Some of Our Friends' Visit to Seoul (2014)

December 2014. There're some visits from our students/friends who happened to be visiting Seoul either for a short visit or research.

Wachid and his girlfriend, Mirah. Both are our students!

and then..Wawan..I think it's like his 3rd or 4th visits to Seoul. Well, yes..he's been busy with his schedule in Cia Cia.^^ 

and then...Eddo. He's back to Seoul just for one week for his final exam!

Gee..anyhow...it's good that he managed to drop by to our home.

Eddo, good luck with your study.

Mbak Nining and Mas Nanang's visit was only a few days before the end of 2014.

Yes, finally we met again. 

Mas Nanang finally came to Seoul to live with his wife, mbak Nining who's now studying at Inha University.

We became friends since we're working at the same office back home in Jogjakarta...so meeting them again in Seoul was like a dejavu. 

Oops...it's a bit blurry...hmm Freya...!!!^^

Meeting A Friend from A far^-^

 A far? well not so far. I haven't seen Viska for ages...well in person. Of course Facebook, Wattsup, Kakaotalk have been the tools we've been using to exchange information across the ocean. Viska's been helping me and my department with everything related to Korea, for she was working at KCC (Korea Cultural Center) in Jakarta. 

So, upon hearing the news that she's coming to Korea this week, I got to make sure that she got a note and we met. So, we did.

At a newly-opened cafe in our campus, we met and had tons of gossips spilled over. Hahaha.

Well, of course.

The thing was that she came to Korea, apart for her usual business trip, it had something to do with her ambition of bringing more students to Korea via her 'role' now. 

Instead of lunch, we had a brunch: small pizza, and pastries and of course what went well with those.

See you again, Vis.

Thank for helping me and our students for the past decade.

Nice meeting you in Seoul.

A Dinner with Ilya's Parents

I've been wanting to post this entry for quite some time since I did enjoy the time when the parents of my  pal right here in Korea invited me to have dinner with them. So, it was Ilya's parents' special visit to Korea that made it even more meaningful. Ilya--my friend and kind-of-my-younger-brother from Kazakhstan  --had been so busy the week his parents visited him in Korea last December (2011).

 We had this special dinner at a Chinese restaurant just around the block near our campus.
I remembered vividly that it was a chilly and windy night of December. But, the warmth of the dinner and especially Ilya's parents and auntie made it worthwhile for me to remember the occasion.
One thing I treasured: they even ordered just a special food for me since they'd known (thanks to Ilya) that I happened to be a vegetarian.
.....
Some of our friends were also invited in the dinner: Aigerim, Yelena, Aizhan (three of them from Kazakhstan), and Taekcho (from China).
The best part: it was such a wonderful occasion since it was (surprise...surprise) a customary (is it?) in Kazakhstan to bring along some present to their guests. Wow what a treat.









I mean...I got this whole bunch of candies and fruits from Kazakhstan...that I would not have tasted, had I not known these friends of mine. Amazing, right?
(more pictures and stories of these colorful candies later on^^ my other entry).

Another thing that I want to keep in mind was the fact that both of Ilya's parents did invite us to their homeland should we have a chance of going there. Why not. It would be such a great trip should I be able to realize this dream of going to Ilya's country--someday. Fingers crossed? ^^. Some say dreams do come true, right?