Congratulations for the Noonas

February 25, 2011

That day was the graduation day of Chungnam National University's students. Before going to Incheon to move, I went to meet one of my friends who graduated that day. And unexpectedly I also met my other friend who is also graduated.

It's weird ... I am supposed to graduate this year, too ... hahah, but far from being graduated, mine has just begun.

Me and 은정누나

Mas Edvan and 혜진 누나

Congratulations ...
for making me envy you ㅠㅠ

2011년 2월 26일
ㅏㅇㄱ

선욱 형~나이가 한살 더 많아져서 축하합니다 ...

Actually his birthday is on 8th of February, but instead we celebrated it on the 7th. SeonUk was my supporter when I first came to Korea, as I mentioned on my previous post about him, he helped me a lot in settling things up since at that time I did not speak any Korean at all. Anyway, it's not about me and him, it's about his birthday.
First, me and Felicia made the cute card.

Prepare all the weapons and ready to fight

Tadaaaa ... from our wild imagination into a masterpiece =]

Then, we went to buy the cake and met them [SeonUk and Yungam] to eat pizza :)

Next, we went to TalkHolic to (at least as the original plan) eat the cake, but accidentally [and fortunately] met the GP [Global People] which is a club who helps foreigners who come to Korea. SeonUk is a member. So, we celebrate it together :)

Happy Birthday 선욱 형

2011년 2월 8일

앙가

포화속으로 | 71: Into the Fire

Taken from: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2010/08/71.jpg

I have spent my first day of 2011 in my room. But I won't say it was not interesting at all. I watched this amazing Korea movie and it was really touching and inspiring.

In Korean the movie title is 포화속으로 [Pohwasokero] and without any relation to the real title, the title in English is 71: Into the Fire. This movie is about 71 student soldiers who fought North Korean army in one of high school in Pohang. It's really touching to see them witness their own friends die in front of their eyes, but it is also inspiring how brave they are on their age holding the gun and fight for their country.

Taken from the end of the movie:

"The movie was based on the true story of Battle at Pohang Girl's Middle School, which took place on August 13, 1950, fought by 71 students soldiers in th Republic of Korea 3rd Corps.

Those 71 student soldiers delayed the North Korean's advance for 11 hours, giving time for South Korean and UN troops to counterattack later on."

It is based on true story. When I finished watching this movie, I remember my friend who was born in Pohang and currently a student majoring in Archeology in Chungnam National University where I am taking Korean courses. Not too long ago, there was an artillery shooting between North Korea and South Korea in Yeongpyong Island. At that time, he sent me message about this and that he is ready to go to the war anytime.  And I think that was a brave thing.

Anyway, war is never a good thing. 

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587729/

2011년 1월 1일
앙가

New Year 2011 in Korea

One of interesting fact in South Korea is that as the year changes, you get older by one ... so it doesn't depend on which year, month and date you were born, but it depends on which year you were born. As an example, I was born on July 7th, 1989 (please remember ... I expect presents), then, my age is 21 and it's going to be 22 by July 7, 2011. But then in Korea, as soon as the year changed to 2011 (January 1, 2011) I -in their term- eat one more age, so my age is 23 on January 1, 2011. wait ... isn't that supposed to be 22?? Nope~ because in Korea as soon as you are born, you are 1 year old :). Yes~ I am 23 years old.

The last day of 2010, in Korean language class I asked my teacher what will happen that night in Korea. I was expecting some fireworks like what Indonesian always do every new years, but nope ... she said there would be no fireworks ... instead, in Seoul there is an event where they ring a very huge bell for 33 times. 33 because a long time ago there are 33 important people in history of Korea. And the ones who will ring the bell are 33 famous people in Korea. Seoul would be crowded by people instead the fact that it  must be freaking cold!! that's what she said.

What did I do last night to spend last night of 2010?? Friends!!yeah, I spent my time with special friends I met in Korea. Felicia, Edvan, Yongam, Sophia, and a lil bit late with Seon Uk. These specials people, with a small celebration has left a very special memory in 2010 =].

Three of us first went to a chicken restaurant called Chicken Island to eat ... chicken of course hahah. The chicken restaurant is located in Gung-dong and its a pretty place.

Next, as I mention about the interesting fact in Korea that as soon as the year changed we gain one more age, I had this idea to buy a cake to celebrate our "birthday". We then went to BaskinBRRobbins and buy the cake. 

and we (5 of us, excluding Seon Uk) went to Edvan's house and there we played poker hahahah and you know what the bet was ... candies ^^.

And as the year changed, we took that quite nice picture that I put up there, where all the cellphone's clock are either 12:00 or 00:00 and we ate the cake while saying our resolution for 2011, the best thing in 2010 and the worst thing in 2010. Mine was:

Resolution for 2011 (common wishes excluded):

- I want to get accepted in one of university in Korea.

- I want to go to other countries at least one

- I want to have "someone"

That's all. then Seon Uk came and we ate chicken (again!!) and continued playing poker until we were exhausted.

Other things are that every new year, I always remember my best friend birthday in Indonesia. His birthday is on the last day of the year =]. And my family called me and hearing their voice made that new's year eve ... really special. I felt like they are always there next to me =].

Happy New Year 2011~~

January 1, 2011

앙가

려려 回头见!!!

오늘은 흔히 있는 날이 아니다.
수업 중에서 중국에서 온 려려라는 친구가 GoodBye한다고 전하러 학교에 짬깐 왔다.
아버지의 병이 너무 심해서 돌보기러 중국에 아주 귀국해야 하기 때문이다.
원래 난 려려랑 친하지 않은데 내일 려려를 못 보는 것을 알게 되어서 슬퍼졌다.
그 때 ... 마음 속에 뭔가를 잃어버리는 느낌이 생겼다.

암튼 ... 다시 만남이 난 믿는다. 어디에선가, 안젠가.

려려 안녕 ㅠㅠ

2010 년 11월 18일
앙가

Pepero Day in Korea on 11-11

Yup, in Korea ... every November 11 (11-11) they celebrate Pepero day. What's pepero? it's a snack, it is chocolate stick. With the shape of number 1, they make it the special menu of Pepero day. So, they give and receive Pepero from/to lover or friends ^^.

I unpredictably got some from my students at the volunteering place :) really made my day. Thanks ^^~~

November 11 2010
앙가

Wedding ala Korea

Yay ~~ after going through a hard time deciding whether I should go to the wedding ceremony or not ... finally --by borrowing my friend's white t-shirt (which I haven't returned it yet) and with a big bravery-- I attended the wedding ceremony ... the first time, in Korea =].

So, he is my Taekwondo teacher, and he has this black belt license I guess he is level 5 ... or something like that and he is very handsome and cute ^^. He sometimes gives me like inspirational words ... you know one day he suddenly said like "study hard today for yourself, for future, for your parents", it was the day when I said to him that I was kind of lazy to study. But actually he is not that serious type of person, he likes joking. 

임재종 [Lim Jae-Jong]

Yup ... he is not the one who got married :) ... but his sister did. So, I got the invitation from him and he said it is a really good thing to see wedding ceremony ala Korea, so I was like ... persuaded by him hahah. What happened on that day?

Well, the bride wearing the wedding dress and the guy wearing the suit, the guy got inside the wedding hall first, and then the girl. And the one who married them were talking about something in Korean which I did not really understand, I guess it's like you know "are you ready to live with your wife in happiness and difficult time" something like that. But then after that, this one is I guess kind of different. The guy and the girl then approached the both parents and did the bow. The interesting part was that the guy did the full bow, like he had to touch the ground, but on the other hand the girl just do the bow while standing, you know like when you greet someone in Korea you bend your back a lil bit, something like that. And after that you know what happened ...? so the guy then -in front of the people who attended the ceremony- screamed 만세 [Mansae] 3 times ... it means hurrah, hurray, hooray based on naver dictionary. It was kind of ... interesting =].

After that, I also witnessed 폐백 [Pyebaek] -- based on naver dictionary :

traditional ceremony to pay respect to the (bride)groom's family by the newly-wedded couple right after their wedding

The right woman is 임혜진 [Lim Hye-Jin] - my friend's sister and her husband ^^

It was a great decision to attend the ceremony ... you know, to learn something new is always fun ^^.

Hey you know what, just like in Indonesia, we have to bring and give money if you attend wedding ceremony. Actually my friend told me to not give anything but at that time I saw all Korean came and gave money before getting the ticket for food and I got it without giving money ... I am really embarrassing ㅠㅠ; I should have brought and given money ... so, to all Korean, don't hesitate to invite me to your wedding ceremony ^^.

So ... when is YOUR wedding ceremony??

October 25, 2010

앙가

-- I should study~~~~~~~~~~~ TOPIK test next two weeks ㅠㅠ;

Romance in Gangchon Korea [KIMIPAKCHWE]

As the realization of his wild imagination [and his wild pictures], KIMIPAKCHWE made this video, hahah check it out.

Guess what will happen in the end of the story, and you will get the prize!!
Prize : One night with KIMIPAKCHWE hahahah
just kidding ^^;

KIMIPAKCHWE -- A blogger, A funny guy, A travel mate, A ... emm ... it's always interesting to be with him!!

check out his blog.

Coreal ... Feel The Real Korea - Brought to you by KIMIPAKCHWE

KIMIPAKCHWE wants to share his hand-made (err computer-made??) video to you. ^^

KIMIPAKCHWE -- A blogger, A funny guy, A travel mate, A ... emm ... it's always interesting to be with him!!

check out his blog.

What Saftira Did on Chuseok Holiday - First Day

For those who don't know what Chuseok is, read this. At that day, Korean get together with their family and do the bow to the ancestors. And there are some special food like rice cake. I had no chance to experience how Korean celebrate Chuseok, but on these 3 days holiday, I tried to do something.

The first day of the holiday, I went out to have dinner with a friend of mine. He is Korean but I think he looks like Japanese. Anyway, we went to a restaurant in Gung-dong not far from my dormitory. He is a nice guy and funny ^^.

이창헌

That's him, his name is 이창헌 [Lee Chang-Heon]. He is very tall and he likes Electric Music genre songs. It was a good night, I did not speak really much though, since I am not really good in Korea. But the nice thing about him is he wants me to speak Korean with him always, which means he purely wants my Korean skill gets better. And the night ended with a cup of coffee at 2Pigs coffee cafe. 

He said he likes things because of its weirdness hahah.

September 24, 2010

앙가

From a Supporter to Become a Friend

윤선욱

윤선욱 [Yoon SeonUk] -- That's his name. He was (or maybe has been) a supporter of mine. What is supporter? I had asked the same question to him. Supporters in Korea are Koreans who help foreigners to settle up and to help solving foreigners problems. Anyway, this post is not about general supporter, this is about my supporter who has become a friend of mine ... a good one.

Born and grew up in 구미 [GuMi], he is now a junior student of Chungnam National University majoring in Mechatronics Engineering. He has a great passion in learning language, though. Even though at the first time I met him we had some problems with communicating in English, he purely helped me as best he could. And now, because of that passion and his habit of studying hard, I think we have no problem in communication anymore.

He is also now learning Japanese, because he said Japanese language is very cute ... and the girls, too ... hahah. He has been to Japan for like 2 weeks (I think), and the crazy thing he did was that he went there carrying his bicycle and planning to ride it to Tokyo. But after discovering that it would take much more time than expected, they (he and his friends) decided to stop the biking thing in the middle of somewhere in Japan and continue the trip by public transportation. He seemed to have a good time.

It has been more than five months since my arrival to Daejeon, and it means more than five months I have been maintaining friendship with him. As time went by, the label "supporter" to him, I think is not a necessity anymore. Because what I understand about supporter is that they only help you, right? But friend is another thing. Friends are there even when you don't need any help. And that is exactly what we are.

Yesterday we went to a restaurant and ate unlimited beef meal set and it was delicious and was a good time. 

I call him 형 [Hyeong] and he is a part of my adventure life in Korea. Thank you 형. ^^

September 20, 2010

앙가

-- 오늘 수업이 재밌없었어요 ㅋ

2010 World Great Baekje Festival - 친구들 Friends

Besides getting closer to the history of Baekje Kingdom, during the trip, I was also getting closer to friends who I spent 3 days with. Coming from different countries, the differences made us got interested to know each other and to make friendship. Starting from a simple question, then grew bigger ... as big as the smile and the laughter.

There are some sweetnesses of the trip.

Meet the Miss Baekje Festival, why so? because she's everywhere on my camera. This is Sekar from Indonesia

Yup, trying to be similar ... nice try though

Yup, Miss Pagoda

Nice pose Miss Museum ^^

Follow Miss Guide to get lost or the direction board to get to the right path ^^

Err ... Miss poop? of course not ... She's the Incheon Imo Yayah from Indonesia. She's funny eishhh *imitating Korean expression

Anthony and Giri from Indonesia, taking Korean Language Course at Daejeon University, were my roommate for 2 nights. They have this big passion of learning Korean Language which I should have ... sigh ... I am just not into Language ㅠㅠ;

Maya, Yuni, and errr Miss-Anywhere-On-My-Pictures ... They (excluding that Miss blablabla) are truly Ajumil -- Ajumma labil (Unstable Ajumma) hahah, they always talk rubbish ... the funny ones ㅋㅋㅋIt's a fortunate that they meet and have the same interest, I guess they will spend the best time here in Daejeon or should I say ... in Korea ^^.

Yanti and Yayah ... You can say that Yanti is the leader of this Indonesia group, she's active and funny, too. We like to play with English accent hahah.

일본사람 ... 이름이 뭐지? ㅋ 생각이 안나오다 ㅋㅋ

Travel mate, Alexi from Paraguay

Not Indonesian who speaks Indonesian like Indonesian, Jaimito from Timor Leste .. also my travel mate.

The group 11 leader ... 수고하셨습니다 ^^

Congo, Indonesia, Korea, and Cambodia ^^

Yeah!! Mission to take picture with a total strangers accomplished!!

Good day, everyone!!

September 19 2010

앙가

It is NOT a Good Bye Indeed

I met these two sisters at Parkland College, USA, two years ago. Me and 유리 이 [Yuri Lee], the younger sister were classmates in ESL (English as a Second Language) Grammar class. Me and 지미 이 [Jimi Lee], they older sister were classmate in ESL Listening and Speaking class. Through 1 year and 2 months in the US, I played with them, cooked together, picnic and other fun stuff. And of course, it all has to end at one point called a good bye.

Cooking Bulgogi

Barbeque at Ercan's House -- I just realized that I dont have picture with her when I was in the US

Anyway, when I left the US, I believed that it was not a good bye yet. And yes, in the end of July 2010, it turned out to be a see you later. After 1 year, I met them again in a park next to Han river, Seoul, South Korea. =].

Yuri, Jimi, and Me ^^

For my friends out there ... both you and I know that we will meet again someday. Never say never. =]

August 8 2010

앙가

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

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

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

Saman Dance

Saman Dance Performance -- for the first time in my life I and other Indonesians performs Saman Dance (Dance of Thousand Hands) in Daejeon Convention Center, Daejeon, South Korea. We had less than 10 days to practice. Even though I made so many mistakes I was still happy because I could make it through the end of the performance ^^;

-- my first post after like forever has not post anything --sowwwwyyy been really busy.

앙가

Time Warp!!! Welcome to 문의문화재단진~~~

문의문화재단진 [ Moonui Moonhwaje Tanjin ] -- Munui Cultural Property Site, located in Daecheong-ho, is a beautiful place with amazing scenery. The houses are old-time-style Korea look alike. There is a so called government office which used to be the house and the office of Korea Government. There are 3 main rooms; Left room was used for people (or employee) to have breakfast, lunch and dinner; the right room was used for employees to sleep; and the middle room was used as the place for the King. There was actually no presence of the King, but people still had to respect him inside this room.

This is what written on the information board:

"Munsan-Gwan

Chungcheongbuk-do Tanggible

Cultural Property No. 49

Built in 1666, the seventh year of King Hyeon-Jong, this structure is believed to be a government office or a guest house of the Munui magistrate. It is considered as an important materials for the study of architectural styles of the middle Josun Period.

It was moved to the Munui-mweon in 1979 because of the construction of the Daecheon Dam and removed here in 1996.

On both sides of the tile-roofed main building is an attached building with a hipped and gabled roof.

There are corridors between the main buiding and the annexed ones. The materials and construction techniques indicate that the buildings were built during different periods. In fact, this kind of construction can be seen in the guest house in Jeonju, Jeon-buk Province, therefore, it looks like a guest house rather than a government office. An inscription on one of the concave tiles shows that the buiding was repaired in 1728, the fourth year of King Yeongjo. "

고인돌 [ Kuindol ] this is the place to bury people, who already died of course.

More pictures? Click Here ~~~
앙가 2May2010 10.37

--2 more days to go for National Museum of Korea in Seoul =]

You eat tofu -- I make it!!

Tofu -- A kind of food made of soy bean. Tofu is one of famous foods you can find in Asia countries. On 30th of April, me and my classmates went to Daecheong-ho, a village just 1 hour from Daejeon city. We learnt how to make Tofu and as our appreciation, we helped them to get rid of stones from their field.

More pictures here~~~

--still need to compose another story ... 화이팅~~

asaftira -- 1May2010 2306.

It's Daejeon!

Today is the fourth day since my arrival to Korea. I have decided to make my page in English, because I want to make it universally understood. Well, there is always google translator available.

Anyway, introduction. I am now a student at Chungnam National University and I am put here by NIIED to study Korean Language. After 1 year of studying Korean, I need to take TOPIC test (like TOEFL test for English) and I need to get level 3 TOPIC to be able to continue to get the scholarship and to apply to preferred university in Korea. I will be able to apply for admission to 3 universities that I would like to attend. I haven't decided yet, though. But, if none of those 3 universities accepted me, then I will have to say good bye to Korea.

Chungnam National University is located in Daejeon, South Korea. It is a very large university with various major available. Daejeon is the fifth largest city in Korea, yet I haven't seen any bad traffic jam in here. One thing that I noticed is that the road structure (the signs, etc) are pretty similar with the US. Only they use Korean language/letter.

I arrived at Korea on Tuesday morning (March 29 2010) and I was very happy that two girls were there to pick me up eventhough they were late and I was so worried. They were Eun Jung Kim and San Mi, they are best friend and they laughed all the time :D and of course they are pretty ~.^ . Both of them are Chungnam students majoring in International Business. First impression of Korea was awesome. It took about 3 hours to get to Daejeon from Incheon Airport by bus. It was cold but yes, I was really glad I could felt the cold again.

In Daejeon, I live in a room of 2 people in the dorm. My roommate is from Ghana and he is very nice, he is having problem with learning Korean language -- as everybody is -- that includes me.

Korean Language is difficult. I think every new language for us is difficult. But I know how to read Korean Letter because I've learnt it before, I just don't know the meaning of those sentences. The course was actually started on march 15, that means I missed 2 weeks of class, that is why Ms. Chun arranged an extra class for me. So, the total class for me in a day is 7 hours :D. how exhausting. anyway I won't complain.

Beside Chungnam area, I haven't really explore Daejeon, so I don't have much to write up to this day, tomorrow is saturday, I will go shopping to buy stuff. Oh yeah, in here every new NIIED student has supporters. I have two supported, Cho Hye Jin and Yun Seon Uk. I haven't talked with them too much but I feel like I like them. I met other supporters too and they are really welcome and very nice -- we had a very fun conversation. I would like to take Taek Won Do (err not sure if the spelling is correct) though, I like to play Tekken and my favorite player is Hwoarang ^^.

what else what else ?? hmm Indonesian!! I met several Indonesian here. Mas edvan has been helping me a lot. He is my senior and he's been living here for 2 years now. Tiara is my classmate in Korean class. She's originally from jogja and she is here because of scholarship that is given by Chungnam National University. She'll be here until June. She's very nice, funny, talkative and not defensive. Gagah is a also a scholar like Tiara --haven't talked with him too much though.

I think I will make picasa album to share pictures special for this blog, but I don't know when. I haven't yet taken many picture though. been really really really busy.

sigh ... anyways -- this is an end for now. I'll write later --

Questions - or anything is very expected, welcome, and highly appreciated.

Friday, April/2/2010 22:11 --

Dorm Building 8 Room 117

Chungnam National University -- Daejeon, South Korea.