My 5 Small Goals For 2013

Since My 2013 started in a bad mood, I didn't really have energy to work on things. Recovering from there, I think I finally mention about my small goals for this year.

1. Become active for the things I like.
I can't go aggressively when I'm not confident even for a thing I like. So, I want to become more brave.

2. Accept favors.
It's getting better than before, but I'm under the impression that I'm still not good at accepting someones favor.

3. Read 200 books.
I'll read whatever I feel like reading...I'm going to the library, borrow books, and try to finish them somehow.

4. Do not leave things to do later and try doing my best.
I won't put off doing my task and will even choose a better way if it's affordable.

5. Find a small side business.
The important thing is, it has to be something I enjoy, and also makes small money. It doesn't have to be big...Just for self satisfaction.

By the way, even this year started uncomfortably as I said, maybe it's not that bad. Looking on the bright side, my 2013 must not go any worse because it started from minus. There is only a way to go up. Adding the 6th thing, probably I have to be positive whatever happens :)

We Shared Enjoyable Time Together!

Having a dinner, we talked about a lot of things. I was curious about the frequency of cerebrating anniversaries and how they do it for Korean couples (Haha, it's such a stereo type thing), and I asked some questions related to it. Despite they were such personal things, he talked about his case and we shared some experiences. Then, I reached the answer that probably, Korean guys are more romantic compared to Japanese guys in general (Hey, Japanese guys, you gotta make more effort!!), LOL.

Anyway, after chatting, we both became full. On our way home, we stopped by a few supermarkets to buy some boozes. Why just not one was...he had some specific thing on his mind and didn't want to get anything alternative. So we searched for the one he wanted until we found it! When we finally finished shopping, we headed home. When we came back to his small room, he tried to treat me with his "Special" coffee...but the funny thing was, he had no idea how to make coffee. He didn't even have a kettle, lol. So I tried to pour hot water somehow from the pot. And the coffee, that we had as the result of those trying, was a kind of thin, was better than I expected, and more than anything else, he was very happy. So that was good :)

When we finished coffee, he started peeling an apple. It was shocking for me to know he still had some space in his stomach after eating lots of food (I was still so full and had just a piece of it.) and we enjoyed talking seeing pictures of his past trip in Europe. There were a lot of pictures, and he told me the stories about each picture. I liked the part that he cooked Korean foods for friends whenever he went anywhere. And they liked it a lot!! Personally I haven't done such things yet and it's on my list. One of the problem is, since I'm traveling with a small backpack and bring it in the airplane recently, I can't carry so many things with me. Mmm, maybe some day :D

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Momo's Small Wonderland

My Korean friend, Momo, is a cute boy who smiles nicely. He is a student, and his place locates right beside the university. I liked the scenery of the city I saw while walking, and we soon reached his place; Which I call Momo's small wonderland! He said he had everything he needed there, (And I started doubting it later, due to the things happened lol) and welcomed me in warmly. Sitting on the floor, I handed him my small gift I brought from Japan. It was a sweet and it is popular as a souvenir from Kyoto and I love it. Since it's available in the airport, I sometimes bring it for my friends abroad. He looked glad when he received it, and asked me if he could open it. I said sure, and soon, he took a bite.

Boy, he just looked like an innocent kid while tasting it, and it calmed down my heart which was rough due to the things that had happened in past few weeks. Observing him for a while, I realized I was very hungry!! It was already around 20:30 and I hadn't had dinner yet. No wonder. So, we headed for a Korean dinner :D

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After Feeling Uneasy...

I met the second trouble when I got to 恵化 station. As my friend told me, I went out from the exit 1. He told me to take a bus from there, which is going to Sungkyunkwan university. I asked a young guy where the bus stop is and which bus I should take. However, he didn't know about it. Soon after that, I found a bus stop by myself and walked there.

At the bus stop, there was a sign which shows destinations of the buses. However, it was only in Hangul so I had no idea which bus to take and the person I asked for a direction couldn't help me at all. So, I finally decided to make a call to him and luckily, public phones were just beside the bus stop. When the call was done, I had the information that I had to take one of the green mini buses whose number is 7 or 8 and had to go to the final destination :)

After a while, I found myself feeling uneasy because it looked like I got to the final destination of the bus but I was in a residential area. Being under the impression that I was going to an University, the environment looked completely different from what I expected. So, to make sure where I was, I spoke to the driver, confirmed it was the last destination, and asked him if the bus wasn't going to the university that my friend told me. I wanted to find a clue, but since the driver didn't speak English so much, it was a kind of tough. We even involved another bus driver, who came with next bus. But after a while, a young guy showed up and called my name! I bet you know how much I got relieved!

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There Is Always Someone Nice

Since I knew there is a reusable transportation card for buses and trains just as like in Japan, Taiwan or Singapore, I told the person in the information counter that I wanted to purchase one as soon as I got to the station. However, it was not available there. He told me it is available in Seven-Eleven...and there was no Seven-Elevens nearby. He showed me two options. First one is, going back to the airport building and purchase it. The other one is, getting on the train buying a regular card for single use, then purchase the reusable card somewhere in Seoul. I chose...the latter one. So I purchased a card for single use for 恵化 station and left for Seoul station. I had to transfer there to the line 4.

When I got to Seoul station, I got into a small accident. I went out from the gate (I didn't realize there is a way to transfer without passing the gate) and my card got invalid!! I felt myself so stupid. When that happened, there was no available information counter and I was confused. I purchased a reusable transportation at a convenience store I found at the station and tried to figure out what happened to my card asking the store clerk but it failed since she doesn't speak English so much. Kindly, a girl who was waiting for a check behind me followed me later and I got to figure out what I did wrong. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the small money back but she helped me with refunding the single use card. When she left, she smiled and said, "Have a nice trip!" :)

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Saying Hello To The Very Next Country

It was just a few weeks in advance when I decided to fly there. I noticed I got a few days off in a row in January unexpectedly when I received my work schedule in the end of December. Firstly, I thought of another specific place to visit due to my status at that time. However, since it didn't seem available, I finally chose that country. Korea is somewhere I had on my mind that I would visit at least once. Why it didn't happen before was because of the distance. It is a country that is not so far from Japan. It's something similar that people from Tokyo are not going to Tokyo tower often. It feels like we can go anytime.

Being a lazy last minute traveler these days, I didn't do almost anything until the date got close (again, lol). I finally started searching for places after a few days when February started. I went to the library, borrowed a few guidebooks, checked a few places that I shouldn't miss, and took copies of some pages including maps. Unexceptionally for recent trip, my journey started from the next morning I did overnight shift, and I rushed to the airport as soon as I got home and picked up my backpack.

It was my second time traveling alone in January. Last time was Singapore and Cambodia in 2010 and it eventually became a broken-hearted trip because my boyfriend left me after I organized everything for the solo trip. Ironically, it followed the same way this time. What differed it from the past one was I was a bit more optimistic about things which happened around me and I was already used to travel alone due to the experiences I went through after that trip.

Anyway, as soon as I passed the immigration counter, I followed the signs toward to the airport rail to go to 恵化 station to meet up a friend.

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Getting Home At 3 AM

When we finally met up our friend, we headed to the place where we were staying. On the way there, we talked about how we enjoy meeting people from/in abroad. He told us the story when he came to pick people up to the airport 4 times in a day...haha, I felt he really enjoys meeting people. He also told us we were the first people from Japan he "Met" in person.

Our host's house locates in one of the areas where a lot of new high-ended apartments are built, and the area is still expanding. It's hard to find a specific house in a residential area if you are not familiar there. No wonder our friend, Arvind, asked the guards around there sometime and we finally found the place. It was such an apartment that I haven't lived, and do not even expect I can live in the future, because it looked so nice. There were a few guards at the entrance of the whole condominium area, and we had to tell who we are there. It also looks like there is a guard at the first floor of each apartment and we had to tell who we are again there!! Since our host didn't tell them we were coming (It was the first time for him hosting someone, so I guess it couldn't be helped), we couldn't get in smoothly...and I was sure it took more time if we didn't have Arvind because the guard at the apartment didn't speak English at all!

Making sure that we were alright, Arvind left for home. We felt really sorry for him because we heard he lives almost the opposite side of Delhi and it takes 1.5 hours to get home from there. He drove all the way to take us there for a favor.

Gautam, our host, is a cool guy who designs bag and stuff as his occupation. He lives there alone with his lovely dog Maximus, and hiring a maid to take care of him. He was up till 3 AM despite he had to work that day, and welcomed us nicely. He told us about the necessaries, and even told us we can let his maid clean our laundries and cook breakfast for us. His apartment was really nice, and the furniture he has are very cool as well. Also, I personally really like the bags he designs. They are simple, and cool. I don't know how many times I'm saying "Cool" in this post, haha. Anyway, we really liked the room we stayed :) We felt like we were staying at somewhere like an expensive hotel, lol.

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