Whee~~

finally and sadly our internship is over!~

will post some pics of my lovable collegues after i get the photos.
and the next few days ill be outta town. emily, miao, harvey and myself are going to Ceju island. the volcanic honeymoon paradise... hmm volcanos with honeymoons sounds catastrophic dont they?



SO right now, keep youselves occupied with Co's super long, super dense, super boring? post.

i'll be back~! (with more photos ofcourse!)

-Eish

HMMM.....

All my lovely fans,

how are things back in Singapore ??hee hee hee. well i hope that things are running fine with new tutors.So bitching aside. we had a fantastic weekend. we visited 1 palace, 2 museums and to top it off ..... a long awaited and very satisfying BBQ/Shoju Session (i had MEAT... meat is expensive food) with Jae...YEAh!!!!!!! i knw this Blog entry is too long... but what ever. Take your time man... its just not an ORDINARY BLOGspot :-)

On Sat

We visited the Deoksugung near Seoul's city hall and even managed to get there in time to catch the traditional changing of guards ceremony. Actually it reminded me of Istana Open Day in SG. heheheeh.. Hot weather, long queues and crowded with people. most of the buddings within the compound are single storey with the exception of one and being right smack in the middle of town, you cannot avoid but see tall buildings in the background and hahaha EFish was like " i feel like photoshoping the modern buildings out leh . So Ugly ... " and i wanted the photoshop the "unwanted" tourist out so irritating they just voluntarily walk into my pics!!!!!argh.......... hahaha.... just a side track... your guys knw abt the drama serial ? Heros?.....if i had am a hero i want to have PHOTOSHOPING SKILL.... so that i can just crop people out, make everyone look pretty.! adjust brightness etc....whahahaha i am just an aesthete Lar..... i just want things to look Pretty. you Pretty u win.. like architecture. its the first step. i mean if u cannot even make the buildings u design, pretty,desirable, attractive and delightful..... u might not even have beautiful spaces. hmmm ...... the ugliness distracts.whahhahah.....

After visiting the palace, we went to Seoul Museum of Art to catch a SGD16/ 10,000 Won exhibition. its damn EX lar .....Whatever lar !!!!! It is MONET LEh...., what do you expect hahahaha.Emily was like half-hearted. i could not understand understand why? coz Monet in SG is almost impossible! maybe Opera Gallery....... The exhibition included portraits of his family, and some of the famous impressionist garden paintings were really quite awesome at a distance but most of the people were like viewing it 40cm away? huh?duh....... how to appreciate a Monet like this!!!! even though there were ample space to view the paintings at least 4M away. Most people just stared at it like a very detailed Botticelli or Diego Velazquez.Beats me!

And then there are people like emily-"hey i dun understand, What is SHE painting ? cannot see anything one LEh so blur. what it means huh? chey...... " Hmmm no wonder she was half-hearted.but in the end, with the help from us wahahah she managed to enjoy the show and we are now even looking forward to returning in Nov to catch the Van Gogh exhibition in Autumn ... so COOL....

And about the museum? erm i think its has an identity crisis. whahhahahhaa. its like an old facade and a totally new building behind it. the Facade has no relationship to the interior nor does it has any hints of its purpose within. the only hint is the words and Logo of the museum which brings me to think abt what Rem Koolhas mentioned. And then, it looks like a John Pawson from the outside and interiorly ,lack the sophistication of a Yoshio Taniguchi..... anyway what ever lar ..... hahahah but i dun wanna get myself involved a full blown discourse

On Sunday,

Efish, Harvey, Maoling, Jae and me went to Seoul National Museum. According to Jae, its the 6th largest museum in the world!!!!! WHao....AWESOME>>>> well its done by one of the most respected Korean modern architects-Seung H-sang and i think the sheer scale of the building is quite monumental almost forbiding except for the huge atrium. its design inspiration is apparently derived from traditional Korean architecture. However everyone had a hard time extracting that quality out. whahahahah.Fortunately, i attended a lecture in ACAU in july07 and according to a Prof based in University of Seoul, he said the Korean Architect responsible, abstracted the traditional language of articulating the wall, the spaces on each side, between and even on it.Perhaps its about how one interplays and layers the spaces. How one decides to frame and takes advantage of, How one covers and reveal what is beyond and most wonderfully the speculation of such thoughts and its potential. This concept perhaps comes across upon close examination both inside and outside the museum. Maybe there are other concepts involved.

In addition here is also the issue of formal representation.Encountering the central circulation core just made me feel that i am walking into deep canon or valley very similar to Tate but except that Tate feels like a huge room which it actually was. Okie That aside....we just wanted to concentrate on the exhibits ahahhahahha.... its an impressive collection of Asian art, meticulously and exceptionally well curated.... Blown over man!!!!!!!..... actually its dizzying. Image OVERLOAD....image OVERLOAD.... one of the problems with HUGE museums.

we sought of crossed over this topic agan over dinner & shoju in the evening with JAE and about how we should navigate the issues of culture, tradition versus Modernity/Globalization. Although now the hot topic in architecture is Virtual reality, Morphology organic growth, Computer-Aided design and Infotechnology. it just seems so reminiscent of the period nearly 200 years ago when architects and designers reacted to the Industrial revolution and machines.........hahahaha so fun..... Better than the topicality and sustainable BULLSHIT we have to go thru right?. i mean we dun need lecturers to teach us about this right? go pick up a book on SCDA or Kerry Hill and maybe SIA Mag......We dun need strategies on how to deal with climate (which i consider quite generic) what is need is to build up our skills on strategical and critical thinking and be more articulate in the more metaphysical meaning of Time and Space, gravity ....and then............. Efish was like "Eh CO SENG STOP TALKING.... WE NEED TO GET BACK to DORM......CAN?!!! WaH LAO EH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk TAlk TAlk talk......"whahahaha... well thats me... i talk too much..........by the way at the end of the dinner each one of us had "kan pei" a bottle of shuju each. whahahahha and High..... HIGH .... HIGHer.....


And come to think of it.... we encounted 2 issues today
1.Between Conservation and Restoration.
2.Between Traditional and Modernization.

Venice Charter and Burra Charter might be of interest to everyone.
Overall its was an engaging and stimulating weekend and i hope that there are more to come by...

Best and Ultimate
Divus GBB Spork

**Just highlight, if u wan to read what i wrote. :-) coz Efish was complaining.

we love you hyunn jae!

so here's the story, all of us were bugging hyunn jae on how to check the value of our pre-paid sim card

and finally he found out how to do it and he was so nice to send us all an email on how to do it!!
totally my hero!

*below is an abstract of the email.


----------------

Hi~~

You wonder how to check your top-up, don't you?

I let u know it !!


1. Push the button "*11"

2. Push calling button

3. You will listen Korean message but you don't care of it.

4. Just push "1" button

5. You will listen Korean message again.

6. Push your phone numeber plus "*" Ex) "01693348131*"

7. You can listen your tou-up remained. Unfortunately. the message is also Korean.





Okay....See U~


------------


such a dear isnt he!


-Efish

DIVUS not DIVA and definately no D-WAR

i was sipping my usual 3in1 mixer coffee, while idly scrolling down my msn...oops not my msn but my blog when i saw someone calling me DIVA~!!!!!!!

sorry anyway i was away for so long because my computer has been giving me a hell lot of problems. hee hee hee.... and i felt i have really nothing interesting to write... or so i think ... untill now

i think Efish comments are directed to all pple out there who are absolutely frustrated with their crappy computers and you DARE call all of us DIVAS? Wait till your own computer bugged down by those "restless" silkworm spirits which u gulped down deliciously without any sense of remorse.

U Worm Eating EFish... what to expect? fish loves worms dun they?

Yeah i knw ... Pigs eat everything ... HARLOW i am pork. not a PIG. whatever... lar

yEah and whats is it abt Divas anyway? do u have such limited vocabulary that u need a thesaurus with u at hand? u just dun simply call temperamental and easily irritable males DIVA okie.? such a misuse and oversimplification of words. see you low argh... surely i mean there must be a better word? Right?

let me check... what are Divas?hmmm according to Wikipedia... ''

"A diva is a great female opera singer, a prima donna. However the term now also refers to an outstanding popular female performer of non-operatic works such as Celine Dion, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Anita Baker, Emily Moak, Heather Scott, Jane Knowles, or Christina Aguilera.

The term was originally used to describe a woman of rare, outstanding talent. It derives from an ancient Italian word meaning " goddess," which, in turn derives from the feminine form of a Latin word divus, meaning "divine one." TIME magazine observed in its October 21, 2002, issue: "By definition, a diva was originally used for great female opera singers, almost always sopranos."

OMGAWD Vanessa and GLENDA ARe DIVAS lar coz they are women of RARE and EXCEPTIONAL TALENT-in its oringinal context.

on the other Hand ...

Divo is an Italian word used sometimes to describe male superstars. Should be noted that the term "Divo" is non-existent in Italian language, it is incorrect to call a man a "Divo", the right term would be the Latin "Divus". Calling a man a Divo would be the equivalent to calling a female a "diva".

Orgh now i understand.... Efish actually meant that i am a superstar... but his language ability low lar , thats why call me DIVA. chey....


whahaahha Hey so u all knw ,,,,,

I AM A DIVUS ahahahwhhahhahahahaaa

Anywayz since we are on this D-topic.... i actually watched the movie D-WAR 2 weekends ago with Harvey & Jae(Korean) it was one of the most hilarious movies ever... seriously . hilarious.i am not sure if u have read Harvery's synopsis of the movie but i will provide u with my own comments. my first try at a movie reiview. hahaha

it a stupid movie. dun waste your time watching it. abosolute RUBBISH. although the fighting sequence at the end was CG perfecto!

Okie hows my first try at movie critic not bad right?Okie thats all for now tata....

With love to my Fans

GBB DIVUS Spork

Sorry the pics are blurred. will try to make them clearer. U can view more pics @facebook.com

i was sipping my usual 3in1 mixer coffee, while idlily scrolling down my msn...

WOAH. no archi ppl (well, except those working here)! i thought all u guys died or something, or maybe just some mass murder.

turns out all of you guys are in school! on this monday morning! omg this is more exciting then knowing that you guys are dead!!

Have fun in school!

i cant wait till school starts around here! Whee...


anyway besides that... i dont know when will co seng start blogging again.

firstly, he doesnt have a computer at work, his computer is dying on him and you know how diva he can get right? wahahahahah (im so gonna get it!) so i guess for now its just my whiney voice.:)

and yeah, we miss you too veevee.(grossness MAX.)


-Efish

Korean rox my sox!

안녕하세요! (ann-yeong ha saeyo!).

omg this is so the new fad lah!

im learning it, miao is learning, tiffy c is learning it, harvey is learning it and emily is just being a 초녀 미치다 (sou-nyour mi-chi-da). crazy girl.
she goes around sprouting weird korean words while brandishing her arms infront of other people. Of course, some locals turned and stared at her with a very, very disturbed look.

In a way, the korean language is simliar to the English Language and also different in so many other ways. for one, it looks nothing like english, it sounds nothing like english, even the sentence structure of the language is different.

however, just like english, the korean language or Hangul (if im not wrong) is a pronounce as you write language. they come in consonents and vowels, and u just need to match them up to make a word.

so basically there are three steps in learning.

1) memorise all consonents and vowels.
2) memorise sentence structure. (which is very different from english or mandarin)
3) building up your vocabularly.

and lotsa practice.

i kinda like to irritate coseng and the few of them by reading almost every korean word i see on the street. pronouncing them and not knowing what the hell it means and acting all haughty and proud when i get the pronounciation correct. hahaha.

well, languages are never easy things to learn unless one constantly uses it.

but hell! theres no getting around without knowing some basics. and i also got tired of my absurb interpretations when my boss speaks korean. its just not that fun anymore.

so hopefully by the end of four months i can be a diplomatic translater between korea and singapore.! or maybe just show off to my mum i dont need to watch her koreas sappy dramas with any subtitles. i win.

________________



anyway those are silkworms boiled in some foul smelling black liquid. i just love to hear/see emily scream when i crunch thoes itzy bitz in my mouth. simply delighful even if the taste came from hell.

-Efish

YUMMY~!

one word. yummy! ....NOT.

-Efish

Saturday, what a silly little day.

haha, i realise my posts are pretty long...

so todays post would be short. i think.


nothing really much happen this whole week. we wake up. we go to work. we come back. we sleep. thats pretty much our lifestyle now. and its starting to sink comfortably. there's nothing much to do at work. (im sipping coffee and writing this blog entry at the same time.) train rides are long but we got used to it (i think im tired of giving up my seats to the girls maybe unless they are wearing heels. *dont you dare wear heels everyday after reading this post! all three of you!) the food is healthy so i dont need to worry about getting fat. so all is well. i guess we are all adaptive creatures.


Early in the week, plans were to go DMZ during the weekend. then later plans changed coz we need to settle our tickets back to singapore. (a real pain in the ass, cant taking the plane be like taking the subway..)


and on saturday itself...

the weather went mad! it drizzled and it stopped. it rained and it stopped. and then it stormed and it stopped. then the sun came out and the wind blew and it rained and it stop. apparently a typhoon was hitting japan and we are getting the side effects of it.

the rain is different here. miao and emily got so drenched. not really, just weirdly drenched. portions of themselves got drenched. it feels funny listening to them describe which parts of their body got wet. i wonder if someone could control the rain to wet ppl at strategic places.... hmmm.. how exciting... erm i mean interesting hahahaha.

so it was stay in saturday! yipee! (im actually quite glad. we didnt have a good rest since... we landed)


we travelled an hour to Namdaemun the next day to visit the art shop. (apparently their art friend in Korea). SERIOUSLY, Whats with blue and yellow logos in art shops? well this art friend sells hell lotsa stuff. but the space configuration of the shop is mind boggling. so many stairs, so many compartments, so many cashier which are not cahiers that i dont know what they are.


heard you guys are starting school soon. keep me with the gossips ok?


anyway im bored now. theres nothing to do, think ill go defacate.



-Efish.

Minneapolis bridge collapse

Hey gals and guys,

I kinda posted this late, Just wanna say that its sad that this kind of thing happens.

Lets all PRAY for dead, injured and their families in this enginnering disaster.

GOD be with them Always.


Sporky...

Saving 101

random photos!!

look at those fortress roofs!! and us!

Han River.

Cheonggye Cheon stream. A river revitalisation success!!

BELIEVE IT OR NOT. soya bean milk with noddles.

breakfast on the train!!

cam whoring!!

at the fortress... see co seng's expression!!

look!! took us three days to finsih that site map!

our dorm! i mean at least the guy's dorm. we just got a post-it saying we have to shift dorms

OKOK!

firstly i have to acknowledge Harvey's photos.. actually almost all are his photo except the last 2 of the last post? i think his photos are great and i dont need to photoshop them. save my time also. then i went to look at jonography... wah can u take some cam whore shots for me.. haahaha and what do you know? i linked harvey's photoblog so you guys can see more of korea through our eyes!

----------------

AS all of you guys know how poor we are working in this city of Seoul. Maybe except Emily, she is the millionaire! by korean standards. and probably Harvey. These two never express how the lack of riches cripple them, so i assume they are comfortable in spending. its like a few days ago, Harvey bought some Donuts from Dunkin Donuts. Poor Peasants like the rest of us would never be able to afford 3000won of flour.

While these two are comfortable with their spending habits, our two top money savers are Coseng and Miaoling. Forever finding ways to save. sometimes we are too pathetic that we laugh at ourselves...

Sharing Meals.

i thought this was one of the best ways to save, only needing to pay half the price of a meal... and the meals here dont come cheap! however i guess only girls do that, either because they have small stomachs or because their faces scream 'I DONT WANT TO GET FAT!' .

Over here in South Korea, it happens when Miao and Emily or Miao and Coseng goes to the canteen for lunch. Because the rice is self serving, Coseng will pile rice on his plate like the world is running out of rice...., totally over the top and over flowing. The amount of rice is grossly immense, but they still manage to finish it... probably saving up for dinner.

(notice how miao's name appear twice... she is in super saver mode.)

Somehow as we get poorer, i think the no. of ppl sharing one meal increases.... and then u get 4ppl sharing a stupid kfc drumstick.

Travelling to Seoul and working here is by far the killer of our spending accounts. you pay through your nose and get totally nothing out of it. maybe an occasional 'dynamic' scene in the train which isnt THAT amusing really..

so the super savers say...

Lunch with collegues

as you guys know we only can spend a measely amount of 3000won (5 SGD) for lunch. as coseng said lunch with collegues is a big NONO. my urban team spends approximately 5000won (8.30 SGD) a meal. its so totally out of the budget! i tried a couple of times to reject them for lunch, however this girl stunned me with her ans.

SJ: i have no money to eat lunch with u.

XXgirl from office: its not the money... its the experience of eating. *big gesture as she says e-x-p-e-r-i-e-n-c-e.

what bloody experience would i get without money! maybe just the experience of being poor. but i still went lunch with her for that one time experience. i think the experience of being poor beats her experiece of eating.

Lunch with BOSS.

Lunch with boss is OWNAGE. you get to eat good korean food (enough of those 3000won kimbabs!) and you dont need to spend a single cent! the thing about the culture in south korea is that the boss, captain or head or whatever they call them here is held in high respect. with the bowing thingy and the greeting thingy they are treated like kings in glaring contrast to us the lowly peasants. in exchange of undying respect, the boss would treat his team for lunch or dinner in special occasions (eg, new staff, leaving staff, special days). so even if we have made lunch appointments with emily or coseng or miao... lunch with BOSS overwrites that command... everytime.

Skipping Work

i must rate this the ULTIMATE. you see, without going to work you dont need to wake up at 6, you dont have to pay for cab to get to the train station. you dont have to pay for train tickets. you dont have to suffer for 2hrs on the train. you dont have to face korean speaking ppl and smile all the time like you are super enthu to work here. you dont have to lunch. you dont have to take the 2 hr train back. you dont have to dins. and you dont have to end up in dorm at 9pm. (yea thats how late we reach home after dinner.)

Whats more. if you do that consecutively, you would be a star in the workplace.

Just last friday, after work we headed down to Yong Dong for food and shopping. we ate korean dao xiao mian. which to me is equivalent to a ban mian in singapore and it cost 6000won (10 SGD). Woah. u guys should look at the expression on our faces (except emily and harvey) hahaha. totally bewildered!

the catch to this 6000won ban mian is that you get to refill your noodles any amount of times.

So in order to stick to the 3000won budget Coseng ate 3 servings of noodles. saying that its breakfast lunch and dinner combined and that he is spending only 2000won on dinner.

the thing that puzzles me is that Eun Mi pointed to me and called me a pig for eating two servings... hmm.. i wonder then, what makes coseng..

by the end of the night. coseng said he was hungry.

-the evil fish

hi gals and guys,

These few days have been rather dull and borring. the weather is getting hotter but still its better than Sg. At least u dun sweat like a pig and die like a roasted PORK( Ba Kua ) in Singapore. whahahaha... i miss my bark Kua...


erm okie my boss is behind me at the moment while i am faking to type an email but its actually an entry for my Blog... lets hope he does not notice me at all... whahaha....Okie i think since i am at work . i will try to bitch about work.



The Bowing....

Okie you guys knw abt the Korean and Japanese culture of bowing to you seniors and elders right? the sad thing is you will probably bow yourself crazy...///////////hahhaa the person who brought me to my desk to work was one of the most junior in the office and maybe in the entire company. he has to do all the Shit JOB. like answering calls and Etc.... and while i was following him ard the entire day and even while we are out for lunch, he kept bowing and bowing .... to his superiors and colleagues.therefore simple equation///////////.... the more u bow = less important u are ...////////////////// ahahhaha so at a simple glance u can tell their seniority. For me, i think i will bow untill i need panadol lar .



The Contours...

Back to topic...i sat down for a crit today in the office, actually i dun even know why i am supposed to be at the table.i did nothing all! only a Bloody site model with like 34 layers of countours.Cut until i wanna Go mad!!! whats with the contours huh? i have been cutting contours since last yr, first Fort canning then Wessex. WTH. and when my team leader(TL) asked:

TL:co seng, you knw how to do contours?
CS: er,,,, YES
TL: Thats Great! you make Site model Okie?
CS: Oh yes! no problem ( fake Smile)

and while on the 1.5hrs train journey back..Harvey, maoling, Emily and Tiffany happened to talk abt Kua Lapis and Layers. ..... shit ... i still have like 16 layers to cut tmr morning.... CRY.

Oh yeah back to the Crit. My team has about 7 architects,so each of them took their turns to present with sketch-up and diagrams. only one Filipino architect presented in English, and the rest in Korean. And i am supposed to LOOK interested ? how the hell am i going to learn and appreciate each of the schemes ?i dunno but i took out my sketch book and pretend to sketch and take notes.i also nodded my head as if i understood the materials/concept they presented//////... hahaha what a GREAT actor i am lor...they must think i am damn hardworking hahahaha. and halfway thru the presentation, the BIG BOSS of the team took out his cigarette and smoked!!! ........SeBeh Style lar!!!! .........hahah because , there were like 4 other smokers there and none of them dared smoked! i then realised that the big boss always smoked alone, like a hidden rule that u only smoke with someone of the same rank/status? and u could invite your junior to smoke or eat but u can nvr ask your senior. After all have presented, everyone commented and discussed abt each other's proposal.... i was left out again...like an object or funiture in the office. totally like HUH?


The Free Meals...


Oh yeah then this is wonderful tradition of treating interns or newcomers /leavers to the team.whahahah/// so during the first few days as we were being treated for meals. And usually the team leader or director would treat his entire team of designers. i mean wha.... shiok lar for the juniors.... and naturally there was some comparison going on between us( the hungry and Poor interns) on who got the best deals... wahahah

A typical conversation would go like this...

SJ: hey how, got free meal or not?
CS: yes..Yeah of course!!!
SJ: how much, my lunch cost like 10 000won leh the food is nice lor
CS:Oh really? mine is like 18 000 won in a traditional Korean restaurant. I WIN.... hahahahaha
SJ: Anyway i might have have free dinner tmr night leh,
CS: whatever loh !@#$%^&

hahahahaha anyway i think everyone knws that we are poor here,,,, coz seriously we dare not join the Koreans for lunch. we went out with them for a few times and it will cost like an average of 4500won each time. compared to the budget food i eat which is like below 3000won.

oh yeah hor.... we forgot to mention we are actually interning at Space Group, Korea. whahahahaha http://www.spacea.com/kor/main.asp you guys go take a look.... Looks Pretty Cool but we are actually housed in a former hospital.

Oh yeah , Finally, i was looking through some of your blogs for the first time and i felt our blog is damn BIMBOTIC and HIMBOTIC leh.... there is no like intellectualism at all ....
a TOTAL LACK... maybe thats why, u dun have to wreak your brains out figuring out whatever is on the blog.



초ㅕㅁ 챈 ㄴ둫

REGARDS
GBB STUPID pORK.