South Korea 2017: My First Winter Experience

Itchy feet? No, actually. Adulting is hard. From what I've seen around, we're all tired. I’ve got a full schedule, long office hours, lot of things to do, seven days a week. With all the things I do with my time, I wind up using it all. And while normally I'd try to give some sort of insight into a problem or offer up some semblance of a solution, I don't know what to do here.

I read some articles that in order to ease physical and mental fatigue, we should take a break and temporarily disconnect from our normal routine. Traveling, as I read, is one way of doing so . This year, I decided to use my vacation leaves and spare a portion of my savings to rewarding myself an international trip.

So there, after some sort of preparations, thank God because I was able to pull a off a trip to South Korea (SK). Yasssss!! Why did I choose SK?

1.   If has four seasons. One of my dreams and lifelong prayers is to step my feet in a four-season country. I used to watch Kdramas before and aside from the unique stories, I also love how their seasons change and see the surroundings turn from white to pink to green to brown-red-orange, and to white again. Hong Kong, China, Tri-City (Thailand-Cambodia, Vietnam), and South Korea are among my options. The next numbers will explain more why I chose the latter.

2.   The Visa is free and fast! I remember when I went to the embassy to submit my requirements for visa, it only took me 15 seconds! Then I claimed it after 5 days. If you're going to stay there for 60 days or more, that's the only time that you have to pay for the visa fee.

3.   Cost of living in SK is low. Prices of commodities are cheap. 1KRW is only 0.05PHP. Though airfare to SK is much pricey, I assessed that I might spend less in other expenses.

4.   I was with Joyce, one of my college friends. She's been to SK twice and it's a relief to have her as a travel buddy since she kinda knows the subway stations and ideal mode of transportation to some tourist spots.

Our original plan was to visit SK in the last week of October, my birth month. Autumn! It's the month, they say, that Seoul (the city capital of SK) is filled with splendid palette of rich brown, blazing reds, oranges, and yellows dressing up the pavement. But due to busy schedule at work and unavailable flights, we ended up visiting SK in the week first week of December. Pa-winter na! It's kinda cold, having a temperature not hotter than 5°C, and gets lower and lower each day.

Upon arrival at Incheon Airport, we bought our T-Money! Parang beep card lang ng Pilipinas yan. It is a loadable card that you can use to pay in subway, bus, cab, malls, and convenient stores. I used mine solely for transportation fees. 20,000KRW would be enough for four days given that the mode would be bus and subway only. Don't worry because you can still refund the remaining amount, if there's any, in the airport if you wish to. In my case, I still have 3,000KRW in my T-Money but I did not ask for refund and just kept the card for remembrance. Haha. Tourist spots are accessible through subway. Unless you're gonna ride a cab or on a tour package, don't forget to wear comfy shoes coz you're gonna do a lot of subway transfers and walks here. We did a DIY-trip. So I decided to write this travel guide for the readers to have the idea of which line, station, or exit they're gonna go. Medyo nakakalito din kasi dahil 20 ang lines ng subway diteyyyy!

KRW plus the T-Money!

Maru Guesthouse

43 Chungpa-dong, Yongsan-Gu, 100-080 Seoul, South Korea

Taken outside the guesthouse where we stayed.

We booked our hostel at booking.com and we were able to score an affordable room with two single beds, own CR with heater, towel and toiletries, slippers, hair dyer, iron, refrigerator, and free wifi. There's also a common area where you can cook, eat, and even wash clothes. Our guesthouse is only five minutes-walk away from Subway Seoul Station and Lotte Mart. Very accessible and convenient! It has 7-Eleven in front and you can see the beautiful Namsan Tower from the outside. If I'm going back to Seoul, I'll surely choose this guesthouse again to stay.

Enough for lengthy introduction. SK! Here we go!

It's colder than I ever imagined. As much as we wanted na magmaganda, kailangan namin magdamit ng makapal at patung-patong para mabuhay. Lols.

Namsan Tower
105 Namsangongwon-gil, Yongsan 2(i)ga-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea

So foggy! Di makita si Namsan. Huhu

How to go? There are two ways to go to N Seoul Tower: thru cable car and thru bus. To get to the Cable car, take the subway line 4 (light blue) to the Myeongdong station, take exit 7 or 8 and you will be in front of an office building/bank. Wait here for the free shuttle that will take you to the cable car station. Another option is to ride the Namsan Circular Shuttle Bus No. 05 from the closest subway station, Myeong-dong Station (Seoul Subway Line 4), Exit 3. We choose the latter.

These baby pandas are so cute.

We are all familiar with the Love Locks Bridge in Paris where couples declare their love for each other by writing their names and messages on the padlock and locking it in the bridge. They then throw the keys in the river so that no one can unlock (break) their love. This tradition, however, is currently being cut down because the bridge cannot carry the weight of the padlocks anymore. Contrast to this, in N Seoul Tower, people are encouraged to put more locks at the place and fill the base of the tower. The keys are then dropped at the "postbox of love" after locking up and part of the revenue from these keys are donated to unprivileged children in South Korea. So here I am, locking my love for myself (for myself muna, for now haha) to participate in this tradition.

"12.03.2017 LOU WAS HERE"

Gyeongbokgung Palace

161 Sajik-ro, Sejongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

How to go? Easy. Just take the Subway Line 3 to Gyeongbokgung Station (Exit 5).

If you’re going to try Hanbok, it’s 10,000KRW, your admission is free. But if you’re going  to just tour around, you’ll only pay 3,000KRW.

Honestly, we don't know any history behind the Gyeongbokgung palace, if there's any, but we still went to this place because this is known tourist spot. One thing I only know is that Gyeongbokgung palace is the oldest palace in Seoul and it literally means "wish for your blessing and prosperity". If you're going to look closer and notice the details of the structure, you'll be pretty amazed. I wore "hanbok", the national costume of Korea and suddenly feel like the bride of the water god (oops only Kfans know hehe). Medyo hindi advisable mag-try ng hanbok pag winter, kasi sobrang lamig. E makulit ako. Lakas ng loob kong magcostume, ang ginaw besh! 30mins ko lang sinuot, sumuko na ako. I kenaaaaat.

Go there on or before 1PM to witness the changing of guards.

Si baby boy, ayun sa tuktok! Hart hart!

Namsangol Hanok Village

28 Toegye-ro 34-gil, Pildong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

How to go? From Anguk Station (Seoul Subway Line No. 3), get off at Chungmuro Station, Exit 4, then walk 2 minutes to reach it.

Namsangol Hanok Village consists of traditional Korean houses. It also has beautiful garden with ponds and pavilions. It’s a big place to walk around and a good place to learn about Korean culture. There is no admission fee. So enjoy the long walk! You can see the Namsan Tower from here. You can also try the hanbok here, same rate.

Unhyeongung Royal Residences

464 Samil-daero, Unni-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

ctto

How to go? Just take the Exit 4 of Anguk Station. Unhyeongung is another hanok village and a museum in Seoul, open to the public free of charge. Anyway, this is so not part of the itinerary. Nag-explore lang kami bago kumain kasi may araw pa naman.

ctto

See the white house behind the hanoks? It's the Goblin's house! OMG! Little did I know that it is an exterior of a woman's university. We went there on a Sunday. So sadly, it is close and we can't take a good picture in front of it. Medyo nafrustrate ako dun. Lol. Hanggang dito lang tuloy yung kaya kong i-share sa pictures.

There's another hanok village in Seoul, which is the Bukchon. This one is residential, and more classy than Namsangol and Unhyeongung. You can reach this by taking the Exit 2 of Anguk station, and walking for about 10minutes. We did not go here because we thought that Namsangol and Bukchon are the same. Haha!

 

Dongdaemun District

Euljiro 6(yuk)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

How to go? Take the Seoul subway to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (Lines 2, 4 and 5). Walk through Exit 11 or 12, and continue walk to the connected passage to reach Lotte Fitin.

During our trip, kumain lang kami dito. Haha. Samgyupsal ftw! Imagine a place where you can buy everything you need at a reasonable price, in one convenient location, and at any time of the day. This is the right place for you! This is a smaller version of Myeongdong, actually. The best!

Nami Island

1 Namisum-gil, Namsan-myeon, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, South Korea

How to go? Just take the train to Gapyeong Station. If you're not coming from Seoul, you may want to download the Seoul Subway App for guide. You may want to consider the following options we had, given that we came from Seoul:

1. Take the Metro to Yongsan Station on Line 1. From Yongsan Station, take the ITX Train to Gapyeong Station. This way is faster because of the express train that stops only in four stations, but costs higher.
2. Seoul Line 1 → Hoegi Line 1→ Sangbong (Jungung) → Gapyeong. We chose this way. Nami is 2 hours away from Seoul so depart early and prepare for a long sit in the train.

From Gapyeong Station, take the Gapyeong Tour Bus to Nami Island Station. (You have to pay cash in this bus, 6,000KRW per person. Don’t worry, you can ride the Tour Bus again to Petite France, Garden of the Morning Calm, and back to Gapyeong station, without additional fee. Just keep the ticket and take note of the time of arrival of the bus. On time sila lagi!) From Nami Island Station, walk to Gapyeong Wharf to buy your round-trip ferry ticket. Ticket originally costs 10,000KRW. Don’t forget to bring your passport since they have 20% discount for the tourists.

Nami is a half moon-shaped island, and on it is the grave of General Nami, who led a great victory against the rebels many years ago. This is all I know about the history of the island. Hehe. This is a popular filming location of some Kdramas like Winter Sonata.

We were caught between the end of autumn and start of winter. Wala ng dahon yung mga puno. Snow fell and ice is over the place. Yung mga fountain nga, yelo na yung kalahati. There were interesting creatures like squirrels, ostrich, rabbits, and different kinds of birds, that kept on running and flying around and they were not exactly wild because people are allowed to pet them lightly. The temperature hovered around -1°C. Para kaming naglalakad sa loob ng freezer. If you’re born and raised in a tropical country, seeing snow will be one of your dreams. Pero pag andito ka na, promise, you will miss the Philippine heat!

I don't know how people sort their photos for their travel posts, pero talent sya! It's so hard to pre-select, delete, select again, the best pictures, only to realize that it's only 40 photos at a time that are allowed to be uploaded in Facebook. Our day in Nami Island turns out to be one worthy of thousands of photos.

Le Petite France

1063 Hoban-ro, Oeseo-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Petite France is a small French-themed village consisting of the museum, workshops, restaurant, cafe and a guesthouse. You can find the small Tower Eiffel and lots of French style houses.  Its initial concept was to create an environment similar to The Little Prince, a book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ticket prices are 8,000KRW for adults, 6,000KRW for Teenagers, and 5,000KRW for kids.

During winter in SK, nights grow longer and days grow shorter. The sun rises at 8AM and sets as early as 5PM. Kaya lumibot kayo ng maaga. We went to Petite France at 6PM but seems 9PM na. It's already dark around. There are portions of the village that are too dark so, sadly, we did not proceed there. We just roam around and took selfies in the areas surrounded by lanterns and christmas lights.

Lotte Mart Seoul

426 Cheongpa-ro, Bongnaedong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, 서울특별시 South Korea

Sa likod lang to ng Subway Seoul Station. More pasalubong

See the Namsan Tower behind me?

Ano pang kulang sa kusina madam?

Myeongdong Shopping Street
Myeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul

How to go? Just take the train to Myeongdong Station (Seoul Subway Line 4) Take exit 6. Pag labas mo, yun na agad!

This is where I and Joyce shopped our pasalubong and eat local foods! Yap, eat local! This is one of the primary shopping districts in Seoul.

At the end of this street is the Myeongdong Cathedral. We asked a Korean girl to take a picture of us and this is what we got:

Oh diba, may talent si atih!

There are a lot of other unforgettable things that I experienced during our stay in Korea, like the following:

1. While waiting for the bus going to Namsan Tower, an old lady approached us and offer her umbrella since it's so foggy and is about to rain. Koreans are indeed sweet and kind.
2. We asked a police officer how can we get back to Seoul station from Gapyeong. Even he can't speak English very well, he did his best to explain the train transfers that we have to do. And yes, we arrived at Seoul by following him.
3. In Dongdaemun, we ate at a restaurant where the staff cannot speak and understand English. So para lang kaming nag-sharades. In the end, we got our order right.
4. Naiwan kami ng bus kasi nag-upload kami ng IG stories sa ministop, free wifi eh. Ginabi tuloy kami papuntang Petite France. Filipino time is not applicable here. Pag late ka, you suffer! Time will never adjust for you.
5. Hinarang ako sa immigration dahil sa Kimchhi sa bag ko! 10 minutes before the door closes, nasa immigration pa ko huhu. Thank God coz they allowed me to just checked my backpack in. 

... and the long list goes on.


What a way to end the year!

We did it! We conquered South Korea on our own. ☃ My first ever winter and trip abroad. No more six layers of clothing and struggling with our hands getting numb with negative something degree weather plus the challenge of taking a bath in the morning and drying your hair for hours.

When traveling, you should have both the willingness and resources to do so. Prepare for it. Pray for it. Before everything else, ask the guidance of the Lord in every decision you have to make for a vacation to become possible. Indulge yourself on the things that you love once you truly deserve them. You'll enjoy them guilt-free. Having this trip on the last month of the year made me appreciate all the hardships that I had the past year and made me realize that I did good and I deserve this! I'm not saying that frequent traveling is bad, especially for those who can afford it. This is just my thought because for me, traveling is already a luxury and every cent that I used in this trip is hard-earned. It's ok to reward yourself from time to time (not all the time). Just always remember priorities 101!

There are more places to visit in SK but out schedule does not allow us to do so. Well, at least we have reasons to come back. Hehe. This country is very beautiful. People are kind, thoughtful, and sweet, indeed.

I hope that this blog will help you in preparing your itinerary if you ever wanted trying to visit SK. Overall, my experience is quite remarkable. Time to defrost.

Kamsahamnida, South Korea! Saranghaeyo!

xoxo,

Lou  ♥

My 23rd birthday

At the beginning of 2017, I wrote in the first page of my planner "Claiming that this year will be a year of bounty". Days went by and my life is filled with petty and huge blessings, though there are frustrations, failures, problems, and hardships. Fast forward to today, it's kinda overwhelming that I am blessed beyond what I prayed for. The year will soon be over. Pero October pa lang, ang breakthroughs, back to back to back na! My 23rd birthday is one of those breakthroughs that I will always be thankful to the Lord.

You won't hear any whining here about getting a year older. I am embracing 23 with open arms and am grateful for each day on this world. I don't fear or mind getting older, probably in large part, because I know that there are more ahead beyond this life. I thank God for the joy and lessons that God puts in my life in the meanwhile.

Not having been able to think of any concrete plans to celebrate my 23rd birthday, my church buddies organized a party five days before my birthday. I'm not gonna lie and say I'm 100% clueless. But, yeah, you can really never be ready for a surprise. Hehe. This is how the first celebration of my birthday started.

October 13, 2017, Friday, Audit Team's Strategic Planning and my 23rd birthday. Swerte ng mga katrabaho ko kasi sila ang pinakamatagal na nakasama ko sa mismong araw ng birthday ko. It was a sunny Friday and the universe is favoring my birthday! HAHA.  Our strategic planning was scheduled in Tagaytay that day. So we have two things to do: to plan and to celebrate. Yay!

My team had a little surprise for me (may pa-cake si Mayor!) They've been keeping the cake and their gifts hidden inside the car for me to not notice. Their surprise went well. Di lang obvious pero ang saya ko talaga. Haha. Making a surprise instead of just giving gifts is actually 10x more remarkable.

Few hours before my birthday ends, we got stuck in the traffic... it's raining cats and dogs... we ran out of gas... we're all tired and sleepy... the curse of "friday the 13th" just came out. Haha. Kaya para di ako ma-stress, natulog na lang ako on our way home. There are a lot of beautiful things that has happened, anyway. I was able to go home by 11PM.

Third and last celebration is with my family at home. Simple yet happy. We just went to church and eat at home together. Time is precious when you are with the people closest to your heart. Indeed, family is everything! No more cheesy lines. But oh, wala kaming pictures. lol

One of the things I learned in life is that we need people. We need friends. We need somebody. But unfortunately, as we age, people in our lives get lesser and lesser. But there's a good thing about this: those that remain are the genuine ones. At this point in my life, I think I am with those genuine people. Looking at all these grand gestures of friendship, kindness, and love makes me really wonder what I ever did to deserve all these. I've always thank the Lord for making these people a part of my life.

I'm blessed, indeed! When you have something good, don't go looking around for something better. Have an attitude of gratitude, always.

With all the happiness that I am feeling right now, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday and spare a little of their time and effort to greet me (not just those featured in this blog). Love y'all with the love of the Lord.

xoxo,

Lou ♥

My CIA journey (Passing the CIA Exams in the Philippines)

I couldn't be more thankful for answered prayers!

I've been so quiet about the progress of every goal I am working and praying for because achieving such is really hard and tough. Aside from I don't have time to blog or post a lot of personal matters online, I also don’t want those who hate me to have the pleasure of seeing me suffer (lol). Up until then that I passed (finalleeeeh! haha) that I wanted to share my journey of becoming a CIA. Anyway, CIA is the only recognized global certification for internal auditors. I graduated with a degree in Internal Auditing so passing the CIA exams shall follow.

It has been three years when I started my first move in becoming a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA). Looking back, after I graduated last 2014, I enrolled at ExcelCIA Knowledge Institute for my CIA review. I really didn't know yet what I wanted to do in life that time. So due to peer pressure, I joined my friends in the review school. It's exciting at first. We prayed and sought the Lord’s blessing and we were so hopeful that this journey was going to be an easy one.

But wasn’t.

Out of curiosity and confusion, I tried working as an internal auditor, shortly after four months in the review school. I suddenly disregard my CIA goal and develop my auditing skills. Half a year after working, I missed studying and feel a little bit frustrated about my deferred CIA title. See how adventurous and careless am I?

In the CIA exams, the examinee will be the one to decide on when and where to take the exams. That's why there's no pressure to me at all. I can take the exam whenever I wanted and whenever I'm ready. But really, we can never be ready. We can only prepare.....but never be ready. No matter how much time we allot to study and pray, there's is still a possibility that we may fail. The agony of passing the CIA exams grew inside me and the time that passes day by day made me even more frustrated. That, eventually, made me leave my work after half a year and devote my time and energy once more in achieving that CIA title.

Parts 1&2

Parts 1 & 2 of the CIA exams cover the Internal Audit Basics and Internal audit Practices. I advise that the reviewees study these parts simultaneously since the topics are interrelated. During my review, we used the Wiley, Hock, and Gleim materials. From these materials, I find Gleim the most helpful and comprehensive. Their questionnaires and online test preps are comparable to the questions I encountered during the exams. May konting twists lang.

I tried to review for eight hours a day, with 15-minute break every hour. I distant myself from distractions like watching movies, surfing the internet, knitting, etc., which are the things i love doing the most! Delayed gratification muna every weekdays.

Discipline. Ito ang key, hindi lang sa pagda-diet, kundi pati sa pagrereview. After months of preparing, I was able to finally schedule my exams for the first two parts!

I took Parts 1 & 2 , respectively, and fortunately passed both.

Part 3

Part 3 covers the Internal Audit Knowledge Elements. It consists of Parts 1 & 2 matters, Accounting, Information Technology (IT), and Business Process Management.

I had a hard time in studying the IT part. I'm half-way there! But passing Part 3 tested my faith and perseverance. After months of reviewing for Part 3, my story goes like this: I took the exam. I failed. I took the exam again. I failed again. Yung feeling na YOU'RE ALMOST THERE, then you realize na ALMOST IS NOT ENOUGH talaga. May eksena pa akong, 'ginawa ko naman lahat, pero bagsak pa din, ano pang gagawin ko sa susunod?' These circumstances broke my heart to bits and pieces. I got depressed and frustrated. Sumabay pa yung pagkakasakit ko at pagkawala ng boyfriend ko. I was physically, mentally, and emotionally tired. What to do with a failing career? Failing exam? And failing relationship?

But yeah. That's life. Pag down na down ka na, dun mo matututunan kumapit sa faith mo. I had been looking to find my significance, in my work, my actions and my performance. I think I defined myself by these things. It was crushing when I failed and incredibly empty when I failed again. Perhaps Jesus wanted me to rest in His finished work and in the identity I have in Him.

I decided to stop reviewing for a while and find a job. I was hired by a private real estate company as an internal auditor. I worked for about a year before deciding to prepare again for the CIA exams. This time, I surrendered everything in the hands of the Lord.

It was my first anniversary at work when I decided to pursue again my CIA title. Since my office hours is up to 7PM, I tried to manage my time to study at night from 8:30 to 10:00 PM. I did this for a month. It was never easy. Everyday, I got physically and mentally exhausted. Pero ganun talaga eh. Gusto kong pumasa. Discipline. Discipline. Discipline. Isa pa, mahal ang exam fee. I can't afford to fail this once again. I prayed hard and worked hard. I took a week off at work to focus  on my studies. Isang linggo na lang mag-eexam na ako. Fast forward to a day before the exam, wala ng pumapasok sa isip ko. So I just used my remaining time in asking the Lord for wisdom and for His guidance upon me during the exam. Exam day came and yes, prayers really work, I passed. Thank you Lord!

Testimony
In the first part of this blog, I wrote that I'm being quiet about every goal I'm about to achieve. So why am I writing and posting this? This is not to brag, but to show the world how faithful God is to His promise: he will make everything beautiful in His time! And now is my time to become a Certified Internal Auditor! Everything by God's grace and mercy! One day, all our failures and hardships will become part of our lives' greatest testimonies. Keep the faith!

Everything comes to pass. The day that you pass the exam, people will talk about it, but afterwards it will be gone like an old song never to be revived. Same is true with failing. So unless we allow the praises and criticisms of people to define who we are, passing or failing doesn’t make any difference. But what is important is the learning that we had during the race and every gem of lessons we take along the journey. There is always an element of God’s favor. God rewards those who acknowledge in themselves the need for Him. Yes, we may succeed by our own, but fulfillment only comes from Him.

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" -Philippians 3:12-14 NIV

The process of the journey is the most important part. I used to think that if God would just illuminate the path like a runway to show me which way He wanted me to go in life, then I would be so happy to follow Him. But, I really believe that He makes life the way it is because He wants us to seek a relationship with Him. That’s not just part of the process, it’s like an incredibly integral and important central piece of that puzzle. I look back often at how it was not the way I wanted that storyline to work out, but how thankful I am that God didn’t answer the prayers the way I wanted. It’s been a very fun journey because we’ve seen the Lord answer our prayers differently than we hoped and we’ve also seen Him very specifically answer exactly what we were praying for just in the nick of time.

 
xoxo,
Lou ♥