Strawberry Swing

STRAWBERRY SWING
COLDPLAY
Viva la Vida (Death and All His Friends)

They were sitting, they were sitting in the strawberry swing
And every moment was so precious

They were sitting, they were talking in the strawberry swing
And everybody was for fighting
Wouldn't wanna waste a thing

Cold, cold water bring me 'round
Now my feet won't touch the ground
Cold, cold water
What you say?
It's such, it's such a perfect day
It's such a perfect day

I remember we were walking up to strawberry swing
I can't wait 'til the morning
Wouldn't wanna change a thing

People moving all the time
Inside a perfect straight line
Don't you wanna curve away?
It's such it's such a perfect day
It's such a perfect day

Ahhhh....



Now the sky could be blue
I don't mind
Without you its a waste of time
...could be blue I don't mind, without you it's a waste of time
The sky could be blue, could be gray without you I just slide away
The sky could be blue, I don't mind, without you it's a waste of time.

Note:
I do really love this song.
This song has been so much inspired me to curve away.
To see the cute video of this song you can click the link below:
Strawberry Swing official video

Army/Military Service in Korea

South Korea is one of the countries that implement conscription for its citizens, men aged 20-30 years who physically and mentally healthy. Each of these men have to undergo the program for 20 months. According to several (male) Korean friends (male), that period will be the most unpleasant pleasant time in their lives because it will cut their youth time, a period in which they normally use to have fun. Once obtaining a warrant for conscripts some will feel as if their world collapses for a moment. For example my friend Jae who always looks cheerful all of a sudden he got irritated when I asked when he would join Army Service. It seems that the topic is sensitive to the Korean guy who has not been on Army service.

What do they (Korean men) do in army service???

First of all they have to quit school or from work for a while. Then they are required to fill out a form where they wish to be placed, naval, air force or a soldier who helped American troops. But most of them end up as the army. Basic training they received about 4 weeks in training camp, after that they just transferred assigned to the unit they choose to continue with the remaining time before conscription to 20 months ahead.

Army Service be one important factor why the sense of brotherhood among the Korean guy is very close and tight. In addition, there is interesting thing that I gain about army service. One of simple way to distinguish whether a guy that has or has not been in army service is by observing their body shape. If someone has OK/good/awesome body (strapping, athletic, good arm) I can guess that he had joined army service. If his body is not OK, I will guess that he hasn't joined army service yet, hehe. exception for Korean actors, has or hasn't joined army service they have good body shape like won Bin on the picture below. Kyakya,,, I love Won Bin.




* Einegelberose *

Counting The Age in Korean Version

For calculating the age, the formula used by the Korean people is: current age = current year - birth year + 1. Plus 1 is there because of all newborns are considered 1 year old. So, I who was born in the year 88 according to the Korean people, my age is 24 years old this year meanwhile in normal calculation my age is 23 years old. Haduwh,, I feel getting older?!? So I won't follow their formula, *hehe*

Oppa (오빠) or Ahjussi (아저시)?!?

Just as the people of Indonesia, the Koreans also use some terms to call another people particularly to call people who are older. Here are some common terms that they use.

# Oppa (오빠): a call from one girl to older brother or to a guy who is older than her (until about 10 years older). 'Oppa' is also intended as a lovely call from girl to her boyfriend or a guy she likes.

# Eonni (언니): a call from one girl to older sister or to another girl who is older than her.

# Hyeung (형): a call from one guy to a older brother or to another guy who is older than him.

# Nuna (누나): a call from a guy to a girl who is older than him.

# Ahjushi (아저 시): a call for a man who is much older than the caller. The word is commensurate with the word 'uncle'.

# Ahjuma (아줌마): a call for a woman who is much older than the caller. The word is commensurate with the word 'aunt'.

# Songsenim (선생님): a call for teachers.

# Sunbae / Sunbaenim (선배): a call from junior to senior or to more experienced person.

Some of my Korean friends invited me to call them the 'Oppa/ 오빠 'but because in Indonesia the pronunciation of ' Oppa ' refers to 'grandfather' none of themI call' Oppa '. Moreover, 'Oppa' sounded a little bit sassy in my ear. Maybe I'm just going to call someone with 'Oppa' if and only if he is my boyfriend, hehe.

There's something funny related to the selection of the word 'oppa' or 'Ahjussi' to call an older guy. So for example like this, if there is a guy who is 13 years older than me and I call him 'oppa' It means that according to me that guy is OK/good looking. Meanwhile, if I call him the 'Ahjussi' It means that according to me that guy is not OK. * Hehe *

So 'Oppa' and 'Ahjushi' can be used to distinguish the quality of the face of a guy. * Hehe *

So It's a nature thing that park Hae Gun was a little bit irritated when I call him wit 'Ahjussi' *hehe* *peace*

# Einegelberose #

Me and My Korean Friends

In the Global Village Habitat Indonesia-POSCO program, I "infiltrated" into the group 8, which consisted of:
1. JEO/ WOOYEONG -> The Leader /The Big Nose
2. KIM/MINJI -> The Vice Leader /The Red Hair Girl
3. PARK/HEEGUN -> The Oldest /Ahjushi / Gun n 'Roses
4. HONG/HYEONKI -> The Chubbiest /SLR Guy
5. PARK/JIWOO -> The Tooth-Braced Guy
6. PARK/GYEONGSOK -> KIMONG/The Most Handsome One
7. YOO/JAEYUNG -> The Youngest
8. KIM/SUNJAE -> The Warming Up Instructor/Look-Look-Look
9. LEE/EUIJIN --> The Translator
10. KIM/SOHYUN -> The Brown Hair Girl
11. HWANG/YUNJEOUNG -> The One Who Asked me to The Pool After Welcoming Dinner
12. JEONG/SUHYUN -> The Calling Mother
13. PARK/MIHYEON -> Coconut

Because their names sound very similar I give nicknames to each of them. Thank God I was incorporated into the group whose members were nice, funny and friendly. For a moment I felt a bit insecure because my skin is the darkest among them. Luckily my group did not contain of (super) slimy girls (like in Korean series I ever watched) so that I didn't feel being inferior among them. *hehe*

(Left to Right: Gun, Kimong, YunJeoung, Ji, EuiJin, Me, Jae, MihYeon, SuhYun, MinJi, SohYun, Sun, HyeonKi, WooYeong)

Being acquinted with 13 new friends made me want to discuss about Korean name. Here is some information that I can share with you guys.

Korean Names consist of two parts, the family name and first name. In the Korean language, '이름 / ireum' usually refers to a family name (성 / Seong) and forename (명 / Myeong) collectively.

If a foreigner (nonKorea) wants to have Korean name then he/she must undergo 'Changseong' which literally means 'what is creating a new family name'. But contextually 'Changseong' means 'civil administration procedures so that foreigners become citizens of Korea or the process of reporting to the head of the clan name of the relevant government units, in the village, village heads and sub-district, once approved by the court.

There are about 250 surnames in Korea and 3 surnames that most widely used (which covers nearly half of the population and the most preferred by foreigners who naturalize theirselfves) : Kim, Lee and Park.


According to an article I red from a blog [sorry I forgot the blog address], most Korean names have 3 syllables that fits perfectly with the date of birth (YY/MM/DD).

Family Name: shows the last number of births year.

0: Park 1: Kim 2: Shin 3: Choi 4: Song

5: Kang 6: Han 7: Lee 8: Sung 9: Jung

Middle Name: shows the month of birth.

1: Yong 2: Ji 3: Je 4: Hye 5: Dong 6: Sang 7: Ha 8: Hyo 9: Soo 10: Eun

11: Hyun 12: Rae

Last Name: shows the date of birth.

1: Hwa 2: Woo 3: Joon 4: Hee 5: Kyo

6: Kyung 7: Wook 8: Jin 9: Jae 10: Hoon

11: Ra 12: Bin 13: Sun 14: Ri 15: Soo

16: Rim 17: Ah 18: Ae 19: Neul 20: Mun

21: In 22: Mi 23: Ki 24: Sang 25: Byung

26: Seok 27: Gun 28: Yoo 29: Sup 30: Yon

31: Sub

Because I was born on July 18, 1988 so my Korean name is "Ha Sung Ae". Sounds a bit funny huh?!? *hehe*

But actually it does not as simple as that. For example, according to the rules above, I can guess that the birthday of my friend named PARK/JIWOO is February 2 but in fact, he was born on 2 April. *DengDong*

Based on my conversation with my friend, Hwang/YunJeoung about name after marriage, the information I've gathered are:
# Children will inherit the paternal family name.
Example: Hwang/YunJeoung (f) is married to Park/HeeGun (m) their children will become Park / ... ..., eg: Park/Haeri
# The husband's family name will not be attached to the wife.
For cases like the above, Hwang /YunJeoung will not necessarily be called 'Mrs. Park '. People will more often call her with HaeRi Emma, which means mother of HaeRi.

So that's all I can share to you guys. Hopefully what I've writen can be beneficial to anyone who reads this blog.

If anyone wants to correct, please leave comments. I'll always be open for critics and advice.

Best regards,
* Einegelberose *

And The Story Beginned

The story begins on Wednesday, January 18, 2011.

After having done with my academic guardianship matters , I along with Mute and Santus went to Bandung Super Mall. We planned on taking the Primajasa bus BSM-BSH with the schedule at 3:30. With the estimated travel time required was 4 hours approximately we would arrive at the airport at around 8 o'clock PM. We make an appointment with the people from POSCO and Habitat at KFC. We had to pick up the arrival of Korean volunteers who would arrive at 10 AM.

I, Santus and Mute arrived around at 8 PM. While waiting for the people from Habitat who still were on the way, we had dinner at KFC. At 9:30 PM the people from Habitat and POSCO came. Some of were Miss Leah and Miss Hera from Habitat Indonesia, Mr. Yong from the POSCO's CSR and Mr. Jin from Habitat Korea (Anjoy,, He's such a gorgeous guy). There wass also Eddy, (ex) UI students receiving scholarships from POSCO.

The participants from Indonesia put into different groups. Eddy went into group 2. Santus went into groups 6. Mute went into group 7. I went into group 8. Pffffhhh hopefully I'd get a nice group.

After several minutes of small talk, we finally welcomed the arrival of around 100 Korean volunteers. 100 volunters?!?

Yup .. (more than) 100 volunteers. I didn't think the amount of they would be so many. At first I thought there would only be 20 or 30 Korean volunters.Looking at the around 100 Korean people directed me into a great shock. HWOW ... HWOW ... They look very similar to each other. They are so typical: black and straight hair, white skin, narrow eyes, tall and athletic body (for the guys), slim body (for girls).

From the airport we were all transported by bus to the inn in Bogor. I'm with friends from other Indonesian werere in a bus with a staff of POSCO. In the bus we met with one of the staff named Mr. Choi. Because his English is very bad, sometimes he asked Mr. Chan to be a translator between us.

One of the things we learned from Mr. Choi wass about the number and order number in Korea.

Korean language group has 2 pieces of vocabulary, the first is the native Korean language and the second is a Korean-Chinese (formerly Korean used to use Chinese writing because Korea did not have its writing itself). So for numbers there are also 2 languages, one is the original Korean language and one is Korean-China. Both group can not be used carelessly, for example to say what time it is, how many, age, etc. are usually followed by native Korean numbers and for how many pages, the sequence of numbers, year, month, day, etc. using the Korean-China numbers.

Native Korean numbers:
1 = hana
2 = dul
3 = set
4 = net
5 = tasot
6 = yosot
7 = ilgob
8 = yeodol
9 = ahob
10 = Yeol
11 = yoel hana
20 = seumul
30 = Soeren
40 = maheun
41 = maheun hana
50 = swin
60 = yesun
70 = ilheun
80 = yeodeun
90 = aheun


Derivatives of china numbers

1 = il
2 = i
3 = sam
4 = sa
5 = o
6 = yuk
7 = Chil
8 = pal
9 = gu
10 = sib
11 = sib il
20 = i sib
30 = sam sib
40 = sa sib
50 = o sib
60 = yuk sib
70 = sib Chil
80 = sib pal
90 = gu sib

when it's up to 100 all numbers become equal. There is no authentic form of Korea or any derivative China

100 = baek
1000 = chon
10,000 = man
100,000 = sib man
1 million = baek man
10 million = chon man
100 million = oek

For additional information, for currencies, in Korea they use Won. Won ranges between 10-13 rupiahs.

We had late dinner right after arriving at our hotel. I haven't wondered anymore why Korean girls have slim body because I saw they were eating very little. HWAH ... if they can lean on it, I certainly can. The spirit of the diet program have flared again.

Finished eating, all Koreans bring their plates and glasses into the sink area. My Indonesian friends and I started to follow what they do. Whereas in normal days, we will allow the dishes and glasses are lying on the table because there will be waiters who would take care of them.

The night was getting late. After a super late dinner, we rested in our own rooms. Santus and Mute are in one room (room 108). I got a room to my own self (room 107). Because I was so reluctant of sleeping alone, I went bed in room 108, slept together with Santus and Mute.

Pfffhhh,,,
Hopefully, tomorrow and beyond would be a series on fun days.

EV: Preliminary

At the middle of hectic chasing Mr. Bigman to give me permission to take comprehensive exams, Mutya -my junior- offered me to participate in a voluntary program that would take place in the village of Babakan Madang, Sentul, Bogor. Voluntary program titled "Global Village" was a collaboration between the departments of social responsibility (CSR) POSCO -international steel-manufacturing company based in South Korea- and Habitat for Humanity Indonesia (non-profit institutions engaged in social and humanitarian).

Actually, the Indonesian students who were invited to participate in the program were POSCO scholarship receivers. But because only 3 of them who confirmed to participate, the POSCO provided an opportunity for that 3 persons that each could invite up to 5 friends to join in this program. Therefore Mutya took Santus and me (by chance the three of us are in same major/department in university and and also live in one boarding house) for follow-up program that will run for from 18 January to 28 January.

At first I was hesitant to join the Global Village (GV) program because the duration was too long. I feared that my final project would be abandoned. In addition, the thing that made me hesitate was the absence of a clear rundown for the program. Once thought lest it only mode for human trafficking. It could be we would be sent to Korea as maids. [Oh No ... What such a silly thought it was?!?]

After some persuasion I agreed to join the program partially, only for 5 days. But once Santus and Mutya red the whole rundown I immediately told them that I will follow this program in full. Why?!? Because in the last five days there would be fun events at The Jungle Water Park, Sea World and Grand Indonesia. [Fun, fun, fun.. Free vacations :)]

Another thing that made us even more excited about this program was because we would work together with several volunteers from the Korean. HWOW .. HWOW ... I directly pictured handsome faces of Won Bin and Kim Hyung Jun. Some of my male friends like Ghani and Kak Yogi even asked me to kidnap a girl who looks like Shin Min Ah (actress rolling as Gu Mi Ho in the drama "My Girlfriend is Nine Tailed Fox)".

GV program was truly providing a valuable and unforgettable experience in my life. There are new things I learned (in particular) about the Korean people. That ten days really made me a lot of self introspection especially in terms of socializing with other people. Ten days was not long enough to be able to make a good cross-country friendship. But with the sincerity I believed that it would not be an impossible thing to be realized.

To share my experience interacting with 120 of the Koreans that I met at GV, I'll pour it through the writing on this blog with label Global Village Habitat for Humanity Indonesia-POSCO 2011 . Hopefully what I write will be useful to readers.

Well ... CHECK THEM OUT!

-Ari-