Korea. Incheon Airport. Homestay at Seoul Station. Hongdae.

I left this space isolated fo 3 weeks! 
I didn't have some alone time since Feb, after the part-time teaching at the tuition centre on Saturdays and that the full-time work kept piling up. Work was never ending; the second I thought I could finally rest I was given more work at the next instant. The initial stage of having known his disease was saddening, I spent nights brooding over it. I recounted the times I came to work totally drained and CS commented for that few weeks that I looked absolutely rotten. Lol. 

U can ask Simba when was that last weekend we spent a whole day out! I think the last one was early April; the one we went to Gardens by the Bay to catch a glimpse of the Easter-themed Flower Dome park.

After his operation, I didn't even have the time to be there to watch his recovery. I was there but wasn't exactly emotionally there as I was doing, and doing, and doing all those brought home work while he watched me do them. And at one point of time I realized this was it. I can't make myself carry on this way anymore. Life is never all about work, everything else is just too important to miss out on. The feeling of helplessness, fragility and gnawing anxiety during the days that Simba grew weak was so vivid and excruciating; tears just instantly formed the moment they came to my mind. I spent days thinking of the What Ifs. What if the tumor is malignant? What if he eventually gets heart disease? What am I gonna do if he passes away? If ever this happens, I will keep the house and stay in there alone for the rest of my life. I held onto all sorts of negativity I thought I'm never gonna wake up from this nightmare. 

I came to a conclusion that life is too short and unhealthy for me to be expending time and energy on work. When the person I care about needs me, I need to be there. I need to quit my job. I need to find a job which can provide me with work-life balance, a job that does not have deadlines breathing down my neck, a job that gives me time to smile at my loved ones, and a job which I can gain job satisfaction from. 

8th Sept, my last day. (I asked for an extension of my contract to be thorough in seeing through my project, and mostly to soothe the overwhelming sense of guilt if I were to leave the workplace with things undone.)


Let me catch you up on my recent trip to South Korea. 

Not knowing what is to come for Junwen's op, with the help of the Endocrinologist's letter, I appealed to Cathay Pacific to have my bro to go in place of Junwen's. 

On the day when I was going to depart for Korea, Simba was so in denial that he formed an illusion that he could come along to Korea and packed his things to get ready for some thrill, only to come to his senses at the last minute. Lol!

Korea has overtaken Taiwan and emerged as the winner as the top destination to visit! Lol. I an heads over heels in love with Korea!

Perhaps my love for Korea was nurtured by the Koreans I met in Singapore and it flourished after I spent 6 nights in Korea. Did I tell u that 100% of my tutees showed improvement in their grades for their SA1, with one improved by a whopping 13 marks?
One girl even asked, "Will u be disappointed if I tell u my grade?" That's so cute and sweet of her! She made my day! I think my job satisfaction largely stemmed from giving tuition.


We reached the Incheon Airport later than usual due to the unexpected flight delay. As we were far behind our itinerary schedule (and my bro could eat a horse), we took an Express train from the airport to Seoul Station for just $9 and the journey took just 43 mins!





First pic I took in Korea. The perky sea lions (or seals) were publicising for the 17th Asian Games that will take place over 16 days in Incheon, Korea, from Sept 19 to Oct 4, 2014.





The luggages were too cumbersome for me to carry and Bro had to help me with them, so in many of the pics taken following this I look alot happier than him! Lol.







We ensconced on comfy leather seat of the express train, picked up some reads (The mags are all in Korean, we just leafed through them with occasionally glances at the pics in them) and saw Lee Kwang Soo in one of the pages! He is really a model, let's not doubt him anymore, shall we?


The moment we alighted from the train, the lady who lent us her studio apartment for 6 nights was already there to pick us up. (Yes, I tried home stay for the first time! As I had to sponsor my bro for accommodation in Korea, I sought a cheaper alternative so that my bonus wouldn't be spent away at an accelerated rate.) She is irresistible and has such vivacious personality, I was so attracted to her. Lol. As promised in her account of the airbnb website, it was just a 5 mins walk from Seoul Station. We crossed to the opposite of the Seoul Station, walk along one alley and there we were standing outside her apartment.






She also gave us a brief walkthrough on how to use the appliances in her apartment. After she left, these wildlife-themed lamps hanging in her kitchen caught my attention!

I copied and pasted from the website the following description her husband wrote about their offer to engage tourists: 

"Hello

I'm Mr.Bang.

When you travel with your friends or family, My studio will be better. I designed the Interior Space by Minimalism.
I think it will save your budget. And I provide all of stuff for cooking and bath. So it makes your luggage slim.

I give you,
Pots, pans, ladles, spoons, chopsticks, knives, cutting boards, spice, washing-up gloves, oil, plates, cups, bowls, microwave, gas stove, refrigerator, kettle, toaster
For cook.

And I give you
Washing machine, detergent, iron (on request)
For wash.

Also I give you
Shampoo, conditioner, body shampoo, toothpaste, facial cleansing foam, hand wash, shower ball, towels, hair dryer, full-length mirrors
For bath.

It's not share another guest. Everything is owned by you."

I told my bro that it's such a great deal. We were given everything in their apartment for just the price of $400! At the end of the trip, he was so tempted to pack their vacuum cleaner into his luggage.

But in the end as much as we want to grab the washing machine, we didn't as we as kind-hearted people didn't want to take advantage of others. Lol.

Bro and I were pretty satisfied with the cleanliness of the apartment and availability of resources that hotels don't even provide.  





My bro who slept on the upper deck of this double decker bed was immensely troubled by the short distance between his position and the ceiling! Lol. I think he banged his head a few times when he got out of bed in the morning.


After unloading our luggages, we headed to Hongdae! Hongdae is an affordable place for shopping and dining since it is catered for University students. :D

The airport is such a placid place, but Hongdae, which was swarmed with Koreans, made us do abit of the getting used to.




We made a beeline for the first Korean BBQ restaurant we saw, after it caught Bro's eye. I realised that guys cannot bear with hunger, they look so weak if their stomachs aren't filled with something. The buffet only cost $12 each, but limits us to only 1.5 hour of eating.

After some efforts in attempting to communicate with the staff, we finally understood their restaurant rules. We derived at a conclusion that Koreans understand English but aren't fluent enough to speak to foreigners like us with it.



Hence, we tried to get the best out of the 1.5 hour with chatting, furiously eating and drinking Soju, an alcoholic beverage only native to Korea (only costs $3 in restaurants, and $1 in the Lotte Mart).




Look at the big pieces of meat on my left! 





The alcoholic taste of Soju was too strong, so strong that we ordered some Pepsi to mix with it, and that's how both of us struggled to finish the whole bottle.
Our plan of spending more time in the restaurant foiled when the restaurant waiter showed us his watch, tapped his finger on it, to send us a heads-up on the time (time for us to leave the restaurant). Lol. 





Music performance in the streets of Hongdae. Bro, who practises the guitar day and night, was so attracted to it and was full of praise for this talented musician the whole night long. 




Etude House.





Many Koreans gather in the BBQ restaurants after work to enjoy friends' company with food and beer. (There is always at least one type of beer on every table.)







Street tap dance performance to publicise their underground pub. :D








Cute game stall in Hongdae.