I moved house finally!!!

My new room! it's nice and clean!


this is a spot overlooking the hangang river opposite my house. People sit on the benches here to chill out n enjoy the lovely weather and read. Great place to sun tan during the summer!

25th March Sunday

I moved house today finally! Been waiting so long for it..was the only motivation for this week. It was a really long week..with the swan lake rehearsals and performance at Anyang. We had to take the company bus to Anyang before performance everyday. The journey was bout an hour half depending on the traffic. Best thing bout the place was there was an eatery foo and I discovered that had fried rice!! Haha! May seem really trivial to u all but It was such a joy to taste fried rice again! Was so good we went there 2 days straight n had the same thing. Cos we thought when we leave anyang we wun get to eat fried rice again..

There’s swan lake perf in osan this sat and sun. that’s further south of Seoul. Dunno wat I’ll be dancing this time..so anyway I’ll find out.

Well the highlight of this post is of course the fact I finally got to move over here to stay alone in gwangnaru! It’s one subway stop away from achasan. We can take the free shuttle bus that operates every 20min to get to achasan..so that’s alright. My room overlooks the hanging river..so yeah..i like this place so much better coupled with the fact that I’m staying alone now..no more smelly pants china girl messing up everything that I clean up so nicely. Cleaned the whole room, wiped every surface, swept, vacummed and mopped. Quite a joy I find to clean up ur little own room and space and making it as homely as possible. Haha! But the letdown is..i still dun have internet though I’ve moved to this building and I just 3 doors away from foo! I usually go to his place on Sundays to go online cos he’s able to tap on this excellent ‘generous’ network..but seems that my room’f fengshui ain’t that good n I cant receive it..hai….sorry foo means I’ll be disturbing u more often now not just on Sundays.hee..oops!

Ok there’s a ceremony early in the morning tmr to mark the launching of UBC 2..our company’s second company. Hai..felt like I din have a weekend at all..been home late the past few days cos of the traveling back from anyang after perf..then only 1 day rest..have to brace myself up for the 7-day week ahead.hai..nmind look forward to the days off after this show…ok it’s past 1am here..better go sleep.new room..new bed…very sweet dreams!

26th March
Had to go work one hour earlier just for the inauguration of UBC 2. Had to endure long Korean speeches..at least I had class and rehearsals after..hee poor foo had to wake up early just for it cos he’s injured no class no rehearsal..and we din understand a single word they said.haha! class was whole company together by olga…her class is evidently not popular cos all the principals and boys who usually dun have to do her classes all walked off almost at the beginning and halfway through class..so by centre there were very few of us left..think I did too much cleaning bending down yesterday cos my back is giving me problems again. It was behaving really well the past month and I thought since I dun have to do contemporary again my back wun suffer that much anymore..but today the spasms and sharp pain came back again..hai..elaine I need you!! There’s a physio man in the company but nobody goes to him.hee..so he just walks around the company slowly the whole day..watching rehearsals or chatting with Julia moon’s driver who also has nothing to do the whole day while he waits for whenever she need to go somewhere.haha..2 bored pple bonding..anyway the physio guy is not very popular cos he’s not very good.and we have to pay from our own pocket like 30usd for full body massage or 10usd for specific areas..anyway foo tried once but din think very much of it. So dancers usually go to him only if their legs need taping..so he’s more like the ‘taping’ guy..

I’m home early today but going out for steamboat buffet later tonight with foo and the other Chinese..i’ve been craving for it so much cos it’s good! Anyway..this is for haiying..i really love eating the yellow radish side dish now! Every eating place that I go to I must have that yellow radish..din like it at all when she forced me to try it last year in korea..then when I first came this time, there was hardly any veg in my food and fruits were expensive..so I forced myself to eat that since they give it free.hehe..but anyway, I really like it now..i even help myself to it wen they dun give it to me..i think I’m better with grass now alr..eating the salad (raw lettuce, mind you..gasp!) that comes with whatever meat cutlet I order sometimes… see I’m good now

Anyway, most of the time when we go n eat n obviously they noe we’re not local cos we dunno how to order food only noe how to point at pictures still..so they always ask where we’re from and wat we’re doing in korea..and then when we say we’re from UBC they get so impressed..then they’ll give us more free side dishes and announce to the entire kitchen staff that we’re from UBC. Wah..so different compared to in sg loh…like nobody even noes wat SDT is or where or even noes of its existence..foo was saying perhaps cos it’s in the area so they noe..but come on I told him..does pple in park mall, Hans or the food place where we always tap au lunch even noe wat sdt is? The uncle from that shop in park mall even asked me whether I was a hairdresser for god’s sake, cos I buy from him everyday..but why he says I’m a hairdresser I’ve no idea at all..

12th-20th march

12th march

Ooh! I cant stand the wind in this country! So strong n icy..hate it when it blows..damn cold! Was with foo on sat n I felt like I was gonna get swept off by the wind anytime..n he said to walk behind him so he can block the wind.but I said I cant, wat if I get blown away n he doesn’t even noe… ya always feel like a tourtoise when I’m walking on the streets cos I’m always trying to shorten my neck and hide in my scarf..

Anyway, it’s another week again..still rehearsing choon hyang.hee..today is the first time we had whole company together for class since I’ve been here..the boys were all so pissed cos they hate olga’s class..see that’s wat we have to endure EVERYDAY! U dun get warmed..u dunno wat the hell her exercises are n even if u noe..u find them super ridiculous..the boys were all giving up n they kept asking us..is this wat u guys have to do everyday..OMG! haha..yep..i’m trying my best to be positive..i thought it was just me not used to Russian in the first place but slowly as I hear the other girls complain..then I noe it’s not becos I’m new to Russian style..but everyone cant take her class..it’s terrible..esp ronde de jambe a terre exercise everyday..haha..u should’ve seen the faces of the boys today when they saw the exercise..it’s wat the girls get everyday so we’re used to it..their jaws almost dropped..haha! it was quite funny..

So it’s 2 more weeks to next swan lake show which I’ve got to dance in but I haven got any rehearsals yet..hmm..foo’s reprising his previous roles hee cos of his injured shin..so he doesn’t have to worry bout learning the dancing yet..but geez I’m getting worried..but anyway..hai..now that foo’s out for bout 2 months I hardly see him around at work.he’s usually at the physio or doc’s but sometimes he’ll be around to watch rehearsals cos we have to even if we’re injured so yeah…

13th March
Thank you so much to Alpha, Nat and Haiying for your package!! I loved it..we were so surprised it arrived so quickly but we were so happy to receive it! Thank you thank you thank you!! So embarrassed to have made u guys spend all that money…but I was really touched and happy.love you all! Wow all that jap rice sprinkles that u sent..force to me to cook leh..i will ok once I move over to foo’s building hopefully next month..thank you for the cards too!

Ok enough thank you…n by the way I forgot to take photo of the package again..hai..sorry..now the box is somewhere in the male toilet dumpster at work where foo threw it.hee..sorry..but the things are safely with us dun worry! So today’s been a pretty happy day cos the package made my day n of course dinner with foo at KFC after work.yippee! haha..n tmr I finish work at 1.30pm..that’s extremely rare cos these 2 days I’ve been working till 6 so tmr’s precious..then I’ve been watching the company’s dvd of swan lake cos I’ve to learn everything by video..perf in 2 weeks I think…23rd n 24th march at Anyang..31st march n 1st april at Osan..so yeah better get my act together..somemore the rehearsal directors asked me to learn fiancé quickly cos I’ve to do it..yup so a lot of homework to do..hate learning from video! Cant tell left leg or right leg! Aiyoh…

14th March
Aargh! Panic attack today! Realized that there’s actually exactly 1 week to performance n I still dunno anything..oh no! I thought there were 2 more weeks..s***..anyway casting came out today..polonaise..swans for act 1..fiance for act 2 and swans for act 3..stress..esp fiancé at least the rest is corp stuff that u can mingle amongst everyone n not be too noticeable..but fiancé..help! never played with a fan somemore..was still thinking I could do some character dances not on pointe for act 2 but now..even foo is laughing at me cos I’m so stress now..whereas he’s got 2 months off so he gets 2 more months to learn the dancing..

Will be performing same days as the guys in sdt..but they’ve been rehearsing it since jan..but I start tmr..hee..yup so from tmr onwards it’s back to back rehearsals for me all the way till 6..upstairs downstairs everywhere in all 3 studios..dun worry folks..i noe wat u all are thinking..i’ll eat..it’s still the most important thing to me.haha..learnt 3 whole dances from Belgium girl today jee eun that I had to have a hearty meal today after work..brain food..foo n I each had a pizza each n we had baskin robbins n that’s lunch..later shall go fo proper dinner.have to treat myself well..actually I so much wanna move house now so I can start cooking better food for myself..hai..

Weather’s getting warmer here again..sunny everyday though still cold.ok it’s the middle of the week now..still have 3 more difficult days to get through..but at least I get proper swan lake rehearsals from tmr onwards and hopefully will not feel to worried anymore..

15th March
Ha..i was wrong yesterday..i’m even more worried now that rehearsals for swan lake is on cos they dun slow down for me..i’m no big shot..for them it’s just revision so they just run through everything..then I just try n recall everything I watch from dvd..wah lau..fiance is ok cos only 5 girls but that one of course also most stressed to do well lah..polonaise.haha…massice group dance I dun even noe where to go most of the time..swans hai..act 1..so much dancing how to learn..act 3 still ok..act 1sad case even the rehearsal teacher told me after rehearsal that there was no way I could be ready for the show next week..she said ‘it’s not ur mistake so dun be sad’ in her lousy English..haha..sad?! I couldn’t be more happy..that’s a whole load off my back..but then..hai happy too soon cos she said she wans me to stay back with her everyday after 6 n she’ll teach me herself cos I’ve to do the osan show on the 31st..that’s just 1 more week’s grace for me..wah lau….n foo can continue to happily rub it in..but nmind he’s been given a part to do in choon hyang that he has to stay till 6 too though he’s injured.ha!

Ok so I’m officially feeling wat’s it’s like to be a real ballet dancer.cos I eat sleep drink n shit ballet all the time now..after work still have to watch dvd n learn n do homework..no frens outside of dance..no LIFE ouside of work..basically yup..never was like this in sdt..so maybe this IS wat is supposed to be like to be in a real ballet company..not spoonfed n slack n sitting around all day..so yup I’m experiencing wat I’ve come for now..

Ballet for thought: I had this awful thing in centre adagio today..u guys can try it..never in my entire life have i seen or done it before..en dedan double pirouette a la seconde, plie arabesque turn, plie ronde the back leg to devant n pirouette devant..finish brush front leg back to arabesque…siao right..not even pirouette exercise..it’s the very first exercise in the centre with adage.challenge everyday..geez

20th March
Sorry..been awhile since I last wrote here..had trouble logging into my blog last Sunday!! Hopefully u all will get to see all these posts..hai..anyway..i’m gonna move house on coming Sunday!! Yay!! Cant wait man..moving over to same building as foo by the river..finally can stay alone again..no more smellypants dirty inconsiderate china girl staying with me..heehee..it’s further from the company have to take a free shuttle bus down but..that’s ok..i’m ok with it.the place is quieter with nicer surroundings.. I’ll be nearer to foo too..and I can knock on his door anytime I need his help.haha! And of course..i’ll have internet once I move there then u guys wun just see me once a week on Sundays when I go his place..but everyday!! That’s the best part…love it!

Ok excitement aside..hai work has been tough..this Monday Tuesday n Wednesday I’ve rehearsals straight from 12.30 to 6pm..no break..actually should have but during my one n only break time..julie, rehearsal teacher has private coaching with me to teach me swans style personally..hai….HAI……HAI…wah lau..looks so simple but so many inny miney details like wrists(which she calls ankles..n I cant stand n wanna stop to correct her.haha!) and elbows and angle of the head everything! I only wished I’d come earlier n learnt the whole swan choreography with the rest..then I dun have to go thru all these right now..hai…nmind lah wat to do right?

Been eating bread n biscuits whenever there’s a little time in between different rehearsals..but I usually eat a lot after work to reward myself..I’m addicted to dunkin donuts..oh no..it’s just almost opposite my place.always give myself excuses to reward myself with a donut or two or a yummy cream cheese bagel..ooh!! I dun have to go all the way to myeongdong for krispy kremes..i’m easily contented with dunkin donuts..hehehe..

snowing after a day of work..u noe i love snow..so i couldn't resist a picture and make myself look like a tourist.hehe
Ioana and Josh with their drinks Baby Buzz! from the Woobar at sheraton walkerhill hotel! drink up! relive ur childhood!

My Birthday Week!

5th March, My birthday!

My first birthday spent overseas alone..hai..din start it too well cos I broke the mug I brought all the way from sg early in the morning..hai but nevermind to quote foo as he says it’s a good sign instead, “sui sui ping an” so maybe…

It was a normal day of work. Din wanna do anything special with anyone..so foo was nice to let me go to his place to use internet to spend the time after work with my frens n family in sg and of course my darling all the way in finland! Haha..we had simple dinner together n he bought me a small cake! Sorry..forgot to take photos of it..only remembered after we totally cleaned it…so oops no photos! Thank you to mum, dad n bro, and Hua Hua n dong gua n haiying n jacek..n nat..n zhoulin for all ur well wishes!! Nice to noe that I’m still remembered..hee..Sorry I cant msg to reply back to u guys cos I’ve to save money.hee..sorry so I’ll say my thank yous here!! Muack Muack!! At least there was one person to spend my birthday with so it wasn’t all that bad and anyway I dun really wanna be reminded of my age now that I’m in this company where everyone is much much younger than I am..gosh!

Oh..the temperature dropped drastically these 2 days..it was bout 15deg before n suddenly it began to snow lightly on my birthday! It was freezing and most of us weren’t prepared n were inadequately dressed..like me. The gods up there must really noe that I love snow and din get enough of it when I went to Europe huh… but it was really icy cold and when the wind blows both of us just curse and swear..ta ma de…ta ma de…haha! Sorry..din mean to swear on my blog but when u think about it it’s really funny..no wonder they say winter in korea is very cold..n it’s not even winter now, it should be spring!!

7th March
It’s so damn cold here! Snowed again today n boy was it heavy..just the 5-minute walk from campany to home and I was covered with ice from head to toe..there was so much snow pouring down from the sky gosh I had difficulty keeping my eyes open as I walked..but I’m finally gonna experience 4 seasons here!! Maybe I can have a 4-season wardrobe just like Alpha said.hee…

8th March
We had a company function at some posh restaurant up on Walkerhill. The big bosses of Samsung or something watched our performance of Swan Lake and liked it so much he had to give the entire company a treat. Yup so we all had to go dressed up and there were plenty of VIPs there..like boss of Hello Kitty company who gave us lots of kiddo hello kitty products..any fans of hello kitty who wans the stuff can msn me n I’ll give then to u..or else erm..i’ll chuck them out..like some famous singer whom I’ve never seen or heard before..aiyah just lots of bosses that were introduced in Korean n I obviously din understand..yup someone donated like 15 000USD to the company..

I was there just for the food. We had Korean BBQ..really good quality meat..yup so we had good food. Oh forgot to mention my date for the night was Joshua from America..yup both of us and Ioana from Romania went together. She showed us the amazing space-like toilet at the Sheraton Walkerhill hotel n they had a drink at the Woobar in the hotel before going..so I tagged along for an eye-opener..was really high-class and modern.nice place..but really expensive..anyway yup 3 of us sat together at the dinner too..so I kinda belong to their group called ‘the others’..let me explain..in the company there’s obviously the Koreans, Russians, recently expanded Chinese..and ‘the others’ consisting of 2 americans, 1 romanian, 1 belgium girl and 1 singaporean. Me! Yup..that’s right.. there were lots of games and the boss’ fav Korean girls were all called up to down shots of beer while linking arms with ‘hamsup’ Korean uncles..yeah..super male chauvinistic.but anyway, ioana told me not to worry..cos they wun call the foreigners so we just have to eat..which I gladly did of course..food was very good but we smelt of Korean bbq after..hai..more washing to do…

10th March
I got through my first 6-day week though it was really an easy week though..n it wasn’t exactly 6 full days cos I only had an hour’s class today cos they had a swan lake divertissement performance at shinsegye and Foo n I weren’t in it cos we haven’t even had a single rehearsal of it yet..been rehearsing for Choon Hyang..and there were a few days in the week that I finished early so hee..yay! not too bad..

Foo and I went shopping at this huge shopping complex at Samseong station, Coex Mall..it’s really big with A LOT of shops. Didn’t buy anything of course cos I’m not allowed to buy anything right now..have to save money..it’s ok.the fashion here’s abit off the fashion in Singapore..saw a pair of puma shoes and a reebok bag that I liked but that’s bout it..hee..ohoh! we had MacDonalds for lunch!! Haha..cos there’s no macs in the area where we live only KFC, so I’ve been craving for it so I just had to have it..haha! then at night we had the ‘fen si dun ji’ translated to English is that vermicelli in chicken stew thingy..like the one we had at the restaurant near hotel centro the last time? We thought this one wasn’t as good as the previous but it was an extremely huge portion for 2 of us..the huge plate was much bigger than the serving of a large pizza..but it’s ok both of us finished it.pas de problem! It felt nice to venture out of our usual area today..finally getting used to this place. At least we’re not cooped up at home facing 4 walls with nothing to do on days off.

1st to 3rd march

my daddy came on flight to visit me on the 28th..spent a few hours in his high class hotel..wah felt like heaven..felt like i went form kampong land back to the original civilisation that i'm used to in sg...anyway it was good to see him..but so brief only one day..
steamboat dinner!! from left..wang yujia, zhang jia, hakione(korean) me and foo! steamboat's called sabu sabu in korea!! meat n more glorious meat! think we'll frequent there very often..hee

1st March, Last day of day offs..

Hai..today’s the last day of our R & R days..cos we have 2 days off after the performance and today is a National Holiday, the Samil Independence Movement..watever that means..so 3 glorious days off..boys had to go back for class and rehearsals on the 2nd day cos they have it easier during the performance cos girls dance more in swan lake!! Hee..more fair like that..but girls r welcome to go back n do classas well which I did..or rather I did my own class downstairs cos i felt I needed to train the right muscles back cos the first few classes there was wham bam..just trying to catch the exercises but didn’t train the right things so I needed to get back into it slowly myself..which was good cos today my legs are soooo sore…and are all the muscles I meant to train so..giving myself a pat on the back.hee…

Anyway, I’m kinda dreading tomorrow cos my work officially starts as in I’ve to work full day..with full on rehearsals and stuff..haven worked full days since la sylphide last year u noe..oh my god…I think I’m gonna die!! Wish me luck k..n I’ve to got to learn everything as fast as possible..oh no!!! just tahan 2 more days n it’s Sunday again…must persevere..

3rd March, Saturday
So…I had 2 full days of work..yep have to work full days today which is a Saturday..felt alright..class is getting more and more tough..do a lot of stuff that I hardly ever did when I was in Singapore..like we do grand fouette everyday..all kinds of turns..we even did men’s a la seconde pirouette today..as in really preparation to second and a la seconde all the way..yup yup..so every class in a big challenge but at least there’s something to learn n improve on..so I’m thinking that after one year of doing all these stuff everyday..i WILL become stronger than when I first came which is what my intention was in the first place..

Been rehearsing a new piece by Brian Yoo these 2 days called Choon Hyang, some Korean folkstory..doing winter and rats and some chung po dance n lamplight dance.. started rehearsals for the first 2..winter is super fast n tiring cos there’s so much running and there’s like a step for every count..ya that kind..rats is funny..hee..

So far I’ve been eating pretty well..cos the past 2 days we go out as a group (me, foo, Chinese girl who’s been here 2 yrs called zhang jia and another Chinese boy who joined last half of the year called wang yu jia) to eat. Yesterday we had some pig spine stew with potatoes..think it’s something the Chinese like..hee then today we went for steamboat!! Yummy! Was a buffet for 10USD each so not too bad..n there was so much meat! Foo and I just attacked the meat cos we haven had a good meal with that much meat since we’ve been here.hee..we ate so much!! I’m still feeling really bloated as I type this.. this restaurant is situated in this district that’s lines with all the branded specialty boutiques..so as we cabbed there..we went past prada..dolce and gabbana..Louis Vuitton..everything! and apparently, a lot of the celebrities hang out there so if u wanna bump into anyone..just hang out there often..hee.it’s called Apgujeong..so yup..we had a lot of fun..mind you, I’ve been speaking so much Chinese here that I think when I go back to SG everyone’s gonna say that my Chinese has yet improved again..OMG!

So, shall have a good rest tmr before I try to attack the 6-day week here..take one step at a time..wish me luck!