We love Korea!

I totally didn't regret that a year ago I stayed up till almost 4am just to make sure I could enter the booking room of Air Asia to buy the air tickets to Korea. Our return ticket was only RM1530, with 15kg check in baggage and booking of seats! :) :)

WEATHER
Korea didn't let us down, only the weather did..... well at least it let ME down. :( The weather was very very extra warmer than we expected!! We thought it's autumn, it must be chilling.. like just nice.. comfortably chilling. But no........ it was very warmmmm.... I brought a jumper to wear at night but I didn't need it at all. A short sleeve t-shirt was more than enough. I could even sleep well without the blanket. No kidding. We stayed with Grace. :) She told us we will be sleeping on traditional floor called the ondol floor i.e. heated floor.. I was so excited about it! But the weather didn't need heated flooring at all and I had bad backache after 5 nights sleeping on it. :S

Lets talk about wardrobe planning, we prepared gloves, jackets, scarfs, beannie, anything that might be needed when the chill kicks in. I was so prepared to dress up like an eskimo but I could've just walk around the town in a summer skirt + a cardigan!!! Can you imagine................. that goes without saying, I decided the next holiday, we must go to a place that snows! :P

Ok enough of me grumbling, lets chat what's good!! :) :)

 

SCENERIES
Everyone knows Korea is beautiful, even the city itself is quite scenic. Sometimes I passed by an area, I was in love with the scene, the autumn trees against the clear blue sky and the historical buildings.... I tried to snap photos to keep the view as memory, but the pictures didn't do justice. I tried my best...

 We really enjoyed sight seeing a lot. It's a very interesting country. More photos to come in future posts. :) :)

OUR FRIENDS
Our trip was even more special because we get to stay with a Korean family, Grace, Daniel & their 1 year old daughter Ona. :) We were privileged to join in their sunday family dinner as well. This is Grace's family. From left, Daniel, Grace's dad, Joshua, Grace's mum, Grace, Ona, me, Grace's brother Paul, Grace's sister in law and their 1 year old daughter.

This is a very interesting and special Korean family. They lived in the Solomon Island for some years and both Paul & Grace did high school in Australia which explains their fluent English. Paul owns a film making company that has produced 10 local films and has won several local awards. His movies are mainly documentaries, story lines includes christian value and korean war. Reason why he chose to start his own film company is because if he works in a normal production house he will be working on weekends and he wants to honor God by attending church on Sundays. :) His testimony is that his company still make money comparing to some bigger production house that gone bankrupt. God is good! Continue to pray for this godly man!

Grace's father is a story teller! He started talking to Joshua about war aircrafts. He has those pictures on the wall in his living room. He is in love with a war aircraft called... mosquito (weird name) since he's a boy. Years later, when he finally saw a real plane in a museum in US, he said he can die in peace. Haha. He's very loyal to his country and his ambition is to serve his country in the army. He studied so much about the world war and korean war history, and was prepared to serve in the military. However, the exam to enter the military school falls on Sundays.. to honor God by attending church on Sunday, he gave up that dream.

He went into timber field for 28 years. Wrote a book after collecting information from all over the world including East Malaysia. He knows East Malaysia more than you and me, fellow Malaysians. Haha.

Anyway his book is now used in a university as text book and he is the lecturer. :) Now he's working in a fishing company and has shared numerous funny stories and theories about catching tuna in the ocean. When he was sharing the tuna stories, he spit on Joshua many times and we just couldn't stop laughing! Grace and Paul were also laughing with us!

He also wrote a few books on the world war & korean war history etc.. and some of those are also used as text books in the Korean military school!! Not just that, he's also head hunted by the government to sit in the board of the Ministry of Defense as consultant. @.@  He also over the years collected soooo many world war II related things.. he showed to Joshua while I was talking to Grace... bullets, guns, bombs..... and Grace said he's planning on building a museum when he retires.

He loves travelling.. his aim is to travel to 200 countries, and his number so far is 94. He backpacks on his own, staying in the cheapest hotel etc. He's been to 27 states of the USA. Also when he visits Indonesia, he doesn't just go to Jakarta, he does to every state he could! Amazing right?!

Grace's mum just completed chemotheraphy from a very rare cancer. That explains why she's wearing a beannie. Grace's dad said "my wife is very good! whenever I said I go travel, she never say no don't go, she always say becareful." She was there wiping table and just opened her eyes big, she dared not agree to that statement. Haha. She didn't talk much to us but sure smiles a lot. :)

Grace's husband Daniel, we met in 2008 when they both came to stay in 73 for a night. They were on a transit to Langkawi next day so asked if they could stay over. Man, I was given very short notice and explained to her the bad condition in 73, didn't do much.. and they didn't mind at all. :( Feeling so bad right now because the house was really not guest-friendly! Anyway there was a storm that night followed by a black-out. We had to give them candles etc.. and that was the only time we experienced blackout in 73. Talk about bad timing. Haha... They still keep photos of them in the house and the room.. ahh... such an old and run-down house.. :(  In Seoul, while I was talking to Grace about my grandma, Daniel asked "is it the grandma on the wall in your house?" Hahahahah that was my great grandmother's photo if you came to 73 before! Those photos were freaky! When u walk up the stairs, you will be greeted by this 2 pictures of my great grandparents. I feel so sorry for Daniel... he said the experience was unforgetable. But that really made all of us LAUGH!! Daniel is a funny guy. :) He studied and worked in US for 8 years and so he speaks very fluent english as well. And this couple learnt & is learning Chinese language.. so they are really smart. ;)   and rich. Daniel's father is a doctor, and he used to own a hospital. Now the hospital is very old, so he stopped the business and just rent the building out. He is also headhunted by a big company to be in charge of internal audits. Are koreans extra smart and rich or is it just my friends??

Though they are smart & rich, they are very humble and down to earth. :) We love them so much.. when we were leaving, Grace sent us off. It was drizzling.. weather was gloomy and so was my mood. I almost teared when I entered the cab. :( Good bye Grace... really hope we meet again.....

When I met Grace in Brisbane's Grace College in 2005, I didn't know we'll continue to be friends for so long! And our husbands are friends too! Amazingly I remember quite some stuffs about her during our uni days like her ex bf, her favourtie teddy bear, her brother's book etc.. God blessed our friendship. Even after I left Australia, we still somehow kept in touch. I thank God I hosted her & Daniel although the house was in bad condition. We had fun.. our food almost flew off during the storm, went to see the Twin Tower after the storm and hear Joshua played guitar during the blackout. After that I once in a while get emails from Grace, asking me to pray for his dad when he was stranded in some country.. pray for her mum as she goes for chemo...  When we met in Seoul, it was awkward at first because we have not seen each other for so long, but on the last few days, we talked. She told me about some challenges she faces in her marriage with the husband and the in-laws. She told me her prayer needs. She asked about how Joshua and I get along in our marriage... it's very enriching time. I'm glad I can be a listener.... she's very hungry for God.. may she be blessed as she keep on knocking! Love you my friend! :)

KOREAN FAMILY MEALS
What we learnt from this trip was preparing a meal doesn't have to be complicated! The meals Grace prepared for us were so simple and hardly could find any meat. I'm a carnivor, I must have either chicken or pork or fish in my food but look at this. Korea curry prepared by Grace on our first night in their house, there were very little minced chicken in this dish, mostly potato, vege, carrot, mushrooms and onions.

And this is the side dish. Fresh vege. I love their lettuce, very fresh and not bitter at all!
But this is all we had for dinner. Seriously. We went to bed feeling a little empty, I mean our stomach. :P

I had a lot of thoughts about how they eat their daily meals.. one can really survive without eating so much of meat.. amazing. I bought a pack korean curry powder back home and am determined to make simple meals at home. Whenever there's an opportunity to eat at home, we will make food, not restaurant or chinese typical 3 dishes + 1 soup standard, just edible stuffs.

This was the dinner served by Grace's mum on Sunday night. Steamed octopus, fresh salad, kimchi and soup. I thank God the soup has some minced beef!!  We think this is one reason why Koreans are so healthy and good looking (good complexion) compared to us Malaysians? Like my mum always say "you are what you eat"!  My new found goal, to eat healthy!

But we're still malaysians right.. we still need "real" food. This was our lunch prepared by Grace before we go to the airport i.e. our last meal in Korea. It's literally vegetarian. @.@  Even Joshua was crying inside. He snapped this picture to remind himself, that we ate like cows and horses in Korea.

Anyway, we bought this pork fillet on our way back to Grace's apartment. We kind of expected little or no meat for lunch. This was really life saver. 2200 krw or RM6.30 totally well spent! :P

LANGUAGE
The Koreans knows very little English, esp the cab drivers. Although they know we cannot understand, they still spoke to us in Korean. Thank God I brought a small dictionary. It helped a lot esp when we were in Jeju Island. We wanted the cab driver to bring us to the orange farms but they couldn't even understand the word ORANGE! We followed the dictionary to say "kul nong jang" and immediately the driver understood us. The dictionary has dual purpose, I used it to bring back some autumn leaves hehe. Some of the leaves smells really good. :)

Another occasion, when Joshua wanted to know whether a particular dish (the one in picture above) is pork dish, the shop owner couldn't understand us... to the extent Joshua had to make the pig sound "nkkrok!", then she immediately knew what was our question. It's quite hillarious how creative we can get. :) :) Also, we were mistaken as japanese by the receptionist in Jeju, they spoke to us in Japanese and we gave them the blank look. @.@  be ready if you're visiting Korea, start watching the dramas. I made a mistake for watching japanese drama days before the trip. I thought the aunties are called Obasang! And I remembered uncles are called Ajoshi but I wasn't sure if I was right, I was confused between Japanese and Korean language... until Joshua tried calling one of the cab drivers in Jeju, he was so happy and even assured us "yes yes, I am ajoshi". Hahaahaha... Oh and another pointer, it certainly helps to save pictures of the tourist attractions in your ipad or phone! :)

HISTORY
Korea is a country that appreciates their history. In the city there are at least 3 palaces. There are at least 2 villages where the traditional houses were pre-served so the generations today will know how their ancestors lived. And this enormous statue, was seen in the city from our cab. We asked the cab driver, he told us in broken English and we later confirmed with Daniel, this was the last king of the Joseon Dynasty, this king invented their Korean language writing!

Grace's dad said that he is very proud of their language because there's no upper or lower case. It's simple to use. In many programming, Korean is the easiest apparently, better than English. :D

We had late night talks with Grace & Daniel after Ona goes to sleep, asked about the North & South Korean war. They know so much! That goes to show how their education system emphasise on history. They have many school trips to the palaces etc which help them appreciate and remember.

CLEANLINESS
The city is just cleannnnnnnnnnnnnn. We hardly could find rubbish bins on the streets but there are no rubbish at all. Daniel said some times, in the morning when the older people go for morning walks, they come across rubbish left behind by the young people, they will pick up and throw. They are so loyal to their country! Grace said that recently the government started charging for household waste disposal. That's why Grace has different bags for recycling wastes. We tried to bring our rubbish out to throw instead of at home.. hehe.. Anyway the people complained about paying for their rubbish but that policy has proven to be effective at keeping the country's rubbish down. I think it's a beautiful thing to have a country so focus on recycling rubbish. :)

There are so much more to talk about Korea... basically, I feel very connected to the country after living there for 7 days 6 nights.... I pray that God will bring us back there again. :) It will not be very wise for us to buy another holiday to the same country again in future... but we do believe God can orchestrate things.. hehe.. :D Sarangheyo!