Hello all!
I hope for those of you who have come across my Student In Korea blog have found it useful. Just wanted to give everyone an update, I have started a new blog to write about a new chapter in my life. Cindy and I are having a baby!
Please follow us at:
http://www.ourfirstlittlebaby.blogspot.com
Hey all!
I guess I haven't been around to reply to most of my comments so I apologize for that. I am also sorry for not starting up a new StudentinHK blog, again, I have just been so busy.
Well, just a few updates about my personal life. I am still in HK, but working now as an English teacher. I enjoy my job as I can help enrich children's lives. When I go home after work, I feel satisfied that at least the knowledge I have gained can be passed to others. I am having a wonderful time in HK, love every moment. I hope I can set up my future here and would love to blog about that. My girlfriend and I, Wanjun, are planning for marriage which is great news. It is amazing to think that we both met in Korea and are from different countries and yet we can still maintain our relationship. Love has no boundaries!
If you guys want me to continue to blog about HK, I can do so. But I need to hear your input! Let me know what you guys think and I would love to write about the lifestyle here, the food, the culture, the people, basically everything! But you guys need to let me know.
Thanks!
Bryan Leung
Well two year have past since my time in Korea. Well, not a full two years, just two years since the day I arrived in South Korea. Things have flown by quite fast and it seems like just yesterday I was at E-Z drinking some wonderful soju.
Anyways, to make a long story short:
A new blog will be made soon. This time, in Hong Kong........
-Bryan Leung
Well it has been a while since I have made a new update. I am now back in Canada studying at SFU and missing Korea everyday. I wont continue this blog because there is nothing really to say. But I will continue to answer questions and help those who are interested in studying in Korea, going to Korea or learning about Korea.
You can contact me through MSN at: studentinkorea@hotmail.com
I am also on Facebook.com and my name is Bryan Leung.
If you have any questions about anything, please don't hesitate to ask me. I really hope that if you are considering going to Korea, you actually do it. Korea is a beautiful country with lots of culture and things to do. I feel so bored now in Vancouver and one day I hope to go back to visit my friends there now.
Here is my review of my flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver using the new low cost airline Oasis Airline
The process went pretty smooth I must say. My luggage ended up being 33kg but they let me go even though the allowance was only 30kg. I ended up shoving all my heavy stuff into my two carry on packages. One was at least 7kg and the other 10kg but the the airport did not seem to care.
After a bit of duty free shopping I lined up to go on board of my flight. They checked my ticket and passport and allowed me on the plane. Practically everyone had 2 or 3 carry on luggages so I guess their 1 carry on luggage rule does not apply.
The flight went off on schedule. Around 1.5 hours into the flight we received our first meals. It was either chicken or beef and I opted for the chicken. It came with some noodles, a bun, water and a apple pie dessert.
The cabin air was very dry so I took full advantage of the free non alcohol drinks by drinking plenty of orange juice. Alcohol drinks were of extra charge around $6 for a can of beer. Snacks were also $2 and cup of noodles were $3 which I did not get.
The seats were pretty tight. Of course it was a 747 so they had 3 seats per side and I believe 5 in the middle section. I sat near the window so I could sleep easier but I wasn't able to sleep much on my 11.5 hour flight. The leg space seemed limited, and the seats could not recline much.
My United Airlines flight from San Fran to Seoul was much more comfortable because it had more leg room for me to stretch (I am not a big guy, 177cm). There were roughly 10 video channels playing on the TV. I ended up watching Superman Returns, Aladin, Elizabethtown (sucked), Beauty and The beast, some chinese money (english name: Men Suddenly in Black 2) and Dukes Of Hazard. I am glad they played Dukes of Hazard because I was finally able to fall asleep, what a boring movie.
I woke up after around a 1.5 nap a bit hungry and I could see they were preparing breakfast. The option for breakfast was either Chinese dimsum or american eggs. I went for the dimsum which included an egg tart, fruit, and some other dishes which I do not know the english name. They microwaved the whole dish so the fruit inside was warm which didn't taste that good. They should of left the fruit out before zapping it.
It was another 2 hours until we would arrive at YVR so I just watch some TV but was mostly looking outside. The sky was amazing that day:
The flight ended up being 25 minutes late of our arrival time but that was ok. Overall, Oasis Airline is exactly what it is, a low frills airfare with great price. My ticket after taxes ended up being $474. I think it was worth it considering it got me from point A to B at a low cost and I feel satisfied with the service.
A tip to those traveling to Hong Kong and back. Book a one way airfare using the Canadian website but then book your return, another one way using the China English site. You will save over $100 after taxes! I was going to book from HK - Van on the English website and I told my girlfriend about Oasis. She went through the Chinese site using English and for the same flight, after tax and conversion, I saved just under $100! You can't book from Vancouver - HK using the Chinese site, only HK - Van or London so use the Canadian site to book outgoing flights but return use the Chinese one and that should help you save some money :)
Well I am finally back in Vancouver Canada after a 171 day hiatus in Asia. Too be continued....
Hello from China!!! Sorry I have not been able to update my blog lately, I have no internet access in the apartment that I am staying at so I can only go to the university or lan café around the corner to go on the net. Still, I cannot access my blog (www.studentinkorea.blogspot.com) in the area of Beijing that I am living in. I do not know if it’s just the area (University District) or all of Beijing, but for some reason, if I try to go to my site, it is blocked and takes me to a search engine.
Well life here in Beijing is MUCH different than in Korea and Canada. It is very crowded and very hot. The temperatures lately have been above 32degrees but it is humid so I have been sweating a lot. One weird thing is that I was told it never or barely rains in Beijing during the summer, yet for the past 8 days (Today is June 27, 2007 and I arrived on June 19th, 2007) it has rained probably 4 times and today there was a lightning and thunderstorm. I was also told that Beijing has a water shortage so I think that since I have arrived in Beijing, I have given the people the gift of water. To help their fruits and vegetables grow and to give more water to the people. I am like the water god here I suppose. Kekeke. Anyways, the life style here is very different. I don’t want to sound to rude, but I must be honest. First, the driving here is insane. There are many people riding bikes on the road and there are lots of cars everywhere. The cars just cut each other off without worrying and they also cut off the busses to which the busses cut back. Honking here seems like the national anthem. You hear it every other second and its non stop. The cars don’t stop for people either and the people do not seem to worry. People on bikes ride infront of a car and the car just keeps going. The car inches by the bike leaving maybe 1 inch space and no one seems to care. The people are seem to be a bit rude as well. When asking for questions, even in mandarin they are hesitant to answer you even if that is their job. People seem reluclant to help each other and they do not care about manners. I am not one to judge because that is their style of life, I just find it different. Not better or not worse, just different. In Korea people were very respectful of each other and there were many cultural traditions to show respect to elders or customers. But in Beijing, nothing that I have seen so far.
Also in Beijing, smoking seems like it is allowed everywhere. It is very weird to see people smoke inside a restaurant, a school cafeteria, or even in an office. In Korea, smoking was allowed but many people still just smoked outside. The strangest must have been seeing people smoke inside the university cafeteria and also maybe the higher end restaurants.
These were the major cultural differences I have found so far. Beijing is still a great city. Items here are cheap for me but I assume they are expensive for the local people. When I arrived, Wanjun’s cousin treated us out for dinner at a upper scale restaurant. We had lots of food to eatsuch as Shark skin, fish, bbq goose, and many others and although I do not know the exact price, it wasn’t too expensive compared to what I am used too. At the cafeteria, I eat a big bowl of noodles in soup that taste great and also a big 1litre bottle of orange Juice for just over $1.20usd which is amazing. Oh, I have also been eating lots of fruits because there are tons of people selling them on the corner. I feel much more healthy here than I did back in Korea and much much more compared to Canada. In China, I have been doing LOTS of walking around but I don’t feel as tired as I did in Korea.
So far for the past week, we have not done too much. Wanjun has taken me around to show me some of the great food such as the Peking duck, congee, pizza and other things. Again, not too expensive for me (although I have very little money). I cant believe I would spend so much on a BBT drink back home when here it is less than 50 cents but in Canada it is $4.50. I have also bought some DVDs such as Ocean 13, Fantastic Four 2, and all 6 seasons of 24 for less than $6usd. The quality was pretty good except for FF2 and also I must go back because the 24 is in mandarin so I will change it to english. We have also been to a few malls to do some shopping and I bought some clothes that isn’t too expensive.
The major thing I have done so far was probably yesterday when we went to Tinanmen square and also the Forbidden City. The square was nice and big. There were many famous buildlings around it such as Mao’s tomb and also some museums. The Forbidden city was massive. I was told that there are 9999.5 buildings inside and a bunch of parks and shops. I really wanted to go to Starbucks inside the forbidden city so we went that. The thought that Starbucks is inside the FORBIDDEN city makes me laugh. The place where the kings are burried and there is a starbucks there. I ended up buying a Tuna sandwhich and Ice latte for 49rmb which is around $6usd which is pretty expensive in China. The same price is half of what we paid for on a BIG meal that Wanjun treated me. There we had Duck, curry, rice, vegetables, and two big fish heads. Anyways, going to those two places was very cool. Although there were many people there, Wanjun said it wasn’t that busy so it was lucky for me. We did do a lot of walking yesterday so we were both very sore. After we went to Wanfunjing for some more shopping and I bought some more gifts. That place was very nice and had a lot of high end shopping. Many watch stores that sold Rolexs, Tag Heur, Tissot and many other expensive brands.
Next week we will go to the great wall and do other touristy stuff. Hopefully I can post this post on my blog before we do it or else this will be even longer. I am just using a notepad and I will upload this post along with pictures when I can finally access my blog. Again, sorry for the lack of post but I just wanted to let everyone that whats up.
Oh, if you are in Beijing and want to meet me, my number is 15801255501 so just give me a call or text. Take care ^_^
This will be my last post from The Republic of Korea. I will leave the dorms within two hours and head to Cheonan. From there, I will take a bus to Incheon and have Juno pick me up and I will stay at his house for the night and he will drop me off at the airport tomorrow. I will miss this place, it was a fun experience that I will never forget. Well, my next post will be made in China so good luck everyone ^_^
So I will leave Korea on Tuesday June 19th at 6:30pm from ICN and will fly to Beijing China. I will spend approximately one month in Beijing. I will also go to Tianjing to visit a few friends there and also maybe go to Shanghai. After a month or so, I will travel down to Guangzhou either from Beijing or Shanghai and spend a couple of weeks there and then travel south to Hong Kong. I will spend a week or two there and then finally leave from HKG to arrive at YVR. I have not booked any tickets besides my one way to Beijing from Korea. I will see how my financial status is to see what I can and cannot afford. But I do want to have lots of fun in China because I know it will be another great learning experience and also I will not have the same opportunity to do this again. I might as well enjoy it while I am young and free. Of course, I will be traveling with Wanjun ^_^. I will keep on posting about China if you guys want, or I might just stop this blog after I leave Korea. StudentInKorea is about Korea, but I can continue about China and just my life if you guys are interesting in reading. Let me know! Thanks ^_^
[edit] Oh if anyone is in China and wants to offer us a free place to stay, please contact me via msn or email at BryanL@hotmail.com Please and thanks ^_^
Well it is finally over. English Village program is at it's end. 16 weeks have now passed since we all met each other for the first time.
Today, my roommate Lee Hunjoon had to leave due to an emergency. He was suppose to leave tomorrow but went back to Seoul today. I helped him carry his stuff and see him off in the taxi. It was very hard to say goodbye. He had taught me a lot of things, not only about Korean culture but about myself. I have never had an older brother but he was like one to me. He watched over me and helped me mature a bit. He was very kind and such a good guy. He treated me out for so many meals, gave me a USB drive for my bday, threw me into a piss filled dirty pond, and basically took care of me. I will really miss him. Joon, never give up on your dreams. Your english communication skills are great, do not worry about TOEIC, you will do fine. I believe in you and I know you will do good things in life. ^_^
Right now, I sit in the GV lounge awaiting to see all the Chinese Village people leave. They will take the 8am bus to Incheon Airport and depart back to China. I have met so many of them and they have all been very nice to me. Their english skills are amazingly good and we have become great friends.
Later tonight, Oscar, Ray and Jon will leave as well. It is very sad to see everyone go. I think it is harder to say goodbye to the Koreans and Chinese because the International students I am sure I will see again. Vegas next year right Team Swordfight? kekeke.
Well I just wanted to list a few names of all my friends that I have met. Here is to you guys, goodbye :(
Hunjoon
Jaechun
James
Mijeong
Heejin
Haelim
Sungdoon
Tae Young
Min Kim
Shin Jae
Korean Ray
Han Songho
Soju King
Dongwoo
Jin Ho
Juno
Ray's Roommate (lol)
Addison's Roommate
Daisy
Summer
Joyce
Maggie
Vera
Angelina
Tracy
Phillip
Donny
Celina
Anime
Yufai
Winter
Leishan
Jiangjun
Oscar
Keith
Addison
Ray
Jon
Josh
Ryan
Will
Ashlee
Melissa
Chris M Kim
Radomir
Lesly
Anna
Wendy Wu
Whitney
Deon
Henry
Carlos
Sadeed
Dajong
If I forgot your name, im sorry (it is 7am and I have not slept and drank a bit last night) but you know I will miss you too!
Special goodbye to Joon, Juno, Team Sword Fight, Han Songho (니가 D.T.A), and Jiangjun. Thank you guys for showing me around Korea and making this experience unforgetable. You guys are the best ^_^
Here is a link to the English Village closing video for spring 2007 that Deon Ong from Singapore made:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2404133053924160921&hl=en
As I sit here at 4am studying for my Korean Conversation final, I realize this is my last week here at SCH. We have finals all this week and then it will be over. 16 weeks have come and gone and they have been so many memories. All my friends here, both International from Western countries, Asian countries and also my Korean friends will be far away. It is amazing to think that so many people, from all different parts of the world would gather in one location, become such good friends and then dispurse back. To think, I come from Canada alone not knowing anyone in Korea and now I have countless of friends. Friends that I have met within Global Village, friends from school, friends that you meet through another friend who ends up being a Chinese born Canadian that lived in Vancouver and is now teaching here. Friends that you meet at a random club in Hongdae, talked briefly, and find out that 1 month later they find out your blog and write a comment, exchange MSN and are from different sides of the world. I will never forget this experience and the great bonds I have made. What a truly great learning experience this has been. I came to Korea to have fun, and what I got from it was being able to speak a little korean, reading and writing korean, great friends, great memories and a great girl.
On Thursday we had our EV closing ceremony for the spring 07 semester. They presented awards and certificates and also showed a movie recapping the year, made by fellow student, Deon. After the 1 hour ceremony, we all went out for dinner. It was at a new restaurant and the food was decent. The normal meats and seafood was served but this time they had some french fries, crappy sushi and some other dishes. As always, free soju and beer was served. I tried not to drink that much, but because it was the last time we would all be together, I couldn't say no. We played the normal drinking games such as the watermelon game, baskin robins, 3,6,9 and rock paper scissors. I didn't lose that much so I didn't get too drunk. We did manage to make our korean friend, Han, drink a Do Re Mi shot. He won "The best Korean student in English Village" award so we wanted to give him OUR prize. A Do Re Mi shot is basicallly three drinks. You must drink one shot of Soju, one glass of beer, and one glass of half beer and half soju. All this within a minute. It doesn't seem that hard, but trust me, it is. I know because I had to do it a day earlier for my birthday. Anyways, we kept drinking until the EV officers told us to continue back at the dorms so we all left.
When I got back to the dorms, I went to go see Wanjun (she is part of Chinese Village and not English Village). I met up with her until my hyong called me and ask me to meet him at the back gate of the school. I was a bit scared because I knew I would be forced to drink more since it was probably our last night of drinking until after finals. Well Wanjun and I both went and met up with Hunjoon and all three of us walked to a local restaurant. When we got there, I was very happy because it was a fresh sashimi restaurant. I told my roommate that I have been dying for Sushi this whole semester and he took us to a sushi place.
We sat down, ordered the set menu and got a glass of soju for us to share. We started to drink slow until the food arrived. The first dish that came was...raw octupus legs that were still moving around. They were chopped up unto sizes of probably 2cm and they all kept moving around. I have always wanted to try this, but never got a chance. Wanjun was a bit scared but my hyong and I dipped right in. The taste was a bit chewy and the suctions kept sticking to my tongue, but with a bit of soya sauce and lots of chewing, it finally went down. It was pretty good and Wanjun finally tried one. We also ate fresh raw clams, seasnails, some red thingy, and some fish that looked like hamachi. All the food was great. Halfway through the meal, Deon decided to join us and we all had fun. We finished off 5 Soju bottles for the 3.5 (.5 for Wanjun) of us. I got very drunk!
We then all went to the local Noreabang (KTV) to sing some songs. I was very tired from all the alcohol consumption and when we finished, we took a taxi back and I quickly passed out.
Sadly, none of us brought a camera to the sashimi restaurant. The photos posted are those at the EV ceremony and first restaurant.
안녕하세요. 만나서반갑습니다. 저는 브라이언입니다. 캐나다 사람입니다. 대학생입니다. 저는 사이먼 프레이져대학교를 다닙니다. 그리고 전공은 경제학입니다. 나이가 23입니다. 안녕히 계세요. 감사합니다.
브라이언 렁
Thanks to good old www.youtube.com I was able to take these videos from the 2007 Soonchunhyang spring festival. Just a few of the concerts and firework display:
Psy Concert:
Fireworks:
[edit] Thanks Will Sanchez for posting these videos on youtube. I have now jacked them from you! keke ^_^
So this past Saturday I had met up with some old friends that I have not seen in over 5 months! They are my Korean friends who I had met from Vancouver. In one of my previous posts in December, I talked about 3 Korean students studying abroad in Vancouver and how we all went to have dinner together at Shabusen. Well, on Saturday, we all met up again for the first time. It was also their first time seeing each other since they arrived back in Korea. Andre, Hailly (although she has now changed her english name to Helen), and Sally along with some other friends went to eat lunch at a local restaurant. It was a fun time chatting with them again, now in their home country. The stories we all had to share was amazing. The first thing they all said to me was that I look much skinnier now, which is a good thing, I think. Sally had also mentioned that she really misses Vancouver and that she wants to go back. The food was also good. We had korean bbq (the usual) which was much cheaper than when we ate in Vancouver. Andre, being the oldest, was nice enough to pay for all 8 of us. Here are some pictures of the lunch:
Well I decided to take some pictures of my room just to show how it is like after all my stuff is here. Earlier, I took some pictures of my room with nothing and now it is filled with junk.
I am dreaming, but not of energy...
Well yesterday my friend Addison and I decided to do something new, so we went to Onyang to go to the famous hot springs. The Onyang Hotel and Hot Springs is a famous destination for many Koreans and internationals to go to relax in the natural mineral water. The hot springs offers 57 degree celcius weak alkali water directly from the hot spring hole on the natural rock layer. It helps with stress relief and skin treatment as well as diseases such as neuralgia and rheumatism. Addison and I were a bit nervous at first because everyone MUST be naked when in the hot springs and the walk fro the locker room to the water is a nervous walk. At first it was wierd, but after a while we just got adjusted to it. There were 4 pools inside and 1 outdoor with two powerful jets that would help massage your back. There was also a steam room inside and a sauna outside. Showers were also there of course to clean before entering and exiting the springs. It was a very relaxing experience. Something that I would do again. It was only 5000won which is very cheap.
A bit of history...
There are two improtant cultural properties in Onyang Hot spring hotel. The first one is Shinjeongbi(No. 229 Provincial Cultural property, December 31, 1990). In 1468, while Sejo, the 7th king of Chosun Dynasty took a bath with hot spring water, he discovered warm water came from one side near cold water. Then he named the spring Shinjeong and set up a Shinjeong Monumnet to commemorate it. It was repaired in 1483, 14th year of Seongjong.
The second one is Yeonggoedae. In 1760, 36th year of Yeongjo, the Prince Sado came to Onyang Rural Palace. It is the place where he practiced Court martial arts. Onyang Governor Yoon Yeom planted three pagoda trees at the time. Later on, in 1795(19th year of Jeongjo) King Jeongjo set up a Monument of Yeonggoedae to commemorate it. The characters "Yeonggoedae" on the front side is writings of King Jeongjo's own and inscriptions were written by Joon Haeing Im, son of Yeon Yeom.
Onyang palace was built provisionally in 5th years of Taejo, Josun Dynasty, was extended to a hot spring palace on September in 14th year of Sejong, was used exclusively by the royal family were Kings, Taejo, Sejong, Sejo, Hyunjong, Sukjong, and Youngjo, rest and performed their offical duties and a civil service examination called 'Onyang Byulsi' was carried out, and now is the Onyang hot spring Hotel where 6 former presidents including president Park Junghee stayed.
***Note: These pictures were taken off the website and not from our camera.***
So today a few of my friends and I decided to go eat some Gaegogi! For those of you who do not know what it is, it translates into dog meat. Gae = Dog and gogi = meat. We went to a local restaurant that serves gaegogi soup. The cost is 10,000won and it is enough to feed two people. So the 8 of us shared 4 bowls and it was pretty good. It came with rice and the side dishes such as kimchee of course. The meat itself was very soft. If I did not know it was dog meat, I would of thought it was lamb or some soft boiled meat. The soup base was a bit bitter. We added lots of pepper to the soup (that is how it is suppose to be eaten) so that might of affected the taste. Overall, it was something new and something that I really wanted to try. Now I can add to the list of wierd things I have tried. To name a few others, I have tried balut which is a baby duck fetus inside the egg and also horse sashimi which is thin slices of raw horse! Yummmy!
Today Wanjun and I decided to go to Cheonan to watch the much hyped Pirates of The Caribbean 3. The first two Pirates movies were good, the third one, not so much. I found it to be boring. There was too much talk and not enough action. The storyline wasn't that good either. I even almost fell asleep. For those fans of the series, I suggest you watch it and maybe you would enjoy it more than me. I think I might of put too much hope into the movie but in the end, I was disappointed. I hope Ocean's 13 and Transformers will be much better.
Anyways, my day wasn't all full of disappointments. We went to McDonalds for lunch on a mission, to get a glass Coca Cola cup. McDonalds is having a promotion that if you buy a Big Mac meal and supersize it, you can get a Coca Cola glass cup as well! All for 4900won which is a pretty good deal. If you go from 11am-2pm it is only 3000won! I really wanted one because all my friends were able to get it. One of my friends even has 7 cups within the 3 week span of the promotion!
