Life in Korea - A note

Assalamualaikum,

I've had a junior in INTEC ask me what life was like in Korea. To be really honest, one blogpost cannot even summarize the multitude of experiences that I have been privileged to gain. Even so, I will try to encompass the general aspects of life in South Korea, mostly as a Muslim Malaysian student.

Student life

There are a number of differences when it comes to being a student during your year in the language institute, and when you are a university student. I can honestly say that the year in the language institute is probably the best. One of the reasons is responsibility is almost zero. All you had to do was attend class diligently, finish homework, attend PPMK's activities and have fun. The first year in Korea is always about knowing and immersing yourself in the Korean culture. You learn intensive Korean for a year, and if you love learning language like me, it would be a challenging yet invigorating experience, but if not, it's going to suck.

You get to go to tons of different places from around Korea, all expenses paid (except for souvenirs). The best part of it is you get to go with all your class mates and batch mates. The thing about being in the language institute is that you do the same thing every day. Every single day. Korean classes start from 9 until 1, and then an hour break before continuing with learning physics, chemistry and maths until 4/5 in the afternoon. You go back, eat, do homework, then sleep.

But don't be deceived. It may sound like a hectic life, but university life is more hectic. You have to fight for a spot to register a class every semester, making sure that the courses don't overlap and that you have sufficient time to pray. Assignments are ridiculously hard and plenty. You start having more responsibilities and even though you do get time between each class, it would always be to eat, nap or pray.

In university, if you end up like me, then you'll want to be almost shameless in making friends. Koreans won't go to you, you have to approach them even if it's their country, even if you're scared and shy. You want to score well? Make Korean friends. If you happen to be the only foreigner in the class and you're scared to talk to Koreans, then you'll start feeling lonely and depressed and just miserable. So being friends with Koreans is important.

Food.

Halal food is hard to find. It can be found in relative abundance in Itaewon, but even that, not so many. It is a relief that Koreans like to eat seafood and there are plenty of seafood in Korea so edible food isn't that hard to find. We eat seafood if we eat outside, and we buy our halal supplies in Itaewon, stock up for a 2 weeks or a month and we're thankful for that. Usually when people go out of their own country, they'll probably lose weight because food is hard to find. Not for me. So that's enough indication that we have plenty of food here.

Koreans and pork and alcohol are infused together. As in, if you want to be really close to a Korean, you'll have to spend time with them drinking alcohol. I have worked around that, and my Korean friends and I are very close just because I am open to share my culture with them. They are intrigued and they love Malaysian food (well, at least the ones that I have cooked for), so it's always a bonus if you can show your culture to them.

Praying.

Praying in Korea is hard. We have no musolla, there is only one mosque in Seoul, and that is in Itaewon. My classes are either back to back, or spaced out an hour from each other. Since my house is a 20 minute walk from the engineering building, there is no chance for me to go back home, pray and come back again for another class. Usually muslim students pray anywhere that is clean with little to zero traffic. We pray under stairs, in emergency stair cases, fitting rooms, you name it, we've done it (except bathrooms of course that's a given.)

There are moments that are especially hard when Koreans see you praying, and they call the police, or telling you to stop because they think you're a terrorist doing some sort of terrorist-y stuff. (I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but this is a personal experience so).

Being a muslimah.

Being a muslimah among non-muslims who don't really have knowledge about Islam is challenging yet humbling. You will be bombarded by questions ranging from "why are you wearing that isn't it hot?" to "Are you bald?" (Yes, I have gotten an are you bald question.) It is a trying time when summer comes around and you are in your hijab and long pants and long sleeve loose shirts and they keep telling you to take it off because it's hot.

It is also challenging when guys are very friendly with you and telling them that you can't touch them becomes a burden and you'll feel like you're going to insult them. Not really. Although Koreans have little knowledge about Islam (my friends think Islam came from India), they are very respectful IF you tell them. Tell them why you have to wear a hijab and tell them why you worship Allah, and tell them why you can't drink alcohol or eat pork. They'll understand, and sometimes go out of their way to make sure you're comfortable (and sometimes remind you when you need to pray).

Sure they'll be rare events where an old lady pulls your hijab because she doesn't like it, or a friend who incessantly invites you to go clubbing, but that's the beauty of living abroad. You have to protect Islam, it's your duty to preserve it, and that's why it's humbling. No one else around you is there to protect Islam, it's only you, and that gives a great sense of responsibility that one must keep.

Lifestyle.

Being late is disgusting. You will lose respect from your peers if you're late. If you're late even one minute, sometimes your presence doesn't even count in your final marks. You are absolutely not allowed to throw trash anywhere you like. Public transport here is amazing and so is the internet speed. If I say so myself, the best thing about Korea is the public transport and internet speed. You walk faster and walk more, and it's the best thing ever because in Malaysia, walking for 20 minutes is like a punishment but here, I walk to school and it takes 20 minutes, if I walk fast.

This is a very short version of life in Korea in general. I am too sleepy to go on, but maybe I'll follow up.

Assalamualaikum.

My Super Woman

Assalamualaikum,

You see guys, you haven't met the most incredible woman in my life. She gave birth to 7 kids, the first one was a caesarean baby, where the doctor said that the chances of her having another baby was very little. But SubhanAllah, He is the Most Merciful and Most Gracious, blessed her with another 6 in tow.

She married early, had a baby 1 year after her marriage, received her Master and PhD with 7 kids. She is a lecturer, a doting wife, a loving mother, a caring daughter. She is patient, and calm and she almost always never worries.

She is my super woman. She is my mother.

Cukuplah dengan membazir masa!

Wahai pemuda! Cukuplah membazir masa!

Masa itu tidak lelah berlari menuju tibanya garisan tamat,

Engkau pula leka bermain di alam mimpi,

Khayal dengan isi duniawi,

Sedang engkau kejar kepuasan yang sementara,

engkau diperhati gerak geri hingga ke pusara.

Bangkitlah pemuda!

Bukankah engkau hidup di dunia dengan tujuan?

Untuk menegakkan kebenaran?

Mengapa engkau masih terpinga-pinga

dengan harta benda yang tidak membawa makna?

Apakah kau sudah lupa

janjimu dengan Tuhan

untuk menghapuskan kebatilan?

Pemuda yang tidur!

Kau kerja siang malam, kemudian kau berfoya,

kau berhibur dan bersuka ria,

sedangkan tanggungjawab kau masih tidak terlaksana!

Mungkin kau berkata,

'Ah cukuplah aku baik sendiri!"

Solat, puasa, zakat, haji,

Kau ingat Islam itu sekadar beribadah?

Kubur masing-masing tak payah bersusah?

Sedangkan kau adalah khalifah!

Di akhirat sana, tentu adanya,

orang yang akan menuntut hak mereka,

terhadap engkau kerana engkau alpa,

tugas kau yang kau tinggalkan,

sementara ramai yang masih dalam kejahilan.

Bangkitlah wahai pemuda!

Ummah berdarah dan merana,

tetapi mereka tidak merasa kerana lena,

Tugas engkau dan aku, untuk mengejutnya.

Drowning.

Sometimes, life takes you by a fine thread, stretches, till the point of breaking, but not quite there yet. I, for one, have experienced this. Sometimes you wonder how God can push you to your limits, until you are fed up with yourself, ready to leave your body and mind to escape the complexity of the world.

The skies rolled grey, brooding like a mother who lost a child, looming over the city with a sense of depression. Everyone felt it. It was one of those days where I hated to get up at all, hated to face another day, hated that the drops of water falling from the skies hurts a bit too much on my skin. Rain nowadays feels like sharp pins, unsympathetic. Ruthless even. I dragged myself out of bed, and though trying to avoid my own reflection in the mirror, I caught a glimpse of my face. Haggard and dried out, like I wasn't a 21 year old girl with a bubbling fountain of youth.

The matter of fact is, that fountain is already dried.

Turned on the faucet and washed my face. Why does life have to be so tedious? Boring? So monotonous. It really was my fault. I had no desire, not even a little ounce of passion to want to turn my monotonous life into something worthy of living. Why should I? What's the point? We're all just going to die anyway.

I didn't even bother to take the umbrella on my way to class. Stepped out, and 2 minutes later it was pouring heavily, the brooding mother weeps and sobs, and the whole city was drenched. I looked up at the sky, and at that moment, I imagined the rain to fill the dark, dirty alleys, flood the busy streets, consume the possessions of man.

I imagined the rain drowning me.

I opened my eyes, and life goes on. But I won't.

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disclaimer/footnote/whatever it is called: I decided that I am pretty rusty in my fiction writing (I used to write a lot of fiction when I was younger) so I'm just writing whatever comes at the top of my head. It is not a indication of my mental health (I'm perfectly fine). I'm trying to delve into writing fiction of a more serious tone, but I have to test my skills first.

I personally enjoy angst fictions, it's like torturing oneself, and I get really emotionally attached to pieces that have raw emotions. Probably my biggest achievement when I was younger was the ability to make people cry through my writing (the good kind not the bad one). I wrote some lengthy fictions before and shared it on an online community but I stopped due to life-hogging commitments.

It's probably horrible (my writing), but fiction was always one of my passions, and writing them greatly improves my vocabulary, so I thought, ehh, why not.

I will not write all of my fictions revolving around angst and depression. I'm sorry if this piece makes you depressed, (if it did then the snippet served it's purpose lol)

Assalamualaikum.

What you should know when applying for the Look East Programme: South Korea

Assalamualaikum and warm greetings!

Congratulations to all the SPM candidates and a huge shout out to my juniors Zealot Boes! The main reason I am writing this post is because, when I applied for this Korean Programme, I had absolutely no idea what I had gotten into.

So, I want to shed some light on the Korean Programme to potential new juniors so that you can contemplate and decide whether this is the right road for you.

Of Hijab and Cheerleading.

Assalamualaikum and warm greetings,

It is the start of a new semester here in South Korea. Spring is slowly coming out of her shell (it's still cold but we were blessed with rain today) and Konkuk University is already buzzing with activities.

This week has been funny and hectic. I now live with two juniors who are one year younger than me. It's their first semester at Konkuk University and sometimes they would come home and tell me stories about their day, how hard it is to attend a class where the professor speaks in Korean and the class material is also in Korean, how Koreans won't even smile at them or how they feel totally left out and ignored.

Tips for Batch 14 Korean Programme

Assalamualaikum and warm greetings,

There's a lot to be happy about when new juniors start their studies in Korea. When I picked them up at the airport, I noticed the tired faces, the different expressions and emotions. Scared, excited, homesick, overwhelming, terrified, nauseous, happy and so on and so forth and I can't help but feel nostalgic when I saw them.

That was me, 2 years ago. Totally innocent, totally full of energy (although not at that moment because 6 hours in a flight can get you pretty cranky), new potentials, new explorations. Just a whole bunch of new experiences waiting to be discovered.

I personally love receiving juniors. When I look at them, I feel a new burst of energy, the passion to keep going in my studies. That was me 2 years ago, promising my family, friends, my nation that I will work hard and that all their money will pay off, that it isn't a waste to invest in me.

And to keep that spirit up, and to make staying in South Korea worthwhile, here are some things I wish I took more seriously.