Birthday! Well... we celebrated my birthday one day ahead.. on Friday and we went to TGIF! (those who dunno what TGIF is... you're not old enough) We started at around 7pm... Mele had a headache so he joined us slightly later.... The bread they served was good haha and we asked them for so many refills that the waitress that attended to us gave us each one bread and butter in a paper bag! Now that's service! Totally good! We ordered chicken nachos, buffalo wings and a full rack of small back. The food took a while to come, but it was sort of worth the wait.. quite nice :) Oh and the others treated me to the dinner while i treated them to the drinks.. I had Long Island Tea haha and the others had all sorts of drinks like Frozen Margarita and Mudslide or something along those lines... Then we sat there and ate and ate till 10! cos our Ms. Kim took forever to join us... Then we went to this pub to drink and have some snacks.. Oh the others also gave me a birthday cake... and TGIF has this Korean bday song for such purposes... They had a guitar, tambourine and bongos and vocals of course ahah. I was given a hat to wear as well! And they took pictures of us and gave us one each! Cool service! Singapore should learn... Oh ok the cake was from Paris Croissant, Blueberry something... nice! And at the pub Ms. Kim started taking out the left over cake which we couldn't finish, and started poking at it with her fork and eating! Goodness! haha i thought she was going to finish the entire 4-5 slices! (its ok i still had some left)

Then after that she went home and we went to this small club to dance... that's me mele tham and ernest.. bernard can't stand clubs... Anyway the club had like 15 people???!?! and only about half of them are dancing! If you call bobbing on the spot dancing... We got down and really showed them what was dancing! haha (ok laugh... i don't dance well i admit) Mele got hit on by this really drunk girl... so drunk that she mistook me for Mele for all of 10 seconds.. haha

All in all a nice birthday.. Wish Grace was here though.... Still you can't have everything... Oh and the others gave me a nice card too! Signed by various ambassadors of certain SEA countries *grin* and Korea.

Today is my Dad's birthday! Happy birthday Father!

Now since I'm updating my blog lets put some random incidents that happened... Today (2oth Dec) at one of the train stations, me and Bernard witnessed this really hilarious (to me) incident. There was this man walking towards a woman, looking to the right, and the woman walking towads the man, also looking right... Well what do you know... the next moment, they collided! That's of course not funny... what's funny is that the man's spectacles broke! This happened like right in front of us and I was trying hard not to smile (Ok i felt sorry for the man too... but he really should look where he is going.)

Today we also had Changgu lessons.... and as usual developed an ache in the left upper arm. The Changgu teacher showed us his shoulders... the left was bigger than the right! ok.... and not enough.. he also plays this small gong thing, which uses the right hand to hit with a mallet.. and that forearm was larger than the other. So he has a big left shoulder and a big right forearm. The sacrifices artists make.....

Brought doughnuts up to Arko. Predictably, Jinju was the one who was the happiest to see us... cos we were carrying a large box of Krispy Kreme. Otherwise.... *ahem* Too bad Mr. Jang's away on holiday...... I'm sure the dozen doughnuts won't survive today... not with HER around :P (don't look at me.. she admitted it too)

Oh ok and we got dinner in the hostel! Well some of us anyway... we paid 87400 Wons for a month's worth of dinner.. really worth it :) So now lunch is at the National Institute for Traditional Korean Music at 3500 Wons per lunch and 2300 Wons per dinner at the hostel. Barring accidental expenses... I should be able to save a tidy sum to get presents for all those who deserve them! OrI'll get myself a really nice Moeck treble recorder. Hmmm decisions decisions....

The weekend (weekends always include Monday by the way) passed quite peacefully, except last night.... There was a X'mas party hosted by Hongik University's KIMCHI, which is an acronym for something which I forgot.. but it deals with international students... It was held at this small club and it was fine.. cept that quite a lot of people didn't really dance much.. I mean... its a club people!! Well some of them were quite ok so thats fine...

Quick change! the price for the dinner just dropped to 69000 Wons.. Some confusion at the moment.

Next update is about my birthday! (Who said that blogs have to be in chronological order anyway?)

Well nothing much to update lately... we finally started Changgu lessons, which is a two sided drum.. and boy was it bad... the left arm is totally gone after the first lesson which was thank goodness on Friday... I hate to think what it would become on next Friday when we have lessons from Tuesday to Friday... Hope the arm doesn't drop off...

Oh one funny incident... last thursday we were supposed to have Changgu lessons, but apparently there was a mix up and someone forgot to tell us there wasn't, so we went to look for our supervisor from the Institute of Traditional Korean music, and he got so flustered! Then he told us to follow him, and he brought us to this storeroom of sorts... and gave us each a set of 4 CDs! Whao... and he said don't be angry.. Actually that set of CD we wanted from quite a long time ago, so not sure whether he's giving it to us cos he's trying to apease us or cos he was supposed to give it us already. Both reasons I think haha.

Today (sunday) we went to eat at some BBQ place near our dorm.. quite cool.. like Bulgogi, but no sauce, and you have this rice in a box which you add things in and shake it to mix it well haha then you put everything into lettuce leaves and eat it in one gulp! Each leaf i mean not all the rice. I noticed we ate the most leaves haha... the other people in that place didn't ask for refills... we did.. 4 times! And its me, Bernard, Mele and Tham... yumyum!

Lesson learnt.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts are the best in the world! And they are available in the basement of Lotte departmental store in Myeongdong here in Seoul! Actually we passed by that Krispy Kreme twice already, but it was always packed with people... not surprising since its always Saturday or Sunday we pass it... Today me and Bernard went there, after going to this giant bookstore (Kyobo bookstore) and getting tons of books... (me not Bernard) they were cheap too! very cheap in fact. Ok Krispy Kreme! There wasn't much of a queue, only about 5 people in front of us. And the prices are as such... 1 single doughnut = 1000 Won. a dozen original glazed = 8000 Won. HUH?? Who'd get one at that rate?? A dozen assorted flavours = 10000 Won. So we got a dozen of assorted flavours... but not before they gave us each a sample doughnut!!! WOOOO.... Crispy and soft and piping hot! I love Krispy Kreme!

Ok then we walked Lotte Young, which is a sort of branch of Lotte, which caters to the younger crowd (duh)... then we went back without buying clothes haha. Well now so we have this dozen of doughnuts, so we decided to give some to the International exchange team (5 of them), and some to the others who are lucky enough to see us! haha.. so... we walked to their office, which is very near to our hostel, just next door, and before we went up I called Jinju, but she hung up on me!!! Oh well no doughnuts for them then... so we went back to our hostel.. Around 6.15 Jinju called me and asked what was up and I said we had Krispy Kreme doughnuts for them... but... And at this point she screamed into the phone "KRISPY KREME?? MY FAVOURITE!!!" God... my eardrums... I told her we still had a few left so if she really wanted she could drop by and get them.. Turns out she was coming over anyway to return Melecio something... lucky for her! But she was going to have dinner first so me and Bernard went for dinner as well.. We arrived back at the hostel before she did and waited for her to arrive... then Ernest appeared as well, so all 4 of us, Ernest Jinju Bernard and me went to my room to eat doughnuts! haha! well actually Jinju just took 2 in a bag to bring home cos she wanted to eat hot ones... Ernest took 2 and Bernard and I took one each, cos we had 2 already in the afternoon Muahaha.. Then I transferred mine and Bernard's photos of Jinju to my thumbdrive for her to bring back...

Tomorrow is Korean etiquette class! Hope it will be fun... and we're learning 2 more instruments tomorrow! the drum and zither. And so our schedule starts... 10 to 2 pm with an hour lunch... oh well... its gonna be exciting!

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!! SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!!!! I LOVE SNOW!!!!!!

All right! The mega update that I promised! This is going to be very very very long… so please do take your time and read it. Don’t even try to finish it in one reading… Well, the night before, we were packing, and deciding which luggage to bring, and auntie Bernard went around asking who was bringing what cos he didn’t want to be the only one with a real luggage haha. You know, those that have handles (I keep typing handel!) with which you pull along like an air stewardess. We tried to go shop for a sports bag but couldn’t find one… and also to find portable toiletries, and we discovered Koreans don’t believe in them… After much searching we finally managed to get them.

Next morning… we gathered on the 5th floor of our building (where we have Korean lessons) to have a brief orientation and found that tons of them were carrying those luggage! Haha so I suggested to Bernard after the orientation (5 min before we had to leave) that he could use his… cos he tried to stuff everything into his haversack but couldn’t find space for his moisturiser, and wanted to use mine. So he went and transferred the things to his luggage. He’s fast I’ll say that for him haha. Then up on the bus! The trip from Seoul to Busan takes 6.5 hours with a half hour break for lunch. Basically we lounged on the bus till lunchtime, which we had at those stops on the highway… Oh and the highway was really straight and level. They built bridges over rivers, tunnelled through mountains and everything, just to keep us going due south (we know cos we checked against the sun) on level ground. No up or down slopes. Impressive. Right lunch was ok… Mr. Jang was busy taking everyone’s orders and ordering at the counter while we collected the food from the various stalls haha. Never seen a director act less than one. Oh and he and Mr. Yuk (staff from NIIED – our place of stay) became air stewards at the beginning, walking up and down handing us things to eat, which Jinju bought. She bought 2 entire cardboard boxes of her favourite foods (which actually means everything edible) along with tons of drinks. The two of them walked up and down, giving us mandarin oranges, chocolates, snacks, bottled water and etc… haha. Ok I’m digressing. Anyway, after lunch we continued our way… most of us just sleeping (me included) and by 4pm we reached Beomeosa Temple (벙어사). Well first we had to climb steps up for about 5 min to reach our place to stay. Oh I forgot to say I was carrying 3 bags… one for clothes, one for books and other documents, and a haversack for laptop. I’m topped only by Ernest who had an extra one for moisturisers and stuff… Anyway… it was quite cold, and we’re all very glad for Arko’s jacket. Thanks again Arko! More specifically the International Exchange Team! Ok… when we reached our living quarters, they gave us our clothes to wear, which consists of thin pants and a thin vest. Luckily we could wear things under it haha so all of us actually wore long sleeve tops under the vest. A little strange looking… On top of that when we walked out we wore the jacket haha so not much of their clothes could be seen. After that a monk came in and taught us the various things to do and the many many things that we couldn’t do haha. No smoking was quite high on the list. Then he taught us how to do the half bow which was just putting your hands together and bowing from the waist. The big bow (for lack of better words) include prostration 3 times on the ground, first kneeling, then touching the forehead to the ground, and lifting the hands upwards to the ears, den recovering to standing. That’s once. After learning that we were ready for dinner! The first dinner was a normal Korean course dinner, without meat of course. Quite nice actually considering Koreans actually eat a lot of vegetables even when not in the temple, this is not very hard to get used to. Oh and we had to finish up all the rice otherwise its considered impolite. Jinju had a hard time finishing up and when she did she had some indigestion. Poor girl. Then it was time for the evening worship session, and to put our bowing skills to the test. First we had to stay outside the worship hall till all the monks have entered, while bowing to each of them when they arrive… They had this drum and gongs to tell the monks to come, and three monks performed on them on this mini tower… very cool… but I didn’t manage to get a video of it cos we had to leave all our valuables in this envelope for safekeeping, and I happily put my camera in. Right… then the worship session was cool too… they sang a really nice chant, and in unison 5ths too! Not at all like a drone. But we had to do the full bow like many times, and sit like Japanese at other times… that part was really bad. Anyway after that we went to learn to make lotus lights with paper and a paper cup! Most of them turned out quite nice… mine as usual when I’m not working with only paper, turned out ok only… oh and the person teaching me taught wrongly at first so I had to restart haha. Well after that we lighted up the candles inside, and some got burnt up! Ernest’s got burnt while we were posing for photos! That was hilarious… Jinju’s burnt up too, and Bernard burnt his up on purpose. Wait Junju burnt 2 lanterns up… Hers and Mr. Yuk’s when he gave his to her when hers burnt up. In the end she took mine too… but luckily it survived haha. And after that we had a tea ceremony with the monk, and talked a little with him. There was a very nice rice cake served with the tea, which only royalty got to eat in the past, and which is now only found in Beomeosan. Very nice… has dates and chestnuts and I’m not sure what inside.

Then we attempted to sleep (guys in one room and girls in another) cos we had to wake up at 3am next morning! Goodness. And by 3.30 we were washed up and ready for the morning worship session, which wasn’t as nice as the night before… it was exactly the same thing, but somehow the 5ths were gone… only unison. Then we went back to our quarters for an hour of meditation. My legs were like totally numb by the time we finished and my tummy growled at least 5 times which everyone heard! So embarrassing! Then we went for breakfast, which was some ritualistic meal called Balwoo Gongyang, and involves 4 bowls… first, the monk taps the bamboo rod 3 times, then we do a half bow, and start laying out the bowls, first laying a cloth on the ground, then taking the bowls out from inside each other to lay into a square, and tons of other stuff… the highlight of the meal is that you CANNOT leave anything behind. So you get a piece of radish kimchi, and clean the bowls with it, which has water in it, and then… you drink up the water and eat the kimchi! *shudder* but its ok… I managed to do that without throwing up haha but some people had food left and well of course they didn’t do that part. *shrug* Since it’s a temple stay experience we should do everything they ask us right? At least that’s what I think. Then we learnt some Buddhist martial arts… uh… yea… we tried our best I suppose, but he still said we were too stiff as artists. Or rather the translator (not Jinju, its some volunteer) said that. I was like what? So undiplomatically done… anyway we most of us felt the sting but brushed it aside (I know cos I discussed it later with some others about that remark) Then we had a walk round the temple surroundings to look look see see, and it was really quite pretty. Still the walk was quite tiring, climbing up rocks and stairs everywhere… Thank goodness for NS. After that it was time to do an evaluation and check out~ they gave us each a bracelet of beads as a souvenir. I was joking that they should give us a certificate for passing out of the temple stay haha

Break time. Read on next time, or now if you’re really so interested in me *touched*

Ok leaving the temple, the first thing everyone did was to grab some chips or small cakes from the two cartons and start eating! Haha even though we were going to lunch. All of us slept in that 1 hr ride to lunch and a lot of us didn’t really want to go down the bus for lunch which was quite nice~ Then we went around looking at historical sites, mostly temples in the Gyeongju area, which was the capital of the Silla dynasty. We had this tour guide with us (how about check it out~) who showed us all the relics of that dynasty, including tombs and an astronomy tower. All very interesting and nice, but we were all aching from the morning exercise and walk and lack of sleep… and we cut short the touring and went to our hotel to check in and the first thing I did was to bathe! Didn’t get to do it in the temple cos the water is close to freezing cold. I know now what is meant by freezing cold. Then we had dinner at some restaurant 5 min away from the hotel… its shaped like a pumpkin! And the interior looks super cool… like the inside of a pumpkin made by a giant worm. The food was nice too as usual with Arko dinners/lunches. After that we went back to the hotel and we (Bernard and Ernest only actually, and me of course) went to the hot spring / sauna. Japanese style! (read: totally naked except a small towel which doesn’t wrap round your waist even if you’re a supermodel) Ernest refused to take off his briefs haha and he wandered around in that. After about an hour inside, we all felt really good and went back to our rooms and slept. Next day (Wednesday) we had breakfast and then went to visit other sites of interest, which was some temple up on a mountain, and which featured a grotto with statues of Buddha and other deities carved from granite! These were made in the Silla dynasty which was the 8th century… imagine the work they had to do to carve granite! Really impressive. More climbing to reach that grotto though… lucky we had the hot spring to rejuvenate us the night before… Then it was time for lunch… forgot where we had it though haha… Then we moved to Andong, to this traditional village that is now open to artists to stay (for a fee of course) Its quite cool that place… very picturesque, and there were tons of stars! Haha I managed to see quite a lot. A pity I don’t have a star chart handy… We first had homemade Korean food for dinner and it was really really nice! Much nicer than those in the restaurants! No kidding. Then we learnt to make knot-craft (the teachers came all the way from Seoul!) which needless to say I didn’t succeed. I’m such a lousy craftsman except for origami haha. Then we had this Hahoi mask dance lecture cum performance by this master. He usually only does public performances and this is the only exception he made so far… seeing that we’re all artists *touched*. I have video clips of that if anyone is interested! Its too hard to describe in words his movements and everything. Suffice it to say that he had about 10 masks and each one had a different set of movement to go along with it. The masks themselves don’t look that realistic, but when he put them on and started dancing, it was really clear what each mask meant. After that we had a BBQ! Eating some barbequed pork and chicken and drinking~ and sitting around a campfire singing songs… and everyone has their own folk songs, except Singapore… well… yea… Then we played some games too and the director taught us this really funny game which is totally not describable here… I’ll demonstrate when I get back.
Then, we moved into the building and played more games! Haha the director was playing as hard as all of us! We were playing this game called the King game, where one card of a deck of cards was king, and he could order people to do things, say… no. 2 do this, and the person with the no. 2 card had to do it. Once he got ordered to drink a can of beer, and he said ‘I’m so sad! I’m so sad!’ while laughing and drinking it up haha. What a punishment. And another he had to take a piece of prawn cracker stick in his mouth and the other person bite off the other end. And it happened to be Narim! He went ‘I’m so sad!’ again haha and told Narim ‘Don’t worry… I love you’ hahahahahahaha He’s really fun! The last round of that game I got to turn round 10 times while bending over and then immediately start singing. Well… after 10 rounds I immediately fell over haha and had to drink a shot of liquor as punishment haha. (Soju… that’s the liquor) Then after that most people went to bed, while I went to stargaze… really nice. I could see the entire Orion, Leo, Canis major, minor, Taurus, Pleiades, and many more… I really want a star chart! Tham and Mr. Yuk joined me and we were there gazing. Oh I saw 2 shooting stars! Yay! Tham saw one too! We talked randomly about everything, including ancient Thailand and about the cultures of SEA. Then! We heard rustling in the grass in front of us! And it stopped, and it came progressively closer and closer! And Mr. Yuk said when he was young he used to see wolves on his way to school. What a good way to reassure us haha. Finally we decided that we should go back cos the rustling was really coming quite close, and we couldn’t see what it was. Scary! When I got back to the room and told Bernard, he said it may be a snake. Best. Haha But in the morning when I asked the village head, he said it was probably a deer. And there are no snakes there. Still we didn’t stay to find out last night haha. After a nice breakfast me and Bernard walked down to this lake caused by a dam and took pictures. I have a panorama picture of that! Whoever wants it tell me~

Ok then we packed up and left and went to a Confucian old school… and took pictures and looked around, then had a 2 min bus ride to this restaurant where we ate food meant for offerings. Like what the Chinese do in Singapore. But the food was different. Me and Melecio decimated the fish, including one that wasn’t from our table. It was so nice! Then we went to a traditional village to look around, and walk and walk and walk… Oh forgot to mention… Jinju didn’t bring her camera charger, and so she started getting everyone to take pictures for her! Half the photos in our cameras are her 写真集 haha ok I’m exaggerating, but still it was quite a number! :P

Then it was time to go back to Seoul, with a stop at another of those stops for dinner, and then we were back! Oh and it snowed in Seoul when we were in Busan! Grrrr but by the time we got back there was no trace of it anymore… So sad! But we’re due for more snow this coming winter yay!

On the whole this trip was really fun and enjoyable… I got to see many many things that I’ve never seen before, and experienced things I will never again… I know now what is meant by a chilly night, and what is freezing cold and biting cold winds. I also saw a sunrise which caused the sky to become one giant rainbow, and stars covering the entire sky. I also got to know all the wonderful people in our group and the arts management group and the organizers Arko and NIIED. The trip has also inspired in me some new works which I hope to be able to write really soon, and it has also made me want to find out what exactly is our culture. Do we have one? If we do what is it? I hope I can answer those questions soon. Ok this is sounding like some self reflection already… So anyway photos will be up soon I promise… with captions… until then…

Oh we might be watching Harry Potter tonight with any luck. The English movies here run abysmally slower than Singapore. Harry Potter just opened yesterday 1st December.

I'm going to Busan area for a 4 day field trip. Reach me on my handphone if you need to find me! No updates for a while.... will have mega update when I get back.

Well... not much to update for Friday... We learnt more Danso, and managed to learn Arirang already! Yay! And we're going to watch a band concert (Bernard and me only) on Saturday (today)... Just a quick update before going for lunch and concert.

Er... OH! Arko gave us cool cool jackets!!! Giordano~ haha but its really nice and warm.. and very expensive too! Thanks Arko!

Yea fewer and fewer things to update.... hmmm Oh and we tried some bbq meat (pork?) at the roadside stores too... he asked whether we want hot sauce.. NEVER take the hot sauce.. REALLY HOT! but still the weather was cold so the spiciness was bearable...

Bought slippers! but a bit small but its ok.. just to walk around the hostel only...

Next Monday to Thursday going on field trip to Busan and its surroundings, gonig to a temple, traditional village and more! Updates when I get back!

Tomorrow MIGHT go to King's Singers concert... if Jinju manage to wake up from her hangover and buy the tickets for us (joking Jinju :P) And tonight we might be going for a presentation of a living Korean composer's music. Rephrase: And tonight we might be going for a living Korea composer's presentation of his music. English is getting bad.

Last nite didn't update... so I shall do it now.. Thursday.. we went to the Center for Traditional Korean Music and... we got to learn an instrument! Its a Danso, and its somewhat related to the Chinese Xiao1. Not easy to play siah.... but we're trying~ The instructor is this Mr. Lee and he was surprised we actually managed to get sounds on the very first try. He said he had some students who couldn't get a sound for like 3 months?? Thats the worst case scenario I think... Anyway later somehow we told him we were all musicians already, and he gave a relieved look and rattled off in Korean haha. He must be happy that he doesn't have to teach basic music stuff.. I can totally relate to that!

After that we went to climb the small hill backing our institute! (photos will be uploaded tonight!) Really nice place.. and if we walk that path everyday... I'm sure we'll be fitter when we get back! Bernard's just beside me now and I asked him and he said ok haha

Anyway after that we had some coffee (I had green tea latte, quite nice!) Oh and the brewer actually created a leaf motif on my cup using frothed milk! so cool! I'm going to order it again and take a picture of it!

At night we attended a concert of traditional Korean music, and the others from theatre and dance came along too~ It was quite nice... but some parts are just a little repetitive for me, but their musicianship is really good. They start together, end together and don't rush, all without a conductor.. and most importantly the speed is somewhat like crotchet = 45 or slower..

After that we had dinner at KFC... and sponsored by Arko again! hahaha, and then we went back... Jinju took the wrong train at the transfer station and she was halfway BACK to where we came from before she realised it.. then she got off and got a taxi.... Poor girl, she's overworked and stressed up over all of us. Thanks Jinju we really appreciate what you're doing!

I like our Danso lessons! AAAAAAAARRRRIIIIIIRRRRRRAAAANNNNGGGGGG

Ok today..... ate KFC for lunch and went to the Traditional Music Center for lessons... We had a total of..... 1 hour!!! From 2 to 3 and thats it??? Well basically an overview of Korean traditional music, and tomorrow we are going to learn 1 hour of Pansori...

So after the lesson me and Bernard walked around cos we saw many music shops around... then i tried to find Leslie's ligature.. There's this big shop called Cosmos Music that has the thing he wants.. and a nice tenor recorder... Horner.. not sure if its good or not haha. Of course i didn't get it... its way to ex....

Then we had dinner den had Korean lessons...

And ya today's quite a typical day.

Out

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OK FINAL FINAL TIME

My Phone Number is (+013)821072632213

013 if you are calling from home... if got IDD on ur hp jus +82 blah blah blah

Thanks to Leslie who helped me figure out the number.. (and kenna slammed phone by some woman in the process)

I'll continue to be in Saxophile because of that hahaha

Ok.. this morning we went to the Korean Traditional Music Institute... and were late haha. Cos its Jinju's first time there, and we didn't estimate the time correctly. Anyway its not very near.. total is like 12 stops away with one change of train. Total took us about an hour, including a bus ride up as well. We were about 20 min late but the guy in charge was ok I suppose. Anyway we all sat down, and then he gave the three of us some kind of booklet to read... while he spoke to Jinju in Korean.. and spoke and spoke haha. Then he talked to us in English (phew) and asked us what we wanted to do... He was being very nice about it and said he'd try his best to get together a nice program for us, because we were all quite diverse in our field... So we gave some suggestions and I think he's going to try to follow them all! yay!

Then we went to tour the place... and saw the people practicing, saw the halls, saw the other buildings, and they have this really nice outdoor stage just at the foot of a small hill. Cool eh.. then we were done! haha that was so fast.. it was only 11+ and Jinju had to go back to her office.. Chain went with her but me and Bernard went to the library to find cds. The LINC or OPEC was like in Korean and it took us like maybe 15 min to figure how to use.. or at least me... Bernard gave up after a while. We tried to get the cds, but they were all restricted so I had to give my passport and then they checked out the cds for us to listen there only. So we listened and listened haha till it was about 12+. We then went to explore the opera house and concert hall (its just beside the library) and found this really cool CD shop that sells many many many CDs that I'm sure NAFA people will be dying to come see... I took a giant stack of all those CDs that I wanted and slowly winnowed through them to 3. But it still cost me 44k Won.... then we went off and walked down to find the station. On the way we passed this place which said 'English menu available' and we stopped and went in for late lunch haha. I had curry rice.. quite nice and Bernard had Bibimbap. Then we went off to the station and Bernard took a wrong turn.. and we ended up walking more than we had to. In the train Bernard went off at another stop to go off to God knows where but I went back to listen to all the CDs i bought.

Jinju came over to look for some people during the evening but they weren't there... the other people doing the other program... so we persuaded her to join us for dinner haha at Twins again! I had curry tonkatsu (curry day haha) which was really nice... Then its the end of the day.. and we're up here again haha. Oh now we have our favourite coffee... Coffee Esmeralda haha. The owner recognize us now! and he gave us 500 Won discount each the last time we went! Wooo nice uncle! Then today he gave us each a small doughnut to go with the coffee.. Those cubes you know... haha

Good day.... I love the Institute that we're going. So beautiful and scenic.. I'll take more pictures to show you guys!

Quick update! Today we go to the institute for Traditional Korean Music... hope its going to be good! Will post more when I get information on that place!

Yesterday no update cos well... there wasn't much to update haha... look out for today!

Sunday... We were supposed to go watch Harry Potter and get the others their phones.... Jinju called me around 12 to say she just woke up... typical for her Saturdays and Sundays.. And she checked the timings.. and Harry Potter is not out yet. So I told the others the news and we were suddenly left with nothing to do. Actually in the morning after breakfast I went out with my manuscript paper and pencil and walked around the hostel, looking for some inspiration haha cos I'm writing a piece for female chorus based on an autumn haiku.... what better place than here in Korea now? Not that far from Japan either. Anyway it helped a little, but I had to go in to the dorm quick (I stayed outside for about half an hour only) cos my hands were almost frozen. Then Bernard came over to use my Sibelius and I composed with my manuscript.

We went lunch at this place just opposite our coffee place... quite nice.. I had ramen.. Nothing like hot soup on a cold day... Then we went to watch movie! haha. We watched Corpse Bride.. which is long gone from Singapore.. and for awhile it felt like we were back in Singapore haha cos its in English thank goodness... Then we went to Myongdong to look around... whao its big! and like many bugis streets put together... There are also very posh posh buildings with nothing but Chanel, Louis Vuitton etc in them.... So high class~~

Anyway we walked around there for about 2 hrs? then came back to buy some groceries and went to eat at the place near our hostel... the place where we went for Bibimbap the first time... This time we both ordered something which is beef though we didn't know haha I had some beef soup thing and Bernard had some form of Bulgogi.. Somehow my food always come to me boiling in a stone bowl.. has been like that for every meal, except for breakfasts and the pizza hut at Sinyongsan (duh). So now I'm online again updating and trying to compose my piece... which I just realised I've left it downstairs in my room.. Darn.

Below is only for Grace!

Heh darling today call me the phone make our voices so strange ah.. I thought who call me wor.. Then you also eh who is this person in my room haha~ Muacks... Darling don't call so often ah ok? So expensive.. We talk on MSN with mic and headphones same also baobaoz... Love you lots and miss you...

I got my new phone today!!! Those who want to call me (incoming calls free) please do so at +(822)01072632213. Its quite cheap... total cost is 70k Won... which is like er... S$100+. For 3 months I'd say thats pretty good. Mom please give this number to Gugu and Ahyi, so if they decide to come over they can call me.

Today morning I tried to compose..and eventually did haha.. but not a lot... but still its a start. Today we were supposed to meet Jinju at Sinyongsan for her to bring us to buy phones, at 1pm... However, just as we were going to leave, Jinju called us and said she'd need more time so me and Melecio went for lunch at the same place we had dinner yesterday haha only this time we both had the tonkatsu... Then we discussed some politics and stuff... its nice talking to Melecio about it cos he's knowledgable and has his own opinions about things... Gave me a lot to think as well.

Right... then off to Jinju's place... We found her in her convenience store just below her apartment... and found that she had a parcel she was waiting to be delivered since 12pm... and it was like 2.45 and they haven't brought it there yet. So we went up to her place and watched a part of a DVD - The Legend of 1900. Well.. its really nice and I wanna finish watching it... We only watched like half an hour. In the end she got tired of waiting and told the delivery people to leave it at the reception desk downstairs.. Right then Melecio was going to meet a friend at 4, but he forgot that person's contact! So he went back to the hostel to get it... so only Bernard, Ernest and me were left. Bernard joined us after he went to his SOKA gakka.

Getting the phone was quite easy, and done in like 20 min haha so we went around looking for a webcam for Jinju and a USB light for Ernest. After that we went to look for some DVDs, intending to watch them at Jinju's house after dinner, which was at Pizza Hut, but we talked for so long there, including some sensitive topics regarding selections (that's all I'm saying) that we had to go back after that since everyone was tired. That was about 8pm.

On the way back from Hyehwa station, we passed this second hand store, and the owner spoke good English! There was this nice trenchcoat that I wanted to get, but didn't cos I don't think I need it yet. Then we stopped at a cafe for some coffee take out.. It was good! Then just outside our hostel we saw Chain.. and he bought the exact trenchcoat that I wanted! haha. Luckily I didn't get.. cos I think its too small for me...

All in all a good day... except that it was cold!~~

Right today is Friday... and we went the the Arko library... cool place the library... oh and because we had lunch with the chairman of Arko, we went to the library early... so we had to meet at 8.5o.. Jinju was almost late haha and I think she ran from the station to the Arts Council builing which is..... maybe 5 min away? Whatever it is she was panting like mad when she got here. And she apparently forgot something as well cos before we left the building, she ran back to get something. 2 runs in the early morning... Good for her haha.

Ok the library.. its really nice and has like lots and lots of CDs and scores and books just waiting for us to borrow. All of us didn't want to leave the CD section haha! Jinju was trying to make all of us hurry up or else we might be late for the lunch with the chairman.. They let us borrow 2 CDs each! under Jinju and Jiwon's name haha I didn't borrow any though.... I'd get a membership card which lasts a lifetime (good for when I go back for honeymoon, etc...) Oh and the Korean Traditional Music place is just behind the library so we can go there every day if we choose to haha.

So anyway... we weren't late for lunch.. and lunch was like 11 appetizers before the main course which contained like 9 dishes... You do the math. Very nice lunch... but we had tests! haha the chairman asked about Singapore and what its like there, the culture etc... even asked about the GNP... God how would I know? Luckily we managed to scrap some answers up (thanks to my history teacher in sec sch)... the others also got tested haha!

Then after that we went back to our rooms and all of us slept! haha and then we went for Korean lesson and then dinner... Only Tham, Chain, me, Bernard and Ernest went though... we went to this nice place called Twins i think haha. The food is nice and the servings big.. and only costs $4000 won per person... I had some udon thingy in a stone bowl which kept the soup really hot. Chain had some tom yam noodles and the others had pork cutlet with rice and salad.. Then we went back and bought some coffee.. I didn't buy though cos i bought this really cute set of earmuffs and scarf. Will put the picture up soon haha....

Thats about it for today... Tomorrow going out to shop! Maybe we'll get mobile phones so its easier for us to keep in touch since we'll be in different places from Monday onwards...

Ok today started with a visit to the Arko Training Center... Pics are uploaded too.. not many though.. The training center was about an hour away by car... which is quite ok.... except my legs too long and felt a bit cramped haha. The recording studio there is quite good.. state of the art equipment and fits 20 musicians... The theatre is even better. Though its only for training the students there, the equipment is better than a lot of professional theatres... The backdrop is like one single piece of canvas only, which means it doesn't have sewn lines which can be seen during performances... The stage is very versatile, one can exit stage center if one chooses haha. and the orchestral pit opens up and the boxes which originally fill the pit can be used as seats... There are 6 bars on which to hang the lights, which is more than many theatres...

ok lunch... Lunch today was Korean food and there was like a lot! haha the dishes kept coming and coming.. and we ate like almost all the seafood there is to eat today... fish, prawn, squid, crab, sea cucumber, oyster (which i didn't eat). Anyway yea the lunch was really nice. There was this rice thingy... with fish roe and seaweed in a stone bowl... very nice... I'd like to have that again!

after lunch we went back for the arts policy talk..... and Bernard was falling asleep at the table.. so malu.... (embarassing for non-Singaporeans) then after that we went to this DVD rental place where you pay and watch DVDs on the spot. I finally watched Ghost in a Shell.... haha.. its about $10 per person which I suppose is ok... but can't do it all the time. Oh only Bernard and me.. the others well I don't know what they did. After that we went for dinner (KFC).. We had this meal with 2 burgers, 3 chicken strips and 2 drumsticks and some salad thing... all right... and they had mustard honey sauce haha. I like! Oh the burger one of them was bulgogi flavoured??

Oh yea before that we went exploring somemore actually... to another part of the vicinity.. which is actually more happening than our side here. We found a cinema too! At least.. it looks like one. We'll go watch Harry Potter with everyone one of these days! There is also a bigger supermarket there haha so we went in but didn't get anything.

Oh yea... for X'mas we were thinking of having it either at Jinju's or Jiwon's place.. (get ready you two) Just writing it down so I don't forget haha. Documented proof.

Ok then we went back after dinner... then transfer photos... then upload photos and update blog now.

All right day I suppose...

Ok... Wednesday... Wednesday was.... quite boring.... the lessons were on fund management of Arts Council Korea, but at least I managed to stay awake and follow somewhat. Lunch was nice though... it always is when its Arts Council lunch haha. Today we had Japanese lunch! Some of us had eel and some had mushroom... Luckily I had the eel... I hate shitake mushrooms... The eel was very nice, and so was the rice. But there was kimchi! haha. Koreanised Japanese food~ And the rice is also Koreanised... See the pictures for details.... though that might be quite impossible until I caption each of them.. which I'm very resistant to doing actually... There's just so many of them!

After lunch we were free, and we went for coffee again haha. We know why Jinju wants Coffee Bean all the time now... She has the card and she managed to get like 6 chops in a go! haha! Soon she will have a free cup of coffee. Sneaky i say... hahaha (yes Jinju reads this...) You know I'm joking right?

After coffee Ernest and Melecio (finally got his name right.. sorry Melecio) wanted to go Sinyongsan (新龙山) to get computer cables.... and I went along cos I wanted to see the place. Its like a giant Sim Lim... (those not in Singapore.. Sim Lim is somewhat like Sinyongsan) about 20 times bigger... There are many many buildings about 5 stories high and each one is like a Sim Lim... We found the cables in quite short order, but we stayed to look at all the DVDs for sale. Melecio turned out to like operas a lot and we found this stall which sells a lot of them. He walked away with 9 of them... and I bought 3. we managed to cut the price down from 5000 each to 44000 for 13 (12+1 free) haha. Actually it was Melecio who did the talking...

After that we went back to Hyehwa, but Melecio went to Itaewon first by himself... Me and Ernest went to Macdonalds to get dinner and to bring back for Bernard who was feeling lazy and stayed in the hostel. Macdonalds had zero English on their menu, which I find very surprising. We ordered 3 meals and went back to eat... Then it was Korean lesson no. 2... learnt how to order in the restaurant and how to buy things... very simple sentances only though... Then learnt one more part of the alphabet... and then that was it for the day.