Little Chatters & Gestures

About a week ago, I made my way to South Korea with 7 of my friends. I had been anticipating the trip for quite some time. Now I can say for sure that I loved it!

This post isn't going to be about that wonderful trip, though. I'm saving that for another post (soon, hopefully).
In this post, I'll be mentioning about some of the little occurrences, involving chatters and gestures from the people I bumped into, as I'm intending to re-live those simple yet precious moments.

KL-to-Seoul Flight
As our plane took off and we were on our way to Seoul, South Korea, the flight attendants were distributing immigration declaration forms to non-Korean passengers to enable us to fill them up while on the flight. A flight attendant was approaching my row and she momentarily stopped distributing the forms as she asked me, "Are you Korean?" just to be sure because only non-Koreans needed the forms. I just smiled like a sheep and replied "No.". I then had a quick look at myself to figure out what made her think that I might be Korean. I answered myself, "Must be my charm spirit..". I was slightly flattered but also puzzled.

Inside the Van from Incheon International Airport, Seoul
The van driver who drove us to our hostel in Seoul was friendly and chatty. Since there were 8 of us girls and we were heading to Girls' Generation Hostel in Euljiro, he called us 말레이시아 소녀시대 (Girls' Generation Malaysia). When he said that out, we went haywire inside the van. Sye proclaimed that she was Yoona, the others took a moment to think who they represented in SNSD (Girls' Generation), someone claimed that Za언니 was Yuri, and someone else blurted out that I was the one who was (is) dating EXO-K's Baekhyun, referring to Taeyeon. While they were at it, my mind was still lingering on the coincidental fact that we indeed seemed like our own version of SNSD and that we were going to stay at Girls' Generation Hostel while in Seoul.

Malaysian Attires at Korean Palaces
We made our way to Gwanghwamun area to visit some of the palaces and the Secret Garden there. All 8 of us wore our traditional attires. I was wearing my traditional Bidayuh costume. It was quite a mesmerising experience as we learned about Korean historical culture and at the same time, we somehow promoted Malaysia by what we were wearing. Like many tourists do, we snapped photos here and there. Other visitors stopped and took photos of us as well, indubitably because of the variety of attires that we were wearing.

♥Army Guy♥ at Gapyeong Station, Gyeonggi-do
From the moment we touched down, my dear friend Sye had been mumbling about how nice it would be if we could meet some Korean army guys (either actual army members or those in 2-year military service, whichever). Deep down, I couldn't agree more. They just generally seem so....cunning, you know. So, after our journey back from Nami Island, we proceeded to commute by train from Gapyeong Station. As we exited the bus and walked towards the train station, there was a cute guy in his army uniform walking in the opposite direction. Some of us (including me) started to feel flustered for no clear reason, so J언니 boldly called out the cute guy and asked if it was okay to take some photos together. He said yes and I was like ♥o♥. Sye and Ya were getting ready next to him. My feet had their own mind and childishly ran next to him too (Thank you for doing that, childish feet!). 2 of our 언니's were ready to snap a few photos. Before that, I asked that cute guy "How old are you?" out of curiosity and after J언니 suggested me to ask. He adorably replied "Twenty-three" in what sounded like perfectly fluent English to me. I responded (in Korean, I don't know why), "아...누나이에요." (Ah...I'm a nuna.), which is true because I'm about 3 years older than him. Once we were done taking photos, we thanked him and bid farewell. I regretted not asking for his SNS ID's if he has any. Inside the train on our way back, Sye looked at the photos we took and 'complained' at how close I was with him in the photos. I didn't notice and didn't mean to be that close, okay. But I'm secretly glad that we were quite close, actually. I just stood there and posed naturally. Sye couldn't get over it at that time and cropped one of the photos, focusing on just the cute guy and me. After she saved the cropped photo, she found out that the original photo was overwrittened. It was a devastating yet funny moment. I couldn't contain my laughter, so I laughed inside the train till my feet couldn't stand any longer and I squatted down till I calmed down. Oh man, it was really funny!

Coffee Love at First Sight
To commute from Jeonju to Busan, the 8 of us took the bus. When we reached Jeonju Bus Station, we bought our tickets and roamed around the station while waiting for our bus to arrive. Some of us noticed that there was an army guy in the same station and later on, we found out that he was going to get on the same bus as we were. After loading our bags inside the bus' luggage compartment, we entered the bus and went to our pre-designated seats. To my surprise, the seat next to me belonged to the army guy, with the aisle in between us. I noticed that he was drinking a yellow can of coffee. I didn't get the name of the coffee at that time but later on, I figured out that it was Georgia Max coffee. I whispered to May, who sat next to me, telling her about the coffee that the guy was drinking. She blatantly replied to me, "Minum kopi, tidur jugak." (Even after drinking coffee, he still sleeps.), which was quite a witty comment, I must say. True enough, he was taking naps throughout the journey but he was probably just casually resting. When we reached Busan, we checked in at our hostel and walked around the area. 솔B언니 and I stopped by at a convenience store to buy some coffee as our energy booster. I found myself searching for the same coffee that I saw on the bus earlier on. Something inside me kept telling me to give it a try. I gleefully found that particular can of coffee based on the colours and design of the can since I didn't know the name of the coffee at that time. So, I bought it and had a drink. I loved it! I let Sye have a sip and she loved it too! Ever since, I had been buying the coffee on daily basis while in Korea. (Now I really miss it. ㅠㅠ)

★Army Guy★ at Haeundae, Busan
We took the subway train and exited at Haeundae Station to pay a visit to the beach. It was pretty bright and sunny that morning. As we walked the streets and crossed the roads towards Haeundae Beach, a young guy in his army uniform (again?!) caught my eyes. It was quite a normal thing to see over there but this particular guy caught my attention because it seemed that he was roaming around the area with a friend, searching for a specific place. Before I noticed that he and his friend were searching for something, we happened to cross the same road. Our first interaction was when I looked to my left to see if there was any incoming vehicle, as I noticed a glance of an individual looking towards my direction. I slowly tilted my head up since I was looking downward because of the sunlight and in an instance, I caught the eyes of the army guy. I still can't figure out why but my eyes were fixed on him for a few seconds and he was looking back before I finally looked away and kept walking with my friends. I honestly don't understand why I stared longer than normal. I just did. Now that I think of it, it sounds like a short scene from one of the dramas on TV. After enjoying our time at Haeundae Beach and the area nearby, my friends and I had our lunch and headed back to the station to go back to our hostel. On our way, we came across the same army guy and his friend, walking from our opposite direction. I told my friends that it was the exact same guy and we tried our best to remain calm and cool as our paths crossed. I didn't turn my head to look at him (which was hard for me) but according to one of my friends, he looked towards our direction as we were walking. So, he must have remembered me us.

KL-to-Kuching Flight
The next morning after arriving in KL, Malaysia from Busan, South Korea, I took a flight to go back to my hometown for a while. After finishing my meal, the flight attendant was collecting garbage to be thrown away. I handed over my finished meal and he took it while saying "감사합니다~" (Thank you~). I simply exchanged smiles with him and replied "네.." (Yes..). His Korean pronounciation was pretty good, I could tell. At that time, I was wearing my red Korea T-shirt, which most likely gave away the clue that I just came back from Korea or that I might be Korean, in any way.


All in all, I found that the little chatters and gestures really matter in order to make up meaningful and memorable experiences.

여러분, 고맙다고 사랑한다!

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