Going back home

Went to support our INTEC badminton team in the inter-faculty competition last night. I never knew there's so much fun being on the spot to cheer for a team during a competition.
At least now I have a slight idea why so many people are crazy about going to the stadium and watch football matches.
Although our team didn't win, they put up a good fight. And the most amazing thing was that some of them didn't know each other very well though they were playing doubles in a team.

As many of my coursemate went to do their passport this morning, there wasn't any classroom lesson. However, Q1 SonSengNim gave another of his speech to us, talking about his experiences when he first came to Malaysia in 1991; telling us that foreign tourist have to pay more when they go to KL Tower, and when he sent a letter to the Tourism board concerning the matter the reply he got was "Because this is Malaysia"; motivating and persuading us to go to the top universities in Korea and informing us that getting a 'D' in those universities is considered quite good......

I'll be going back home tomorrow. Quite excited actually.
After all, this return is quite unexpected because my initial plan was to go back once only before I fly off to Korea. Now it seems that I'll be going back home twice.

Devotion

     On Sunday night when I was in Max's room,  we somehow decided to wake up at 6.00am every morning to do our devotion.
     I was sleeping in their room that night and I managed to wake up on time yesterday, though I slept less than 5 hours.
     But yesterday I had a good rest in the afternoon and slept early at night yet I couldn't wake up in time this morning!!! I can't even remember when did I turned off the alarm on my phone!

     I 'm really unsatisfied with myself. I'm out here far from my home, and everyday I rely on God's help to pull me through. Yet I've not been spending as much time in my devotion as I used to. Hopefully this is not the beginning of my fall : (

     During the cell group last Friday, they was this speaker who said something about passion. We use the word "passion" ever so often yet do we really know what it means? We hear people saying they're passionate about this and that, yet do they really know what they're saying?
     According to the speaker, referring to "The Passion of the Christ", the word 'passion' here actually means 'suffering'.
     So, how many of us are actually willing to suffer for something?    
     What the speaker said really struck me on the head. I'm passionate about God, yet am I not even willing to wake up early to spend time with Him?

     So, I'll try to do better in the future, maybe I'll join (at least once) the early morning prayer meeting  in Korea :)

Hostel?

    We watched "Classic" , another Korean movie this afternoon. Still, we wouldn't be able to understand the story without the sub-title. I wonder how long would it take before we can watch a Korean movie without sub-titles.

    2 of our seniors came back from Korea and we had some time to satisfy more of our curiosity about life as a foreign student in Korea.  It seems that our seniors had quite a good time over there.
    Learning a new language and culture is fun, if I don't need to depend on it to survive. But still, I think I'll manage to pull through, with God's help of course. 
   
    I'm planning to stay in the hostel during my first year in Korea, a thing which none of our seniors did before (not that they didn't want, but they didn't have no choice). Our seniors only moved into hostel after completing their one and a half years' language course.
    Thus, we do not have any info concerning life in Seoul National University's hostel as a freshman. 
    My reason for staying in the hostel is:  firstly,  I'll meet more people from other countries and I'll have more time to socialize with them.
    Secondly, it'll be more convenient to join activities held in the university, since the distance between the hostel and university is nearer.
    Lastly, I have the intention of going to Seoul National University to pursue my degree. I want to see how's the life, attitude and character of the students studying in the university first-hand.
   However, I'll talk this out with Jang SonSengNim before I make my decision.

 

Cuti-cuti Malaysia.....?

Imagine visiting Melaka without seeing A Farmosa, is that called visiting Melaka at all?
Well, that was my experience last Saturday when I went to Melaka. However, I did manage to ride on a horse and an elephant ( you can't imagine how much it hurts), watch birds doing magic show, elephants playing music instrument...
More of my  trip to Melaka here.

The thing I want to highlight here is that although the government has been asking people to travel in Malaysia, it seems that there are still many things the government needs to improve on to ensure that tourist, either local or foreign will enjoy their trip.

I went to Melaka, and being unfamiliar with the place, I went to the information counter at the Melaka Sentral bus station and asked for some brochures on tourist spots in Melaka.
To my 'amazement', the only thing they could provide me with was this small-photocopied-hardly visible-town map of Melaka. And THEY expect me to be able to travel around with just that?!
If the government really wants to promote tourism, the least thing they could do is to provide brochures at all major inter-state bus terminal!
 
What's more!
When I was taking the bus for a tour around the city, there was a foreign traveler going up the bus as well. She was holding some documents in her hand and showing it to the bus driver, asking him politely whether the bus will be going to that place.
To my disappointment, the bus driver didn't appear to be paying attention to her. He just shouted, "Naik saja cepat!"
I was so ashamed of my fellow Malaysian that I wished there was a hole for me to hide.
All these while we've been reading about articles saying Malaysians are kind and helpful. I really wonder how many of the articles are actually true.
I always thought that people from smaller town and city will be more friendly, because they don't face so much stress in life. It seems that I've made a wrong judgment.
 
It's kind of sad that  with the advancement of science and technology, people seems to be getting colder towards one another. They've lost their patience along the path so called civilization.
 
 

Birthday PARTY....

We had a birthday party in the lecture hall just now for those who's birthday is in the month of July. The party came as a surprise for all of us, because none of us knew about it. Our lecturers were the ones who planed it.
The party reminds me of all the Birthday Bash I had in my youth group back home. However, during the Birthday Bash we had fun and everyone would be laughing and enjoying themselves.
Yet I could sense that a lot of us had a sad feeling during the party this afternoon.
Maybe it's because of Q1's story: when he came to study in Malaysia, he had to celebrate his birthday alone. None of his friends in Korea remembered his birthday.
I guess it'll be the first time for most of us to celebrate our birthday without our families :(

Tried my hand on tennis. It's actually quite fun.
I figure that since I have to learn a language from the beginning and rely on it to survive, i might as well learn a few more stuff, right from the beginning.

....interesting experience....

On Friday, I took the City Liner bus wanting to go down to Asia Jaya and take the LRT to Taman Bahagia. When I told the bus driver that I wanted to go to Asia Jaya, he said that he needs to refill the petrol and so won't be passing through Asia Jaya. However, he said I could follow him down to Section 15 because there will be more buses there. So, I went on the bus and sat behind the driver's seat, so that he can tell me where to get down. However, the bus driver never said a thing and so I sat there like a dummy, knowing that something is really wrong yet don't know what to do. So, I was looking out the window all the time trying to figure where I am. Then suddenly, I saw a LRT train passing by. Trusting that there must be a LRT station near by, I got off the bus at the nearest stop and followed the trail of the LRT railway to its station, only to find that I landed myself in Pasar Seni. So, realizing that I must be somewhere near the centre of the city, I decided to go sightseeing. To my delight, I found out that Petaling Street was just around the corner. So although I got myself lost, it was quite rewarding at the end, as I got myself more familiar with the surrounding area.

I asked Wei Chun and Yi Loon to go out on Saturday. Sadly, Yi Loon said he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go.
We went to KLCC and had our lunch there. One thing I learned there is that a plate of rice with a piece of fried chicken, some veg and a cup of soya bean can cost up to RM 8+ ( Luckily I wasn't the one who bought it :P ).
As we had absolutely nothing to buy, we wanted to take a tour to the bridge. Unfortunately, the tickets for that day had finish.
After that, we wanted to go to Mid Valley Mega Mall. When I was coming to KLCC from Taman Bahagia, I noticed that the nearest LRT station from Mega Mall is at Abdullah Hukum.
So, we took the LRT there and came out of the station looking for the Putra Line buses. As we could find none, I asked a Malay girl in school uniform how do I go to Mega Mall.
She told us that we should take the LRT back to Bangsar and wait for buses there.
As we didn't want to take another trip on the LRT, we decided to take a cab. Yet, all the cabs passed by without stopping. We were not able to walk to Mega Mall as it was raining quite heavily.
Finally, the girl from whom I asked direction came and asked us whether we want to "tumpang" or not, and we accepted the offer.

When I reached Mega Mall, I messaged Wai Peng asking him how do I get back to SS2. He told me I could take bus 99 back.
At Mega Mall, we met Shyr Jinn ( my secondary school classmate) and his mom and brother.
At 3.30pm I decided to go back. So, I came out through South Court (I saw that there is a bus stop there when I came) and saw a Metro bus 99 and on it was written " Mega Mall-SS2" , so I hop onto it. The bus driver didn't ask where I was going but just asked me to pay RM1.20.
On the bus I suddenly remembered it was someone's birthday that day. So I was trying to find out who's birthday it was, and I got to know that it was Chun Yang's birthday.
Suddenly I realized that the surrounding area seems very familiar. When I look out the window, I saw that Petaling Street was just outside the bus!!
And so I landed myself in Pasar Seni by mistake twice in 2 days time :~(
Again, it was a good experience, getting myself familiar with places and to remind myself always ask the bus driver which direction it's going....

nOstAlgIA

Starting to have more homework these few days from our Maths lecturer. This means that I'll need to put more time into my studies than what I had planned.
Well, looking at the bright side, this will stop me from going to the cyber cafe so often and wasting my money there : )

Our Korean lecturers showed us a movie just now, and of course it's in Korean (but we do have the subtitle or else we won't understand the whole story).
I dont know, may be it's because I'm getting old, I seem to be quite nostalgic lately.
I tend to think about how it would be like 6 or 7 years down the road. There will be many people that I might not meet again.
People whom we were closed with might not be close to us anymore.
Relationships will change. Most of us might not be who we used to be. Everything will change, for the better or for the worse...
Well, I know it's pointless thinking of all this, but I just can help it. Anyway, I might be too busy to think about all these next time, so I should think of it while I still have the opportunity, right? :p

new ETHICS assignment

Today we have a new Ethics teacher. She seems to be better than the previous one, she can talk, make some jokes and keep the class a little a live. But at the same time, she's also more demanding.
When we first heard that we'll have a new teacher, some of my classmates conspired and agreed that if the teacher ask whether we have any assignment, they would all say 'No'.
And that's exactly what they DID. So, the teacher gave us new assignments(actually the same one that our previous teacher gave, just that different groups are doing it now).
So my group (me, Vincent and A Jay) was given the topic: "Comparing Religions,their Beliefs and Practices".

6th weekend in S'gor

Went to IKEA last night to get some ideas on bedroom decorations. It might come in useful when I'm settling down in Korea.

Was talking with Wai Nyan this afternoon concerning pirated stuff. It seems that if I were to talk any longer with him on this topic, he might just be able to convince me not to use pirated goods.
I never gave so much thoughts about pirated things before this. It just seem ok to use them. Well, maybe when I'm financially secure I'll go against piracy. But not at the moment.

Seems strange that many people are studying the book of Ecclesiastes. First was during last year's church camp, now SIB KL, then this afternoon Wai Nyan told me his cf(if I'm not mistaken) is doing(or is it did) the same book as well.
It's true that sometimes life just seem so meaningless......at the end of the day all things lead to the grave.......why then do we study so much,why watch movie,why why why??.......ther's war going on, people are dying.....yet I'm here writting my blog....
Maybe we'll know the meaning of life when we see it from above the sun, but currently I'm not able to do so, yet.
So, all I can do is trust in HIM to lead me....

Was talking to my friends just now. Seems that I have a lot to catch up in my studies. I've not been working so hard since the orientation.
Will try to come up with a timetable so that my time can be more organized. Better get the stone rolling and catch up on momentum....

meanings...

Was chatting with Johnathan on Wednesday night about friendship best friends.
I was asking him did he ever thought of what does the term 'best friend' means according to his own definition, and, like what I've guessed, he never actually thought about it.
It just seem strange to me that we can know a word and use it so often yet we never really think about the true meaning of the word, or in other words, what does the word really mean to us.
And so that night we kind of discuss about each other's opinion, what does friends and best friend mean to us personally.
According to his opinion, my best friend would most probably be my wife. It's actually something for me to ponder about...
The thing is, I get along with girls quite well and girls are nice to talk with and be with. But there are just things that I won't talk to girls about...
So is it the same that there are just something a husband wouldn't tell a wife?

Last night I went to dinner with Kai Liing at Ameerali. We planned to go to cf together after dinner, and we even brought our bible along as well.
But as we were coming back from the coffee shop, he suddenly told me it might be the last time he'll be going, because he feel it's not nice going to two churches at once, although this is just a ca (campus alive) meeting.
And before we reach the van, he suddenly said to me :"I thinks I won't go today lar."
With that he went back to the hostel.
It actually gave me a shock because I never encountered such a situation before. And it made me think as well, what's MY purpose of going to cf...

Sometimes I just feel that it's a obligation to go. And if I don't go, I don't feel right with God.
May be it's because I've not been spending enough quite times with God, so going to cf is a way I can make up for it...
But it can be that it' the only place where I can worship God and sing praises to him freely...
I'm not sure which is the real reason...maybe it's the combination of the two...

Today is my first time coming to Wai Peng's house in ss2 from Shah Alam by bus and lrt.
Well, it's sort of achievement to me, and I feel quite proud of myself that I can go about alone.
It gives me the feeling of independence : )

Still haven't memorize my Korean song yet...:~(. It seems to take a long time just to memorize a line.
Hopefully I can memorize it by Sunday afternoon...