Asian Adventures: Lost in Translation December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you guys have had a great time with your families etc. and had fun! Christmas has basically gone and past now – and life carries on. 

It was a pretty cool christmas – in the morning we headed off to church and then stayed around and I had to practise for a bit. After that, I did a bit of shopping for stockings and got to order new glasses – which took about an hour – but it was very impressive. They actually make glasses lenses on the spot – so Paul’s lenses only took half an hour to make! cool hey? Eye glass tests are also pretty efficient – though it was a bit of a struggle trying to communicate with the optomotrist, i say it was a pretty sucessful venture. 

Tonight we had a bit of a cousins reunion – we were going to see our aunt’s new place, and our other aunt wanted to come bum along, so along came the cousins too. I’m the youngest in the family, Grace is the 2nd youngest, and Paul the 3rd youngest – you get the gist by now. There are about 8 of us that pretty much hang out together most of the time (we are 18 in total or something like that) – and it was fun seeing them. Meeting my cousins’ husbands was also quite fun- they are a funny bunch. It was a rather enjoyable evening: trying to communicate in our own languages was rather entertaining. Fun times!

Korea is an interesting experience: I must say my Korean has really degraded over time – I don’t understand as much as I used to – and the words don’t come that fast to my mouth – so trying to speak is a bit of a frustration at times – but it’s not too bad. To be honest I am amping to go home – but I must just be patient and enjoy the time here because it doesn’t happen too often that I have to go to Korea. The culture is really different though – it’s a pretty homogenous culture – I don’t know I will be able to survive living here. But it’s fun to be on holiday here I guess.

Night y’all!

Asian adventures: University life December 24, 2009

It’s halfway through the day – and I’m sitting in a room at the Korean University of Foreign Language Studies. Yes, how on earth did I end up here? 

Well, it’s not such a hardcore story. But Koreans are hardcore, even though it’s meant to be varsity break, they have winter school. Which is not for people that have to redo subjects, but to gain extra credit to continue on with their degrees. Ah – hardcore – I don’t think I would ever cope living here! The lecture that I’m sitting in at the moment is Psychology, or so my friend says. There’s about 30 people in a class (which I’m used to), and life pretty much goes on, people use their phones, catch up on some sleep, typical varsity life. I don’t really understand much, so thank goodness i bought a laptop with, at least there is free internet access (Stellenbosch University here’s a hint), and so I can surf the net whilst the lecture is going on.

This afternoon we’re going off to Daegu, which is near the east coast. That’s touch base for the next two weeks. Rararar!

Asian Adventures: Homeland here we come! December 23, 2009

We have finally made it to Korea – after stuffing more tea into our bags and getting some shopping done. At the moment I’m watching a friend’s christmas show rehearsal, it looks quite cool. 

Today was a long one too: we had more chinese food – which was nice but I was really amping for Korean food – and then off to the airport. We also got to meet Graham’s parents (without Graham), and bid our farewells to Hong Kong. Final thoughts on Hong Kong: it’s a really kiff place, but we definitely needed more time to actually do some proper tourist things. The main thing in Hong Kong is shopping, shopping, and more shopping. But there are also other cool things to do.

We finally boarded the plane to Korea, and it was AWESOME. Asiana airlines is REALLY AWESOME. I have never had so much legroom in economy class before. And the entertainment system is really good. Paul and I have decided that we are not going to buy SAA tickets ever again if we can help it. That’s how cool it is. Woo hoo! 

We finally got to Incheon (where the airport is), and had to wait for our dad for his flight from Hong Kong. Everything in Korea basically works, they even have an auto-immigration system for korean residents (just slide your passport and fingerprint in and ready to go!). The transport system is also pretty efficient too – tried out the subway here tonight and it’s awesome. The city is rather hectic though – we are in Seoul (the capital) at the moment. The temperature is about 4 degrees, but so far I have survived – I’m basically wearing the same clothes that I did in Hong Kong – but my steedy KWay jacket is really doing its job. And no, I’m not a spokeswoman for Kway – but I do reckon they should pay for me. Back to the traffic: I wouldn’t know if I would be able to drive in this city: it’s so hardcore (and no one really looks at their blindspots) – so I’ll just stick to the transport system.

Tonight I’m chilling at a friend’s place (she’s Korean – met her when she came over for school in South Africa) – and at least in Korea there are cool things to do at night and it’s safe to hang around at night. And the food: YUM! It’s so cheap over here … I’m going to stuff myself with as much kimchi (fermented cabbage) as possible! 

Night y’all!

Asian Adventures: Another day in Hong Kong December 22, 2009

Day two of Asian adventures: we are still in Hong Kong and are leaving for sub zero temperatures tomorrow. It’s been a busy day over here – trying to get some touring done and getting some clothes shopping done too (thanks to my lack of pants packing). Ahh travelling has its perks, but we have been missing our friend Graham. Sucks that you aren’t here buddy!

Our day started off at the IFC (which is the reserve bank of Hong Kong). Apparently one can’t go up that far into the building, but we were lucky enough to know people that work there and got to the 67th floor. Cool hey? It’s really fancy up there – very wall street like – and the view of the island is lank cool too. Sadly they won’t let us take photos up there since the clients are that important. Pfff. After that, we got overfed with chinese food (not complaining, but shucks with this type of feeding I’m going to come home as big as a whale!) – and had a look at this rather interesting christmas show going on. The performers were really good gymnasts – though some moments were cringe-worthy (a big dodge). The malls like to show off with christmas decorations – which also gives for good photo ops. We went back to another mall (as you should notice by now – Hong Kong is all about shopping), and did some shopping. Most of the stuff is about the same as in SA (like Marks and Spencer – Woolworths vibes), but Mango is lank cheap compared to SA – their sales are amazing! We had to hold off on the shopping as we still have to conquer Korea – but the clothes are quite cool. 

Tonight we met up with an old friend Valerie, and this also gave us the opportunity to travel on the MTR (subway). It’s quite cool and fast, but gets lank crowded since we were there during peak time. We went on a tour of the symphony of lights – which is a show that they put on during christmas involving buildings and lots of lights. It’s a must see at Hong Kong, but rather on land and not on the sea. The city looks cool at night though. I would’t mind living in Hong Kong. 

And that’s all in a day. Photos to be posted as Grace is trying to sleep. zzzz.

Asian Adventures: First impressions of Hong Kong December 22, 2009

First day of Asia under wraps: it’s already Tuesday morning and we have come back from our prayer meeting. The time: 06:45am. I’m quickly packing in a post before Paul the mean brother takes over MacGyver .. noooo … 

Our first stop on Asian Adventures is in Hong Kong. We try to convince our mom to have a stopover holiday before entering the madness to also explore a different country. This time around, we got Hong Kong. Sadly, since Graham didn’t make it on his flight, we were stuck without a tour guide, which meant we had to tug around with our parents which is fine, except they tend to be quite paranoid and take us to the arb places. Which meant a rather academic tour of Hong Kong.

First up, we visited the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Now here’s a place where I wouldn’t mind studying. It’s slap bang in a middle of a jungle. So imagine trying to catch class whilst walking through a scenic route: I’d say that’s my kinda vibe. Grace dragged me along to do some exploring – and it’s really quite cool there. We ended up staying for a while, and thereafter hitting off to town where we went to go barter for electronics. Tip: Hong Kong: LANK CHEAP. Don’t go to the highmarket places, you get these awesome mass markets where you can somewhat negotiate for a good price. And the currency is about 1:1. Yippee! After getting some goods – we headed off to Times Square (yes, after that place in New York). I have not seen so many luxury brands in one mall. It was rather awesome, but not something to be ventured into, for lack of funds. We also got to do some dining out, and it’s quite expensive. It’s about 108 bucks for a pasta dish. So if you’re a typical student, Times Square is way out of budget. The service is really good though: we were rather dismayed at the fact that a coke was 26 bucks: but lone behold – it’s a bottomless glass of coke. The guy was always attentive to filling up our drinks. 

All in a day’s work … ahhh.

Other impressions of Hong Kong:

I have not seen one skadonk of a car. Everyone here drives big ass cars, or luxury cars. There are a lot of Toyotas, BMW’s, Mercedes, etc. etc. on the road. Everyone drives lank chilled here though. I don’t think we drove over 100km/ph. And people are really good and pilot about butting into a road queue.

There are lots of tall buildings. It looks quite dodge from the outside (ruins like), but it’s not too bad inside.

The weather is great. It’s a bit chilly, but any South African will survive. I’ve been wearing my hardcore kway jacket with no jersey.

And this one’s for you Gareth: after searching through my bag countless of times – I forgot to bring a pair of pants.

Cool thing of the day: I got to try out a piano that cost 2 million bucks! And it was really funky: bright red and looks like it should belong in a museum. Sadly the guy wouldn’t let me take a photo of it since it costs that much. 

And that’s a wrap for yesterday.

Asian Adventures: Trying to leave the country December 22, 2009

This is about a day late … enjoy! 

The time is now 2:54am CAT time – but wait – it’s light outside. Oops – it’s now 8:54am Hong Kong time – as I look out the window, the aerial view of Thailand makes me quite excited for the trip ahead.

But as all trips begin, there always has to be some drama in the Kim household.

It’s a good thing our mom decided to make us go early to the airport, because we ended up forgetting a rather important bag at home, in which our friend Dani had to come pick up the rest of the exportation of tea (excess luggage), and our mom catching a later flight to Joburg and get us there. We finally got to Joburg, where we met up with Graham, who sadly could not catch a flight to Hong Kong. And boy did he try, he even shaved off his rather impressive snor for the occasion, got the smart outfit out, and for 4 days arrived at OR Tambo only to be rejected. Sorry friend, we’re going to miss you at Hong Kong. Thereafter, we finally got to board, which resulted in passport control not letting Paul out of the country that easily if he did not produce some sort of South African Resident confirmation. Which meant that I had to run to my mom to get the documentation. And boy, was that one very long mile. It’s a good thing I went through a running stint – or I probably would have died on the way.

And now, here I sit, swollen feet and all, with just under 3 hours down to go till landing. The flight has been not too bad, though the entertainment system conked out already in the first 3 hours of flight. There is a lank load of asian migration on this flight, which makes for lost in translation, and loud people. Ahh …

Asian adventures December 22, 2009

I haven’t blogged in such a while: but for the next three weeks we’re going to be blogging about our asian experience: yes the time has come for us to go on our 5 yearly trip to Korea – and we have made it! So keep reading to be updated on the crazy adventures of the Kim kids going to the asia homelands …

thoughts after sunday night November 8, 2009

I am so convinced that I am the most selfish person I know.

At the moment I feel hurt and pretty much in the dumps, and it’s all because of my own selfishness. Inside of me – I really do feel pretty much like I’ve been selfish and now I am being bitter about it. I just wish I could not be like this – but inside I feel like I have to protect myself so I try to build a bigger wall. It’s insecurity. I’m telling you.

I need to get out of this habit. Because in essence, it’s pathetic.

… mixed thoughts November 6, 2009

I actually don’t know what to say about the topic that I am going to write about – but here goes – this is my attempt at trying to figure out what is going on in my mind.

Tonight I went to this youth rally that our denomination hosts once a term. The different churches in the areas’ youth get together for an evening of fellowship and hearing from God’s Word. So basically a youth meeting. Tonight was my first time in a year that I have gone since I have left school – I decided to go on impulse decision.

and boy. I don’t know what to say.

The youth of today are really in a different state. 

It must be so difficult trying to spread the gospel to a generation that we have today. Yes, I am still a teenager, but after tonight, I feel as if I have aged 20 years. The music I felt was too loud (yes, I’m only 19 but heck!), I really felt that it was trying to bring on emotions that should appear but I don’t know how to explain it. Everyone clapped after every single thing: which is fine – I don’t mind it- but I really felt that it was not for the reason that it should be. For me, it just felt trying too hard to be something it was not.

The challenge then is: how do we reach out to a youth that is lank confused? It’s hard to be able to stick to solid Gospel and in an accessible manner.

… Martha, Martha November 4, 2009

Let me tell you a little story I was reminded of today …

Long ago, as Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. Bu Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha …” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 Today as I was sitting practising piano, worrying about all the things that are happening today, I realised that I was being like Martha. I know that people around me can definitely testify that I am like a Martha. Constantly trying to look for the better thing, worrying about things around me. I know I need to take a chill pill sometimes – and look at what’s important. 

I think it’s always important to remember what is important in life. And what’s going to get us through it.

Thank the Lord that he gave me perseverance today!