Super late but still here entry! - The Kimchi Fairy

MANY APOLOGIES FOR THIS SUPER LATE ENTRY! But better late than never they say!

This Kimchi Fairy is in her adopted homeland, the wonderful place of South Korea! I've been here a month and settling down pretty okay. And being here a month made me see the difference between Singapore and Korea, despite both countries being economically developed.

Well, life here in Seoul is almost the same as Singapore except that in some ways it's super advanced (think electronics etc) and in some ways it's still quite... backward. Like they have a million "mama stalls" everywhere. Random aunties will be sitting inside hawking their goods. Mostly food stuff, and most of the time it's pretty good! One thing I have to get used to is that everyone in Seoul clears up after themselves when eating. In Singapore we are such spoiled brats and we literally eat and leave. But here in Seoul, after you eat, you take your tray and then separate the different types of trash and put them in the respective bins! They have designated trays for plastic, paper, food trash and even ice leftover from your drink! I think only recently Singapore has started to introduce the return your own tray movement but it hasn't caught on.

The people here can also be grouped into three broad categories - super nice, total idiots or they don't care. Hahaha. Generally the people in Seoul are a little less friendly than the other cities, I don't know if it's because of the fast pace of life and competitiveness amongst everyone here in school, for jobs or for whatever else.

The next thing I noticed is that these people are quite big on recycling! Trash is always sorted according to their types in restaurants and even for personal trash. People usually bag their trash and put it outside their homes or shops by a tree or in a corner and the truck will come by and collect it. And in shopping marts, they make you pay for plastic bags. If you don't want to, there's actually a little area after the check out counter where you can choose boxes of appropriate sizes to put your shopping in! They provide tape and string for you to tape your goods and then you can just carry the whole box home. These boxes are recycled from when the stock is delivered. So you save the environment (boxes are biodegradable) and save money (supermarket doesn't need to pay for plastic bags). Quite cool right!

Yes, I haven't really toured much of Seoul because of school and other fangirl related stuff so... I will put up a more culture related post ON TIME (because school is over!)

时光机

在这忙忙碌碌的生活，我们是否忘了很多当年的童年乐趣和回忆呢？

照片里头的游乐场是否勾起一丝丝的童年回忆？

它是我童年的一部分。

也许它在我们这一代消失。

不妨，

拿起照相机将它牢牢的记载下来。

让这一座 “时光机”能代代相传。

                                                      地点：大巴窑六巷，大牌28号

it's july already?!!

hey everyone,

it's the first day of a new month. it's that time when i sit down to reflect on all that went on in the month for the kaki bukit community arts and culture club. it is also a time for me to share some of the upcoming offerings.

so june has been an interesting month (other than the fact that i was away for reservist for three and a half weeks, thus taking me away from my grassroots work significantly), there was the dengue outbreak, the haze problem and of course, the hello kitty queues!

yup! i have my own full collection!

it was definitely interesting to witness the reactions of singaporeans and personally, i think it shows an evolution of our culture. while we may be 'kiasu' or 'kiasi', we have developed this ability to laugh in the face of adversity. just think of the number of jokes and jibes you heard with regards to the psi levels.  anyway, due to the haze, we had to cancel a number of our events but we are looking at how we can bring those activities back on a later date.

but what's in the past is in the past.

here are a couple of things that you are going to witness in your neighbourhood!

1) community art gallery: as you read this post (assuming that you are reading this on 1st july), panels are going up around the neighbourhood. these panels will be serving as our very own community art gallery. the first artworks that you will see are the products from our recently concluded parent-child cartooning workshop. 

primarily, we are hoping to feature as many of your works as possible hence if you have any works of art that you would not mind putting up for display. do drop me a note at kakibukitcac@gmail.com

2) singapore memory project: towards the end of july, when you swing by the community centre, you can also view a couple of panels from the singapore memory project. these are specially put together to help us remember our heritage as a nation. as part of this exhibition, we are also gathering your memories of the kaki bukit estate. with each contribution that you make to the singapore memory project, you will also receive a special gift from our friends of the singapore memory project.

3) singing kakis' night: this has become a signature of our estate and guess what? it gives me great pleasure to announce that we are going for a second cycle of singing kakis' night. having personally attended all four nights (over the last four months), it was great to see each residents' committee package their singing kakis' night differently hence don't miss out on any of them, especially when it comes to a space near you. you don't always have to sing, it would be just as fun if you join us as a member of the audience.

well, with that, i wish all of you the best of health!

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!

edwin