Feeling more Singaporean for a day

I must begin by mentioning how friendly and helpful people in Busan are! I'm not saying Seoulites are unfriendly, but they always seem to be rushing somewhere, and don't really stop to help. I'm saying this coz i was lugging my 20kg worth of luggage from my hostel to Gwanghwamun to take the shuttle bus, up and down all the stairs and stuff, and nobody in Seoul bothered to help. =/ But once I reached Busan, I was trying to carry my luggage down the first flight of stairs into the subway (Those who have been to Korea would know that most subways here have stairs instead of escalators. More on that next time), and a kind lady came to help immediately! She just happened to be walking down the stairs too, and hurried over with a "같이 할래" (let's do it together) or something along those lines. She even helped carry it all the way to the gate! Then yesterday I happened to buy quite a bit of fruits back for my homestay family, and there were no seats on the subway. The ahjumma seated in front of me gestured to help carry by putting them on her lap~ :D

Staying here alone has been pretty awesome so far, being able to do whatever I want, whenever I like. My usual itinerary for a day consists of visiting some touristy place in the morning, finding a new cafe in the afternoon and just sit down and read my korean stuff with my trusty iriver (: then i'll come back home for dinner and teach the kids some english (:

Last 2 days have been interesting though, coz I met 2 different groups of Singaporeans! I was browsing through the Korean books section in YP bookstore (I keep doing this when I pass by ANY bookstore! =/) when this group of 3 ladies came by, trying to ask the assistant for some help. (and we all know how distinctive Singaporean english is HAHA) so I approached them and chatted with them for a while, asking about their trip and advising on where they should go, coz they were heading to Jeju and Seoul after Busan (: Then I met my friend at the subway station today! It was really random, as I was heading to Haeundae Beach for the day and I saw someone waving as I was walking down the stairs to the platform. I then realized that someone was actually waving at me and I actually know him! Turns out he just arrived in Busan that morning with his friend, and were heading to their hotel in Haeundae too. hahaha, so we went for 부대찌개 lunch together ^^

I'm glad to have this time to travel around, coz I know I probably won't have such a chance ever again. Or at least until I retire haha.

Laying on the sand, watching the clouds go by.
@ Gwangalli Beach

Busan, home for the next month

Many things have happened within the past month:
1) finished exams! (waiting for results now >.<)
2) flew to Korea that same day
3) traveled in Seoul, Busan and Jeju
4) moved into my homestay place in Busan

I'm currently in my Busan homestay, just moved in yesterday so spent the day settling down and stuff. My homestay mum's really nice! Plus she cooks (: maybe I can learn some dishes from her, so I can cook them myself when I go back to Singapore haha (:

She's got 3 daughters, 8, 6 and 3-years old. Pretty terrifying lot, they're SUPER energetic! And itchy fingers. The eldest one opened up my polaroid camera, so don't think that stack of films can be used anymore =( I'll just keep my cameras away from her sight. sobs. Hai kids will be kids. But otherwise, it's been pretty nice here! It's been rainy the past few days, so haven't had a chance to go out to explore yet. Managed to get more Korean books here so I still have stuff to do (: Tomorrow's forecast looks good! Maybe I'll take a trip to Haeundae Beach (:

I know I was supposed to update on the Intermediate Korean grammar book but my exams kept me busy, so I haven't actually had time to look through it. Photocopied it though, so I have the hard copy at home. Will update as soon as I check it out, but it'll probably only be in around 2 months time =/

Last Sunday was Parent's Day in Korea. Took the day to check out the Hangang bridges while I was in Seoul, since I didn't have chance previously. Saw many families gathered at Hangang parks having picnics under trees, and playing with water fountains (: Somehow, I don't remember doing that when I was young. But it felt really good to see them enjoying (: Walked for an entire day and managed to conquer half the bridges, tiring but definitely worth it! (: Here are some of them (:

YangHwa Bridge (양화대교)

Seogang Bridge (서강대교)

Cheonho Bridge (천호대교)

Mapo Bridge (마포대교)

Olympic Bridge (올림픽대교)

Cheonho and Olympic Bridges at night (:

Banpo Bridge (반포대교)

Banpo Bridge (반포대교)

italki

In my absence of a week, I discovered an awesome site online!

Haven't seen it mentioned on any of the blogs I follow, so shall introduce it :) Click here for the link! ok so basically it's a language exchange site, where you get to post texts in all sorts of languages, and people can correct you. Similar to naver it seems? There's also a chat function, where you can group chat with people in different languages (English, Mandarin and Korean in my case). Another part to the site is where they offer language courses or language teachers, which you pay using credits. I haven't tried that out yet, since I don't really want to pay haha, but i MIGHT just try it out for fun sometime in the future :)

I'm furiously trying to finish Sogang 3B (I know I know, I'm supposed to study Chemistry!! ㅠㅠ) coz it's due in 2 week's time. In fact, someone just returned Sogang book 2B so I borrowed it yesterday too HAHA. oops. Oh! My school library has new Korean books too! Borrowed "Intermediate Korean: A Grammar and Workbook" which looks promising, although I have only briefly browsed through it. The new Integrated Korean workbooks are also available now! The textbooks have been borrowed away though. I know quite alot of people actually like this series, but somehow I just don't =( I just think the Seoul National University text's more user-friendly. In fact, I like Sogang's texts more than Integrated Korean. I'm odd!

Anyways, will update on the Intermediate Korean book soon! ^^

Slow but steady

Looks like Sogang 3B's going to take much longer than I expected. This was how my notebook looked like while I was doing Sogang 2A..

Still had extra space for cute stickers!

Now it looks something like this..

The whole page's filled with vocabs that I don't know! ㅠㅠ

I guess this is what happens when you try to do something that's not meant for your level >.<

My self-proclaimed holiday from Chemistry has ended, so I have to go back to studying Chemistry now. Boohoohoo. 진짜 싫어해요! Sighs...

Random updates

Finally finished my midterm test today! Am going to take a break from chemistry by studying some Korean (: Starting on Sogang 3B today. Skipped Sogang 2B and 3A as I wasn't able to borrow them from the school library.

I always feel like studying Korean! But when I bring out the books, I feel guilty about neglecting my Chemistry =( So I can't really fully concentrate on Korean too. Now that I cleared my midterm test, I'm going to dedicate the next 2 days to Korean solely! =))

Was reading the diary entries I wrote while on exchange to Korea 2 years back. Can't imagine it's been so long already! Kind of feel like I didn't spend my time there wisely though. I blame it on the extremely cold weather =/ haha, it was really hard to travel around during winter, so I spent all of my time in Seoul. Or rather, in MyeongDong haha =p Am quite worried about my Korea trip due to the nuclear explosions in Japan. Hope nothing else major happens..if not it's going to be a tough recovery period for Japan. Every morning I see reports after reports with regards to the situation in Japan, and it doesn't seem good. Plus it's still winter and really cold, hopefully they'll pull through this tough time..

Randomly started thinking back about my days in band, and listening to band songs on youtube doesn't help =( I miss being part of something. The joys, laughter and tears. Going through brain-draining practices together. I wanna go back to being a JC student! Rawrs.

Review: iriver D100 =)

Here's a long overdue review of the iriver d100!

Was really excited when I got the parcel because I waited super long for it! (note to self: MUST use EMS next time..) Anyway, once the mailman left, I ripped the boxes apart! hehehe. Pictures first! (:

The box!

Pure white goodness

Even comes with earphones wrapped in cute rubber thingy! =p

Home screen (My exam's in 45 days!! ㅠㅠ)

With the case I bought for the D100 (:

The dictionary has been working pretty well so far, although it takes some time to start up (around 20 seconds?) so I only use it when I'm studying Korean for an extended period of time. Other times when I meet phrases that I don't know, I just use my iphone dictionary for that.

The shortcut keys

The search function is available in English, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin and Hanja. The Mandarin version lets you type in Hanyu Pinyin then gives a whole list of words matching it, while for the Hanja one, you have to write it out using the touch pen.

Searching a word in Hangeul gives search results in English, Japanese, Mandarin and French. You can then click on the one you want (sometimes there are more explanations). There are highlighting tools available so that you can highlight words that you want to take note of. It will be saved so the next time you check the same word, it'll be highlighted. Easier to find things you want if there are many meanings to that same word!

Photo viewer (서울대의 운동장)

MP3 function

PDF viewer

There is also an MP3 function, which I use to listen to the Iyagi lessons from TTMIK when I'm outside. As the audio file can be played in the background, I can use the PDF viewer to view the transcript file at the same time (:

There is also a travel conversation function, where you can learn conversations that will be useful when you travel, such as purchasing tickets or making hotel bookings, and of course simple greetings. The one shown above is for Japanese (:

Last but not least, this is one of the functions I use to learn new vocabulary on-the-go. It's a dictionary meant for Koreans to study English, so it actually comes with a TOEIC learning/review application. So what it does is that it provides a list of words to remember, then there's a multiple-choice test after that, where more commonly used words would be tested.

I must say I'm pretty happy with my purchase! (: It provides adequate explanations in both English and Mandarin, and Hanja will be written beside a word if there's a Hanja equivalent. I like! (: Moreover it has awesome graphics and MP3 function to boot, pretty and light to carry around..what's not to like? =D

대화 1

Not sure if you guys have watched 꽃보다 남자 yet, (you should have if you're a drama addict! ^^) but this is the scene where MinJi dropped her icecream on Jun Pyo's shoes. Jun Pyo was furious and ordered her to lick up the mess. Jan Di then came to her rescue as she couldn't stand watching her friend being bullied.

Phrase to note ^^
죄송하다는 말로 다 되면 세상에 법은 왜 있고 경찰은 왜 있겠니?
If apologies can solve all problems, then why are there laws and police in this world?

민지: 선배님, 아, 준표 선배님, 죄송합니다.
준표: 죄송, 죄송하다는 말로 다 되면 세상에 법은 왜 있고 경찰은 왜 있겠니?
민지: 제가 정말 실수로...구두는 당장 똑같은 거 살 드릴게요.
준표: 너, 나보다 돈 많아?
민지: 네?
준표: 돈 많아도 안 될걸. 이거 핀란드에서 장인이 만든 구둔데 뭔수로 당장 똑같은 걸 사 줄 건데?
민지: 죄송해요. 그럼 제가 할 수 있는 걸 뭐든지 다...
준표: 뭐든, 다?
민지: 네.
준표: 핥아.
민지: 네?
준표: 핥으라구.
민지: 선배님.
준표: 뭐든 다 한다고 하지 않았나?
잔디: 그만두지 못해? 야, 얜 뭐 넘어지고 싶어 넘어졌어? 사과했으면 충분하잖아.
준표: 이건 또 왠 오지랖...어이2학년, 너 귀국한지 얼마 안 뒤나 분데. 여기 아메리카 스타일 금지거든? 말이 짧다! 아~ 그러셔? 니가 바로 그 유명한 원더브라야. 난 또 원더우먼 어쩌고 해서 S라인에 D컵 정도 기대했는데. (잔디 홅어보며) 완전 안습이구만.
잔디: 실망시켜 다행이네.
준표: 주제 파악 못하고 오지랖 넓은게 이 컨셉이냐? 남 일에 나서 긴 왜 나서?
잔디: 남이 아니고 친구야. 부자들 사전엔 친구나 우정 뭐 그런 단어 안 키우나 보다?
준표: 우정? 그 대단한 우정 구경 좀 하자. 핥아...
잔디: 뭐?
준표: 니가 대신 핥으면 없던 일로 해 주지.
잔디: 야!
준표: 뭐야 너!
잔디: 너보다 돈 많냐구? 그 돈 다 니가벌었냐? 뭐? 오지랖이 컨셉이냐구. 부자부모 빽 믿고 뻘짓하는 놈들 가만히 안 놔두는 게 컨셉이다. 왜! 우리집에서 2500원인데 강남 수준으로 계산했거든? 그래도 안 빠지면 갖고 와.

~Translation~
Min Ji: Senior, ah, Jun Pyo Senior, I'm so sorry.
Jun Pyo: Sorry, if apologies can solve all problems, then why are there laws and police in this world?
Min Ji: I really made a mistake...I will buy you an exact pair of shoes immediately.
Jun Pyo: Do you think you're richer than I am? (lit. You have more money than I do?)
Min Ji: What?
Jun Pyo: It's no use even if you have a lot of money. This pair of shoes were made by an artisan from Finland, how are you going to buy an exact same pair?
Min Ji: I'm sorry. In that case, if there's anything I can do, anything at all...
Jun Pyo: Anything, Everything?
Min Ji: Yes.
Jun Pyo: Lick.
Min Ji: What?
Jun Pyo: I told you to lick [up the mess on my shoes].
Min Ji: Senior.
Jun Pyo: Didn't you say you could do anything?
Jan Di: Won't you just stop here? Hey, you think she fell because she wanted to? It should be enough since she has apologised already.
Jun Pyo: Where did this meddlesome person come from? I say, 2nd-year student, I see you haven't been back for long. American style [English] is not allowed here, how dare you speak to me impolitely? (lit. You speak shortly) Ah, so you are the famous wonder girl? I was expecting wonder woman to have at least a basic S line and D cup. (looks at Jan Di) There is absolutely nothing at all.
Jan Di: I'm glad to have disappointed you.
Jun Pyo: Is being meddlesome without thinking your concept? Why are you bothering with other people's business? (I think Mandarin does this translation better! 没头没脑的爱管闲事是你的风格吗?)
Jan Di: It's not just anyone, she's my friend. Are there no such things as friendship and friends in the dictionary of rich people?
Jun Pyo: Friendship? Well, let me see great friendship you speak about. Lick!
Jan Di: What?!
Jun Pyo: If you lick it in her place, I will treat it as if nothing happened.
(Jan Di suddenly throws ice cream into Jun Pyo's face.)
Jan Di: Hey you! ('야!' is so much more convenient! haha)
Jun Pyo: What?
Jan Di: You asked if I was richer than you? Did you earn that money? What? Being meddlesome is my concept? 부자부모 빽 믿고 뻘짓하는 놈들 가만히 안 놔두는 게 컨셉이다. What about it! (Throws 3000won at Jun Pyo) My house does laundry services at 2500won, this is based on Gangnam prices. If you can't remove the stain, just come and look for me.

Ok done! That took some time. Not sure how to translate that one sentence though! Any ideas anyone? Do let me know! Cheers! ^.^

그냥..

I should really start making blogging a habit! It's just that after taking a hiatus from blogging ever since I came back from Korea more than a year ago, I just don't have that habit anymore. Plus schoolwork's getting more and more taxing, and I have a midterm test in two weeks' time =( I also realized that translating lyrics is a tough tough job, because they aren't really proper sentences =( translating drama scripts might be easier? I can learn more colloquial phrases at the same time too. hehe. Will start with 꽃보다 남자 maybe?

I bought this '한류 스타를 따라 한국오를 배운다' book at the Popular bookstore sale 2 months back. It contains selected dialogues from shows such as 꽃보다 남자, 시티홀 and 그저 바라 보다가. Sounds interesting!

I'm almost done watching Dream High! I should really stop watching dramas and start concentrating on my schoolwork. lol. But I really like the songs though! Especially those by IU, with just her guitar. Acoustic's always the best! Here's it =) (Tried to embed but IE keeps hanging for some unknown reason) It was only after I heard her version that I realized it's the same some Kim Hyun Joong sang in 꽃보다 남자! I liked it there too, but never found out the song title. Now I know! (:

Oh and update! Confirmed plane tickets to Korea already! =))) 24th April to 15th June, then Hong Kong for a week after that. Can't wait! Current plan's to go Seoul, Busan and Jeju. Another other suggestions? I haven't really been out of Seoul! The last time I went was winter so it was really difficult to get around =( Considering it's late Spring this time, I'm planning to travel loads and take many many awesome pictures of Korea! (:

Meetups ^^

Yes I know I'm guilty of being very lazy and not blogging =/ Actually it's because I haven't had much time to really sit down and study Korean properly =( schoolwork has been getting more and more taxing. But I will get a 1 week break after this week!

Managed to meetup twice with hangukdrama and a whole bunch of cool people! ^^ Went for yusheng at Crystal Jade Kitchen as part of Chinese New Year celebrations and also frog leg porridge at Geylang! *yumyums* I think Singaporean just love to eat! (or at least i do haha) I actually managed to converse a little with my limited Korean hehe, am quite amazed that people actually do understand =p It was a great experience meeting up with them, listening to many different languages flying across the table. English, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese and sometimes dialects! It's really a mix of cultures haha.

I really like something a friend I met on exchange once said: "[i like the thought of] saying goodbye to your foreign friends knowing that you'll see them again some time in another part of the world." I wonder if I'll meet up with any Korean friends when I go Korea in May? hmm..it's a nice thought to have nonetheless (:

Am trying out a new way to learn vocabulary - to translate at least a song every week because I seem to remember words better with music. Will post them up when I'm done, starting with Gee tonight! ^^

Pre-CNY

My D100 arrived safe and sound last week! Took almost 2 whole weeks. note to self: remember to use EMS next time! DPD don't even track their parcels properly, my parcel was in Singapore a week after I paid but it wasn't reflected on the tracking status. I even called the Singapore counterpart DPEX to check and they said it was still in Seoul -.- Then somehow my "preferred delivery date" became 25th Jan, when I was actually waiting for it since the 20th. Not sure where they got their dates from, and also why there was a lack of updates. Oh well, enough rambling. Will update on the D100 next time! It's working awesomely for now (:

Wanted to pop by Solmart @ Cineleisure last week, but it was closed! I'm not sure if it's closed for good or if they're just doing renovations. I don't really buy stuff from there, but sometimes I just like to pop by to take a look (: I know they give out free magazines there, but I never managed to get them anyway haha.

It's going to be Chinese New Year in 2 days! Have been super busy helping out with the preparations and cooking lots of stuff. Will be going down KTO on Wednesday with my cousin to learn how to play Gostop! (: Am quite excited because Koreans always seem to have so much fun with it! Am really interested to learn it (: hope it'll be as fun as it seems!

Will also be meeting up with hangukdrama and other Koreans + Korean learners on Saturday! A little apprehensive as it'll be my first meeting ever with them, and with my Korean speaking skills close to zilch, I'm wondering how it'll go. Just hoping I don't embarrass myself! =p

반말송

조금 늦지만 진짜 좋은 노래를 소개하고 싶어요~!



It's called 반말송 (Banmal Song) by YongHwa of C.N. Blue (: If you watched "We Got Married", you would know that YongHwa's paired together with SeoHyun of SNSD, and he composed this song for her! so sweet (: It's a nice light-hearted song suitable for anytime of the day~

Went KTO for 호떡 (Hotteok) making class a few days back! It's a pity they just used the pre-mix though. Thought I'd be able to learn some authentic Korean cooking. hmph. But it was fun nevertheless!

My gmarket parcel hasn't arrived! Tracking status says it's been in Seoul since 17/01 and no more updates after that =( It's all DPD's fault. Argh. I always used EMS, but forgot to change the option this time. Hope it arrives soon! 200bucks worth of items...

Resolutions

Just finished Sogang 2A and it feels good~! (:

Even though I've finished a few Korean language books, I feel that my conversational skills are..close to zilch. sadly. I guess I've always been afraid of making mistakes, ever since young. And I know it's definitely something I have to overcome if I'm ever going to master this language. It's like..I'll go to a Korean 식당 telling myself I'll try to order in Korean this time but end up taking the easy way out. It's kind of weird to speak Korean in Singapore if you're not a Korean I suppose?

So, new year resolution: To procrastinate less, and also not be afraid to make mistakes! That's how people learn anyway right? (: Oh and also to take intermediate TOPIK (:

On a lighter note, I've paid for my gmarket purchases! It should arrive sometime next week. D100!! ^^

okay! settled on getting iriver's D100 on Equinox's recommendation =) just need to decide on what else i'll need from gmarket and order them all together yay!

I'm actually intending to go Korea sometime in April after my exam ends, for grad trip. Would end April be too late to see sakuras? I hope not. Of course there's still other flora around, but I've never seen sakuras in real life so thought it would be nice (: Am planning about a 2/3-week trip around Korea, just to take time to slowly savour all that Korea has to offer me, instead of being stuck in Seoul like a year back. My iriver D100 would probably come in handy then! (:

School's starting again next week. Last semester! Then it'll be off to the working world. Guess I would miss student life when that happens, just like how I always wish I could go back to being a JC student again. Sighs. Pains of growing up haha.

Cheers to a New Year!

Have been real busy during the holiday season so haven't managed to update.

Anyways..Happy 2011! =)

Have been working on the Sogang 2A series for the last 2 weeks, am halfway through it! I actually borrowed it from the NUS library (I never knew they had it! Just randomly decided to check it out and I was in luck (: ) and it's the older series, from 2005. But it seems to be better than the new series I bought from gmarket. lols.

Have been seriously contemplating buying an e-dictionary from gmarket for the past few days. I can't seem to decide which brand/model to get! Have shortlisted them to iriver D100 and nurian X35 for now. iriver's graphics are so pretty! But reviews say that nurian has a wider range of dictionaries so it's potentially more useful. Sighs.

Gonna go play some tennis now!