Inspired by the movie Bucket list, I decided to make one myself. After all, its never too late to try the things you have always wanted to try. Its just this one life that I have got.

First step, make the bucket list. A constantly update list, but here are the current significant entries, in no particular order:

• Sky Diving
• Para gliding
• Para Sailing
• Bungee Jumping
• Under Sea Walking
• Conquering Mount Fuji (12,389 ft)
• Jump from a tall tower hanging on a rope
• Trekking to the top of Machu Pichu
• Ski through the advanced level slopes
• Learn Japanese language
• Dancing
• Scuba diving
• Take a ride on a fighter jet
• Driving at speeds over 180kph

As an attempt to fulfill the entries in my bucket list, Bungee Jumping in planned for next week and have started learning Salsa Dance at a club in Seoul. I was so apprehensive of dancing, given that I consider myself to be not-suitable-for-dancing kind, but hey, all it takes is courage and a li’l practice. Went for a few classes and this is what I have learned so far. It is not as difficult to learn as break dance and stuff, especially because dances like Salsa and Swing does not depend on how well you can twist and move your entire body, rather, it just depends on how well you can adapt your feet movements to the rhythm in the music. Check out some basic salsa steps to know what I am talking about.

The best thing about dancing is the electric atmosphere and the energy you get from it. You have to be there to see what I am talking about. Its an entirely different universe behind that door (Man, the sound proofing must be great for the walls there.) Girls and guys sitting around and every song, the guy goes to a girl of her choice and asks her hand for the dance and its called Holding.

The basic etiquette is: A girl (called follower) can deny a guy (called leader) once for one song, if she is tired but its not polite to deny the same guy twice, the same day. If a girl asks a guy for holding, a guy cannot even deny once (why would he?) But as far as I have seen, unless someone is really really tired, they dont deny the request from the person requesting the holding. Overall, its fun and you get to meet so many new and interesting people, outside of work-o-sphere, which is something people lack when they are in the R&D field.

We are going on a dance workshop this weekend. A barbecue, socializing and all night dancing at a pension in the hills. Everyone is eagerly looking forward to it I am sure. So am I.

Will attempt on the remaining entries in the bucket list when the opportunity comes. In the meantime, I am busy adding other interesting items to this bucket list.

Why don’t you make your bucket list today? List some interesting things you have always wanted to do, but never had the guts/chance to do it. Let me know if you think I should include them in mine as well.

It was about 9:30 pm and eager to get home, I was riding my bicycle at not slow speed through the main road.. The pedestrian light was green and as normal, I made a swift turn to cross the road.. There was a taxi coming from behind and I assume that it would stop and unfortunately it did not.. Avoiding a collision, I exclaimed to the driver “Cant you see the red light?”.. He moved on and I crossed the road.. I saw him stopping a few meters in front of me and lowered the window on the side I was coming from behind..

Predisposed to the sureness that he was about to shout back at me, I prepared my mind for a small verbal battle, as it would have been the case as per my experience back home.. When he stopped in the middle of the road waiting for me to come parallel to him, I got ready with another phrase “Why dont you watch where you are going atleast when the light is red?”.. When the glass was lowered, I saw that the driver was a 50 something man and he gently bowed to me with his palm up, signalling he was sorry for what happened before.. I was touched.. This was NOT what I had expected.. Actually this was the opposite of what I had expected..

Shame on me for the predisposition.. Must do better the next time..

Click here to visit Hanlingo

I have been associated with this website since the late 2008, when it was introduced to me by a class mate of mine who was studying korean with me.. Since then, I have joined various meetups and even met the creator, Chuck, during one of the large scale meetup, organized at Korea university.

I have made numerous friends and even conducted one meetup involving participants from Suwon area. While there are 1000s of language exchange/cultural exchange websites in the world, there are a few factors which make Hanlingo far ahead when compared to others, especially in Korea.

1. The creator, Chuck, actively listens to our opinions and implements our feedbacks very promptly. I guess such a fact is quite important because, along with numerous other benefits, it helps us weed out imposters and help the website better day by day. Along the span of 2.5 years I have been associated with this website, I have seen many examples of prompt actions he has taken.

2. The chat window in the main page. While I dont use it personally a lot, I have seen a lot of people using it and asking language questions and getting the answers from people online. I guess that this is one of the important features that makes this website so helpful to make friends. One can ask a question in realtime and get the answers.

3. The users on the map. Hanlingo shows the users on the map based on the input they have given while registering. This is VERY helpful especially for people looking for getting friends/language exchange partners near them. Instead of using a basic search, one could directly go to the map and then check for the desired target friends based on sex, native language and distance. I find this feature quite unique and helpful.

4. Even though any other such website has a Forum, I guess that Hanlingo forum is quite resourceful as well.

5. Book Deals. While  I haven’t used this specific feature as much, I guess this is a one stop for all your book deals. It actually shows all the books available cheap (less than $10 a copy). I am planning to use this feature in the future, whenever I need to look for a good and cheap deal.

6. Meetups. One can organize meetups and define the place and date and put it up on the main page for others to sign up. This is something like Meetup.com but the best part is that unlike the Meetup website, when you need to pay some money to the website for making a meetup, Chuck encourages interaction by making this feature free of cost.

While I can go on and on about the good things about the website, I would say that its only complete when you actually experience it yourself. While everything on this website is not free, some of the important, essential features are kept free for use so that the users can use them in developing long term friendships and learn more about different cultures. There are members from various parts of the globe as well.. So even though its mainly used by Korean users and people living in Korea, there is a global touch as well.

I have been here for quite a long time and have made some good friends during that time. I hope that you do too.

Click here for accessing the website: http://www.hanlingo.com

Anyway, I came across an article by a Psychologist named Al Turtle. He has given a detailed explanations of various stages in a relationship and has tried to define what he calls the path from temporary “Romantic Love” (which every couple experiences due to the drug called phenylethylalamin, excreted by our brain) to “Vintage Love” (thanks to endorphins).. He also aims to create what he calls a “Relationship Map”, which is aimed at assisting you in analyzing where you are in a relationship, just like a regular geographical map..

I recommend this article to those who are in a relationship.. It would surely make you understand why things happen the way they are…

NOTE: This article is VERY long.. So I would advice people with no interest in Psychology against reading this…

Without any further ado, here you go..

http://al.turtlecounseling.com/blog/Relationships/MapofRelationships/_archives/2006/1/31/1738306.html

Quote:  ”And so with all five components of the Biological Dream we have:  the human brain desires a community, a reliable connection with other humans who express their differences freely, can act independently, can reach their full unique productive potential and where there is safety. And this, I believe, is hard-wired in all humans.  We come into the world with these five  needs and expectations: Safety, Reliable Membership, Diversity, Autonomy, Purpose.”

In the meantime, check out Beauty of the Night. It was due for some time..

Adios!

All through my journey in the bus and on foot, I was trying to observe and absorb as much as I can about Taipei. Being popular as a safe city (apparently safer than Seoul), I was looking forward to meet the local people and taste the local food. After quite a few traveling experiences, I have came to believe that, in order to taste authentic local food, street food is the way to go..  Though I spent today for rest and recharge before I go for the conference registration tomorrow, I plan to delve into the vastness of Taipei Night Markets after that.

I must admit that the hostel which I had checked in to, is much better that what I had thought.. Located next to Taipei 101 (The ex-tallest building in the world in terms of occupiable floors, a record recently broken by Burj Khalifa) this hostel is in fact located next to a night market. Though I admit that the facilities are fewer when compared to expensive hotels, I have already found three things which is unique to such places.

1. Friendly host: If you do your research right, you can choose a hostel with a very helpful host. In my case, thanks to the reviews from hostels.com, I was not disappointed. Vanessa is a very friendly person, who waited for me for about 3 hours (Thanks to the delayed flight). She lives in the building and is incredibly friendly.. First thing what she did was to introduce me to the facilities and was more than willing to help me plan the rest of my trip. And most importantly of all, her English was flawless.
2. Common room activity: The hostel has a common room where the people who stay here come for meeting others. Today, there were so many university students who had come for an overnight stay as a part of their club. I found that Taiwan stresses on English education and as a result, I found that 100% of them spoke English, something rare in the Asian countries. I also heard from Vanessa that another Indian is going to check in tomorrow. Eager to meet him.
3. Cheap Washing ‘n Drying: For as low as $1.5, I can wash and dry all my clothes at one go.  This is something I have missed in all the hotels I have stayed, each time I traveled abroad. Most of them charged me $5 upwards for a shirt/trousers.

On my way from the airport, while turning around a corner, I found something like an outdoor fashion show with models wearing “strange” (I fail to appreciate the FTV-type hairdoes!!) hairt syles standing in front of a COACH showroom with lost of people photographing them.  While walking along the streets, I saw a woman (in her late 20s) pushing a buggy. Familiar with the sight in Korea, I looked for the cute baby sleeping comfortably inside. There was a baby alright, but it was a puppy. Resting comfortable on the cushions, there it was.. Small and cute..  Dog Walking.. Taiwan style??

With a growing interest in cars these days, I also observed the trends of car brands.. As expected, Toyota and Nissan were the majority with a speck of VW, Benz and Lexus here and there.. There was even a KIA but not a single Hyundai.. Quite Surprising for someone coming from Korea..  There was also a Samsung Anycall showroom (did not know that they used the anycall brand outside Korea)..  The most striking this about Taipei roads was the cleanliness and the thick lush of green trees separating the lines. Though the traffic density was quite high on the roads, the breeze smelled fresh, probably due to this green magic. There was a really large number of motorcycles on the road (A sight common to India, but quite rare in Korea).  The apartments  crowded the street sides, but were not very tall though. The people were quite kind when I was asking for directions.. On the whole.. The first impression is quite good and I cant wait for delving more deep  into this vibrant city in the coming days..

Tomorrow, I plan to board the Taipei Metro for the first time and go to the most popular attraction in the city: The National Palace Museum (with 677,687 artifacts, it is one of the largest museums in the world). Then I would go to the conference site for registration and welcome reception followed by a visit to the local night markets for a taste of Taipei night life.

Chao..

Kiran

Just for the listening pleasure, the next song is Vis-à-vis, by the same band.

Good Day.

Have you heard of a phone made from recycled water bottles? That too, with all the features of the latest 3G phone sold in the market? Add a touch screen feature as well to it, if you will..  Well, Blue Earth is one such earth friendly mobile phone..

In an attempt to help consumers be more eco-friendly, Samsung has come up with the Samsung Blue Earth, a pebble-shaped, solar-powered touchscreen phone. The Blue Earth is free from harmful substances such as beryllium and phthalates, and is made out of recycled water bottles. On the back of the Samsung Blue Earth, you’ll find a solar panel designed to harness the sun’s energy and pump it into the phone’s battery. To add to the Samsung Blue Earth’s green credentials, there’s easy access to controls for screen brightness and backlight duration, as well as an energy-efficient Bluetooth mode, so that you can save power. It even features an ‘eco walk’ function that uses a built-in pedometer to show you by how much walking, instead of driving, reduces CO2 emissions. Samsung is also keen to point out that the Samsung Blue Earth’s packaging is made from recycled paper and the charger uses less than 0.03W in standby mode.

(Source: http://samsungblueearth.com/)

A few more pics:

So many things happened.. So many changes.. So many new experiences.. Started a new phase of my life.. etc etc…

First of all.. I graduated.. Yay!! I am now a M.S. degree holder .. hehe

I will explain in brief about what I have been upto. I hope to post in detail about a few of them in the near future.

July was a month full of tours.. First week, I went to the biggest theme park in Korea, called Everland and Caribbean Bay (Owned by Samsung).

A few pics from these places (taken from public domain)

Everland

Caribbean Bay

Then the following week, I happened to visit Jeju Island which is also considered as the most beautiful place in Korea. It has been two years since I came to korea, but I never got a chance to visit Jeju so far. As I have heard many stories about the place, I would be lying if i said I was not looking forward to the trip. The trip was for 4days 3 nights, and we also climbed the tallest mountain in Korea, Hallasan Mountain. It is a dormant volcano with a huge crater on the top. The total distance covered on foot was about 19km. Other than the mountain, we also went to various beaches and stayed in beach side cottages.

Jeju Island

Then in the third week of July was my trip to Japan. I thought Korea was pollution free, but after my trip to Japan (for a week), I could really feel the not-so-noticeable but still existent pollution in Korea. Japan was THAT CLEAN!! The weather was hot and humid though. We stayed in Tokyo and went to places like Kamakura (through the seaside railways), Odaiba, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo Disney Sea etc.

Japanese cuisine is awesome.. Udong (Thick noodles) was the best I have ever had (after having eaten different varieties of udong from Korea). On a cultural facet, the experience was really touching. The humility of the people was something that was striking. But one thing which caught my eye was Japanese fashion sense. They had a comic-book kind of fashion idea. I believe that resembling comic-book characters is the current fashion trend among youngsters.

I will write a separate post with details and pics from Japan in the near future.

Then came the fourth week of July, I went to my home sweet home.. Spent about 50 days there and then came back to Korea on 11th September 2009.

Those were the most diverse and exciting four weeks in my entire life..

I joined Samsung in mid september and that was the beginning of a new phase of my life. I work in the WiMAX/LTE System Lab in the R&D Department of Samsung Digital Media and Communications Division. The team is pretty good and the team members are really kind. I hope that I can do my best here and work hard to have a good professional career.

Keeping fingers crossed!!

I watched this movie very recently and I was very impressed with it. The acting, direction and everything about this movie was perfect.

Summary: The film begins in 1928 Los Angeles and tells the true story of a woman who recognizes that the boy returned after her son’s disappearance is an impostor. After confronting the city authorities, she is vilified as an unfit mother and branded delusional. The events were related to the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, a kidnapping and murder case that was uncovered in 1928. Changeling explores themes such as disempowerment of women and corruption in political hierarchies.Changeling‘s limited release at the American box office saw it take $502,000, $33,441 per theater, in its opening two days. (Courtsey Wikipedia)

I was not that a big fan of Angelina Jolie so far, but this movie caught me head over heels. Seriously, she IS talented.. After watching this movie, I have decided to watch all of Clint Eastwood’s movies..

Conclusion line: If you haven’t watched it yet, watch it and watch it now… You wont regret the 141 minutes you spend…