Korean Culture Part 2

K-POP, Exo, Exo and Exo, PDA

Yes, EXO the famous boyband which reminds me a little of the backstreet boys and the spice girls back in the day when we were still young is the number one hit on every school girls phone and about the only thing they really get excited about in class. There are 12 guys in the group which to me is quite a lot and sounds more like a mini choir but they definitely knows how to impress the ladies and how to get their hits all over the place. You get hot Korean guys but to be honest none of these boys really do it for me. Even the boys in my class agrees with that. K-pop is Korean pop, a genre unique to South Korea. There is a few other pop groups such as BigBang, Girls Generation and 2NE1. I've learned in this short time that I'm here that you make your class happy by including some kind of popstar into your lessons. 

In Korea they don't have separate people doing advertisements. I know in South Africa you get agencies that specialises in this type of thing but here it's a little different. Celebraties rule the place. They are on every billboard, every advertisement, every TV production, every shop uses them as their clothing models. They are everywhere. These stars are everywhere. In 2009 a group called Dong Bang Shin Ki took their managers to court after a 13 year contract dominating their lives. From advertisements, shoots, interviews, shows and rehearsal time the members of this group was deprived from sleep and had no time to themselves. The norm was that contracts last 10 years but after the group won their court case contract time allowed was lowered to 7 years max. And when you think of all these things they do you would expect them to make as much money as the American popstars make but in Korea that is however not the case. The contracts these popstars sign puts them into so much debt that they don't really see the money they generate. It all goes to the agency they signed with.

The Korean nation is really very competitive when it comes to education for one but also physical appearance where you have to be a size 8 and you must wear the latest trends you can definitely see where the people get their styles from. Once a celebrity wears this type of handbag EVERYONE is in need of this type of handbag. And it's like that with everything. Even tooth brushes, alcohol and other ridiculous things. And this causes one of Korea's biggest problems - Teenage suicide. Yes it's bad. It's the highest in the world. 

And the men wears make up !!!! 

I saw the most, wait I don't even know what to call it, thing on the train on my way back from Busan. A girl and her boyfriend sat behind us, both Korean, and you know how us girls normally sit and do make up in public places from time to time? Okay the guy didn't do it like we do it but his girlfriend was colouring in his eyebrows with a nice pencil and he checked to see if it's fine, commented and she continued. I laughed my ass off. It's a little retarded. Why do I choose the one place in the world where there is only females? 

And here is something even more strange. In Korea being a couple is celebrated not only on Valentine's day but 11 other days as well. They have Dairy day, Valentine's day, White day, Black day, Rose Day, Kiss day, Silver day, Green Day, Photo day, Wine day, Movie day and Hug day. It starts on January 14th and is celebrated every month on the 14th. I wonder how kiss day works? Do you kiss someone the whole day because I sure as hell know my lips will get numb and then what's the fun ? On these couples days the couples also coordinate their clothing. This started in the 1990's by celebrity couples and Honeymooners and have ever since became more popular under couples. It's a way to express PDA since their culture are extremely conservative and any sort of public affection shown is frowned upon. So the way to show everyone else you are a couple is by dressing alike. I can give it to some couples. They look quite stylish. Just to be clear about the extend even the underwear matches most of the time. There it's a statement to the world that you are in a couple but also something you share as a couple and a way to bond. Most of the time this is really hard to pull off since most couples don't live together and still live with their parents until marriage. It's just cheaper that way. So how they normally do this is that the girl will pick out a few clothing items and call her boyfriend to decide what they will wear together. So if he has something that will match her picked out outfits they will go with that. This sometimes includes shoes, jeans, jackets, t-shirts, sweaters ect. Even hair sometimes have the same type of look. It's definitely a Korean thing and will stay uniquely Korean.

Don't believe me? Google it!

I can't help to wonder what you do with all your clothes after you break up with the person you were in a relationship with? 

Here also all Korean guys will immediately ask you if you have a boyfriend or not and they will respect your answer unlike in some cases back home. If the answer is no however they will try their luck in a gentle way. Another thing that's quite common amongst Korean men is not to really respect a woman as independent but rather as a person who cannot make their own decisions. They see woman as children which can be seen in small things they do like a tap on the head or squeezing your cheeks and even to the greater extend of ordering you food in a restaurant without consulting with you first. I think I might just get a little to independent for these boys to handle. 

Here is a Video of the Famous EXO group. 

My Overseas Birthday

"I've learned that it's not what you have with you but who you have with you that matters most" - Anonymous

It was my first birthday overseas this year without the ones I so dearly love around me. Yes I did make friends here so far but we don't know each other that well yet. Maybe a week others a month or so. And I have realised that birthdays aren't about the big celebration to celebrate your ageing process, it's more about celebrating the year that passed with those who made it worth while. 

I found that it was lonely without my family with me especially not seeing my grandparents and parents as well as my dear 2 friends. Also I normally have quite a lot of celebration events for my birthday which I missed this year. Normally one for general friends then one for really close friends and then one for my big family of course. I love it that way. 

Friday at school the staff members spoilt me with a super nice cake, candles and a happy birthday song. The Kids also sang to me a few times. It was special. 

I went out for a nice dinner with my South African Neighbour on Friday night to a Korean BBQ restaurant. As always it was really quite fun and Yummy. It's the closest to South African braai I'll get in my small little town. Went home quite early and then I opened a average bottle of red wine and poured myself a nice chilling glass. The red wine in SK is really not the same quality of the wine back home in SA. I'm not sure what they do to their wines but it's really not the best. I can get good wine but those bottles cost you around R300 and to be honest I'm not that desperate. The Blacklist kept me company. It was quite lonely I must say. And weirdly enough I missed not getting any kisses and hugs. 

On Saturday I studied and the night I went out to celebrate a little at least with the people I met up to now. It started with a nice chicken and beer dinner just to get those tummies filled before we do all out. I must say it always helps and I was starving. There after we went to an international roof top party and definitely paid way to much to enter. We got a cocktail (long island) and nachos but the nachos was really only the chips and a little mayonaise which is not worth paying for. Anyway, so we left there after a little while. Most of the people left around 10:30pm to catch the last train. If you don't catch that train you will not get home and will have to find a place to sleep. Nice hey!! Well 10:30pm was way to early to end a good night and come all this way I thought. The four girls left quickly got a nice idea to go search for Thursday Party ( a bar/ pub) where the music is always good and the place is filled with quite a lot of foreigners and a few hotties as well. 

We picked up a semi dance mood there is that pub and so decided to head to FF club. We got there and it looked great. Music was super load and good. There was a big dance floor AND there was a STAGE!!!! ANIA HEAVEN !!!!!  Mainly because up there I'm free to dance on my own without any guy irritating me or a girl stepping on my feet with her heels. That probably hurts the most! The night ended really early Sunday morning. 

What we did next is definitely an Korean thing. Since we didn't catch the last train and ended up partying into the morning hours but not late enough to be in time for the first morning train we had to crash somewhere to kill two or 3 hours. The Koreans have this thing and I think here might be the only place you will see it. They go to the nearest 24h Coffee shop, grab a seat and a table and sleep until the first morning train pitches up at 5:30. What did we do? Exactly that. We found a Cafe and passed out completely till everyone started moving around and out to catch the first train and we just followed. If in Korea, do as the Koreans do! It was quite a fun night to end off a nice birthday weekend. 

Sunday I slept the whole day. I was so tired but isn't that the perfect way to spend a Sunday? Chilling?

These were the crazy people who made my night one to remember.

                               

South Africans and American coming together to have the best time ever.

                               

International Rooftop Party

Poetry

"Choose a shape and write a POEM about yourself"

That was the instructions at the Orientation in one of the classes. We had to write a poem but it doesn't necessarily have to rhyme and was done by using a simple temple giving to us.

So I started writing.....

I'm a girl with no end destination

I wonder about people right around the world 

I hear tinker bell whisper in my ear "go further"

I see no limits in the distance I can go 

I want to be a butterfly

free to fly 

I'm a girl with no end destination 

I pretend that I saw enough 

I feel restless to see more

I worry I won't see it all

I cry for a life of peace and unity 

I'm a girl with no end destination. 

Orientation

Hallo!! My name is Ania and I'm a GEPIK teacher :)

Gepik is the Reginal education system that I am working for. They had an awesome orientations last week. I loved last week. No school, no preparation and I basically did art the whole week. 

We got divided into rooms according to the ages we teach at school and also had lectures accordingly. So I was will another teacher who's also teaching elementary level. The cuties that climbs into our hearts. We had so much fun and I think it might be a very nice year after meeting so many new teachers. I also met 2 South Africans there and I had 3 teachers/ Lectures/ Speakers that was afrikaans and came form South Africa. I felt so much closer to home. It's always nice to be able to joke with someone about Zuma haha. 

We did a lot of team exercises and we did A LOT of art. I wasn't sure if I was in the right class at one point because according to me I'm teaching English and not art. But it was all great fun. I had such a fun time. 

Adiyoyin (Nigerian - American) and I laughed so much and we spoke way to much and wrote way to little. We had to  draw each other, get to know each other and write our similarities and differences on the page. We drew each other dancing but there was hardly any words on the page in the end.

The last night we had a big Karaoke night. Two South Africans in one room is a dangerous mix. We took over haha. Roberta is a Zulu lady from Durban and she's awesome. I miss her already. We were owning that stage with our Africa songs and the Americans loved it. We had a great Tina Turner as well ( Nathalie from America) and man can she sing. I must say after that session of dancing and singing I realised how unfit I am. At one stage I couldn't sing because I was so out of breath from dancing. It was absolutely crazy lekker. 

All in all I learned a lot how to combine english classes into activities and art as well as dances and songs. I'm going to have fun in school this year. 

      

BUSAN

Sea, Beaches, Mountains, Temples, Shopping Malls, Harbours, Fish Fish and Fish.

This was quite a weekend. It was a weekend unplanned that worked out surprisingly great. It was tiring but fantastic to experience. From the people to the food and the fish, everything was a sight to see. It's definitely a place I would return too. 

About a week ago I found out that I will have an excellent long weekend this weekend thanks to children's day that's on the 5th of May (Tuesday) and my school was generous enough to give me the Friday and Monday off. Nice long weekend huh?! So last weekend Chary and myself went to book our KTX train tickets in Seoul Station for this weekend. We struggled to get a train ticket for earlier than 5pm on Friday for the train but since we had a big GEPIK orientation the week before it gave me enough time to complete my short course module.

Okay there is a lot that's been going on lately that I just haven't blogged about but I'll get there. 

We left Jeongok at 2pm the Friday afternoon to be in time to catch the train in Seoul Station. After a 3 hour train trip to Busan Chary and I read up on some of the things to do in Busan and created a little "to do list" but as we weren't really sure what to expect we kind of just planned really roughly and left the rest up to where we eventually will end up. We arrived at Busan station around 8 or 9 (I can't remember) and started the search for our Motel that we booked for the weekend. Firstly we had to orientate ourselves, which is really hard if you can't read hangul (Korean letters). Every billboard or shop name is in Korean and the only way you know what is what is by finding some of the closest American outlets. Eventually we decided to use Google maps to find our way. The journey to the Motel was interesting. There was a street filled with pubs, clubs and blond bimbo common prostitutes. When we found our hotel the woman asked if Chary and I are friends or how the situation works. I didn't understand any of it until the last day but it turned out that we slept in a love motel. Love motels are used by Koreans to have some fun while the kids are sleeping at home. You see there is normally like 5 people in a bachelour flat. They will wake the kids. It was extremely cheap but I still feel a little gross. We just stayed in the hotel for the night and went for beer and Chicken in town. It was quite fun to experience a different city.

Busan is like the Cape Town of South Africa. The people are more relaxed, speak better english and are far more friendly than those in Seoul. 

On Saturday we firstly went to the beach and we spent half our day at the beach basically. It was absolutely great to feel the sand between my toes and the sun kissing my skin, maybe a little too much at one point... I burned a little. We walked along the beach ( small beach) to the lighthouse took a few pictures and returned to the beach again. The route to the lighthouse was very nice. Everything in Korea is turning green now so the mountains and heels are really beautiful with it's evergreen. We had the nicest sight of the Busan bright from the lighthouse as well. We got back to the sand and walked all the way to the other point of the beach where there was a small fishers harbour. There were only small boats and speedboats drifting in the harbour. We left the beach to go visit a temple. We took a bus. This was probably not the best decision ever since that bus was so overcrowded with people that there was literally no space to move and it allowed for old men to push their crotches up against you. You can move as much as you want too they move with you. DISGUSTING!! When we arrived at the temple we ran up in like 10 min and down in 10 min but it was probably the most beautiful sea view and the largest Buddha statue I've ever seen. It was something to see and I wish we stayed there longer but we ran out of time since I had another appointment. Waxing. We took things chilled the evening by hanging out in the biggest department store in the world according to Guinness world records. That was quite a lot of fun although everything is pretty expensive. Majority of it are big brands like Gap and Polo. We had dinner there and left to go rest in our Motel. My feet were non-existent. 

The Sunday morning we slept in a little. We were planning on starting early but it was raining so hard that the bed became quite a hibernating session. We eventually got out and immediately bought ourselves umbrellas. Mine was a nice blue polka dot transparent umbrella. Super cheap one too. But it looked cute and matched my whole outfit. Blue K-way jacket, Jeans and blue sandals. I'm blue dubble de dubble di. Kapouw! We ate lunch at the famous fish market the afternoon and man it as a little disappointing. Besides for the fact that the fish was extremely expensive they hardly use any spice to cook the fish. No nothing. The fish was extremely soft and flaky if I may add which I guess made it really nice. Underneath the market there was a complete fish market with about a 100 stalls. Every stall had a whole bunch of buckets filled with live fish. This was quite sad to see because some of those sea animals are not pack animals. They walk single in the wild and now they are completely stressed in these circumstances. But there was something of everything, small to big crayfish to monter crabs, really smart octopuses and fish species by the millions as well as a lot of shellfish. It was something to see. After lunch we rolled back to the Motel, I went to take a catnap and Chary went to Cathlic church. We went out again later the night to meet up with two girls we met at the 

orientation. But before we went there we just had to experience the lantern festival in town. It was beautiful. Absolutely stunning. So many colours and figures as well as historical stories. Really, really nice stuff. 

I also experienced my first Korean obsession this night. So irritating. Very sleek the guard offered me a pamflet of the lantern festival just to jump into a conversation with me. After asking where I'm from and what I'm doing in Korea he asked for a picture of me with him. The blond at work. I'm a nice girl; I know they don't know blond so I don't mind the picture taking thing, yet. Then later conversation continued. In Korea it's really rude to refuse an invite. Chary and I got inviting out for dinner by 2 Korean guys whose my age (24). They sticked us for beer and chicken and this is really becoming quite a favourite of mine. They took us to the party central of Seomyeon to a chilled restaurant. Now understand that this is not really the type of dinner party you have in mind. With guys who really speak limited english things can get interesting on the one hand and really irritating on the other. Another thing to notice about the Korean culture is that they really don't know personal space. They will touch you, push you, hang on you, grind you and even touch your face and not knowing that this is an invasion of the ego bubble. It's really annoying and something really hard to get used too. This guy, after knowing him for an hour, told me I need to stay single because his coming to visit in a months time and wants to see me and he told me I' m really cute a few times and pulled my cheek?! Befriending Koreans are positive since it's the quickest way to learn Korean but the rest that comes with it is not always so cool and the worst is you can't explain it to them since they don't understand our culture, can't speak the language and are just way to set in their ways. I mean how do you explain something as abstract as an Ego? Impossible!!! 

Yes I speak as if my ego is huge. It's really not; they just invade my small cm ego way too much. Anyway that's what you get for standing out. After dinner we met up with the other 2 girls and had a lovely evening in a pub. 

The Monday morning I stood up irritated and really just wanted the one thing I can't have. Then again in Korea the girls can wear the shortest dresses ever but their shoulders must be close. So wearing a pair of jeans and a tank top is a no go. I pretended not to know about this this weekend since I very much look like a tourist who doesn't know her way around and yet a lady stopped me at the subway platform to tell me I need to close my shoulders but she spoke Korean and touched my straps and my shoulder and I just continued as if I have no idea what she's saying. We took a bus to a old traditional village and spent majority of the day in the village. I also got to write my first postcards not that I have any idea how to write a postcard. There after we went to the Lotte super and the Busan Tower. 

Busan Tower was mesmerising. We saw the whole city at night time. The lights coloured in this stunning picture into a beautiful night view. Breathtaking experience. It's one of those places where you could sit for hours and just think about your life or not even think. We ended up in a Irish pub to end off the weekend with a nice beer. Very refreshing and just to mention rest our feet. 

Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon

Outing with my Canadian Friend
What a day :)

This was quite an impulsive decision at first and it wasn't that nicely planned but sometimes going with the flow and just doing things as they appear is also awesome. This was exactly what happened this weekend. We decided on Friday that we are not sitting at home this weekend and decided to go check out the fortress. Built in the 18th century from 1794 - 1796 under the reign of King Yeongjo this very scientifically built wall served as protection to the people in the economic city. This wall is 5,74km long and 1,2 meters in height. I guess they didn't have ladders in that time and couldn't reach higher.

The old city beyond the wall is non-existent after the Korean wall and some parts of the wall was severely damaged in the war. This is quite sad as the new buildings and modern architecture spoils the viewing of the wall to me in a sense but in another light it also shows how much Korea developed since the time of the Korean War. They went from being a 3rd world country to a 1st world country in a time frame of about 50 years. This is amazing considering the time it takes to transform a nation. And this is partly why English teachers are employed so drastically the past 10 years. They want to support their economy by being able to communicate to their neighbouring and other countries. 

We had quite a fun time walking all around the fortress in about 3 hours. We stopped, took a lot of selfies, took awesome videos, did some window-shopping and had awesome iced coffee's afterwards to relax our feet a little. I also then realised I have walked holes in my stockings which is not all that cool since I will have to spend money on buying new ones now. But it was all worth it. 

After visiting the fortress we decided to go hang out in Hongdae, the university town, a little. Chary and I went shopping first. After spending way to much money at H&M (my ultimate favourite place) we had some interesting Korean street food and also sat and ate at the stall on the street, which was weird at first but really interesting. You look at all the people passing by. From people getting carried away on stretchers by paramedics to girls in really high heels and others in tekkies it's quite a site to see. The variation is impressive.  

I also started this new thing now where I will go have drinks or eat cake to celebrate a friends or family member's birthday. This weekend it was Meriska's birthday and although I couldn't celebrate it with her because I'm about 22000km away I still think it's important to celebrate the birthdays of those close to you. So after eating some dinner we went to a club called HO Bar. We were quite hesitant at first since we kind of associate HO with well Whore. But the music was pumping and we decided just to go have a look and we ended up having cocktails there and I had my favourite Malibu as well. I felt quite at home in a way. I don't really go out that much at night to have drinks because it's really expensive and I would rather save it for something like clothes haha. 

We decided to go home around 11pm. Tip: Always check when is the last train home. We missed our last train home and it costed us a penny and a dime to get home. Not the way you want to waste your money. And we only got home 3 hours later eventually. Oh and another Tip: Don't listen to a foreigner who's think he knows everything because he's been here for 3 years. You would expect them to know by now but rather listen to you gut-feeling and the Subway App. It makes things easier and a hell lot cheaper. If I mean expensive try R1120 for a cab to take you home. Yeah! It's ridiculous. 

After this big eventful and super fun day I'm sitting with my feet up for a week. Oh the painful experience that goes with having so much fun. 

 

SHOPPING!!!!

Retail Therapy!!!

I received my very first paycheque and to be completely honest it was quite a shock! A good shock! I have never even thought of having this much money and yet at the same time having this little. I'll explain the little just now. I'm till in the mind set of having a student budget and having to budget the hell out of your allowance. There was months I ended up eating a friends places for the last week since I had no money to afford a whole meal on it's own. It's expensive to eat alone. I'm actually still shocked about getting a salary. My life is almost devoted on paying taxes to a government that doesn't spend it wisely. I'm lucky for this year because I don't have to pay taxes but my time will come. 

We made a deal between all the girls that once we had our salary (and my first) we will have to go do some shopping for summer working attire since shorts and tank tops doesn't quite cut it. Guess what we went and did? SHOPPING!!!! Although I didn't buy that much. The Korean Won Currency still freaks me out a little. I try and convert everything but you know sometimes that just doesn't work. The reason being that everything is basically the Rand x 100. So it's a mental block to spend 50000 won in one day, which is actually only R500. 

So with this mental block I found it hard to spend money until of course Christina came along. Chary and myself went to Uijungbu to meet up with Vicky for a day of shopping and some nice food. This was the Saturday. I didn't spend that much since the plan was to join Christina for a shopping spree on Sunday. I did end up buying clothes but handled myself pretty well. Then on Sunday I joined Christina and spent soooo much. It's all worth it but yeah my purse screamed at my a little afterwards. 

This is a typical Korean dish. In Korean restaurants you
 cook your own meals. You just ask for all the raw ingredients.

I was looking for a gel set since I came here in order to do my own nails and I kind of see it as an investment in a sense since I'll be using it for quite some time. I walked into a beauty store just to look what the LED lights cost and ended up buying a whole kit. Like everything I need. And it's all thanks to Christina. There was a VVIP thing where you get 55% off the gift box (containing all the goodies) if you become a member so I became a member because that is quite a lot of discount for a good product. So I saw another gift box with all the gel colours in it, but you see you can  only get one gift box at discount price for one membership. So Christina also signed up and got me the second gift box. I obviously still owes her money but I have the 2 sets now which is absolutely fantastic. 

Guess what I'm gonna do every week ?

Porfessional night out

"Eat what ever you want and if someone wants to lecture you on your weight, eat them too" - Anonymous

We went out last night for our annual monthly dinner and man was it interesting. Firstly, we went to have a nice starter at a little restaurant that really didn't look much like a restaurant but more like a little shack house. It was quite an interesting little place. I would've liked to show you how it looked but my phone battery was completely flat. I had rice wine for the first time. To describe the taste for you it was like someone through milk into namaqua sweet white wine and gave it a little bit of a fizz. It wasn't too bad to be honest but it wasn't my favourite at all. 

In Korea the tradition is that you are not allowed to drink before the head of the table starts drinking and you should also finish your drink when they finish theirs so that you are ready for a top up. It is considered disrespectful and rude if you don't do it. So what do you think happens? Everybody gets drunk. 

This is the Rice wine and how you drink it. 

And here we all cheers on my first glass with the school. 

After having a little bit of wine we all headed off to the Soyosan Mountains in Uijungbu (walking distance) for a little bit of a hike. I thought we were on our way to the restaurant where we will be having supper but the language barrier caused my assumption to be wrong. We just went up for a little bit of scenery. It was absolutely beautiful. There were cherry blossoms all the way up next to the walkway. It looked like snow with a little bit of pink in it. Absolutely beautiful. And the mountains is also becoming more green by the day. I think it will be stunning in summer never mind in autumn when all those leaves turn into shades of red and orange. We went up so many stairs and then again down so many stairs that I'm not sure how many stairs there were but there was a lot of stairs and it was all worth it. We ended at this beautiful waterfall at the end of the path and this really interesting and beautiful temple. The mountain Soyosan was named after a princes who used to walk though the forests and play in its small waterfalls and natural springs. It is also a very common place for Buddhists to come pray and there is 2 priests also living here. They are actually preparing for Buddhists birthday at the moment which is on 25 May.

 

After our little walk up into the beautiful mountains we head back to the city for a traditional Korean BBQ. I actually like the Korean BBQ since you can eat quite a lot and most of it is eaten with your hands and the variety is quite big. I can eat what I like and leave the rest for the other people. We took off our shoes and went to sit on the floor cushions at the low tables and started packing our meat on the grill. We had duck and pork. It was super nice. Another tradition came out when the principle handed me a shot glass (quite a big one) and asked if I want beer, cider or sojo. Sojo is almost like vodka and you shoot it. It's not the most pleasant taste in the world and luckily I only had one. But to get back to the tradition, if a person in higher authority or ranking throw you a shot you need to give them a shot back of the same thing. And you need to pour it yourself. It is seen as good manners and acceptance/ thanks if you give one back. So the bottle of alcohol doesn't last very long if you are a lot of people and the one handing out the first shots well I think it could be implied how it all turns out.

Every little bowl has something different in it. Here we are having some soup as well because it's good for the digestion. The green bottle is Sojo and empty. 

After dinner the principle gave me a choice where we should go. The choices were coffee house, beer house or karaoke bar. I wanted to choose karaoke bar but I am a little sick so my voice needed some resting. I choose the beer house of course. And she was very keen for that. We ended up in a coffee house in the end but we did still order beer. We had beer in the one hand and ice cream coffee in the other. Talk about best of both worlds. At first I was a little overwhelmed but the whole story but it turned out to be pretty cool. I just wish I understood these people. I feel so stupid when I laugh but have no idea what about.

Best of both worlds.

Got you!!!

ID card ? Check 

After an successful medical examination and a 2 week waiting period I officially have an Korean ID which means I can actually start my life here. You can't do much without one. I need it to open an bank account and to get my own internet as well as buy myself some Herbalife as well. It's not to nice not to have those things. So I guess there is no turning back now. I'm here for a year! Things will get exciting now. 

My Korean ID. 

Brain Stimulation

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest" - Benjamin Franklin

I have decided last year that I am still not happy with what I know. Although I have a degree in Science and a certificate in Education it doesn't satisfy my needs. I have no idea what exactly I want to become in life or how I want to earn a honest living. But that doesn't mean the dreams ain't there. I have so many dreams of what I want to become that it is actually a little unrealistic to become everything. But that said it doesn't mean I have no vision of where I want to be when I'm older. I guess I can't use when I'm big anymore or can I? I am a newbie in the working world. So when I'm big then. 

I always had an interest in listening to my dad's stories about his business and decisions he had to make that what difficult and affected the whole family but that never stopped him from growing and researching the possibilities. It made me think that maybe I should consider another direction on top of what I already have. So I decided now that although I am super far from home and I'm getting my own salary it is a good to invest in myself and rather be overqualified, not that it will stop me.

I started today with my new short course. I'm doing a course in Start and Manage a Small Business. Maybe I won't necessarily use it straight away but I think anybody should have business sense if you want to really make an success in life. Yes you have to have an idea but don't we constantly come up with new ideas and just because we don't necessarily have the knowledge to transform it into a business we kind of just let it go and forget about it. I think everybody must start at the bottom and work their way up. It's just a matter of how fast you want to get there I suppose. If you not willing to learn no one can help you. If you determined to learn no one can stop you. 

I'm a Stellenbosch student and I walked out of university with a big chip on my shoulder because I am one in a very small percentage that have a degree at a world renowned university. I'm proud of it. But when you come to a foreign country and you figure out that what you have is really quite average it removes that chip really quickly. I actually like being intellectually stimulated. It makes me feel good and productive. So today was the first day of many short courses in my life to come. I don't think people should ever stop studying. It can only benefit you and in this world there is so much to learn that it's impossible to study everything but that doesn't mean you can try. 

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change"- Steven Hawking