Recap 2010

Today is the last day of 2010! And I'm spending it in a foreign country... away from home. Back in Malaysia we used to do New Year countdowns and party late into the night, but here in Korea it's a little different. People here prefer to have a good night's rest on the last day of the year and wake up early to catch the first sunrise of the new year.

At first I planned to skip the sunrise and sleep in, since I'd already experienced freezing cold sunrise at Grand Canyon before and am not looking forward to another freezing time outside... but that day I was talking to my friend when I suddenly realized the significance of 1.1.11!!! What a special occasion... so how could I miss the sunrise on this special day?!~ So I decided to go to view the sunrise at Gwangan bridge tomorrow with some international friends... I'll blog about it later! ^^ OK and now for a recap of 2010:-

1. Leo and I got married on Jan 30 and we had our wedding reception by the poolside, by the beach. It was an incredibly romantic memory which we will remember for years to come and we were so blessed to have so many people sing for us on that night - my brother and cousins, my hubby, my hubby's brother, my hubby's aunty, Khoon Hau... and we actually danced the whole night through under the starry night and the unbearable heat... :P... and not forgetting my jimuis and Leo's hengdais who were together with us during the whole "Snatch-the-Bride" session. The blessings of family and friends were what made it all the more special and memorable to us.

After the wedding - we stayed an extra night in our Flamingo honeymoon suite... treated it as our mini-honeymoon ^^ Some photos taken on the day after the wedding, after Leo had a dip in the pool. Then we went for a nice Thai dinner with his relatives. ^^

2. My new family house. 2010 was truly a year of new beginnings. We moved into our new family home and it is so much nicer and much more comfortable than our old home which we stayed in for 20 years. I'm so proud of my dad for providing so much for us - the house, the renovations, the new furniture, and everything throughout the years - on his salary. And thank you for rushing for the house-cleaning and renovations to ready it for my Big Day. I love you dad and mom, although I have not been spending a lot of time in the new house I hope I will be able to stay there very often in the future when I get back to Malaysia.

My lovely new family house in Ipoh ^^

3. Coming to Korea to study my Masters degree. What can I say? Experiencing new cultures and new stuff have been a great part of my life here this year. From the initial culture shock and the weather - it was so depressing to feel cold all the time and because I couldn't speak/understand the language at all I was totally reliant on others to bring me around. I still remember when I first arrived I went shopping for normal stuff such as shampoo and laundry detergent and I was so depressed cause I couldn't understand a word of what the sales person was talking about. But I'm all past that cos I can read/listen/speak some of the everyday language now! And I even got A+ in my Korean language this semester!~

4. Starting a new research project. I realized some time ago that even though I'm spending a huge part of my days in the lab (10am-10pm), I didn't blog anything about my research nor my lab. :P My research here is in Visible Light Communications (VLC) which is one of the newer optical technologies to transmit/receive information using white light LED. It's really tough for me cos I'm single-handling the entire project, from building the hardware from scratch using knowledge in electronics, communications (modulation and coding), optical communications, microcontroller programming and debugging, writing some software and results analysis. Not to mention writing papers for domestic conference proceedings and presenting my research results at the conferences. It was a very steep learning curve this year, also with my mandatory credit hour lectures (some of which were taught in Korean!) and although admittedly I have not achieved a great deal; nevertheless I still feel proud of myself for pulling through this year. And thanks a lot to my beloved hubby for supporting me and giving me a lot of guidance and advice, always.

5. Experiencing the four seasons. So this is my first time spending a whole year in a country with 4 seasons - the pinkness of the sakuras during spring, the amazing umbrellas and six-pack Korean hunks on the beach in summer, the beautiful yellow gingko leaves and red maple leaves in autumn, and snow in winter! But I think my favorite season is still summer - spring and winter is too cold for me, autumn is too depressing looking at the falling leaves and balding trees - thank God I was born in Malaysia!

6. Traveling to three countries - Singapore, Korea, and Japan. I didn't realize it but when I read back on my blog I'd actually traveled to 3 countries this year! My first time to Singapore for Ye Hsin's wedding, and then stepping foot in Japan for the first time. That reminds me, I need to blog about my Fukuoka trip! And other than traveling abroad, I've done quite some traveling in Korea too - Gwangyang to see maehwa, 2 conferences in Jeonju and Jinhae, Gyeongju for international students outing, Damyang bamboo trip, summer roadtrip to Suncheon and Yeosu, church retreat to Benegol, honeymoon in Jeju, and autumn in Seoul.

7. Having friends and family visiting me in Korea. Having my best friends visit me in Korea really took the bore out of my daily routine - I was so happy to have Kah Khee, Si Min and Si Jian visit me here in October... we had so much fun and I should appreciate them more for their long-lasting friendship and advice. My sweetie also visited me twice this year - we spent the summer around in Busan and Jeju-do and it was sooooo lovely! And in autumn he brought his family with him and it was so great to be with them, touring around Seoul and Busan. And not forgetting Kheng Teck and his brother who visited me in November - haven't seen him for a long time and it was so great to see him again!

8. Getting baptized and getting involved in church. And so I finally gave myself to the Lord on Nov 21 this year. I'd been procrastinating for so long and giving myself too many excuses (looking for the right church/ not going to church regularly in Penang/ waiting for my hubby to baptize together) that I forgot the true meaning of baptism and why I should be baptized. Thanks very much to my friends here Janice for bringing me to church and giving me a chance to "fall into routine" and Edie for ringing my bell about getting baptized. I took the month-long baptism class on the Heidelberg Catechism conducted by my church pastor which helped me to learn, question and understand a great deal more about the Christian faith. I also helped out in the media team to show presentation slides during the worship session. And joined community group where I met many many new Christian friends who are very friendly and helped me along the way in my Christian journey.

9. Making new friends/relationships and losing some. Finally, the toughest part to write about. Leaving home and starting afresh in a new country is never easy. Loneliness takes over sometimes and having some friends by my side helps to battle that. At first, I was blessed to get to know some new friends - Koreans and Malaysians in the lab, Malaysians from other university, international friends from Korean class, international friends and Koreans from church. However recently I realized that not everyone whom I call "friend" truly treats me back that way. People make mistakes and I admit that I had made some mistakes and bad judgment along the way. Moving into the adult stage of life, it seems only right that when someone tries to patch up and says they're sorry, the other person should be mature enough to forgive and forget. But I realize now that maybe, not everybody sees things on the same wavelength as me, even after I had made the first move to make amends. Then perhaps it's time for me to seek closure, detach from that friendship (no matter how I hate breaking up) and get a move on with my life. Looking back at my photos, we had some great times together and I really appreciated those times we had together, but it really takes two to tango... Also I found an unexpected relationship this year which I really cherish, and I hope our friendship will last in my memory forever. :-)

10. New Year's Resolutions.

1) Finish my research and get my Master's degree (happening in Feb 2012!)
2) Study more and wake up earlier to come to lab - Wake at 9am.
3) Really spend quality time with my hubby and my family this CNY when I go back to Malaysia.
4) Be a better person and try to do fewer mistakes
5) Blog more - finish up on the topics which I plan to blog!
6) Appreciate my time in Korea to the max (left one year) - travel more, get to know more friends, take more pictures, blog more...
7) Be more involved in my new house design and renovations
8) Wear my wedding ring everyday

And last but not least... HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 to everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~ 새해 복 많이 받으세요!!!

Comments

家勤 said…
新年我会在安顺哦~!
希望有时间可以meet up ~!
Invisible said…
新年快樂~生活繼續多姿多彩~ :)
Unknown said…
Lots of big things happen on you in 2010:)

and I do agree that when we made a sincere apology, the other person should be mature enough to forgive and forget. As long as you have done your part, then there is nothing you should be sorry about. :)
but I never like breaking up with friends, and everything needs time to melt and fade, so don't give up!
Xweing said…
Haha.. I already gave up on the friendship. Now I couldn't care less.
Coketai said…
Hi Xweing,

Glad to have drop by my blog which I have abandon some time ago. Recently I find my way back to blogspot as I was not able to access to blogspot, Facebook and youtube in Shanghai.

Nice to know that one year have gone that you have make yourself thru in Korea....not easy !!! I guess so but you make it. Glad for you!!

Now I can follow your blog again and hope to know more on your progress!! How is your new IJM home, have you move in yet??

LY.Tai
leonardlcy said…
What a year 2010 has been! Looking forward to spending time with you again during CNY.

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