Saturday, July 31, 2010

Boryeong Mud Festival 2010

Boryeong Mud Festival is an annual event which is held in Boryeong, west coast of Korea peninsula. In this event, you can have a lot of fun with mud, like mud wrestling, mus sliding, mud painting, etc. They say that mud is good for your skin (really?). This event is usually held in summer. I went there at the last day of the festival which was on 25 of July 2010. There was a 10.000Won roundtrip bus from Daejeon^^. From Daejeon, it takes around 2 hours to get to Boryeong by bus.


I think this event is worth visiting. Because it is unusual and it is actually fun and interesting =].
More pictures here^^.

앙가
Jul 31 2010

-- I need to study.

Friday, July 23, 2010

School Trip

On 16 July, me and my classmates and other class went to have a school trip. We went to a city called 공주 [GongJu] not far from Daejeon.  First place is a temple which name is 영평사 [YeongPyeongSa]. We were welcomed by a monk and then we were served with a cup of tea called 연꽃 차 [YeonKkutCha] which means Lotus tea. 맜있었다!!


And then after that, teng teng teng ㅋㅋㅋ the big job is coming! So three of us were kindly willing to help the monk to get the leaves of Lotus. What for? you will see. Anyway, we had to wear this funny rubber clothes and I really looked like a Mario. And out task was taking the leaves of Lotus ... at the swamp ... ㅋㅋ I know, it was scary but there were no snakes or crocodiles though. But really, it was really hard to move as you had to step on the mud.




Even though we were so tired and the job was very difficult (and the weather was very hot) we finally collected a lot of leaves so that we could eat for that day. *sigh we really had to work really hard for our stomach.
So ... the leaves was then for wrapping the rice. In temple, monk do not eat any kind of meat, so we have to eat this red rice mixed with several kinds of bean. So, the rice was put on the leaves (of course it was cleaned first) and then we wrapped it and we waited for several minutes. But, because we were really hungry, we just ate it anyway. My tongue did not really agree with the taste though. Anyway, the guys seemed to like it ^^.


After that, we once again drunk the tea and then ready to go to the next place.
The next place is Gongsanseong Fortress. It is a fortress inside the city, but because the guide was speaking in Korean, I did not really understand about this fortress.




And then we went straight to Gongju National Museum where we could see the discovery of the King which I forget his name. They said the King was very big and the shoe size is enormous. Anyway, it was interesting.


Then we went back to Daejeon.
Hey ... that leave could be a hat too ^^


앙가
7/23/2010

Thursday, July 15, 2010

초콜릿처럼 달아요 | Sweet as Chocolate

I had not expect that my birthday (read: few days after my birthday) was going to be really interesting. First of all, it was in Daejeon, South Korea which made my birthday was my first birthday in Korea. Secondly, PARTY ... not really a party though, it was a sweet gathering of Indonesian people in one restaurant to celebrate 2 people who had birthday, who is me and Mas Christ. We ate 찜닭 [JjimTak] which is similar to Indonesian food called semur. And of course, cakes sweetened my birthday. Not only my Indonesian friend, but my Korean friend, whom I study English and Korean language with, gave me a sweet cake ... and a sweet doll lol.

Picture by Hadi PS.


And oh, I also had a small celebration on my TOPIK preparation class, those guys are sweet.

Picture by Edvan Muslimy

Yes -- sweetness is my theme for this post. ㅋㅋ

-- The doll looks very sad, though. I wonder why ㅋㅋ

앙가
July 15 2010

Thursday, July 8, 2010

21

21st --> Daejeon, South Korea

Special, is it not?

-- This writing is just a runaway from my loneliness on my own birthday ㅋㅋㅋ. Just to keep me happy^^; because today there was no party nor cake T.T; unlike my birthdays when I was in the US where there were surprise parties (even though I had always known there would be party for me) and cakes.
Anyway, I got a letter from my best friend 선미, she and 은정 where the ones who picked me up at the airport =] they have been very nice friends of mine. Thanks guys!!


Friendship is always sweet =]

Happy Birthday Angga Saftira ^^

앙가

Sunday, July 4, 2010

WSK Batch 3 Camp -- Gunsan and Jeonju

Google Map - maps.google.com
A is Jeonju and B is Gunsan

July 2 - July 3, WSK, World Students in Korea program, had a camp to two cities in south west part of Korea peninsula. Gunsan, the industrial city, is a place where we visit 2 new factories. First, we visit Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard where they make ship and sell it to another country. At the time we visit that place, there were 2 ready-to-send-ships, and they were really huge. They said they make 20 ships per year (if I am not mistakenly heard). Second factory was Hyundai Wind Turbine Plant. They make wind turbine to supply electric energy. They actually mentioned about how much energy they make per wind turbine, but then I did not really pay attention to it, sowwyyy. Anyway, this city is pretty much similar like my hometown, Balikpapan. We also have these heavy equipment factories like Thiess, Volvo and Schlumberger. Also, we have a lot of Oil Mining Factory, such as Pertamina, Chevron Indonesia Company, Total, etc. So, it was pretty much reminding me of home sweet home.


We were prohibited to take any picture because what is going on at those places are very very big secret, so I just have some picture, that is one of them, the miniature of wind turbine produced by Hyundai.

After from Gunsan, we went to Jeonju city. It is said that Jeonju is very famous of 5 things which among them is Bibimbap. Long time ago, the King of Korea did not want to eat Bibimbap except Bibimbap from Jeonju. 


We went to a place where we made one of famous liquor in Korea which is Makkoli (I am really not sure how to spell it). It was really interesting and I got one bottle if it ^^. Makkoli has a low percentage of alcohol but then they said if you keep it for a long time, the percentage of alcohol will increase. And I just knew that you do not want to fill alcohol inside a bottle full, because alcohol needs to breath lol. but really, do not fill it full.


After from Makkoli Museum, then we went to Hanok where we would spend one night, a.k.a our shelter. Korea tradition is to separate male and female to different houses. So, for male students, we spent one night in a house called 양사재 [YangSaJe] and in that house our room has a floor with heating system called Ondol. How cool is that?!? really relaxing and comfortable.


Nope, the day had not ended yet, next is Bibimbap ala Jeonju. I can not comment on this since I am not a big fans of Vegetable, but for your information, Bibimpab is a Korea cuisine which consist of rice, meat, egg, and veggie mixed together. What makes Jeonju Bibimbap special are because long time ago the King only ate Bibimbap from Jeonju and it uses beef instead of pork. hmm yummy -- not for me though ^^.


After Bibimbap, we had some games followed by a cake hahah pretty interesting and fun, I did not take any picture though because it was so fun^^. While eating a very delicious chocolate cake, we were spoiled by a very nice Bansuri, music performance, special in Korea. It was really beautiful. They used traditional instrument and the last performance they used modern instrument. Both of them were awesome.  Always interesting!! 


This performance reminded me of Gamelan performance from Indonesia which I watched when I was in the US. Emm Bansuri did not do any dance though, unlike Gamelan performance which sometimes accompanied by some dances.

Pictures by Isna Ahmad

The next day -- We had this small trip around the village of Hanok. First, we went to a palace. The guide said a lot of things. I caught some interesting things. Why the entrance is on the east side? because it is like the sun which rise on the east side which is good thing (I have no idea what am I writing, but it is good thing anyway). Dragon on clothes means the person who wears it is a King. If the dragon on that clothes has 5 toes it means he is a great King or the highest level of King. Turtle on statue means long live. Bamboo could be a weapon (like bambu runcing in Indonesia). And if you happen to see statue with two lions with it, you can recognize which one is female which one is a male by looking on their mouth. Female lion usually is the silent one.


Next destination is Hanji Traditional Paper Center, where they produce pure Korea paper or Hanji. The material is from tree called 닥나무 [TakNaMu]. The paper is very difficult to tear and it is also used as the material to make paper clothes for funeral. The process seemed to not really difficult, but I think it needs experience. First they pour the liquid material to the printing block and then they cut it with a blue string. The wet paper then are dried in a flat metal board. It looks thin but it is actually a very strong paper.


After learning how to make Hanji, we learnt how to use Hanji to decorate our fan ^^. Unfortunately, I am NOT an artist at all hahahah I think mine was the worst among the WSK students (ㅡㅡ;) sigh.


And that is the end of the story. From what I have learnt, I think WSK wants to show us the balance of Korea. Gunsan is where we can see the modern side of Korea. And not far from Gunsan, Jeonju provides us with the traditional side of Korea. Both of them are impressive. We ate Bibimbap again before going back to home sweet home.

-- Thanks WSK, can't wait for the next camp on August ^^;

앙가



World Cup 2010 - South Korea vs Greece


We traveled far away from Daejeon to Seoul City Hall to watch first game of South Korea versus Greece (it was actually not really far ㅋㅋㅋ). Even though it was raining, we really enjoyed the match, because South Korean were very passionate to support their soccer team, which is something every nation should learn about. South Korea won against Greece.

-- Even though South Korean lost is the round of 16, they actually played very excellent =] I wish Indonesia soccer team someday can make it to the World Cup~~  and I like that horn thing that I wore ㅋㅋㅋ

앙가

Nanta -- Drama Cooking Performance only in South Korea =]



Nanta -- the Broadway kind of performance in South Korea ... wait, it is NOT the same as Broadway hahah. why? because you don't have to understand any language to watch this performance. They speak Nanta language which everybody speaks =] lol ... it is a non-verbal performance ^^;. And then, unlike Broadway which insert some song (which is sung by the performer) to its performance, Nanta insert this traditional music of South Korea which using cooking utensils as their music instruments, hmm interesting~~
They also come to the audience and ask some audience to participate in the performance, how cool is that?!? too bad they did not choose me T.T; The genre that I watched is Comedy, I am not sure if they have any other genre =]. It was so funny and really interesting that I did not want it to end. It really is worth watching ^^


-- Errr,, I watched it in Myong-dong, Seoul ^^. Too bad audience are prohibited in taking picture or video during the performance. But, even if I had been allowed to record it, i would not have recorded it. It was too wasteful to miss the performance just to record it =] 

앙가

Teddy Bear Museum -- Cuteness


Who invented this Museum? hahah I had never thought that Teddy Bear could be a cute thing to be Museum-nized lol. This Museum is located inside Namsan Tower area =]. What is in there?



They have old-time style of Teddy Bear =]


They also have modern-time style of Teddy Bear ^^

-- I should nickname South Korea as Cute Country, should I not? lol

앙가