i think the Haeundae Sand Festival was the last big thing i attended. i'll be leaving and going back to Malaysia, back to reality tomorrow. this farewell is bittersweet. how do i leave the one place that i've been wanting to go and now that i've had 9 months here, why doesn't it feel enough?

i definitely miss Malaysian food, my friends, my family and the familiarity that comes with home. but to go and leave Busan and all the friends and memories i've made here, oh, i'm so reluctant. my heart and feet are heavy.

i know there isn't any way out of this. farewells and goodbyes are part of life and life must go on. i leave Busan and S. Korea with beautiful memories and experiences that i will always cherish and hold dear. there have been so many lessons, so much growing and maturing here that cannot be replaced. i am so grateful, so thankful to everyone who made this journey possible for me. 

for more of my adventures and experiences in Korea, you can head over to my personal blog (link on the side). i might come back here once in a while to reminisce. i will surely miss this place, it feels like i'm leaving a piece of my heart here. 

안녕~

p.s. yes, i know i'm the sole contributor of this blog, the other two are just not crazy about documenting and writing as i am but rest assured, they enjoyed Busan/S.Korea as much as i did. ^^

- Joan C: 27.06.13

 

apart from the main event, they had other stuff going on named aptly fringe event. i guess it ensured that more people came flocking to the festival but i wasn't able to enjoy every bit of it. also, maybe because i was a tad too short to peer over people's shoulders. still, they had a lot of things going on and it was a really good festival; there was a little bit for everyone, children, adults, families, couples, locals, foreigners and all. i must say, S.Korea does know how to put on a great festival.

here are some pics (or lots) to paint the picture.

whats a sand festival doing if it doesn't have ginormous sand sculptures?

they had lots of things going on at the same time. i went on the first day of the festival, so there was an opening ceremony and all that. first days are always the best to attend on any festival.

there was an air show, my very first air show and it was so so amazing! mind blowing! how can they be so in sync and symmetrical and synchronized? it was crazy.

they even drew a heart!

this was the fringe event i mentioned just now.

and within this fringe festival, there are other ongoing performances such as the one below. oh, and also a parade.

when the important people cut the ribbon during the opening ceremony, a robot flew out! it was really cool.

during the opening ceremony, First (a mixed idol group that i know nothing of) and No Brain performed!

and to end an awesome day, of course, like any festival - Sand Club yo! music and dance on the sand, by the sea. can it get any better? wait, just a tiny little problem; the music! why always electronic? i no get it. oh well, gotta take what i can get. haha.

oh! i can't possibly end this post without a picture of the people/friends i was with.

there was Henry, Nay, Rodrigo and a few others but this is the only picture i have with them. eek.

what can i say? i love Korean festivals, they have a way with it. they are always amazing!

- Joan C: 08.06.13

I've been away, haven't I? oh dear, that's not good. But i'll compensate for it at the end of this post kay? look out for it! :D

 23rd Nov; 3 - 5pm.

It was quite a rushed event but overall, everything went well. We were trying to introduce both Malaysia and Cambodia's culture and knowledge to whoever that were interested in knowing. the turn out was not bad. :D one or two professors brought their class over, so we had a good amount of audience. there were presentations on both countries, a short fashion show of our traditional costumes, Merryn performed her awesome calligraphy while the Cambodians showcased their traditional dance. to end it, we played traditional/childhood games with them. we, Malaysians played Pepsi Cola with them. :D

here's Delon introducing Malaysia to them. most of them were quite interested in our food. ^^

these were the students that joined us.

Merryn doing her thing. everyone was really amazed by her talent. ^^

Cultural Day was successful, i would say. hopefully it helped in increasing the students' awareness of Malaysia and Cambodia. its quite disheartening to know that a lot of them don't actually know where Malaysia is. :/

below are everyone who was involved in making Cultural Day a success. other than the six of us who are staff at English Cafe, the rest are students here, studying Korean.

 and here are some of the students that stayed till the very end. thank you so much for joining us and hope you had fun!

and below is the three of us + Kah Seng. unfortunately, we didn't have enough people to showcase all the traditional costumes in Malaysia especially the Indian costumes. i think the saree would have been an eye-opener. but we did manage to share some Malaysian sweets/snacks with them. haha. some of them didn't enjoy them as much. oops.

this is it for now. exam season coming up which means winter vacation is coming soon! :D

oh, here is the compensation.

yes, snow in Busan! a miracle really as it rarely snows here and definitely not as heavy. but on the 7th Dec, we saw snow, felt it fall on our heads, threw snowballs at each other and built snowmen. :D this is the best winter/Christmas ever!

everything was just so beautiful covered in white.

i'll end with this. goodnight, everyone. i believe its exam season over in Msia too, so hwaiting! (:

- Joan C: 09.12.12