Reminiscence: 26 June 2008- 26 June 2009

A wonderful year filled with beautiful, ugly, sour, bitter memories, strange, first-time experiences???!! shocks?surprises? roller-coaster rides, mental-disorder like syndromes?? sleepless nights/days etc EVERY single ingredient and pieces of it , destined or not, fated or not , gives me a feeling and a whole new place which is also my 2nd home.

The day that started this is the magic date of 26th June 2008.

Approximately around this time(current writing time but just a year ago) , I'm sure I was feeling pleased and excited but nervous at the same time while adjusting my buttocks in my airplane seat, and oh next to me is dear old Natalie, currently in Yonsei.
Who could imagine the boy who came to Korea for just a mere holiday during Christmas 2007 , while leaving Korea at that time , had only dreamed of coming back is ACTUALLY heading for it again!!
So is it fated? Well , I would say 50% YES and 50% NO !

The real story actually begin a few months earlier( Feb?Jan?) on a normal Sunday morning. Going through my favorite hobby of morning newspaper reading. Well of course, I flipped through the Education section of THESTAR newspaper and holla! This exact phrase caught my attention
' Korean Government Undergraduate Scholarship Application 2008' and of course it totally grabbed my attention. I told my mum abit about it but my mum brushed the whole idea straight away. But I couldn't be more eager to apply for it, well, secretly, at least then because I just thought, even if i apply it doesn't matter because MOST probably I won't get it anyway.
However my dad soon knew about it a few days later as i was rushing in and out of the house, back and forth from my school, certifiying copied certificates, all done in 4 days - Monday till Thursday! It felt like i was running to save my life! And yes, soon it became my life. On a sleepy morning what-day-was-it-i-can't- remember ,the half-asleeped - unknowing me picked up the ringing phone around 8am( Now i CAN remember that! ^^) and for one moment thought he was having some kind of biggest wake-up call ever! And yeah, you can imagine what happened in the phone call and then drop. I stood there wondering what is happening...for a seconds, everything seemed blank. No movement, not a single breeze????? not a breath?? only silence...and my eyes staring onto the floor??phone??? well it doesn't matter cuz i didn't felt sleepy after that anymore. And for the next 24 hours, there was a sense of looming invisibility, of uncertainess, more to worries. What am i supposed to do? Report to parents or not? report? or not? guess what, i reported to my eldest sister first. and see what she thinks. Immediately she was supportive!(Yes, thank you Tajie for supporting my decision all the way till where i am now).
And then the next day, my father found out. Well, i didn't quite remember what happened or what was his expressions. but my dad was just cool about it. And the next day at night, my dad told me mum. And my mum didn't seem too pleased at all. Here comes the roller coaster ride. First my mum don't really agree but my mum agree. then my mum somehow agreed to it and my dad suddenly went against it. Well, it wasn't a sight. It was a mentally-challenging period(optimistically speaking), kind of a dilemma, deep-thoughts, self-composure, self-assurance whatever you name it. Part of why my parents decided to let me study in Korea was from the unending support from my Tajie and Erjie. Even Erjie confronted mum and dad about me having my own decision. One of the greatest debate?? haha, well, it seemed like a drama scene today but it wasn't actually. Still vivid and fresh even in the slacking furthest edge of my blank?? brain. Gah. Lousy way of expressing but it wasn't as much as a 'lousy' transition at that time( i duno if u get what i mean). There goes abit of the latar-belakang or asal-usul?? journey aku. haha
Then of course my first post in this blog came after i received my scholarship of invitation officially from the ambassador of korea to malaysia, what was his name???? lol미안아쩌시 ㅋㅋ
So that's how i started my blogging life too. And it's like a year too since i started this boring blogging 'hobby'. Well actually just to keep track of my life as I undergo this major change. I never kept any diaries before, so this really prompted me into blogging for the first time in my life too.

So, back to the main point. What happened during this first year? Well, millions of things. unforgettable experiences. Lots of people i knew, Some whom I really respected especially my korean language teachers, really caring people and ahjussi who took me to badminton while in Asan) and also some people whom i just brush , like hello and next thing bye!, and some people whom i didn't like making contacts with! ah, i tell you macam macam. Since the only people i meet are foreigners and koreans during my first 8 months of stay here, unlike my current SNU friends/classmates made of mainly Malaysian JPA students(they've been leaving among themselves since day 1??) so, it's totally different. I'm not saying its bad just that the path they went through is totally different from mine. Well , thanks to those first 8 months , i learn to be more accepting of others' culture, needs, thinking differences regardless of nationality.
Studying and living with only foreigners was actually hard at first, not knowing who to trust and who not to. But some people really deserves more then a lesson(some particular ppl i knew and not-so-in-touch-cz-i-don't-feel-like-it) , maybe its their way of placing trust in other ppl, but it still shows 'uncivilized' way of leading a life where it should be more well-managed instead of continuous , persistent leaning towards others. I wouldn't wanna be in the same university as them but unfortunately, one of them made it to the same university as i am now( not a totally joyful thingy though). Well, all those months of learning Korean language and now after 1 year, didn't know how life would be in my first semester as a real undergraduate student , has now a taste of what's more in store for the future already. Time flies certainly. But what makes it more worthwhile this 1 year, is the road i'd chosen. Well although it has not fully shown it's effect yet, with some few not-so-smart choices made, seems like more work needs to be done!
And just a few days ago, visited a temple for the first time in Seoul to pray to KuanYin. Seems like a responsibility to me but it helps to relieve my endless wandering soul. Seeking light is most important. And the message?? You only reap what you sow ( 인과응보 ) Too many a times we would hear it, but its just too true; people will tend to slip into the realm of uncertainty and unless being enlightened, it's hard to get back the youthful ardor, enthusiasm and the meaning of life and existence. I don't know what others might think but i don't know if everyone ever asked themselves this ' Who am I?' . The main point here is to have a goal, whether reachable or not, but the most important knowing why is he/she being in existence to others. I don't know why people can write a whole philosophical book just about life's goals etc. But i guess as human delve into a particular area of interest, it's power and depth is beyond imagination.

Anyway, glad to be here all these while. No regrets! And to the other dudes who came here the same time as i did, hoped you have cherished your first year as much as i had did. Miss my family and all my homies waiting for my short return soon this August. And oh, i still have summer class and assignments@reports!!! @.@

Hoping(and working) for the best in future^^

-peaceout-

-The tunes of yesterdays, slowly changing itself to today's beats-