Busan Oh Busan!

It was a case of “so near yet so far” and it took us about 14 hours to reach our hotel in Busan. The flight and transit alone took us almost 12 hours.

Busan’s a coastal town and is the second largest city in Korea. We were fortunate to have had the meeting venue situated in a hotel just next to the Haeundae Beach. Haeundae’s pronounced as “Hay-Oon-Day” by the way.

This trip was slightly odd in the sense that I did not have much time to jot down my own personal thoughts for each day. I was just so tired at the end of each day! Haha. Maybe it’s the coastal air.

So I’m sitting here at the Gimhae Airport in Busan, waiting for my flight to Incheon Airport in Seoul. Right now, it’s 28 Aug Sunday, 2:30pm in SG and 3:30pm in Busan.

The People
Korea’s the land of plastic surgery, cosmetics, skincare and lots of pretty people. Everyone’s so well-groomed. So….about the young Korean ladies first. I think my guy friends would have perpetual nosebleeds if they stayed in Korea for a week. The girls were all super fair and slim and made up. BB cream and light natural make up seemed to be the preference with light pink natural lips, straight brows, little to no eyeshadow and some eyeliner. High heels seemed to be the de facto footwear, even to places like the beach. Wonder how they can tahan tottering along the sandy footpaths in heels.

The younger generation males seemed to be almost as fair as the ladies and I think some of them had BB cream on too haha. The older males all had a typical look about them. Hard and harsh faces with small eyes, many frown lines and a generally tough MCP appearance. Old men typically wore berets or little caps and carried walking sticks.

The younger generation wore fashionable outfits. Some others dressed more simply but still looked good! Dashing young men looked dapper in their blazers thrown over white T-shirts and simple capris or pants. And some young girls in primary school already had their hair dyed in varying shades of brown.

Ah Ju Ma
I’m dedicating a separate section to the Ah Ju Mas. :) Simply put, Ahjumas are the “Aunties” of Korea. Those I saw in Busan could be identified by a few distinguishing traits. Short permed hair ending at the ears or slightly after. Baggy pants. Flat canvas shoes. Floral long-sleeved or three-quarter sleeved blouses. Age ranging between 45 to70 perhaps? Anyway, one look and you could tell whether a lady was an ahjuma or not. Put 5 of them together and I think I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between each of them. You’d see these ahjumas in abundance at the market areas, either peddling their wares as vendors or bargaining for better prices as customers or just gossiping with each other.

Language
Most of them couldn’t speak English to save their lives. Each meal time was a challenge to us. We’d point at pictures, play charade with the service staff, draw pictures, mimic animal sounds and do anything we could to communicate what we wanted to order. I thought the hotel staff would be better but some of them had a weak command of English too. Taking cabs was a challenge as well. Thankfully the signages at their subway stations were written in both English and Korean so we could still manage.

Food!!
Spicy. Spicy. Spicy. But I love it, love it, love it! :) Lots of garlic, onions and spring onions are used in Korean cuisine. And that sits down very well with me hehe. I’m a lover of these things. And they eat lots of beef too! I’m a beef lover too. So, yay!

I had a hosted dinner on Thursday night and it was amazing in the sense that they served at least 20-over dishes for that meal. Plates after plates after plates of food were served and we delegates just stared in amazement when the dishes kept on arriving at our tables. What we thought would be the last dish always wasn’t haha. They had the usual preserved vegetables, ginseng porridge, beef patty, grilled saba fish, dried spicy shrimp (much like our heh bee), bean paste rice, mushroom salad, vegetable salad, barbequed pork, kimchi soup, and the list goes on….I went back to my hotel room feeling like a whale.

Over the next few meals, I stuffed myself with barbequed beef and pork wrapped in lovely crisp lettuce leaves, stirfried rice with chicken and octopus, steamed egg in chicken stock, extremely spicy kimchi soup and extremely spicy stir-fried squid, chicken skewers in gongbao style, Korean Hite beer, Korean soju (rice wine), Ferrero Rocher (couldn’t help it, it was selling for only 3 for S$1.70), Hershey’s chocolate milk, Italian risotto…;p *burp*

My dieting plans have obviously gone awry.

Shopping
I went shopping at Nampodong. Fantastic area. Imagine Taiwan’s Ximending, Bangkok’s Chatuchak (though not as cramped and dirty and dusty), Seoul’s Myeongdong and Singapore’s Bugis Village. That’s how Nampodong is. Nampodong’s much much cleaner than Chatuchak haha.

Any self-respecting lady would squeal at the amount of cosmetics and skincare shops they had there. (Although I think Myeongdong in Seoul had more). Saw some shops selling shoes at only 5000won, which is about…*gasp*…..S$5.50.

Other sights
Nampodong was at the base of the Yongdusan Park, which was on a hill. And so I went there as well. Nothing breathtaking though. No real “wow” factor for me. All there was in that park were a few bronze sculptures of dragons and an army general in traditional garb, loads of trees and loads of senior citizens ahha.

I also went to the Jagalchi Fish Market which was located a few streets away from the Nampodong area. Although it was wet and fishy and smelly, the quick walk through that area was interesting because it opened my eyes to strange and apparently edible sea-dwelling creatures.

I saw small live octopuses with heads about as big as a small watermelon. I saw strange eels, some brown, some silvery and others of a beige and pink colour. I saw very strange creatures which looked like sea slugs with blunt thorns. I really can’t imagine people eating all these things. I also saw sea urchins and shellfish of varying shades of brown and green and varying sizes from something as small as a cockle to something as large as the rice plate I have at home.


Ok, I've just finished writing this and it's already 8:45pm SG time and 9:45pm Korean time. I'm already in Seoul, Incheon Airport. Awaiting my flight home to Singapore.

I'm currently chilling in the Business Class lounge, thanks to my boss who signed me in hehe. Comfy sofa chairs with food, snacks and drinks all served buffet style. :) I guess it's times like this when I love my boss hahaha.

Two hours more to kill before I need to go to the boarding area. I think I'll nap here for a little while and then head out for a short walk at the shops. I've spent quite abit on this short trip already...hmm...I forsee more spending in the next few months...*wails*

*deep breath*

patience. highly needed.

tiring to talk to colleagues, who make it a point to argue every single point you say.
think I'll just steer clear. it's still best to hide in my corner and do my own things. shan't say more.

om mani padme hum

.....

Why do I come in at 815am and leave at 6pm or sometimes at 7pm....

While some come in at 930 or 10am and leave at the same time as me or sometimes even earlier than me?

Minuting

Any public service personnel at the managerial level would have gone through the painful task of taking minutes for meetings.

I've done my fair share of it. Too much of it actually.

And this month, I think I've walking around with a huge target board on my ass. I was arrowed for many minuting duties. I had a major meeting on 11 Aug, with smaller ones on 3 and 17 Aug, and my own Board meeting on 15 Aug.

Been spending my days writing minutes and clearing them with the bosses.

Rite of passage for bigger things to come?
Hmm...

The clock is ticking

I've been busy. Quite busy.

With work and personal stuff. I'm half falling asleep in front of the PC, eyes half shut but I'm still waiting for my hair to dry naturally for awhile more before I use my blow-dryer on it. It's amazing how I feel more tired than when I was doing my event back in May/June lol.

Anyway....

I now sport a rock on my left hand. Yes, it's sitting quite happily on the fourth finger. And it blinks at me once in a while when it catches the light. Not bad, makes for quite a cheerful companion. :)

It's got a mind of its own too and runs around the circumference of my finger. The rock's sometimes at the top where it should be, sometimes it's a little to the left or right, sometimes, it's just hiding all the way beneath the top of my finger.

Neeeh. I blame myself for my bad habit of cracking my knuckles and whatever joints that can be cracked or popped. It's resulted in me having big knuckles which are much wider then the rest of my fingers. Hence the "running" around of the rock at the base of my finger.

Anyway...

I think we've accomplished quite abit of things in the last 3 weeks. We have already...

• consulted a geomancer and settled on the special date when I'd legally not be considered a single woman anymore
  
• found ourselves a nice uncle who would preside over the union
  
• almost settled on the special date next year for the traditional ceremony
  
• gotten ourselves a package at one of the shops along Tanjong Pagar
• gotten the old folks and siblings from both sides to meet up
  
• gotten ourselves our union bands (mine comes with a teeny weeny rock!)
  
• cast our net wide to various hotel establishments for the bash next year. site recces are within the week and I think we can make an informed choice on the venue soon

Anyway...

There'll be tons more things to do going forward. I'm mighty grateful to K for his patience and proactive participation in the whole planning process and preparatory work. And of course, having supportive and knowlegeable girlfriends help too haha. :)

*WAILS*

Me: I put on weight liao leh.
Jane: no lah...errr....maybe your backside abit bigger that's all. When you wear jeans I noticed it's a little bigger...
Me: ??!! *WAILS*
Jane: but overall still ok lah...
Me: *WAILS WAILS WAILS*

the greens

I decided to "pull the plug" on one of my terrariums the Saturday just past.

That terrarium was the second one I made about a year ago and was the same terrarium which was almost killed by my mum at the end of last year when I went on a month-long holiday. I had fittonias in there, both green ones and red ones. I guess they were never the same again after that incident.

They were just barely surviving and were in a "going, going, gone" state for the last 3 to 4 months. So I decided to dismantle the whole thing. Maybe I'll make another one again soon.

In the meantime, I still have 3 other terrariums. The original one I made way back in July 2010, another I made at a workshop just 2 months ago and a small little one in a jar I made in September or October last year. But I'll dismantle the jam jar soon too. That one's not doing well and it's rather small so it's difficult to maintain it haha.

The small ficus bonsai I bought a month ago is shedding alot of leaves but is still surviving. I hope I don't kill it....Still trying to figure out the amount of light and water it needs.....

Ok, back to work!

#greenthornyandsmelly

K came over to my place this afternoon and brought 2 styrofoam boxes of durian with him as well. Needless to say the two boxes were meant for my parents. I dislike the fruit and its accompanying smell and he knows it.

I think he meant the durians as a small "bribe" for the folks to hand over their daughter to him willingly lol.

[Post-update] tThe folk have finished both boxes. My dad took 3 pieces and my mum...tsk tsk....gobbled down the rest of the 7 pieces.....

Om Mani Padme Hum

As I grow older, I feel more subdued. Wonder if others feel the same way as they age.

I still need to learn to control my anger though. I can be impatient and I run on a short fuse at times and that is something which needs to be curbed.

To steal the words from a French satirical comedy piece,

“Cool Cool, Calm Calm, Zen Zen”

To remain cool and calm even in the midst of problems and crises requires conscious control. Getting angry wastes energy and is non-productive. I shall endeavour to be more patient and not lose my cool that easily....

More on the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum later...

The F-word

So what new buzz is there now in Singapore? Especially after the Lions beat the Tigers 6-4 on aggregate to advance to the 3rd round of the World Cup qualifiers.

I read with amusement and a little bit of horror about Trinetta Chong, the valedictorian of the 2011 graduating class of NTU's School of Communication. I saw the video of her speech online and I must say, it was quite interesting and I believe it must have also stirred the hearts of her peers sitting in the auditorium that day aplenty.

She ended her speech with a gloriously loud "We fucking did it!!!".

To which factions of the audience cheered and others (no doubt mainly the professors and parents) were flabbergasted at.

Me? I think there is a time and place for everything. Call me a prude. Call me conservative. Call me old-fashioned but I think that a public speech, let alone a valedictory speech, is not the place to use the f-word at. Use it by all means in front of your friends, colleagues, peers, family and what have you but not when you're up on the podium addressing an audience.

There're both positive and negative reactions online now. But I see more support than those against it. Is this is a Gen Y mindset vs Gen X mindset thing?

I wonder what was going in the minds of the professors when she said it. Haha.

We'll walk down this road together

And so the journey of preparations begins. Choices and decisions, discussions and management of expectations, broad concepts and nitty gritty details, hopes and compromises, and the list goes on....

More updates next time? Yes definitely. :)

Of Prayers

I was on leave on Friday and decided to go to the Guanyin temple at Waterloo Street. Just suddenly felt like I've not been there for a long time and hence the visit.

This time felt a little different from the rest of the other times I've been there. I can't put a finger to it but it felt like as if I was less emotional and more at peace. During some of the previous times I went there, I'd sometimes feel like crying or tearing when I prayed. This time round, I didn't feel it.

I went about my routine as per normal, gave my offerings, gave my token, knelt, prayed, got up, knelt, kow-towed somemore and prayed but I didn't get that emotional feeling I felt last time. Don't know why. This time round things felt more right.

Which is a good thing. :)

Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong

When Jacky Cheung came to Singapore for a concert 4 or 5 years ago, I couldn’t make it, for reasons that I cannot remember now. When he came 3 years ago, I couldn’t make it again as I was travelling I think.

And finally this year, the King of Canto and Mandopop is making his way to SG again in August. Fans went wild and within a few days, all tickets were sold out for his 2-night concert. 3 more shows were added and all, if not most tickets were snapped up as well.

TH & I managed to get ourselves tickets for his 28 Aug show. :) We were waiting for so long for him to come back. We were happy larks haha!

And then….

The company now has to send me for a meeting trip to Busan. So as it turns out, after so many years…I am still not fated to go watch his concert. Sigh…:(

Hehe

I reached office at 815am today which is quite usual ever since I started taking a private bus to work.

I am loathe to admit it but I spent the last hour and a half not doing any work at all. Because….I was reading some of my old posts from end 2008 to early 2009 heh.

I always find it very interesting to read my old posts, especially those from that period, simply because I never knew I could write like that.

I read in amazement just now at the thoughts which were penned down and the feelings I was experiencing during those times. I wonder where all those lovely writing juices went to? I certainly hope they’ve not dried up in me!

Efficiency

I wonder how the woman's body evolved to be as such.

Why does the modern day woman menstruate once every 28 - 40 days?

Do you know that the women in some rural tribes in Africa actually menstruate only once every 6 months or only once a year even? Why can't the rest of us women follow such a cycle as well? :(

Why does a woman menstruate? It's the body's way of preparing for the possibility of an egg being fertilised and developing into a zygote and then an embryo. It's just preparing in advance and building up blood linings in the uterus which are rich in oxygen and minerals. JUST IN CASE some eager beaver sperm outswims his peers and hits the jackpot of an egg.

But in the event none of those tadpole-like creatures find the Easter egg, or in the event that there are no sperm present at all to create a miracle, then the body breaks down all that extra blood lining and oxygen-rich wall linings in the uterus and sends it out of the woman's system. Hence the bleeding.

Which is quite inefficient right? Like, hello? I spend time preparing and preparing but nothing comes out of it and so I discard whatever I have built up. Abit waste time right?

Why couldn't the woman's body have evolved in such a way that the uterus builds up its wall linings only at the point when the egg has been fertilised? When the egg has been fertilised, I'm sure the body knows right and then maybe it could have sent some signal to the body that okay, now is the time to store all those minerals and build up those wall linings. There's an egg that needs to be fed and developed. Hurry and go build yourself up now.

Wouldn't it be more efficient this way? Less wastage too right?

Hmm...ok, I'm rambling I know.

The Crabbies

Mr Orange and Mr Grey are a pair of fussy crustaceans. Yeah, considering that they are actually scavengers in the wild, I think they are a little fussy.

They like bean sprouts but they only take it if its steamed and not raw.

They eat lychee but not longan.

They eat cornflakes, the non-sweetended kind, but they don't like non-sweetened oats.

They like rock melon and will fight over it, but they don't like watermelon.

Still, it has been a fun journey of discovery so far, finding out their dietary preferences haha.
I shall experiment more with other types of food...:)

Big Auntie

Big Auntie always chooses the worst days to visit.

She would suddenly show up when I'm overseas, it's happened twice in the last 8 months.
Or she would turn up during the weekend when I want to enjoy myself and relax.

Big Auntie menses is here again. Backache and cramps are starting already.

I think I can still tahan the dinner appointment tonight. But K & I are going to Universal Studios tomorrow. Hope I can survive that!!

In the meantime, I'll continue hugging my water bottle. I just filled it with hot water. :(

#s-u-r-v-i-v-e

Mid-day Rants and Thoughts

• Note to colleague: I should be getting part of your pay for doing your work.


• Why can some people come in at 945am and leave at 6pm? I'm working for 1.5 hours more but getting lesser pay??


• Growing dislike for some colleagues makes me feel like I am turning into a picky and fussy person.


• How to help someone improve if that person always wants to "taiji" or run away from responsibilities? Or if that someone doesn't want to help herself???


• Mondays are not meant for working. I'm surfing for chocolate muffin recipes now.


• Looking forward to 6pm. There's still 4 more hours to go.....zzzz.

*lazy to think of anything*

• Wondering if I should go perm my hair again. At least two ladies have told me that I look better with curls haha...I miss the days of not having to blow dry my hair into a nice shape too.
  


• Heading to Canele for dinner tomorrow. The mains sound interesting when I saw the menu online....hope it meets my expectations!
  


• Some people in my office bunch tire me out. When we don't invite them for gatherings, they say we don't invite them. But when we invite them, they either don't turn up or give half-assed answers like "errr...I may have something on leh...errr..I let you know? err...but I don't like so and so, very boring with her around....errr...I was thinking of going for a photography shoot...errr...." And the most patronising answer of all is always this "If I can make it, I'll go join you." Which in most cases with this bunch of people, usually means "I'll probably won't turn up".
  


• Madonna's "Confessions on the Dancefloor" album is a great album to listen to when you're working hard on drafting a paper. She accompanied me the whole of yesterday. I must have listened to the album at least 3 times over. And I managed to cough up the paper by the end of the day! Yay! All 5 pages of it! hahaha...

Voila!

I love this caricature :D