Spring Roadtrip

Kevin was our wheels in Korea. But more than that, he was our friend, and a very caring and thoughtful one. Though the gas price in Korea is 4x the price here, he never hesitated to bring us around nice places in Daejeon.

Today, Kevin brought us to Daecheong Dam Park. It is a dam, surprise.
But damn! The cherry blossoms--in full bloom, lining the pedestrian, gracing the lifeless gray roads, falling like pink snow on our heads--were such creations to behold!

Here is our party: The guy with a pink inner wear is Jinhyeong, my 1st semester Korean buddy;

Tanya, my most beautiful co-scholar from the Philippines;

and Freda (Singapore) and Kenneth (Malaysia), my barkada in those times.


What I like about parks in Korea is that they are never boring, even if you go there without a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Daecheong Dam is just one of the few educational parks where visitors can get to know how hydroelectric power is generated by strong water currents and a turbine. This park also has a museum that showcases miniature setup of a hydroelectric plant, live aquatic organisms that thrive well within the operating perimeters of the dam, and information boards on how there should be very minimal footprints of development on ecology.



This day was really a walk to remember for the six of us. Driving back, I bid farewell to the cherry blossoms whose life is transitory, as it was beautiful, as my 10-month stay in Korea.

Ewwphony of the Night

"If you have nothing to do tonight, I invite you to go sing to singing room with us together." This message was sent to me by my 1st semester Korean buddy Kim JinHyeong. It was April; I am very fresh in Korea, Korea is fresh to me. I didn't know what a singing room is but I gladly obliged. I went with the other ASEAN students to meet JinHyeong downtown. He was with two other Korean buddies, Chaehun the Taekwondo champ and YeongHun the Shy Guy.

This room was unlike what I've seen before. We don't have a singing room with an interior like this in the Philippines. I thought it was uniquely Korean.

Alas, inside the sound-proof walls of the Noraebang I sang like I have never sung before. It was a wild night! And I am not showing the photos!

1 hour later, the ajjoshi (mister) entered the room to announce a "free service". Koreans broadly use the word "service" to mean freebies, extras, and discounts. The mister was kind enough to give us 20 more cacophonous minutes for free. But we were kinda worried about the curfew actually; the dorm closes at 11pm and we started walking back at 10:30. The dorm is 20 minutes away from the Noraebang by foot if we walk leisurely.

"Horeb, gwenchana", says YeongHun. I asked him what "gwenchana" means. He said that Koreans say gwenchana to mean "It's okay. Don't worry." YeongHun told me that the dorm administrator would let us in because they're friends. haha.

Ooh. I learned three Korean words today, aside from discovering my hidden talent worth hiding: noraebang, so-bi-su (service), and gwenchana. ^^; The boon of informal learning begins here.

We made it to the dorm on time, yearning to go back again to the Noraebang.

And the Atomic Bomber Award Goes to...

Ms. Betchay of Life in Korea ^^;

Hydrogen Bomber - Crissy's Heaven

TNT Bomber - Big Boys Have Toys Too

Thank you very much for much EC drops!

As promised, the winners will receive the top 3 most picturesque shot I have of Mt. Geumgang in North Korea. ^^;
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EC DROPPING CONTEST ROUND II

Luftwaffe Droppers be ready. Winners will be announced on August 22. He or she will receive the best photo of Mt. Sorak in South Korea.

The Chronicles of the Northern Kimchi 3 of ~

After dinner and a short dabble in the East Sea, we prepared for our 3-kilometer walk towards a high-school near the 38th parallel. The place where we are now is the most proximate town to North Korea. (Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name; I hope I would dream of it since I always dream lucidly). We were chanting "dongil-euro", which means "towards unification" while walking under the pouring rain, side by side with fired-up Daejeon University students. It was good that we were provided with raincoats that we used for this march and for hiking Mt. Geumgang. This raincoat is one of my valuable possessions since it has been rained upon both in the South and North. I am keeping it safe in my drawer.

Anyhow, upon reaching the high school, we watched an on-stage performance of Daejeon University students. There were things of sorts and wacky stunts that I've never really seen anywhere: head-smashing a huge watermelon, a drama that I really didn't understand, thanks to my diligence studying Korean, and a tribute of happy (and some lugubrious) parents who are really proud of their children who are participating in this reunification march.
But what struck me most was the rubberband stunt performed by two male Daejeon University students where they both wore five huge rubberbands encircling their bodies, walked apart from each other till the rubberbands snap off, flinching their backs and tummies. Ouch, ouch! I'm so sorry for them. And I'm also sorry for the two famous rappers who took the stage and brought the house down though it was raining like hiking the next day would be impossible.

The Chronicles of the Northern Kimchi 1 of ~
The Chronicles of the Northern Kimchi 2 of ~

Just another "F" Word

Our lives are bound to a lot of farewells. But this fact is just so unforgiving that most of us have never really learned to come to terms with it. Tomorrow you might be hearing the "F" word. And you could very well respond with yet another "F" word.

Today was Sir Philip Kim's last day in Duzon. His resignation was unwelcome, as it was unexpected, for those who love him. But for those who don't, well, I won't give a damn writing about what they could have felt. When I was a terrorized newbie in Duzon, Sir Philip became my reassurance that there is Good--as there is Bad--in any 'race'. To Team Rio, he was more than just a competent class manager; he was a friend, a good adviser, he was loved than feared. To others, Sir Philip could just be a source of abundant laman-tiyan. He won't mind. For so long as you'll be eating pichi-pichi, so long as you'll be passing by Amber, his name would just become more indelibly written on your memory. Philip. Pichi. Philip. Pichi.

Amber.

The Girl and His Cat

It was the warmest, most feline hug I have ever seen in my life. I almost felt it myself when the Cat hugged the Girl. They were always together, not wavering in their love for each other. Wherever the Girl goes, she brings with her the Cat. I saw them blithely playing on top of a small green hill where an old catholic chapel and a playground stand. They were enjoying under the summer sky and the light, crisp wind from the East when the dogs arrived. The dogs ran after the Cat. But the Girl lifted the Cat up to her bosom and the Cat clung to her like a vulnerable human soul. The girl scared the dogs away and warned them not to harm her Cat ever again.

The Cat thought: "Why do I feel such connection with this Girl? I cannot remember...Why? ..."But try as she may, she cannot put to rest the mysterious feeling. The Girl, too, thought about the affection she holds towards the cat. She couldn't figure the whyness of it all either.

But Fate knows.

The Girl had a friend who died not so long ago...

Mine the Free Stuff

The freebee mentality exists everywhere. I think we are just hardwired to want for things that we don’t really worked that hard for. It could be coming from a primordial impulse when Nature has been providing all of our needs. But then, it could just be because of plain laziness. Anyway, you can talk about freebee mentality in relation to Marx’s Das Capital or Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism. Point is, everyone loves freebies. I was looking for a good Wordpress template when I stumbled upon this All4FreeHere. This doesn’t just offer free templates but also free fonts, scripts and many other valuable resources that you don’t need to pay for. It’s a free catalog website that provides a list of things that are free and cheap. For those who are saving even a buck for oil, I think this site is for you. This also has an entrecard so you could be very well become EC buddies.