Korea Reflection!!~~

Recycling bin at Andong Village

English village

Safety theme park

Safety theme park

English Village

An Yong Ha Se Yo! Hello everybody, it has been 2 days since I have came back from Korea, let me share what I have learnt from this meaningful trip :D
Before I step into Korea, I always thought that Koreans are very beautiful and handsome due to influence of their drama, however I realise they also look alike normal people, and not that "handsome" or "beautiful".
Also, I always thought that Korea is not that "technology" because they seem to be more traditional in culture especially as shown on television. I finally learn the meaning of "Don't ever judge a book by its cover", when I went to the Samsung D'light and also visit their telecommunication museum, it was so interesting and fun as we also get to try their games and also use their phone and computers there. Some of Korea famous brand that are well-known in Singapore are LG and Samsung. :)
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There are also some ways that Korea are similar to Singapore. Like Singapore, Korea is a clean and green city, no matter where I go, i can always see recycle bins been place around in public. Not only even in their school or Macdonald, you need to separate the food rubbish and place your plate, tray. I was really impressed by them as everyone abide by it, and to them recycling is almost part of their life. I also heard from the students that in their school from 9 to 9.30 am they have a time slot for them to recycle. Perhaps, Singapore can actually do this to make recycling have a part in Singaporean's life too. Not only that, in terms of population, Korea is facing an ageing population now. Maybe, it is due to the more busy lifestyle now, and hence lesser people actually care about it. However Korea have also set up a senior convention centre to encounter such problems. They use their technology to improve the elderlies life, making them to carry out their daily life easier.
On the other hand, there are also differences between the two countries in terms of education and their culture . In their school, life are really stressful. Unlike Singapore, where we have a whole full month of holiday/ vacation, they only have their holiday on "SUNDAY" however as some of them are first grader or preparing for their entrance exam, they totally have no holiday break at all, everyday it is just studying. Their school time really make me go "WOW" when I know it is from morning 9am to 10pm. It is really competitive in their schools as everyone is aiming to go to University whereas in Sinapore everyone is quite relax as we still get to go on vacation and learning journey. Next, in the culture of food, the Koreans don't lift up their bowl and also only use one hand to eat. They are also courteous as all the shop owners would greet us when they see customer going in, they will also say "Thanks, see you again" when we leave the shop whether did we bought anything from them. Singaporeans don't do that and also have different style of eating.

My three most memorable experiences was actually went to the Daegu Safety Theme Park, Senior Convention centre and also English Village.
Firstly at the English village, we managed to see a lot of interesting things, it is almost like Universal Studio, they played English songs there and also English can be seen everywhere. The aim of setting such a place is to educate the public on the importance of English and hence it is a necessity to learn it. This is a good measures as we was there I saw a lots of young children with their teacher. The workers there are all volunteers and there was lots of them. Next, the Daegu Safety Theme Park was an eye opener for me as I managed to experience how it feels like when encounter earthquake, fire and..etc. I have a fun experience there as we also managed to see a 3D movie at the end. It was also sad to see that many innocent lives of koreans was lost when a crazy man set fire to the subway. However, I am glad to say Korea has now improvised on their subway, and everyone can easily open the door and escape easily when accidents occured. At the senior convention centre, few of our friends actually managed to try how it feel like to become eighty years old ladies. It was hard for them to bend down even opening water tap was a huge challenge for them. Thus, from seeing how difficult it is for them to carry such simple task, I really can feel for the elderly. We also managed to try out their facilites and also massaging device. It is really comfy.

As myself and also as a student, I learnt that living in Singapore is really something I should be happy about. We have termly holidays also we don't study more than 12 hours a day like Korea. I am glad and happy that I live in Singapore and being a student I really appreaciated it as we managed to go on oversea trips. The Korea students rarely go on trip and also they can't choose what they eat. Whatever the cafeteria prepare for them they just eat it. From what I know, their one meal cost US$3. I also learnt to not be so gloomy, the students there are all really friendly and truly welcome our arrival. Despite their stressful life, they are still able to smile, so we should be glad and don't always complain on having tests and exams. :D

-Choo Xin Yee 3E1 Grp 1:P