is below 0 and as I am typing, the temperature in yahoo weather (my best friend now) shows -7. I remember that I almost died last year cause it was really really cold for me but this winter seems so much better. Is still cold but bearable maybe because I know what to expect already.

Snow is really beautiful when it is from far. But when you need to walk in snow, it is a total horror. First your hand will be as cold as ice cream and the floor is so bloody slippery when they start to melt so is impossible to walk at normal speed. I asked my korean friends if they have special shoe to counter the slipperiness and they say there is some special stuff that can be tied to your shoe to make it work. And when I ask why no one seems to be wearing that, she replied is not fashionable. hahaha. Indeed, all koreans are fashion leader.

And because of snow, a lot of classes are cancelled due to the bad traffic. Even prof Nam, who is famous for finishing her class till the last min release us half an hour earlier!! She say the snow is big, should go home earlier. I was thinking how bad can the traffic be. Well, normally the journey for her to go back is half an hour but on that snowing day, it took her 6 hours!! Is crazy!!!

Had my last presentation in myongji university today. Dont understand how can time pass so fast. Next week is the end semester party and I think I will be forced to drink a lot since is my last few weeks in Korea. NO!! I dont want to die!!!

33 more days :(

Skipped school for a week and joined my relative for skiing and tour in seoul. Skiing was... well, looks really fun but not the sports for me. I think I almost break my leg during the skiing lesson, was quite a nightmare for me. The instructor was quite impatient with us because his english was not good and he find it hard to communicate with us. I am sure he rolled his eyes behind his oakley sunglasses when we have difficulty doing the basics, haha.

Through this trip, I get to know my cousins better. The real him is so different from the person I saw once a week in our granny's place. Overseas trip can really let you know more about a person. Looking at him makes me think of how I used to behave when I was his age. Time flies.

 After looking through tons of camera reviews, I went to buy my first fujiflim camera. I never thought that I would buy this brand because the normal brands are samsung, sony,canon, nikon etc..What attracted me is the retro design, the quality of the pictures and of course the PRICE. I was planning to get those mirrorless camera where you can change the lens (not dslr) but most of them cost 100 more :( Need to start reading up on how to use the all features in this camera.

This was my previous camera and it has been with me for more than 5 years. Unlike my new camera, I did no research when I bought this camera. I just walk into the shop try a few times and bought it. I was lucky that this camera is good and durable to last me this long.

39 days before leaving Korea. Hope to take more pictures of Korea before leaving.

Alvin has been telling me to watch the Korea movie "old boys" for sometimes and halfway through I gave up because the content is a bit dark and extreme. Then after reading zx's blog about this show, I decided to endure throughout but still I dont understand why they think is a good movie haha. I understand the twist at the ending is unexpected but I am just too turn off by the middle part.

Few days back I was in Seoul and I was walking behind 2 old women with a dog. We passed by a crowded place and one of the old women was left in the crowd and the women with the dog carry on walking. Then after a while, the dog refuse to move and when the old women look down at the dog asking why, the dog turn its head and face the crowd telling her that her friend is not with them. When I saw this moment I was really surprise. I know dogs are smart but I didnt know that they are so this smart haha.

Yesterday was homecoming day and this is when alumni of our department come back for meet up and friendly GO match. The number of seniors who came back was fewer than I expected but overall the event was quite good. There were 2 groups of competition, one was the open group where most players were ex insei, 8/9d in tygem. Is a group format of 5 and is by the school year. In the end 09 got champion. The other was the EVENT group which is a random pick of groups of 5 and it consist of 3 different rounds GO. The first round is call plus/minus GO. There are a few plus and minus sign on the board and if you play on the minus point (usually good position on the board) you have to throw dices and the amount will be deducted from your overall territory and plus sign are usually at the first line or bad position on the board. Second round is call ~~ (dont remember haha) where is normal GO game but you cant form positions where 4 stones are connected together like 4 in a row, the L shape, the Z shape and the square shape. My opponent for this round resign because a net move cause his large group to be trap and when we were about to review, he suddenly scream cause I wasnt able to block if he try to escape from the net. I was like omg... i din see that too hahaha. The last round was GO, korean chess and i chess group match.

We should have all these interesting and not so serious games for youth connection to bring the different schools together. And after looking at fb pics of swa events I realized that if I am a newbie in GO and I want to know more about these events, there are no ways for me to know because these events are not publish on the website. In future we will need to publish simple writing for every event and competition like those in TOM so that members know what is going on.

Watched this movie about a girl entering marine despite all the discrimination against female in crazydrama yesterday and I am so impressive by korean army (even though is just a show). Their army system is quite different from Singapore's and I like the way they salute to each other and shouting out 충성 or 필승, I think is so cool, haha. In sg army, everyone will just heck care and try to avoid eye contact if they pass by officer, haha.

In game theory class today, we learnt the difference between chinese chess and korean chinese chess. While they look 98% similar, the movement of some pieces are completely different. First there are no river in korea c chess so our clumsy elephant friend can go where ever they want. The way elephant move is different too, instead of the 田 move, they have to move one space forward before playing the 田 move. 炮 cannot capture 炮. And the strangest rule is that if you want you can switch the position of 象 and 马!! oh and the 将 starting position is in the middle of the palace (on the second line)

What interested me more is Shogi!!! The rule is quite amazing because the pieces you capture can be reused as your own piece and you can drop them anywhere on the board (with some restriction) anytime you like. But it took me a while to memorize all the movements of the pieces as they are more complicated than chess. I really like the shogi pieces cause the wording is so nice, got this very art feel haha. I must get a set for collection!!

NO!!!!!!!! Why so fast -1........

Is my first time seeing the windy symbol and indeed is very windy. Good day to stay at home and watch drama, haha.

My secondary school friends are coming in end dec for tour and gosh...the planning part is a nightmare. Everyone has a different mindset of the trip and is so hard to please everyone. Worst is I might have to do all the advance booking. How come I din face such problems when wj and xw came to korea last year.

Not sure if I blogged this before, in almost all restaurant, bars, pub etc. they have all kind of charger and customer can charge their dying phone for free! Is so customer friendly in Korea :) In singapore they might say that electricity bill is too high to provide such service, haha. Or they do provide now?

Really like this song. From the drama "Horse Doctor"

Someone told me that from my blog entry my life in korea seems so good and that I should blog about bad things too. Ok, your wish come true.

I remembered reading minyi's blog and there were 2 entries that totally describe how I felt as a foreigner studying in overseas especially the part where she said she miss being able to express herself. Indeed, is just so so difficult to express everything I want to say and for someone who likes to say lame stuff and talk cock, this is very torturing. It is very difficult to explain everything in details, is difficult to start a conversation, is difficult to express how I really feel, is difficult to participate in discussion. And because of so much difficulties, I usually end up keeping quiet and observe what is going on instead. Last month in KPMC, there was an incident where one of my friend got scolded for being late and in his defense, he said that it was me who didnt inform him the correct time when it was him who overslept. Is difficult to explain all the details to defend myself and if I insist on doing that, I might make things worst. This are the times where I hope I dont understand Korean at all.

And because I am the only Singaporean in my department (most probably in sch too) is difficult to travel around Korea like how other singaporeans exchange students do where they travel in groups during their weekend. Most of my sg friends who do their exchange here traveled to more places than I do. Travelling alone is boring and is not that I dont want to ask korean friends out but almost all of them go back to their home which are dunno how many donkey hours away during weekend.

Tough life I have in Korea.

Went to watch the James Bond movie today and it turned out to be quite bad. I remembered the past 007 movies were really action packed but this one has too much talking scenes. There is this scene where one of 007's female colleague enter 007's room and started helping him shave his beard and the conversation between them has no link to the movie at all. And why does this version of James Bond looks like a villain?? I thought this character is suppose to be smart and good looking. Anyway he look a bit like Voldemort...

Speaking of movies, the movie theater I went today is really good. The chair will vibrate according to gun shots or explosion and the seats are so spacious where you can cross your leg without hitting the seat in front. And there are couple seat which are sofa kind and they have tall separators dividing the different couples like a cubicle. And the best part is that the seat are placed in such a way that no matter how big the person's head is front of you, it will never block your view.    

I still dont understand the refill culture in Korea. For someone who is born and grew up in Singapore, this refill culture is too good to be true! Like you can refill your drinks in almost all fast food restaurant and in our school canteen if you finish your food you can get them to refill the food for free!! I was wondering what will happen if a Korean (who thought sg got the same culture) ask for refill in singapore McDonald? I would want to see the expression of that staff.

My korean friends started the craze of playing the game "scramble with friends". I am seriously blind when I play this game, is so hard to find a word. Then when I look at all the available words at the end of the game, it felt so ridiculous cause the words suddenly seems so obvious! I need to stop inviting people, is too disgracing hahaha.

슈퍼스타K 4 - [슈퍼스타K4] 로이킴&정준영's "먼지가되어" Two thumbs up by Gangnam Style "PSY"

This song is quite popular recently due to the audition program "superstar K". I always thought this is an original song until today when chaelim told me that it was a song from a genius singer who committed suicide more than 10 years ago. Is such a good song and a pity that we cant hear better songs from him anymore.


The original version.

65 more days to D-day. The day that I will have to say good bye to korea. I used to think that I will be really sad on this day but I think I will be too excited to feel it cause I will be going london on this particular day. Guess I will feel the sadness when I start unpacking my boxes of stuff from Korea.

Was removing the posters in my room and I felt a little regretful on why I was so enthu in the first place putting up all these crap because the bluetacks are leaving marks on the wall!!! I am so dead... The landlord is going to deduct money from my deposit :( I still remembered very clearly that when she came into my room on the second day after I moved in to fixed the toilet, her eyeballs almost pop out when she saw me pasting 20 small posters in one corner of the room. Is a good thing that she doesnt have heart problem because 2 weeks later, there are 50 more big posters on the wall.

Anyway I should be the one getting heart attack because when I reach the bottom part of wall to remove the posters, I saw big patch of molds on the wall!!!!And in my sleeping position, my head is just a few cm from this disgusting black molds!! AHHHHHHH!!!! Can you hear my scream!! Is so bad that I leave my posters there covering the molds. Time to change my sleeping position....

Morale of the story: bloody black molds do grow underneath your posters. 

Went to 광주 for KPMC and work as the kifu recorder there. We were planning to stay there for only 2 nights but because there were no more bus seats, we have to go back to the hotel for 1 more day. At first I was worried about this part time job because most of my friends decided last min not to go due to some salary unhappiness and only 1 korean I know from my school is going. Even though the rest of the part timer were from my school, I have never seen them before because they were either in NS or taking school breaks.

Have been sleeping for only 2 hours every night for the past 3 days but these 3 days were really memorable. I got to know new korean friends and even though is just 3 days, it felt like I have known them for so long. The experience this time was totally different from last year mainly because of my slight improvement in korean language. One of my biggest regret is not having to work hard enough to study more korean before I attend myongji, so I have decided to continue studying korean even when I graduate so that I can keep in contact with the friends I made in korea. These 3 days were definitely one of the best memories I have in my Korea stay.

Ok, now to the "bad memory" of this trip. We were playing cards on the last night and because there were no GO stones, we have to use snacks as chips and halfway through a drunk senior suddenly came into our room. The next 2 hours were the most torturing 2 hours in the whole trip. First, he started eating our chips and we couldnt do anything about it because his "rank" (age) is is 2 or 3 years higher than me and the rest of my korean friends were 2 to 4 years younger than me. Then he started giving "lectures" to everyone and because he was drunk he keep repeating the stuff he said, like he asked me which year I am currently now at least 3 times. The worst part is the 1 shot drink. There were no beer at that time so we used water instead and I felt like I was back in my army tekong days where we were forced to bottles up every few hours. This drunk senior keep offering us cups after cups of water and is impossible to reject him. After the 3rd cup, I felt like vomiting on him.

Personally I think that this is the "dark side" of korean culture. As age is authority, people younger cant do much but to obey almost everything the senior say. If this drunk senior incident happen in Singapore I think we will most probably force him to vomit out our chips and then kick him out of the room, hahaha.

In the game theory class today, prof nam intro the game Checkers to us. When I was in Singapore, I remembered seeing people playing this game especially in front of malay barber shop or sometimes in coffee shop. Even though I have seen quite a few times, I wasnt curious about the rules at all because it looks too "simple".

The game turned out more interesting than i thought and I was really having fun playing it. It reminds me of the time when I first started GO. Sad to say that if is not for today's game, I would have forgotten that I once having this kind of "feelings" for GO. I guess the reason why I was really enjoying playing Checkers is because there was "freedom", I could play anywhere I want. In GO, of course I can play anywhere I want but when you have reach a certain level (eg.1dan), you will get to know more knowledge about the game and this will restrict you from playing as freely as a beginner. And the fear of losing to someone weaker than you adds stress to every game you play. Still I hope I can find back the motivation and passion to improve more.

I was surprised when prof nam told us that the most popular game in korea now (korean version of bejeweled) was created by a student from myongji!

Few days back, I decided not to renew the website of GOSHOP when the web host have expired. It was quite a sad moment for me cause my sis put in quite an effort when making the site and I didnt managed to take one last good look before it was terminated by the web host. I learnt a lot through this experience, be it business area or when dealing with baduk player. I did not regret making this decision of setting up GO SHOP. To be honest, I was a bit sad and disappointed when some of my closer friends in swa did not buy any stuff from the shop. Is not about the money I want to earn from them, if is for money I would not have started this. Is about the kind of support friends give to a seller and even if they get the cheapest stuff, it would be very much appreciated. To a seller, this kind of support means a lot. Last year before going back singapore for vacation, I remember asking munyi on fb what I can get for her in Korea and she replied "dont really need anything but I wan to get your tumbler". When I saw her reply I was really touched and I know I will never forget this. Another incident which upset me was the removal of the shop link from swa site. I did not pay a single cent to swa for putting up the link and is perfectly reasonable if they want to remove it but I was upset that no one tells me they are going to remove it when everyone in the exco knows me. I understand they replaced it with the tygem link but when I look at the next link, "world go oza 2008", a link which expired 4 years ago and is still hanging there makes me feel hormones unbalance. 

Of course I am no longer upset since all these had long pass. 

Went dinner with the prof assistant and the masters students because they wanted to have a belated birthday dinner with me. The topic that we talked about during dinner was quite interesting and it once again let me understand more about korean culture.

The most unexpected topic is plastic surgery. I am surprise that even koreans asked if korea ps is really that famous and popular because this seems to be a well known fact to everyone. And I was told that the reason to go through ps is to have a better chance in job interview or prevent getting bullied in school for being "ugly". Indeed, first impression is too important in Korea. This reminds me that is so difficult to spot fat people in Korea, especially in university.

Personally I think ps is ok because if going through ps can make a person happier or make someone gain confident and as long as you dont get addicted to "changing of face", what harm does it brings? As people get more exposed to dramas and good looking people, I believe that this "first impression trend" will start to develop in other asian countries too, even in singapore.

Like few weeks back when I met my sis friend (5 years younger than me), they were looking for insoles or boots which will make them look taller and they all use facial products. When I was at their age I would never imagine myself putting facial products and who on earth will try to wear insole at the age of 20 in singapore? Times change.

During the dinner, I also asked how koreans have such great complexion. And they say is "all money" because some koreans may spend a lot on facial shop and cosmetics. And when I look at the complexion of those people telling me this, is so good... 설마..

 Brought a group of chinese exchange students and teachers from wuhan to seoul today for one final shopping before they leave tomorrow. After today's experience, I wonder why have I been complaining about friends who can really shop in my previous post. Seriously they are nothing compared to this group of people. They are so scary... they can shop inside this small nature republic shop for more than half an hour and I dunno what they are trying to do when they have walked around the shop for more than 10 rounds. Impressive.
I asked one of the student when they started looking tired..

me: 你的老师不累吗？
student: （无奈的表情）她是搞体育的。。。

hahahaha!! I really find her answer funny. If is not for the official dinner with the Koreans professors, they would have continue roaming around and I think I will most probably need to get a wheelchair.

I was so afraid that they choose the typical red and spicy korean food for the dinner but it turned out to be international buffet!! This is definitely one of the best meal I had in Korea.

I saw something weird in one of the sushi. Is it the latest trend in the sushi world to put these color sprinkles on sushi? I think if the traditional japanese sushi master sees this, he will most probably chop off the hand of the chef who made this.

As I was enjoying choosing the buffet food, I suddenly saw this in one of the corner and I was like WTF!! why is there a memorial service here. Then when i read the banner it wrote "happy birthday". I was totally stunned because this scene look exactly like memorial service in the US, how can it be birthday?? Anyway is good to know that we share the same birthday. haha.

After dinner our professor and the professor from wuhan university sign some exchange program agreement and I thought this kind of scene only appear in tv or in news. I actually felt amazed to see the actual thing, hahaha!!