Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Hangeul

Something I am trying to pick up recently, speaking and reading simple Korean. Who knew a short 2 weeks trip to a foreign land could motivate me so much to learn a new language? Ok, it is definitely not a cheap getaway, already spent more than a thousand booking air tickets and accommodation. Not to mention the car that we need to rent, tickets to NANTA (my friend's mum was recommending it so strongly I had to see why...), and a short trip to the DMZ. Yes, going to one of the most dangerous places in the world. The divide that literally crackles with tension of a war breaking out at any given time. 

So I am learning Korean, not just to be able to watch Korean variety shows without subtitles. More importantly, I am learning it to communicate with the locals, to find my way around, to make sure that what I am eating is actually edible, and where the toilet is. You know, the important things in life...

Got past lesson one, kind of got a pretty good hold on the Korean vowels. Lesson two on the Korean consonants just blew me away. Need to put in way more work if I want to memorise all 14 of them. Hope this drive will continue to motivate me all the way till I can speak something legit.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Two Oh One Six

Opps, seems that I have abandoned this blog for years. Maybe it is time I picked it back up again? Yes, of course this is just a wall for personal rants. But looking back, reading back, it seems that it was blog writing that acted as a journal, keeping my memories intact, keeping my grasp on the English language somewhat there. Was chatting with a friend on looking back at old blogposts, and did that today. Guess that is also what motivated this post.

One other thing that was mentioned to my friend was how life became a little stagnant after a while. After finishing Uni, after getting a job, life became an endless routine. It is a endless cycle of wake up, go to work, go home, sleep, repeat. Highlights in life are long weekends or overseas trips. Sometimes it seems that I am only working for these moments in life. That was actually the theme for one of the youth camps that I organised a couple of years back. Dejavu. The feeling that you have experienced something before. The team wanted to share something to the campers that they can take as a learning point in LIFE. So end of the day what was decided is that Life is much like Dejavu. Everyday seems like something experienced before. Secondary School seems like a repeat of Primary School life. Last week's church activities seems similar to this weeks. Sang the same songs during Christmas caroling last year. Sometimes everything in life seems to be put on repeat. We just fail to notice it.

The side of the story we are telling is that life has been constantly preparing us for future. We have been preparing for the future all this while. The part we are not telling, the dark truth is that homeostasis can be scary. While some consider it efficient, it can also be viewed as being stuck in a rut, not being able to escape this grave that was slowly and constantly being dug year after year. 

I am looking for a way out. Something that gives me the spark in life, without leaving the comforts of a stable life. Hopefully a balance can be found. Someday. Hopefully.