첫 한국어 교과서

I first thought of learning Korean seriously after my tour to Korea in 2002. But due to procastination, I only started looking for Korean language book a year later. I started my search at Borders bookstore and discovered this "Colloquial Korean" book by In-Seok Kim. It was selling at over S$50. I couldn't bring myself to buy it at that price. So I went over to Borders's friendly competitor, Kinokuniya bookstore, and saw the same book selling at half the price. Without hesitation, I bought the book and started my self-study of the Korean language.

Frankly, for two years I didn't make much progress in my Korean language. Even with a textbook, I still felt like I was moving in darkness. I could not master even 10% of what was written in the textbook. It was not until late 2005 that I started my first formal Korean language lesson at NUS Extension. Now, almost two years after I started formal learning, I was finally able to understand the whole textbook. To a certain extent, I find my first Korean language textbook kinda of simple.

I would not recommend this textbook for beginners. Firstly, I think that its explanation of the Korean grammars is too simplistic. Furthermore, I feel that the jump in standard between the chapters can be quite steep for beginners. I hit a new wall every time I started a new chapter. Though the "Colloquial Korean" textbook may not be a very good book to start with, it is still a book that I will treasure as it marks the beginning of my Korean language learning journey.

다시 생각나

Just two more pictures to rememeber my 3 weeks spent in Kyunghee University. It was wonderful that Institute of International Education always has one photographer arranged to accompany the students for their field trip. Otherwise there might not be any group photo taken. Our teacher at IIE, Ms Cheon Eun Jeong, sent us the following photos after we returned to Singapore. These are what memories are made of .....

Group photo taken in front of the University Administration Hall and the Central Library of KHU's Suwon Campus during our first field trip.

Group photo taken in front of the main entrance to Deoksugung Palace during our second field trip.

극장가다가 영화 안 봐요

Equinox: 노리코 씨 오늘 수업이 끝난 후에 어디에 갈 계획이에요?
[Noriko, where are you planning to go after lesson today?]

Noriko: 극장에 갈 거예요.
[I will be going to the cinema.]

Equinox: 무슨 영화를 보겠어요?
[What movie are you watching?]

Noriko: 아니오. 영화전단을 수집하러 갈 거예요.
[No. I am going to collect movie pamplets.]

Equinox: 그렇군요.
[Oh, I see.]

Inside Seoul Cinema

Noriko was sitting in front of me during our Korean language class in KHU. Together with 2 other Japaneses, we were known as the "Bulgogi" team. There were also the "Bibimbap", "Kimbap" and "Kimchi" team. During one of the break in between lessons, I asked Noriko about her plan for the afternoon. She said she was going to the cinema to collect movie pamplets. Actually I was only expecting her to tell me what movie she was going to watch. As we do not have movie pamplets in Singapore, her answer came as a surprise to me. So on my first visit to cinema in Seoul, I was on a look out for movie pamplets. I collected a few of them as souvenir. The pamplet gives a synopsis of the movie, the director and the cast. They are colourful and beautifully printed. I can now understand why Noriko was so interested in collecting them.

Movie pamplet of the award-winning Korean film "What The Snow Brings".

비가 오기를 바랍니다

The weather in Singapore has been quite hot for the past few weeks. Fortunately, there are a lot of trees in Singapore which in some way help to soak up a good amount of the scorching tropical heat. I am wondering when "rain" is arriving. ㅋㅋㅋ

Line 1 Seoul Metro bound for Dongmyo Front Station (동묘앞역-東廟前驛)

캐리비안의 해적

Entrance to the Carribean Pirates river cruise at Hangang Park

Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is now showing in Singapore cinema. Movie review summarises it as one movie that is full of eye-candy special effects but with a plot that is difficult to comprehend. Frankly, I have not watched any of these Caribbean Pirates movies. From reading one of the movie synopsis, I came to know that the pirates in the movie would take their fight to Singapore waters. It is interesting to know that Singapore is made out to be an exotic place in the movie and which is supposedly found at the end of the world. I gather that the inclusion of Singapore in the movie plot has something to do with the frequent report of pirate attacks in the Malacca Straits, a heavily-used sea channel which is near to Singapore.

Talking about the movie, it reminds me of the Caribbean Pirates river cruise at Hangang Park at Yeouido. The river cruise can be taken at the Hangangland inside the park. We were there at the park on March 13, Tuesday evening, one day before the White Day. The park was quite deserted. The Caribbean Pirates river cruise was berthed alongside Hangangland waiting for nightfall when tourists were expected to arrive for the night cruise down the Han River. There were many ajummas selling roses at the park that evening. In fact, there were more ajummas selling roses than the number of couples in the park. By the time we left the park at about 8pm, it still seemed deserted. Perhaps couples only arrived later in the night and those ajummas were waiting to sell their roses to them.

The floating recreation house, Hangangland, at Hangang Park, Yeuido.

주말에 뭐 했니?

Photo taken at Changi Beach. Sunset at Changi Ferry Terminal.

In KHU, our teacher would always start off the Monday lesson by asking what we did over the weekend. I thought it was a deliberate attempt to engage us in using Korean to converse in a topic which we were familiar with. It was also an opportunity for the class to share our experiences and the places which we had been and things we had done over the weekend. As we spoke of our adventure, our teacher would supplement with some extra knowledge related to the subject that was being said. I always enjoyed those sessions of sharing. This weekend I started jogging again at Changi Beach. However, there will not be any teacher to ask me what I did over the weekend tomorrow.

새로 알게 된 것이다

During this Thursday evening lesson, my Korean language teacher at SKS told me an observation that she has gathered with regard to Chinese-speaking students learning Korean. She discovered that Chinese-speaking students seemed to have problem pronouncing "double-L(ㄹ)". In that, she meant that we frequently stumbled on words like 설날 (seol-lal), 관람 (gwal-lam) and 일년 (il-lyeon). I kinda agreed with her. "Double-L(ㄹ)" pronunciation doesn't exist in Chinese language. Because of that, I tend to let down my tongue after pronouncing the first "L" even though I may be aware that it is a "double-L(ㄹ)" situation. I guess there is no other way of rectifying the fault except through more speaking practices.

During this Saturday afternoon lesson, my Korean language teacher at NEX was surprised to discover that Singapore men do not hand over their salary to their wife. She said in Korea almost all the men hand over their salary to their wife for safekeeping. She could not come to term on why Singaporeans though Asians have a mind of westerners. I thought this social norm of Korea is more effective than the Singapore Woman Charter in guaranteeing the right of women. There is a common perception that Korean men are chauvinistic. But what people don't see is that Korea men act responsibly when it comes to providing for the family. There is a saying that in a dysfunctional society men become bad when they have money and women have money when they become bad. However in the Korea's context, men cannot become bad because they don't have money and women need not become bad to have money.

My teacher at SKS told us that she just received 6-months of bonus from her Singaporean husband who works in the Singapore Airlines. With that bonus, she bought a new 37" Sharp LCD TV. She seemed to be very pleased with her new buy. It seems that some Singapore men do give their salary and bonus to their wives.

공연에 갑시다

This poster trail seemed to be leading me to the performance venue. The posters didn't need to draw my attention but my attention was drawn to them as I was walking a slope in Sogang University. It was only natural for me to bend forward and look down while walking up the slope. Not seeing the publicity posters didn't seem to be much of an option. I thought it was quite brilliant for the students to think of such publicity idea.

I used to organise and participate in performances. The preparation works could be tedious and "back-breaking". Rehearsals were also both physically and mentally tiring at times. Then there was this constant worry about whether anybody would bother to come. And when all tickets were sold out, there would be worry about whether we could put up a good performance.

When the last applause faded away and the curtain drawn down, the awesome feeling of fulfilling a dream which came after that was simply unforgettable. To be able to dream and fulfill dream is most gratifying. So what kind of dream are you dreaming now? (당신은 지금 어떤 꿈을 꾸고 있나요?)

사전에 안 나온 단어

My electronics dictionary has decided to call it a day recently. The cause of it was leaking battery. After it was gone, I was missing its convenience everyday. As much I am "crippled" in my Korean study, I guess I need to move on with life. I have since "activated" the back-up mode which is the thick and cumbersome dictionary.

Armed with a dictionary, it doesn't mean that I will find the meaning to all the Korean words out there. Just like any language, there are bound to be words used commonly in daily conversation but are not proper enough to be found in the dictionary. In my Korean class in KHU, there was one period of lesson that was dedicated to Korean sok-o (속어-俗語). Sok-o are one example of words which meaning cannot be found in the dictionary.

Here are some of the sok-o which we were taught during the lesson.

간지나다 - Charmingly beautiful
뻥치다 - To lie
열공하다 - To study hard
짝퉁 - Fake or imitation goods
생까다 - To ignore

It is so much easier to say 뻥치마 (don't lie) than to say 거짓말하지마. Also, saying 열공해 is more effort-saving than to say 열신히 공부해요. The lesson on sok-o was an "ear-opener" for me.

Then there is this thing called the vulgar language which is also not found in the dictionary. "신발" as I know does not only mean footwear, it is also used as a F-word by some people. "신발" originates from the word "씨발" which has its origin in another word of the same pronunciation (I am censoring the original form). In whatever form, they all mean the same F-word.

Vulgar language like sok-o exists in probably all languages. There will always be two sides to everything. I am open-minded about learning both the good and bad part of the Korean language. I will try to apply the good part of the language while keeping vigilant when foul language is used against me.

빠르게

I am not going to talk about the adverb "quickly" but rather I am going to say something about the Taiwan's bubble tea franchise chain "Quickly". There is one of this "Quickly" outlet near Kyunghee University and the photo above shows that. There used to be many "Quickly" outlets in Singapore some years back. For no apparent reason, a sudden frenzy in drinking bubble tea erupted island-wide. Within a short span of time many "Quickly" outlets as well as other bubble tea chains mushroomed all over Singapore. "Quickly" was considered the "branded" bubble tea of that time. A Singaporean wife of a famous Hong Kong artiste was believed to have brought the brand into Singapore. For quite a while it seemed that "Quickly" was going to be a runaway success here. However, when the "bubble" finally burst, many bubble tea outlets disappeared from the local scene as fast as they appeared. "Quickly" was quick to achieve success but was also quick to make an exit from Singapore. But I do think that the Kyunghee "Quickly" outlet will be there to stay. I have yet to see a bubble tea shop with such nice ambience.

닭갈비 및 막국수

Entrance to Myeongdong Dakgalbi Alley.

Anyone who has been to Chuncheon will know Dakgalbi and Makguksu. These two dishes probably found fame in Chuncheon much earlier than "Winter Sonata" did. Chuncheon Dakgalbi's fame status has led to the birth of the Myeongdong Dakgalbi Alley (명동 닭갈비 골목) . By the way, the Dakgalbi Alley is found at the Chuncheon Myeongdong and not the Seoul Myeongdong.

Myeongdong Bon-ga Dakgalbi, the place where we had our lunch.

Myeongdong Dakgalbi Alley is not very long but inside it you can find nothing except two rows of Dakgalbi eating houses. Myeongdong Bon-ga Dakgalbi was the place where we had our Dakgalbi lunch. Looking at the many endorsements the shop received from the different TV programmes, I kinda expected that it was not going to be a cheap lunch.

The start state of Dakgalbi.

As you can see, Dakgalbi started off as a pan filled with chicken mixed in Korean chilli sauce or gochujang. The other ingrdients were ddeok or Korean rice cake, cabbage, potato and some other vegetables. As the pan got heated up, the ajumma serving us, started to mix the ingredients until the gochujang was well soaked up by all the ingredients. It took quite a while, perhaps more than 15 minutes, and with constant stirring and mixing to get all the ingredients well cooked.

The end state of Dakgalbi.

Finally, after all the waiting, the Dakgalbi was ready to be eaten. The way to eat Dakgalbi was to wrap the cooked chicken meat together with onion or garlic in a leaf of vegetable and eaten in one mouthful. To spice up the food, you can add more gochujang to the meat before wrapping it up. It was a satisfying meal but as expected it turned out to be the most expensive lunch of our trip. If I could remember correctly, the meal cost us about S$60.

Hanmadang Makguksu was where we had our early dinner

To complete the double, we went in search of the best Makguksu in Chuncheon in the later part of the day. Our quest brought us to the Tourist Information Kiosk at Gongjicheon Park. The duty staff recommended the Hanmadang Makguksu as it was the nearest place from the kiosk to eat Makguksu. Though not necessary the best in Chuncheon, the staff assured us that all Makguksu tasted alike so it was not worth travelling the extra mile to eat the best Makguksu. So we followed the instructions given by the staff and walked down the road beside the kiosk until we found Hanmadang at the end of the road.

Makguksu before it is being stirred and mixed for eating.

Eating Makguksu was so much easier than Dakgalbi. Makguksu was served cool and all ready to be eaten. Before I ate it, I poured some vinegar, sugar, mustard sauce and pear juice into the noodle and mixed them thoroughly. The noodle had a nice texture and gave very good chewing sensation. I was enjoying my meal until the full impact of the spiciness of the chilli sauce started to take effect. I drank empty all the water available at the table but that did not seem to help a bit in curing the spiciness. Though I was unable to finish my Makguksu, I still found it delicious. Perhaps the thing I need to remember for the next time is to remove more of the chilli sauce from the Makguksu.

학생 되고 싶어

I was a student again for a brief 3 weeks in March. The responsibility of a student is to study and do homework. Furthermore, I only have to be responsible to myself. I never thought that I actually like studying so much. When I think about it, study stress is nothing when compared to work stress. At work, there are responsibilities of all sort and kind. There are also so many people I have to be responsible to. When everything connect up I just get myself entrapped in a mess of stress.

As a student in Kyunghee University, I have to attend lesson everyday from 9am to 1pm. Afternoon and evening were usually free unless there were culture class or field trip. Having just four hours of lesson per day is a luxury that I don't get to enjoy when I was a Science undergraduate in the National University of Singapore. As a Science student I needed to stay in the laboratory for long hours and that effectively took up all the free time after lesson. I used to be envious of those Arts and Social Sciences students who got to enjoy so much free time.

Nevertheless, I finally to got to enjoy all the free time that I have wanted in the short 3 weeks in Kyunghee. The free time was used to travel around Seoul but even then there was still enough free time to do homework. Actually, our teachers didn't really load us with too much homework. In fact, there was only one time during the course that I had to stay up late to complete my homework. I remembered doing my homework in the recreation hall at the basement of my dormitory. The rear projection TV in front of me was switched to The KBS Drama channel. As I was doing my homework, I was also watching the re-run of the drama "The Snow Queen" (눈의 여왕-雪之女王). All I could recall about the drama was that it has a nice OST.

"첫눈애" (初雪爱) or "Love at First Snow" sang by Gang Seong Min (강성민-姜成民) is the OST for "The Snow Queen". In the music video, I especially like those snow scenes which were filmed in New Zealand. In the drama, Hyun Bin was supposed to be travelling to Lapland, a place described in the Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale (of the same name) as the home of the Snow Queen. The drama is supposed to be a tear-jerker with a regretful ending. If warm tears can melt the "ice" in us why not let them flow. Just like in the fairy tale where Gerda's warm tears melted Kay's heart and releasing the troll-mirror splinter in it.

It seems that I may have detoured too much to talk about Korean drama but that was also a part of my student's life. A carefree life that affords me free time to travel around Seoul, do homework and watch Korean drama. I want to be a student again!

Hyun Bin in Lapland, the home of the Snow Queen.

"첫눈애"(初雪爱) or "Love at First Snow" sang by Gang Seong Min

선생님 되고 싶어

Our Korean language teacher's protege and her most successful Singaporean student so far, Ms Ong Wann, is at Kyunghee University pursuing her Masters in teaching Korean as a foreign language. Her study was made possible by the Asian Cultural Partnership Initiative (ACPI) of the International Korean Language Foundation. Some time back, she made an appearance in the "Hand In Hand" programme of the Arirang TV channel. You can see her in the video below giving her first lesson in Korea to a class of Chinese students.



Our teacher has trust in her to be a good Korean teacher and before she left for her study our teacher sent out an e-mail to her students. Below is an adaptation of what she wrote.

I wish to tell you that teacher Wann will be leaving for her Masters in Korean Language soon. I hope this will inspire you to study hard. It is a tearful moment for me because many memories are flashing through my mind now. I taught her since level 1 and now she is my colleague. When I first broached the idea of using a local to teach Korean to the management I was prepared to take all responsibility. I am appreciative that the management put their trust in me. Sometimes, I feel sad that some local students do not think she is as good as the native teachers. I believe that Singaporean can teach equally well. I have no discrimination. Trust your own people to do well and my support is always there for you.

It was heart-warming to know that Wann Seon Saeng Nim has a great teacher and colleague always by her side. I hope she can do our teacher proud.

취미는 쇼핑하기야

"쇼핑하다" (shopping) is the very first few action verbs that we learn in our Korean language class. Due our limited vocabulary at the start, we tend to use "쇼핑하다" a lot in our reply to our teacher's questions.

Teacher: 주말에 뭐 하셨어요? (What did you do during weekend?)
Student: 쇼핑했어요. (I went shopping.)

Teacher: 수업이 끝난 다음에 뭐 하고싶어요? (What do you want to do after class?)
Student: 쇼핑하고 싶어요. (I want to go to shopping.)

Teacher: 취미가 뭐예요? (What is your hobby?)
Student: 쇼핑하기예요. (My hobby is shopping.)


Just some photos below to show the shopping experience in Seoul and why it is important to introduce "shopping" as the first few Korean words :)

Shinsegae (신세개, 新世界, New World) is the Korean equivalent of Takashimaya. An upmarket shopping chain with goods sold at prices that are largely out-of-reach for ordinary folk like me. Frankly, I have not walked through its revolving door but I also don't think there is a need for it.

The name of the shop says it all. But one cannot be a shopaholic in places like Apgujeong unless he or she has a deep pocket. I like to admire at those nice and classy shophouses in Apgujeong. But again I find myself out of place in such an upmarket district.

This is a place where you will more likely to find me. There is more variety of goods at the street bazaar. Prices are at affordable range. The crowd and atmosphere also suit me well. I can recommend street bazaars at Myeongdong, I-dae and Hongdae.

어느쪽으로

I used to have problem differentiating between "왼쪽" and "오른쪽". Simple words like left and right can be rather confusing to a beginner. For quite a long time I didn't quite manage to sort out if "left" is "왼쪽" or "오른쪽". Sometimes, I can remember that "왼쪽" is left but sometimes I just cannot decide which is which. Finally, one day I found a 100% idiot-proof method of recalling "left" and "right" in Korean. "왼쪽" is definitely "left" because "왼쪽" have one character less than "오른쪽" just like "left" is one alphabet less than "right".

Following the success of getting my direction always right I also develop a way to memorise the "ㄹ" irregular verb. As a rule, the "ㄹ" in any "ㄹ" irregular verb will be dropped if it meets with "ㄴ", "ㅂ" and "ㅅ". Since "ㄹ", "ㄴ", "ㅂ" and "ㅅ" can be represented by the alphabets "L", "N", "B" and "S" respectively, I have thought of a sentence to remember the rule. It goes like that. "There is no Lazy people in the NUS Business School". Since NBS won't take in lazy people, so there won't be "ㄹ"(L) when there are "ㄴ"(N), "ㅂ"(B) or "ㅅ"(S). Example of "ㄹ" irregular verb is "알다". "알다" will drop its "ㄹ" in "아는", "압니다" and "아셨어요".

본관은 가고 싶은데 이쪽으로 가면 돼요.

스승의 날

Korean Teacher's Day is on May 15. To mark this special day there was supposed to be a celebration in SKS this Tuesday but for some reason it was postponed until today.

This evening we have lesson for the first hour before making our way to the auditorium. It was the first gathering of all the SKS students this semester. There was about a hundred students from eight classes and that made the auditorium looks small and crowded.

The highlight of the celebration was the calligraphy competition. Each class nominated one "calligrapher" to write some thank-you words for the teachers. The SKS's principal was there to judge the best piece of work. The eventual winner of the competition was Elementary 3 class. 축하합니다!

First from right is the winning calligraphy work of Elementary 3 class

After the competition, food and drink was served. It was the first time since returning from Korea that I ate Korean food. There were gimbap, japchae and ddeokbokki. I was told that since two semesters back, SKS started to organise an event every semester. There were previously singing competition and gimbap-making event. I wonder what will be next.

Whatever it may be, I just thought that it would be good if the event can be given more time so that we don't have to rush to end everything within an hour. Then again, I am not too sure whether there will be next semester for me. Currently, there is still uncertainty over whether there will be Advance 2 class next semester. Don't stop please, I want to continue.

맛있겠다

아줌마는 바쁜 것 같고 파전은 맛있어 보였어요.

The light from the white flourescent bulbs in Gwangjang Bazaar was blindingly bright. The brightness of the light together with the large evening crowd perpetuated a different sense of city vibrancy. The ajummas at the Pajeon stalls were busy flipping and frying Pajeons. Crowd walking pass their stalls would be warmly invited to taste their Pajeons. Pajeons were served, straight off the frying pan, hot and crispy and the diners were pleased and satisfied.

파전은 아주 아주 맛있네요! 마음껏 드세요!

커피 한 컵 주세요

The cafes in Seoul always attract extra glances from me because they are so attractive. I could imagine myself wasting my free afternoon away reading book and drinking coffee in one of those nice cafe and still feel satisfy at the end of the day. I wish I can find time these days to even enjoy a free afternoon.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Kyung Hee

Tom N Toms Coffee at Apgujeong

Caffe Pascucci at Myeongdong

미국은 은인이 아니죠?

During class recently, my Korean teacher at SKS was talking about tour in Korea when she mentioned about Gwanghwamun being a pick-up point for tour buses. I agreed with her because I used to wait for the tour bus, which took us to Jisan Ski Resort, at a place near to Gwanghwamun subway station. Just to ensure I got it right, I added that there was also a bronze statue of Admiral Yi Sun Shin at the junction. My teacher confirmed that it was the place she was talking about. She went on to say that besides the statue, there is also the Kyobo Life Insurance Building and next to Kyobo is the US Embassy.

"I find it hard to understand why US is allowed to build its Embassy in the heart of Seoul." my teacher said.

"Isn't US the benefactor of South Korea? If that is so, why shouldn't they be given a prime land in Seoul to build their Embassy? I asked.

"Most of the Koreans don't think of US as our benefactor." she replied.

"Why not? Didn't US prevent South Korea from turning into a communist state?" I asked.

"Though I am glad that we did not become communist state, the fact is that many Koreans don't regard US as our benefactor. Do you know Incheon landing?" she looked at me waiting for an answer.

"You mean the Incheon landing during the Korean War." I responded.

"Yes. During the Incheon landing, the US killed a lot of Koreans who came running to them. Furthermore, the US soldiers raped many Korean women during the war. The Chinese soldiers, on the contrary, were more disciplined. They didn't go around raping Korean women and if they did they would be executed." my teacher explained.

I read about the Korean War but those books always carried the perspective of the Americans. It was enlightening to hear a native Korean's perspective about the war. As it is, history is opened to interpretation. It is also not about who was right or wrong, it is about what have we learnt from it.

Just a short note on the Incheon landing. North Korean Peoples Army (NKPA) went pass 38 parallel and started invading the South on June 25, 1950. Within 4 days of the invasion, Seoul was captured. By September that year, the NKPA was already threatening to overrun the Busan Perimeter. Just when the situation at Busan was in dire state, the Incheon landing was made at Wolmido on September 15. That landing was critical in reversing the tide of war in favour of the US-led United Nations Force.

I saw these two mascots of Wolmi Special Tourism Zone outside of the Incheon station. They are called "Worldee". Their head has the symbol of "taegeuk" or "taiji". Their ears are like seagull in flight and their legs are shaped like sea and wave. Looking at these cheery mascots, the pain of war could no longer be felt at Incheon.

Has the memory of pain faded away with time? Sometimes I do feel that the pain has found their way into the Korean dramas, movies and songs. Recently I have been listening to this Korean song "미안해요" (I am sorry) from the OST of the Korean drama "결혼합시다" (Let's get married) which was sung by Bobo. You will probably know what I mean in this paragraph after listening to this song. The song ended with this lyrics "그댈 잡고 싶지만 그 말을 차마 할 수 없죠… ". (I want to hold you back but I cannot bring myself to tell you that.) The song has that tint of sadness that I have come to associate with Korean song.

뛰지마세요

After 2-week of break I think I better get back to do some blogging or I may probably get used to not blogging anymore. ㅋㅋ... I have to take a break not because I am tired of blogging but the work and stress were overwhelming over the last two weeks. I know that some of you may think that I am going to take a long break or perhaps stop blogging completely. Don't worry, that is not my intention, at least for now. Work has been snowballing since I took my 3 weeks leave to study in Korea. I just managed to neutralise one big "snowball" this week but there are a few more developing. I believe I can manage them but I have to rush against time to neutralise each "snowball" before they become huge enough to cause damage.

This sign is a good reminder to slow down our pace of life. [Hoegi station]

As much as I am busy, I still enforce some time to attend Korean lessons and do my homework every week. I am not trying to win a model student award or something here but learning Korean do really give me joy. It also helps to divert my attention away from my work stress. I am starting to like my lesson in Singapore Korean School. I am interacting with my teacher more these days as we get to know each other better. This coming Tuesday, May 15, is Teacher's Day in Korea. Happy Teacher's Day to all my Korean language teachers.

잘 다녀왔어요

All pictures below were taken at Hanagae Beach, Muuido, Incheon.