Greetings from Daejeon!

Hello everyone!

Wow. I can't believe it's been six months since my last post! I didn't even update about my graduation, my move to Korea, and many other events :O I promise I'll update about those sometime later ^^

So anyway! It's winter now in Daejeon. It was zero degree this morning. I am proud to say I can tolerate zero degree quite well now! I think my body has adjusted with the coldness of Korea's winter. Below zero is very tough to bear, but I can manage thanks to my thick duck down jacket, scarf, long boots, UNIQLO's heat tech innerwear, layers of clothes, and of course, tons of hot packs.

First snow for this winter in Daejeon fell on December 1st. I managed to recorded a short video of the first snow and posted it on Instagram. That day everyone in my Instagram timeline, ordinary people or celebrities, posted photos and videos of first snow from all over Korea.
My dormitory is apartment style, where a floor has two units with three rooms each, two refrigerators, three toilets, two shower rooms and a washing machine which we use together. Each room is shared by two person. My roommate is a Korean, same age as my baby sister. I was once suspicious of her being related in some way to Jooyoung, because out of blue, one day in late December she started listening to Hyolyn X Jooyoung - Erase, while she's used to listen to GD&Taeyang's Good Boy, Epik High's Born Hater, or 4MEN old songs. Then suddenly on the first few days she kept coming home in the dawn, she got phone call from someone she named '주영 오빠' (which she didn't receive, because she was either dead tired or too drunk). I keep suspicious until I opened her Facebook wall today. It turns out that the 주영 오빠 is one of her fellow worker in a bar she's part-timing at ^^

Living in Daejeon for almost five months changed some of my daily habits. The biggest change is of course related to food. Finding halal foods in Korea is never an easy task, but it's not impossible. You just have to be patient to read all the long and difficult ingredients list, and ask the waiter if a certain menu has pork/beef/chicken in it. Because I cannot eat any meat, I turn to seafood and vegetables and I swear, the amount of seafood I consumed these five months is higher than what I consumed last year. I eat clams for the first time in my life in Korea. And also udon. I try many kinds of pasta (which of course has no pork/beef/chicken in it). Then I meet the 'best food innovation' which I predict will be my savior for the upcoming two years: rice burger.

The next change I noticed is I drink tea very often, and for the past few weeks I drank tea almost everyday. I was not that fond of tea back then, in fact, when I was asked to make tea for my family, I never make one for mine except in Ramadhan. But here, I drink tea almost everyday and on the top of that-- without sugar. Wow. Are you trying a healthy life style? No~ At first it was because I forgot to buy sugar. I kept forgetting to buy sugar for weeks and when I really searched for sugar in small sachets, I found the price is... not friendly. I prefer to use the money to buy boxes of Top ^^

I also apply body lotion and steam cream (almost) everyday. I even use facial masks two to three times a week. Winter really get my skin very, very dry. If I skip applying the lotion or cream for a few days, then I will have my cheekbones skin turning red, and it hurts when come in contact with water. I want to spare myself, so yeah... a few minutes taking care of my skin won't hurt, I guess. I started using mist too, but I still wonder if it really helps moisturizing my face. Ah, now I have a Nivea Moisture Care lip balm (yes, the one Jongdae bought in GS25 and left the wrapper on the table after paying at the cashier) in my left pocket every where I go since my lips get dried very easily.

I can't believe it's January already, and that March is approaching fast. I love March more than any other months, yes, but March 2015... it means the start of my long fight.... ㅠㅠ