dayZ of my life...path for my stePZ: Finale OIAP KOREA

Kinda sad to leave korea... no more Ewha, no more CRL, no more swimming lessons, no more subway, no more comfy dorm!!! Three months just flew by like tat... still remember all that crazy preparations for this OIAP, winter stuff, packing, the dilemma between going for IVP or OIAP, the fear of getting sent to China... etc etc.

Then the day itself, woke up and getting all panicky cos my luggage seems to heavy... crazy decision to repack( i din, btw), and off to Changi Airport after dinner of Bah Chor Mee at MacPherson. Thankies to TKD-ers for coming to send me off... it was a monday and there was training that night. Thankies for all the well-wishes!

Walk through the gates and the adventures begin! We are on our OWNNNN from that moment!

Spent the entire night watching movies and playing games, couldnt sleep... not sure if it was the heat or what (the plane is freaking warm!!!). Reached korea about 7am? Saw Dr Seonock and off we go to our destination! Ewha for us! Met CRL(sung-jin, eun-ji, in-young, and the lady in purple coat) peepos for the first time!!! Dragged our luggage all the way back to the dorm, it was reallllllllllllllly far and steep and they din bring us to use the lifts!!! BARGH!!!

My room for 3mths! A706, great roommie!!! Comfy room!!!

Met Prof Song at the favourite cafeteria, thanks for the treat! Went to the Natural History Museum... whoopsie, the combination of sleepless night + heavy lunch made me DROWSY!!! I think i sleep-walked most of the time, and... well, i dont like museums or history... so... SORRY TO THE CURATOR!!! I Did not listen to what you said most of the time!!! Then we head to Ewha shopping area, yup, still sleep-walking! Sorry... ii i appear to be to rather aloof that day??? Hehee, first tour of ewha area guided by In-young and... the lady in purple coat that day! Went back to the office and was briefed by Sung-jin... again, i apologise as i think i fell asleep most of the time!!!

First day of work! Completely screwed up the DNA extraction! LOL, threw away the spin column containing all that precious DNA... whoopsie, hehehe, thanks to Eun-ji for all that guidance! And the working starts! DNA Extraction, gel electrophoresis, PCR, gel loading... but a major problem, WHERES THE CO1 band?! after weeks of trying, somehow it was shelved aside and we started the DEG project. RNA Extraction, *cant remember* ... got into my first accident then! Foolishly dipped my finger into liquid nitrogen to make some finger popsicle! Had my entire hand wrapped up cos of one finger... andd... brought to the medical centre by In-young! Sorry for all that trouble caused = ... and thankiews for all the concerns! =)

Visited many many many places over the many many many weekends. Shopping at Dongdaemun, Nandaemun, MyeongDong, etc etc. Sightseeing at Seoul Tower, 63building, cheonho, etc etc etc. Fun fun session at Everland, gyeongbok gung... It was fun shopping, sightseeing, and most of the time cam-whoring with the OIAP koreans! Trixy, Felicia, LPY, Michelle, Shimin.

Cos of the Jeju trip, i fulfilled one of my to-do-list for years, to learn SWIMMING! Signed up for swimming classes conducted in a totally foreign language. Luckily, i had the patience-est swimming instructor!!! She guided me very very well! Andd... i am still proud to say that... I think i am the only one whom she calls by name in class!!! Under her guidance for 2mths i could finally swim FREESTYLE, swim on back, and had the courage to swim in a 2m deep pool! *to coachie... please do keep in touch!*

End of 2mths plus and finally, the long awaited JEJU trip! Met the diving shop owner + wife + the rather lame diving instructor... i think Jeju peepos are all very nice!!! Diving was coool, the plunge into the water was rather nerve-wrecking though...!!! Seeing huge colonies of coral underwater is sooooooooooo different from seeing them in the centrifuge tubes! Much much prettier!!! GREAT EXPERIENCE !!!

Climbed my second mountain! Hallasan! Sung-jin was really really somewhat jittery about the trip. LOL... almost like my mum... heeeheee! Hallasan is about 1900m high?! Satisfaction upon completion!!! Befriended a group of Ajussi-s who took care of of me... so nice of them, we were merely acquaintance along the trek and they yet they treated me like... well... their daughter perhaps? Back to Seoul on the third day and In-young became the oh-ma... haaahaa!!!

EVERLAND WAS FUN!!! HOPE TO VISIT LOTTEWORLD SOMEDAY!!!

time passes sooooooooooooo fast and we had our farewell party at Prof Song's place on the 24th. Purena & anna are soooooooooooo cute!!! Warm, fuzzy and CHUBBY! Gave pressies to CRL peepos, hope they like it... =) it was fun fun fun fun fun!!! But getting drunk and puke-y was not. Sorry for the trouble again!!! Thanks Eun-ji for the tea and stuff, In-young for the watermelons, Sung-jin for preventing me from getting more drunk and the super FATHERLY Prof Song's husband!

The day before departure was really emotional!!! Haix, couldnt bear to leave the chair where i've spent three mths rotting on it... the pillow... the lab... and most importantly, the PEEPOs. Shed my first tear in korea. =(

Finally finished packing at 3am in the morning... visited CRL for the last time... =((((

Hope to come back to Korea again... Hope to see the CRL peepos again... =)

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us