12.34pm
ho ho ho merry christmas everybody! how was your holidays? i hope you guys have enjoyed yourselves as much as i did. nothing like spending time with our loved ones during this festive period. i dont know about you but there's always something about the month of december that i feel like that its kinda magical and yet slightly melancholy. i dont know how to put it into words exactly. you know its just a vibe, a feeling that i get almost every year end.
anyways, enough about all that. im back in my home country( for the past 2 weeks) as you already may have suspected so thats why i've been rather quiet in my blogs. sorry about it. i have been really busy! honestly! with all the rushing around trying to catch up with cousins and friends, getting last minute gifts and not to mention all family luncheons and dinners...oh boy. not sure if im coming or going!
well i dont know if i've mentioned this to you guys before but i realize that alot of people have just taken christmas for granted. like christmas is not all about the giving of presents and receiving them. its about family, getting together, being united and reflecting on all that has happened throughout the year, be it up or down and learning how to improve on mistakes made etc. to also count our blessings that we can still walk, talk, laugh, eat etc. unlike a lot of folks out there who do not have these sort of privileges. its quite sad and unfortunate really. i feel for these people and my heart goes out to them.
as we go about happily with our lives do we ever stop to give a thought about the starving in ethiopia? what will they getting this year? imagine parents losing their kids and vice versa. everyday people are just dropping dead like flies over there and here we are living in a lap of luxury(so to speak) and wanting more. thats where greed, power and envy steps in. i do realize that sometimes that is inevitable because thats how society in general is but seriously why must we keep up with the joneses? isnt it hard to keep up appearances all the time? why cant you just be yourself? why must we seek other peoples approval? why all that bullshit?
you know, those days when i was a kid or when i was an adolescent, i never really given it much thought about the under privileged or people less fortunate than me. my mom always taught me(when i was growing up) to have a heart and that i dont always need to have material things in my life and often told me to think about those who dont have what i have and to be thankful. but you know, when you were a kid/teen, whatever your parents say just goes into one ear and out the other. its only when im an adult, i see things in a different light and perspective. and unless something tragic or traumatic happens to you, only then will you wake up and really smell the coffee. i also noticed that only when something bad happens to you, only then you will learn from that experience. now,if everything runs smoothly in your life(like being born with a silver spoon in the mouth) what will you learn? will you know what sadness is or living in poverty, being jobless? one fine day god may takeaway what you have and then how? what will you do?
thats why i say we should take a step back and look hard into our lives and see how blessed we already are. just take look around. family checked, friends checked, roof over the head checked, food on table checked...the list goes on...we have almost everything. but reminding you once again, theres alot out there who dont have what we are having and wishing that they had something. christmas has been "spoilt" by all these giving and receiving of gifts. spending lots of money on gifts and getting annoyed when its not reciprocated. is that how we are these days? is it all about the material things?
just look at this image that i took off the internet. this should speak in volumes to everyone. and mind you this is just the tip of the iceberg. we all should do something to help. and when we do that something (ie helping others in need or doing charity work) we shouldnt brag about it or "announce it to the world". when you do that, it means that you are trying to tell everybody - "oh look, see! i have done charity and donated x amount of money" - seriously, is it necessary? do you need that kind of recognition? why must you let the whole world know what you have done? just do the deed, keep your mouth shut and trust me, deep down inside you will be proud of yourself and you will have that feel good moment. god will know if your "work" is sincere. you may fool others but never yourself or to god, remember that.
right i have got to go now. i wish you peace and lots of god's blessings for 2014 and may it be a good year for everyone and hopefully things around the world will improve for the better! take care and god bless!
ttfn
1.41pm
9.48pm
aaah...its not good to be back to the land of heat and rain. right now, im now back in my home country up till early next year. ok i got to admit that in a way, its good to be back here to see my parents and friends(as i've not seen them for about half a year) but i wished i was still in seoul. i really had a blast there!
well in a nutshell, my trip was da bomb! i went with an open mind and didnt want to expect too much of it. just keeping it real, you know. dont want to get my hopes up and then it being shot down in a jiffy so therefore i reminded myself to just stay cool about it and just see what happens. anyways, let me just give you guys a quick run down of my trip. i will get into more details in my upcoming blogs, but not today.
you know, i never really gave it much thought about the language barrier but surprisingly, the people could understand a tiny bit of english and some even spoke mandarin (i reckon it was because there were lots of chinese folks from mainland china flowing into korea). the things that i didnt really like was that sometimes i would get knocked into by accident by the people walking by and they dont even realize it. haizzz and the other thing was that some of the men there tend to spit. ok, not directly at your feet but onto nearby drains or bins. bleeaah..
but i guess these type of things happen in almost every city, the spitting and people knocking into you. dont know if they are blind or just totally oblivious about it or its a daily routine getting knocked into and that they are immune to it already. oh well, nothing and nobody is perfect right?
now judging from what i saw, the shopping there wasnt not too bad but unfortunately i went during winter therefore lots of winter stuff were being sold or on sale. but no point in my spending money buying those things as i will hardly ever use them. there were also lots of imitation bags being sold there too. however, there are different types of grades of these bags so you got to know what type you want. right now, the best imitation are called "super copy". i had done some research (before going) on where to find these bags and thats how i know it was being called super copy bags. these bags look almost exactly the same as an original bag ie brands like etro, hermes(birkin), LV.. you'll be spoilt for choices im sure.
almost of my entire trip i ate korean food. again there wasnt any point in eating fast food or western/chinese/italian etc. at least i can tell my friends/family that yes i have tried this or that especially the street snacks. i'll get to that part another time. (hopefully i'll remember). food is pretty cheap and affordable. hey, im talking about normal street food or those at the food courts.(not talking about those high end restaurants).
ah yes, for those of you who are planning a trip there (which i highly suggest that you go at least once in your life and if you can afford it, of course), you wont have much trouble getting around. all you need is the seoul metro map to use their subways and to plan your route. if you plan to catch the taxi, by all means do so. it is inexpensive riding the taxi or the subway. one thing that you must pay attention to is the subway lines that criss crosses all over. they have many colored lines which are numbered so you wont get confused. and its written in both english and in korean. a couple of times i took the right train but heading in the wrong direction. luckily i paid attention after a couple of stops i quickly got off and backtracked.
theres so much to see and do there. its just too bad i didnt have that much time so i just did what was on my list and i can safely tell you that out of 100%, at least i managed to cover about 70% which wasnt too bad. if/when i to go back to seoul, i would want to go to busan, jeju island and try lotte world(biggest indoor/outdoor theme park apparently). guessing spring or summer would be the best time.
right, i'll stop here for now. im getting tired and sleepy. been a crazy hectic week for me. i'll blog again hopefully sometime soon. until then, take care.
ttfn
10.50pm
2.39pm
right so guess what folks? tonite im heading to....SEOUL, KOREA!! woo hoo! imagine, my goal for this year(or next) was to go to korea and just so happened, the hubster has to go there on a business trip therefore, yours truly is following him. hahahahha how cool is that huh?
im pretty psyched about going. but i keep reminding myself not to get my hopes too high as things may not turn out the way i wanted it to be. the reason im saying that is because of a couple of factors like the weather and finding my way around. on top of that, i have been googling and realized that not alot of korean folks speak much english. its going to be a bit challenging for me in finding my way around or asking for directions, even to bargain for stuff!!
nevermind that, i have done some homework and managed to jot down a couple of places that i would like to go. those places would be Big Bang's recording company which is called YG building somewhere in hapjeong and the other would be SBS tv station, "home of Running Man". i've noted down the details on how to get to each of these places. so, hopefully i can find them on my own, without getting lost. hubby wont be going with me as he has to work.
besides that, we will definately be going to dongdaemon and myeongdong for some shopping, sight seeing and lets not forget, snacking/tasting their street foods like bibimbab, bulgogi, tteokbokki, ddeokbokki (떡볶이), roasted corn (옥수수),
ho ddeok (호떡) and mandu (만두). just google and you will know what im talking about.
all i hope now is that i can handle the weather over there and i just checked its like 2 degrees at the moment. omg!
before i end today's blog, i would just like to add this. you know what guys, i realized that it was only late last year when i was going gaga over Big Bang and i've been following them on bigbangupdates (plus giving my 2 cents worth in the discussion column), not only that, earlier this year, i got to see GDragon perform his michiGO concert and then few months back it was Big Bang Mini Concert during the F1 Singapore Singtel Grand Prix.
last but not least, around middle of this year, Big Bang World (online) was looking for admin/s (of course its not a paid "job", gotta do it for free) and i applied. didnt think it would amount to anything then one day i got an email from them saying i was one of the chosen one. i had completely forgotten about it. im not sure if they only wanted one or a few admins but oh well, i was well chuffed i tell ya! really made my day but unfortunately, i couldnt do it because i had to start my freelance work doing telemarketing. and being an admin for BBW, that person has to constantly be online and checking for any current news/updates from sites(which was provided by BBW) and blog about it on their website so that fans from around the world can see and view. long story short, it was simply a-mazing that i got chosen.
well ok i guess thats about it. im all packed and our flight is at midnight so we're going to be heading for the airport for a late dinner after we've checked in. what a way to end 2013. i'll be touching down back here in singapore just in time for my birthday and then i would have to unpack my stuff and repack again because the day after, we will be flying back to our home country for xmas until next year! let the PARTAAAAY begin!!
so folks, my next blog will be the post korea trip. look out for it ok!! until then, take care, god bless and annyeong!!
ttfn
3.18pm
