1st Month Passed!

I should've put a better title but I can't think of any 'creative and attractive' line right now.

Tomorrow is my 1st full month of living in Seoul, officially the longest time I've been away from my hometown and my family. I don't feel any sign of homesickness just yet. In fact, I haven't talk (as in talk, call, telepon, ngomong, dengar suara) to my family because Tante Princess is so hoax katanya mau bikin Skype sama Line tapi gak jadi-jadi. I just BBM them, BBM all the way.

Princess antara hoax sama gak nyariin

In the last 4 weeks, I didn't really do any 'new' things nor visit new places. Everything feels familiar, except for the grocery shopping (in which I had to first, find the right place. Then comparing the price, items, distance etc before finally deciding the best store to go), room cleaning and laundry part. I am used to bringing enough clothes no matter how long my trip is. Plus that I never had to do my own laundry back home (gue sangat beruntung karena udah punya mbak sejak bayi). But here I needed to queue for the washing machine and sometimes wait in the cold because the laundry room is not heated. This week I had 2 bags of laundry that I had to actually do it after 11 PM to avoid the queue and finish ten minutes before 2 AM.

Room cleaning was not as bad as I thought. My room mate is lovely enough to share the workload and we even 'unconsciously' realize our turn to clean the room. She is very kind and attentive and she has a lot of snacks from her country! Hahaha I'd never be hungry. Lalu kemudian gue bingung karena gue gak punya apa-apa untuk dishare selain makanan-makanan pedas yang doi gasuka dan superfood macem chia seeds sama muesli yang rasanya gak familiar...

The class itself was getting much better. I love my classmates and teachers! Finally I'm used to the schedule and no more 'wake up too late/too early' story.

The weather is amazing these days. So gue gak perlu khawatir dengan 'pengen pulang, pengen yang anget-anget' or even 'ga betah dingin banget'. No. It's perfect.

Food is great. I can go to Subway for their fantastic cookies once in a while or having 'vegetarian' Sundubu Jjigae in Edae street if I ever crave for Korean food. But normally I stick with toast bread with cheese and saos ABC, super yummy milk bread, yogurt, ramyeon, nori, ready to eat brown rice, telur puyuh yang sampe sekarang I don't know how to call it in Korean, LEMON (yes I can have Lemon DAILY, just don't think about the price!) plus the fantastic mozzarella topping in any occasion as my daily menu. Sometimes I buy chicken onigiri too. I don't really enjoy the cafetaria so I rarely dine there.

Friends, especially fellow KGSP, are amazing! I never at once feel lonely or empty because they're all so kind and always ready to accompany each other in many spontaneous trips haha. We also share tips on Korean books, products, places etc. Interestingly, I've been hearing "You're so lucky! How come you always got discount or free items?" from them lately. That was because my resident registration was accepted with an unsealed medical check up result while some of my friends were rejected. Then I got free items from a store that just opened plus snatched super cheap clothes. Unexpectedly, I was also given 25% discount on my TOPIK guide online purchase with no clear criteria. Super random but very lucky, indeed. I also don't know how weyh hahaha.

Anyway, gue mau share a glimpse of my activities in Seoul. Previously I kept saying that I had nothing to do but thankfully, I managed to find some activities and my days are gettin' busier.

Selain kelas Senin-Jumat, gue ikut Kelompok Tari Tradisional Indonesia di KBRI. Niatnya sih cuma iseng, tapi jadi rutin akhirnya.

Karena gue wajib ikut club atau ekskul di language center, gue pilih fotografi aja. Mikirnya sih 'alah gak ada beban tea'. Bener sih, so far kita jalan ke Gwanghwamun dan taadaa! Foto-foto seru aja gitu, seru meski ga ada teknik atau kelas khusus soal fotografi. Minusnya cuma durasinya lebih lama dari ekskul lain karena kita harus keluar kampus dan ada waktu perjalanan.

Tiap Rabu gue juga ngajar Bahasa Indonesia dan ini adalah potongan cerita dari buku yang dipelajari. Aneh banget astaga, gue masih mikir bagaimana translate kaum musyrikin dan gugon tuhon (kata yang bahkan Eyang gue gak pernah pake).

Disela-sela waktu dan uang jajan, gue juga gak lupa untuk MAKAN enak!

Bukan sembarang makan tapi hunting resto vegan dan vegetarian di Seoul yang lumayan langka dan expensive. Mac 'n Cheese Vegan ini dari Mimi & Kelly's di Insadong dan rasanya wow. Porsinya pun padet banget. Mereka juga punya soft ice cream vegan yang super.

Berhubung gue dessert maniac, gue juga coba Ice Cream Vegan dari Loving Hut. Harganya SAMA dengan Haagen Dazs jadi agak sedih karena gue sih mendingan beli Haagen Dazs haha. Cuma gapapalah yang ini lebih sehat dan terjamin halal, Insya Allah :P

So far everything has been really positive and yeay for the facts that I'm not running over-budget on my first month! Here's to another 59months to come!