passenger on board

I booked a cab for the trip from my apartment to Southern Cross Station. You know how cab drivers always bombard irriated passengers with a hell lot of questions, when all the passengers want are silence? Well, during this trip, the taxi driver (an Indian student) began asking me some questions while stuck in the morning traffic, but I decided to bombard him with questions before it became the other way round, until finally, the taxi driver asked...

TD: So, what course are you doing?
Me: Well, actually, I'm studying journalism.
TD: No wonder you are asking me so many questions!
Me: Hahaha! Because taxi drivers always like to bombard their passengers with a lot of questions, so I thought it would be nice to turn the tables around.
TD: Hahahahahaha...It's nice to finally have someone turn the tables around.
Both: Hahahahahaa...

Singapore, 23:45PM

I really miss living near the Equator. When I left Melbourne, the weather was slightly chilly and I had a jacket on throughout the flight. But, as we got nearer and nearer to Singapore, and when the plane passed through the Equator, it suddenly felt like sauna inside the plane and I even began perspiring.

Seoul, 6.58AM

6 hours away, and the weather is a whole different temperament.

I landed in South Korea this morning at 7.04AM. The temperature was minus 4 degree celsius. 13 hours on the plane in total, good thing I was in transit in Singapore for 7 hours, or else my ass would really hurt. The moment I stepped out of the gates , Yoo Jeong was there waiting, and she greeted me with a huge yawn. We went to Starbucks to have coffee, then proceeded to YJ's house. She suggested taking the subway, even though the bus trip was only half an hour, so we would have a nice scenic view of the river. However, we had to change subway three or four times, each a 10 to 15 minute ride, and a 5 minute walk away from the previous one. And, then, from the station to YJ's house, we had to take a taxi down because the weather was freezing and we had three luggages to carry.

Because YJ's entire family doesn't speak English, and know only a few simple words, each attempted conversation with her mum (because her dad was at work) was a comedy of sorts, and YJ would roar with laughter each time she saw us trying to have a 'conversation'. We had an afternoon nap, and I woke up earlier than YJ, so I went out of the room and her mum was in the kitchen cooking dinner. She began talking to me in Korean, and I had a 'Huh?' expression on my face, so her mum would repeat herself again. In Korean. And, then when I still couldn't understand, she would say the same thing louder again. In Korean. When I told this to YJ, she couldn't stop laughing.

Kimchi is a must-have at every Korean meal, including the rest of the other small servings of traditional Korean dishes. Koreans eat really really little, and their meal servings are really tiny portions. When I came out to have lunch, I looked around the table. YJ's bowl had a few spoonfuls of rice, her brother's was about half full, and mine was filled to the brim with rice! I was very happy. Yay, YJ still remembers that my stomach is a rice bucket! After that, I was like, 'Thanks for remembering that I eat a lot of rice," and YJ laughed. Compare this to Chinese dishes, which are like huge communal bowls, not considering how much rice and refills we go for. No wonder Korean people are so skinny. YJ once said that for someone who eats as much as I do, I am super skinny. Gee, thanks.

At the dining table: See the four small tiny dishes? That is what YJ's family usually has for dinner, and still have many left-overs. Unbelievable. The big dish of dong fen was a special for both me and YJ, who only landed back in Korea one day before my arrival. We also had crab meat soup, which was super super delicious! Fyi, The full bowl of rice is mine.

After lunch, we had a quick nap. We were both dead tired. A small culture shock when I first walked into YJ's room. "Where is your bed?!!" Turns out Korean households do not have any beds, and they laid out their mattresses on the floor when they go to bed, and then fold it up neatly and pack it back to the wardrobe in the morning. YJ's mum prepared layers and layers of thin mattresses and two blankets (including an electrical blanket) for us. After some time, the heat emanating from the blanket woke the both of us up, and YJ was even perspiring. Our pillows were really flat (YJ's mum believes it will bring longer life) bean bags. The floor was so hard, I had trouble sleeping initally. Even YJ had trouble adjusting, given that she spent 9 months in Melbourne sleeping on soft beds. But, when you have accumulated as much sleep debt as the both of us, you wouldn't have much trouble dozing off soon.

I got the second culture shock when I saw the clothes being laid out neatly all over the living room floor. Turns out that Korean households dry their clothes by laying them on the floor! Because beneath their floor are heaters, they make use of the heat to dry their clothes faster.