Wednesday, September 5, 2012

040912

13 is for bad luck.. but i don't believe in luck.

rain rain rain. it rained all day today.. didn't wanna get out of bed because it was warmer underneath my blanket =P

but i had to.. cos i had class -_-

first class: international law (again)... didn't do enough of my readings, so i fell behind a bit.. but two times i didn't contribute to the discussion, thinking i was going to be wrong... but nope, turned out the lecturer said what i had in mind.... BAHHH.

had lunch today at the other cafeteria... bigger and more variety =X 

i had bibimbap + some sort of fish (i've never tasted before).. good stuff~ ($2.50/ 2700won)
my international law friends

i then had Consumer Behavior .. a class i won't be taking because i think UNSW will not accept it as a major course... o wells it was fun. =]
the lecturer pointed me towards certain companies i should look into after graduating and i've already contacted one regarding graduate programs.. woo!!


International Business lecture/classroom.

the classes here in Hanyang (or Korea in general)... are quite self-taught classes.
you are expected to read the textbook and during class, you discuss the readings and the topics. so in essence, there is no lecture - just tutorials.

 finished quite early, so i decided to head back to the dorm before dinner time =D.
still raining.....
the Women's university next to my dorm.
Looks nice + modern =O

since it's the first week, there hasn't been much work set (except for International Law).. it's still pretty chill but i don't think it will last very long..

tomorrow i will register for the Cultural Trip in the morning, and i bet the guy in charge will be pleased to know that he won't be receiving anymore e-mails from me regarding the urgency of my registration =P.

another day tomorrow, but i'm looking forward to tonight's sleep...

agenda for tomorrow:

- laundry
- clean the toilet (again)
- sweep the floor (again)
- meet Jo for dinner

=]

Thankful: Uni-life is getting a lot more comfortable here and courses are so far easy to understand.

Prayerful: Really need to be careful with the 'friends' I make in my classes... Even the locals are quite good at English... so it's easy to befriend almost anyone.

Dangers: I may grow bitter towards my room mates who seem to never want to clean the room... and do laundry.

 Anxious of: Keeping the room clean, Cultural Trip registration, Course registration, money and a long year (probably better to stop imagining homecoming).

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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

030912

what are you... twelve?

THE START OF THE SEMESTER!!! WOOO!!! Time goes quicker when you're occupied with something... even if it's uniwork -_-

woke up to the sound of my room mate leaving the room for breakfast at the cafeteria... i took a shower and in the middle of showering.. my alarm went off .. quite loudly as well.. LOL.
oops.

i had breakfast in my room~ good ol' cereal. 

Special K in remembrance of my K20Z1 back home =[

anyway.. being used to UNSW, i thought i'd need at least 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to class on time... but i left my dorm 20 minutes before the class.. and i got there early.. LOL. but it was still quite a long and hot walk... i think i will lose a lot of weight here =X. stairs. hills. more stairs. more hills. :>.>

++++ feel a bit suss walking past huge crowds of girls (esp cos my dorm is next to the women's college).. but it helps when you look in different directions (eg. look at the ground).. and this way i can guard my eyes.

first class: International Law.

in building 11, floor 3 and room 5.

the room was quite small (maybe the size of a tutorial room in UNSW), but it was a mini lecture hall. i think it's reserved for english courses and not many people take english courses.. so yeah it's small (apparently local students need to take at least one English class during their enrolment... not sure if true).

i met some people (all exchange students) and bought the textbook for $40.. i think UNSW would've sold it for $100... LOL. anyway... after purchasing the book, i've crossed the '$500 spent in Korea' line.... not good..... $500 in 12 days... 
with that thought in mind, i've decided to budget myself and strive to only spend $200-300 a month MAX. $200 should cover food and the rest should cover going out =D.

and so with that last $40 spent.. i had to withdraw... =[
another $500 that i hope will last me 2 months... aiya...

next class: Global Ethics (problem class)

this class covers content from a very Humanist perspective; and gathers content from New Atheism to form some of its arguments... the class basically brings about discussions regarding the moral sphere and ethical behaviour that SHOULD exist in every human - and thus, arguing that religion isn't necessary and it instead causes division.

we watched a Sam Harris talk on science & moral action... and i found it very empty and i was rather confused why he received a standing ovation.. his argument and ideas were very broad and most of the time, the only science he brings in is social science and cultural norms, and how some cultures aren't acting ethically at all (punishing children with a stick... Islam and covering women with lots of clothes so as to not provoke men's lust). sure there were some things that i agreed with.. but the biggest shocker was that it seemed as if he put all religions in one basket and just says "yeah, religion is irrelevant because of this" (which could differ between religions...). 

some of the students in the class argued that looking beyond the extremities of some religions, others have seen religion to be quite beneficial to society - someone mentioning Christian aid in poverty-stricken areas... and then basically the discussion ends with 'people need to realise that they are capable of changing the world and they don't need a God for them to make a positive change... we can achieve unity if we all worked together as self-governed humans without the shackles of religion'.

hmmm.... i don't think the lecturer likes me very much because of some things i said about the video.. haha..... anyway..

when the class ended, i went back to my dorm and did some study on New Atheism... stumbled across a video interview of John Lennox on this very topic. quite interesting and definitely very useful in grabbing an idea of what to expect if a discussion comes up during class on Christianity vs. New Atheism...

"we don't need God to be good (act in a good way), but we need God to grasp the idea of 'good'"
atheists may often behave better than Christians and this observation seems to form the argument that if normal people can act ethically, why do we need religion?
well... the Bible says we were made in God's image, even as moral beings... and so, every human naturally has an innate concept of morality... 


"the existence of a mechanism is not an argument against the existence of an agent who designed it!"
just because a scientific discovery has been made, it doesn't mean there is no God... it just means that there is a smarter agent who designed that mechanism.

i think it will be an interesting class... but definitely a class that will test how much i know about my faith and a class that will require a huge amount of wisdom - wisdom only granted by God.. 

i pray i will say the right things, to be careful and to hopefully be a positive presence.




my late lunch back at the dorm... mmmm
school pride.

 after studying for a bit... i decided to clean my bathroom.... with my alcohol floor wipe thingo.... look how dirty the floor is... and yes that thing in the bag is a hair ball... not mine.. it's been there since before i entered.... it was so... weird.. =X


*$()%*#$($ AUSTRALIA SPECIAL K. y u no have kool boxes like this.
YEUH.

another day tomorrow..... studied quite a bit today... say around 4 hours... ugh.... too much law and global ethics.....

SLEEP TIME.

Thankful: A smooth start to the semester and the prospects of meeting new friends.

Prayerful: Godly wisdom, a strong foundation and a careful curiosity. 

Dangers: Foolish spending of money and breaking my vow with my eyes (a lot more people on campus grounds now).



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Monday, September 3, 2012

020912

11 is for my younger brothers' birth day and also because they are twins.. and they act like 11 year olds.

HEY GUISE.

today was a very chill day.. fitting for it being Sunday - a day of rest and recuperation. i like to think Sunday as the start of the week because Sunday is when i go to church and metaphorically, a day where i recharge my battery so i can get through the rest of the week =].

i do apologise however, that i did not go to church today... Jo took her mother and sister to the airport, and i wasn't too comfortable with going alone to an area 40+ minutes away.. on top of that, it would be nice to go with a Korean speaker just in case... i'm sorry =[

i instead went to Myeongdong (again) to help a fellow exchange student find the office of the telecom company so she could go by herself tomorrow to get her SIM card... it was the most awkward 1 on 1... i was hoping that she brought a few friends along so we wouldn't be 1 on 1.. but o well... it only lasted 30 minutes or so.. haha...

ANYWAY... i can't get over how nice the river is in front of my dorm.. it motivated me to go for runs... but i'll need new shoes.



later in the day (on the way home)




when i came back home... i turned the laptop on and went onto desiringgod.org... i know it shouldn't be a substitute to church.. but i really did listen intently..

i listened to John Piper's 1993 sermon on Anxiety [1 Peter 5:11]. awesome stuff...

he talked about how it shouldn't be 'humble yourselves AND THEN cast your anxieties on Him'.. but rather it is 'humble yourselves BY casting your anxieties on Him'. if you take the pre-translated passage, the word 'casting' is a participle; it is meant to link with the statement before the word and hence, the sentence should not be two separate commands.

and how does humbling one's self look like?
 - asking for help
 - admitting your weakness
 - doing the ordinary tasks - the little tasks
 - hanging around with all kinds of people

these are very relevant to my time here in Korea, and so was the sermon itself.

i think in the past, i have been very proud in that i rarely ask God for help.. i often try to juggle my own problems by myself and/or sort them out by myself. not only is this prideful, it is causing me a lot more anxiety than it should. furthermore, me relying on my own strength is like an ant thinking it can move mountains.

lately i have been more dependent on God and trusting in His plans for me here in Korea. it has helped a lot because i now see my time here in a new light.. which the sermon helped me realise.

- who am i to question God's will - a God who wants to work for my good?

if He has placed me here (and i thank Him that He did), He did it for good reason. He will forever know the infinite amount of other paths that I could've embarked on if not this exchange program. but i will trust that this path i am on right now is the path He wants me to take so that in the end, He will show me and teach me all He will to get me closer to the man He has planned me to be.

which is applicable in all aspects of life... you could be so anxious due to losing your credit card that you are at home looking around the house for it.. in doing this, you miss the show you were about to watch, that may have had a very sexual scene that would later cause you to indulge in sexual sin(s), resulting in a dry/non-existent prayer season that could've otherwise given you the strength to get through a very important event in your life the next day.
God works in mysterious ways.... He won't always come in your preferred timing and He won't always fix circumstances the way you want Him to... but trust that He is good and whatever happens in your life.. it has happened for a good reason.

" Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." v. 6-7.


The next bit... humbling yourself under God's mighty hand...

we shouldn't come to Him and cower under His hand with anxiety on our shoulders... but instead, we pass our anxieties onto Him before we go under His hand. 
the hand that holds the universe... also wants to hold your troubles. how awesome is that?

the word 'cast' is used another time in the New Testament... it is when Jesus was getting on the donkey and the crowd 'cast' cloths onto the donkey - the imagery of one transferring the heavy burden of 'baggage' onto a capable pack animal.

God is not ashamed to be like a donkey for us (used only for analogy's sake); carrying our load up steep mountains and through the crowd. God loves to flex His muscles to the world to show how unique and gracious His burden-carrying power is. Our God is a God who carries; a God who works for our good.



during my time here, i aim to abandon (even if it's slowly) my mentality of 'i can handle all my problems by myself' mentality. it is a very proud mentality and it humiliates God's sovereign authority over my life.
i will trust in His plans for me here in Korea and i will trust Him all the more when I am struck with anxiety and burden.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

after the sermon finished, dinner time was approaching.. i fell asleep on my chair and woke up 5 minutes before 6pm... the time when i was supposed to meet a fellow exchange student who was clueless about the ticket machine. after helping her and after dinner, i went with her and another two guys from Pakistan to look for the buildings in which we will be having class, and also went to E-mart to pick up stuff for our dorms.

the oval at our uni


they got blankets whilst i got washing liquid, ethanol wipes (for the bathroom floor), cereal and milk!

MAYTE... they have Oreo cereal here.... it looks amazing. apparently in the USA, it's a very popular cereal (but now not in production). i didn't buy it though because i assumed it would have cakeloads of sugar...


the middle one is the oreo cereal.. =O


in other news, tomorrow is the first day of Uni for me!!! Half excited-ish... i'm more excited to go on that Cultural trip!!! it will be very fun!!! rice cake making.. tofu making... oh yeh..

Thankful: A day of rest and a certain calmness in my heart.

Prayerful: For the new semester. May it be educational, fruitful, focused and fun.

Dangers: Forgetting God in times of heavy workload and stress.

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Sunday, September 2, 2012

010912

i am approaching the end!!! jokes i have only entered double digits. 10.

rather fun day today! met up with Min and went shopping at Myeongdong (again)!!!

Min was running a little late, so Eero and i decided to head over to the shoe store to get his new shoes...
in the shop, we bumped into this wall!
it's a wall of celebrities wearing the shoes sold in this shop~
haha..

can u identify some of the celebs??

this shoe store had very cheap shoes but also very normally priced shoes (mainly Lacoste shoes - having the same price as you would find in Australia). nevertheless, it was quite good! Eero left with a pair of 39,000 won shoes ($39 AUD ish).


about 30 seconds after leaving the store, Min calls and we met up for the first time in 2-3 years!! he hasn't changed much.. haha... we went to a chain store that served cold noodle, bibimbap with bbq bulgogi as a side dish.. it was SOOO good. paid 6000won ($5-6).



i had bibimbap =D


on our way out walking towards SPAO, a Korean clothing chain, we bumped into two security guards clearing a path for a mysterious black van... a celebrity van! not knowing who it was, people started stampeding toward it and got their phones out.. i did too, out of the excitement of the moment. it ended up being a solo actress/singer.. she walked quite fast and had a very 'independent woman' feel to her.. didnt catch who it was properly though.. =[ 


on top of SPAO, there is an SM ent. endorsed shop that sold signed photos and celeb merchandise under the SM family~ there were pictures of SNSD, Super Junior, etc... and photobooths and yeah... haha.. i wasnt meant to take photos.. but here are some sneak shots.



we visitted A LOT of stores... Korea has so many classy/dressy styles that they wear casually, so to me, this is wonderland! casual blazers, chinos, knitwear, etc... UNIQLO has the biggest range of chinos i've ever seen and an even bigger range of slim fit jeans.... must return soon.

after leaving Myeongdong, Min said that Dongdaemun is also a good place to go shopping. we visitted a building called Doota (not DOTA). it was like a big arcade with little personal clothing booths. it was great. the shop assistants were quite pushy (but that's the customer service style here in Korea) and tried to sell me as many clothes as they could.. if it weren't for the clothes being decent, i would've thought them the same as dodgy shop assistants haha!

on the way there though, i found these next photos to be interesting.


a line of clothing stores.. longgggg

a river playground in the middle of the city... Sydney should have one IMO.



after we were done with shopping... we went to a cafe and chilled for an hour or so. we saw a stage getting prepped for singing competitions (apparently very common in Korea.. random singing competitions in public).

time went rather quick and soon, we were on our way home.

the shoes i bought! $50

i like quirky shirts alright... $20

for dinner, i went to the cafeteria eventhough i wasn't as hungry.. but i thought 1 meal for the whole day wasn't good so yeah..
$2 again for a meal.. and WOO it was good! i think i have mastered the ticket machine (no problems at all) and i ate dinner like a true local. the dish was rice, spicy soup, octopus and the general side dishes =D.

after dinner, i decided to do laundry as well (with Winky helping to decide.. LOL).. i also dried my clothes with the machine in an upstairs laundry room (WOOHOO dryer machine > hanging to air-dry). i feel like a housband already (house + husband).. i took my room mate's clothes out of the washing machine and hung them up on the hanger, and folded his dried clothes from the hanger and when he came home, he was surprised HAHA. but he was happy.. i guess this was a good step in relationship building.

i also bumped into a disabled man from Ghana who is staying 2 rooms away from me.. he was very nice. he went to go for a stroll (ride? on his wheelchair) along the river bank perhaps to catch the sunset. =]. there are friendly people here, i just need to stop and chat to them.

overall a good day... not as tiring as i had thought it would be... but satisfying =]

i spent the rest of the night digging out old photos on Facebook and yeah... HAHA good times.. i miss Gold Coast =[.


i didn't feel homesick today.. it was moreso, if i was home, then i'd be doing this and that... but i'm here now in Korea for a good reason and for an experience, so i'm going to be Spongebob and soak it all up (inside joke Shawn Tan).


tomorrow Jo's mother and sister will be leaving for Sydney, so i won't be seeing her.. =[ but that's okay! i hope they have a safe flight and that you won't miss them too much~

my school semester will start soon.... must prepare myself.

 edit: my room mate has started to say good night to me every night before going to sleep even though we both know there is a big language barrier.


Thankful: I have friends in Korea who I've known for years since high school who are willing to help me whenever and wherever. I am learning day by day to take care of myself by doing chores and general survival.

Prayerful: Positive relationships with everyone around me so they may see Christ's love through me and that I may be an influence in their lives.

Dangers: Unwise spending of money. In my excitement sometimes, I can be very loose with my wallet. 
What is God teaching me today?
1 Corinthians 9.

 v19-23: I shouldn't neglect the others around me who I 'cannot connect' with. The party-goers, the heavy drinkers, the sexually immoral.. instead, I should see them as gospel opportunity. I must understand them and be 'among' them. (Not to do what they are doing, but to be the different).

 v27: Discipline means working at something until you cry, sweat and bleed. DoaGM talks about discipline as literally beating your body and making yourself a master over it. Thank you God for the reminder.

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Saturday, September 1, 2012

310812

my favourite number - 9

today was rather interesting! i set my alarm to 8.30 because i had my orientation at 10... i probably didnt need my alarm in the end because i kept waking up in 2 hour intervals anyway (im not used to my pillow).

anyway... so yeah, took a quick shower and what-not and decided to check my mail.. only to find that the upcoming events at my uni needs me to keep Saturdays free... and in the end, i would prefer to have Saturdays free so i can at least free up some days to see friends... so i am in need of changing my courses, again. =[

so on the way to the orientation hall at the Graduate School of Business building... i ended up taking a very steep and tall set of stairs (much worse than UNSW's Basser steps). you see, my university is on a hill so it is quite annoying getting around to my classes because my dorm is kind of on the peak of the hill whereas my classes are mostly at the bottom... sigh.. 
BUT with great altitude comes great scenery (... wut.)

from the top of the stairs
from the 7th floor of the building

there were so many foreigners at the Orientation.. mostly either Europeans or Chinese... i dont think there are any other Australians, but that's okay i guess.
so i sat down with a friend who i met last night at the dinner.. he stayed behind after dinner to drink some more (the bar trip that i didn't go to) and the consequences were quite clear - he was hungover and so were most of the other guys who went... including this guy.


during the orientation... most of the crowd was noisy, talking out of turn and making inappropriate remarks/sexual innuendos at everything they saw fit. i guess the most uncomfortable part was the degree of approval from everyone who heard the comments around me.. girls included. but it's nothing new.

the orientation talked about student unions and clubs...

the biggest was the Global Student Union... an independent program run by the students for fellow students.. this included events designed to encourage networking and relationship building. innocent? sure... until you take into account the fact that all these events would be drowned in alcoholism and, literally, a 'drink until you faint' mentality.

i told myself pre-departure to be careful with this 'Membership Training' because I knew it's not what it sounded like.. you see it is a 2 day 1 night trip away from the city to a private location where they 'have fun'. games, getting to know each other.. and excessive drinking. i'm fine with the first two, but i've always been careful with the people i choose to drink with (and for good reason). 

this event is planned to take place on the 22nd September... A LOT of students are already interested in this trip because it would mean FUN FUN FUN for them... i thought so too.. but in the end, i chose the safer option... the 2 day 1 night Cultural Trip to a rural village that is run by the International Office on the same weekend - without the alcohol. not sure if im being stupidly careful, but id rather be stupid than to act foolishly in intoxication. 
the thing i am worried about is that this Cultural Trip has limited spots and i hope i can secure a spot in time... 
although, i am very keen on going! as mentioned before, we will go to a rural village to make traditional rice cake 'Ddeok' and also make tofu =O.. it will be the same thing as the Daniel Henney Family Outing episode!



after the Orientation, we had pizza... very nice pizza ! Korea has a supreme type pizza, hawaiian (with huge pineapples) and a potato pizza.. =O it was nice though!


afterwards, we had a rush of mentors/buddies come in and pick up their mentees... my friend met up with his and a lot of my other friends did too... i felt a bit lonely because my mentor wasn't there... but i don't blame her, we didn't agree to meet up after all =].

so instead, i decided to go to the Bank and check my account to see if my money came in!.. and it did >=D
i can now say that i am a Korean millionaire.. >=D


i managed to capture some more nice shots today.. great weather!




after that, i went back to my dorm and just watched stuff on my laptop .. missing dinner at the cafeteria because i thought it started at 7pm.. but no, it FINISHED at 7.. LOL.

so i ate gummy worms for dinner.

my student ID... didn't know they'd be using this photo for my ID.. 
thanks again for the letters guys.. i read some of them again tonight =D


overall a moderately exciting day.. now i can go shopping!!! woo!

i am meeting with Min tomorrow.. a friend who i met during high school in Australia.. he lives in Korea and has been living here for a long time.. so it will be a helpful opportunity to meet and chat =]
tomorrow night is the official exchange students welcoming party - at a club/bar. i am sorry but i won't be going to that because i've never been a clubber XD.

the feeling of homesickness is slowly dissipating and it's not as bad tonight... things are looking up again and i guess all i needed was time. im sure it would be hard for anyone in my shoes right now.. but im also sure it would be a rewarding experience with much to learn.. for that, i am enduring and remain open to what God wants to show/teach me this year.

i hope to come back to Sydney as a man, independent by being completely dependent on God.

i thank you again to whoever is reading/keeping up to date with my blogs and i hope it is interesting for you to read =].

God bless.

Thankful: There is always a more sensible option in every decision I make. It could be going home 2 hours earlier than everyone to avoid getting drunk.. or it could be going to a village full of wise elderly people to escape the folly of youthful exuberance. 

Prayerful: That my decisions are ultimately God-centred and wise. Not influenced by my fleshly desires but rather by the Spirit.

Dangers: These people are out to get me. They know I don't drink/party, and for that reason, they want me drunk all the more. 




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