A day visit to the country-side near Boeun

To fulfill my little wish to see the country side and plucking fruits, my parents-in-law suggested us to go visit my mil's sister's home which is near Boeun. The journey from Daejeon to the aunt's place is about 1 hour drive away. Time did not feel that long as we sang and hummed to the Korean oldies music.

When we arrived, uncle just harvested a batch of the rice and he was busy with the milling process to remove the rice husk. We took our chance to take a picture with the tractor.

His uncle used to be an engineer but because he was passed down a large piece of land and he wanted to make good use of it, he decided to do this full time, of course he hired some people to helped out. 

Look at the vast field of land behind us... makes me love yellow even more. Air is so fresh and "earthy". There are hardly any sound except the occasional vehicles passing by and welcoming buzz from the carefree dragonflies. Besides eating fresh dates, I also attempted to pluck the persimmons. 

On our way back, we passed by a carnival. The people were celebrating dates festival. Harvesting red dates can be a huge thing and worth celebrating. There is even a bulls fighting arena.

Well, an apple lover who happens to also be a "city bumpkin" needs to take photo with it. (아버님 stopped the car in the middle of the way back just to let me take this photo. ^^)

A Fun-filled Chillax Korea Trip before delivery

It has been a special birthday month spending half the time with my family and friends in Korea. Glad that I was still able to make it for a quick trip and up the plane despite being 28 weeks preggy.

The first thing when we arrived at the airport on 15 Oct was to rent our Wifi Egg. Wifi rental differs from different companies, ranging at a rate from 4500₩ per day to 8000₩ per day. There is also a cash deposit of 200,000₩.

As my husband's hometown is in Daejeon, we will need to travel down south. Comparing to taking train, I prefer to take the Bus Limousine. Although train is faster (about 45mins) compared to Bus Limousine (2 hours), I do not have to change and I can take a nap. The Bus Limousine is about 24,000₩ per person. Train is probably about twice more expensive.

One of my favourite places to eat is the Samgyupsal restaurant 우렁쌈밥정식 near his home, which is very generous with their banchan (=side dishes). It was also my first stop when we arrived.

My mil was very sweet to prepare a surprise birthday cake for me, coupled with welcoming flowers.

My husband and I have been very well-fed throughout the trip. We had 밥 for almost every meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner), and each time the table was filled with sumptuous dishes.

And breakfast always end off with a nice bowl of homemade yogurt. After trying homemade yogurt, I didn't even have the craving for the yogurt drinks I used to have when I come to Korea. Sweetness is customized, texture is smooth, topped with my favorite fruits and perilla seeds. 

On Sunday, We went to visit Junmo at his salad bar (Bowl & Bottle). He is Squirry's first friend who I met when Squirry came to SG in 2010. Junmo has started a salad and juice bar in Daejeon, with his own self-made salad dressing recipes. Squirry liked Avo Green bowl with basil dressing and I liked Shrimp & Noodle bowl with peanut dressing. Yum.

One of the best places to shop is Costco, which is within walking distance from our home. My husband managed to get his own sub-card as his mom was already a member. As usual, we bought quite a lot of stuff, including waterpik (cheaper than Gmarket), many packs of seaweed for souvenir, Calvin Klein underpants, Adidas socks, etc. 

Korean Husband Singaporean Wife

I have been pretty inactive in blogging for 10 months, thinking that life has been rather routine and that not much people read blogs these days as Facebook/Instagram became the common medium for sharing info. I was surprised to know that there are many Korean boyfriend/spouse with local Singaporeans. I recently joined the kakao group, which in short we named the group as KBS, which comprises more than 15 couples and still growing. However most of the members' spouse are from Seoul, Busan, etc. Squirry is probably the only one from Daejeon so far in the group. I believe there will be more to come as more people from Daejeon travels out or picks up English.

Picture above was taken during a recent gathering on 25 sep at Oven & Friend Chicken (Telok Ayer).

World-class thinking

I was reading this book "How Rich People Think" by Steve Siebold who interviewed some of the richest people in the world for over past 26 years. In the book, he made reference an average person to "middle class" and a world-class thinker as "world-class".

The riches believe it is a right to be rich and the path to riches requires specific knowledge, referral network and monitoring their associations. The world conspiring to help them and they dreams of having enough money to impact the world and welcomes the masses to join them. They set an example and teach their kids to get rich, build network and for their dreams from young.

A compilation of the 100 differences below:

Middle Class	World Class
Focuses on Saving	Focuses on Earning
Thinks about money in linear terms	Thinks about money in non-linear terms
Believes hardwork creates wealth	Believes leverage creates wealth
Believes money is the root of all evil	Believes poverty is the root of all evil
Believes being rich is a privilege	Believes being rich is a right
Believes money is complicated	Believes money is simple
Believes rich people are crooks	Believes rich people are ambitious
Believes building wealth is a solitary effort	Believes building wealth is a team effort
Worries about money	Dreams about money
Believes money is negative	Believes money is positive
Believes rich people are shallow	Believes rich people are strategic
Believes the road to riches is paved with formal education	Believes the road to riches is paved with specific knowledge
Believes money is earned through labour	Believes money is earned through thought
Worries about running out of money	Thinks about how to make more money
Thinks about spending	Thinks about investing
Sees money through the eyes of emotion	Sees money through the eyes of logic
Underestimates the wealth building power of referral marketing	Knows referral marketing creates millionaires
Focuses on pleasurable activities	Focuses on money making activities
Sees money as a finite resource	Sees money as an infinite resource
Earns money doing things they don’t like to do	Gets rich doing what they love
Believes rich people are ruthless	Believes rich people are generous
Has a lottery mentality	Has an action mentality
Waiting to be rescued from financial mediocrity	Knows no one is coming to the rescue
Believes rich people are smarter	Believes rich people are more savvy
Sees money as controlling	Sees money as liberating
Believes money changes people	Believes money reveals people
Believes in working for money	Believes in working for fulfilment
Believes you have to do something to get rich	Believes you have to be something to get rich
Plays it safe with money	Takes calculated risks
Believes you have to have money to make money	Believes in using other people’s money
Believes jobs are the safest way to earn money	Believes outstanding performance is the safest way to earn money
Believes in financial scarcity	Believes in financial abundance
Sees money as a weapon	Sees money as a tool
Believes they aren’t worthy of great wealth	Believes they deserve to be rich
Denies the importance of money	Knows money is a critical component of life
Believes money is their enemy	Believes money is their friend
Waits for their ship to come in	Builds their own ship
Believes financial markets are driven by logic and strategy	Believes financial markets are driven by emotion and greed
Believes money is about status	Believes money is about freedom
Lives beyond their means	Lives below their means
Equates money with stress	Equates money with peace of mind
Thinks small	Thinks big
Believes people are out to get them	Believes the universe is conspiring to help them
Believes their thinking is unrelated to their net worth	Knows thinking is the catalyst of all results
Believes the more money you earn the more stress you experience	Believes the more money you earn the less stress you experience
Believes the more money you make the more problems you will have	Believes the more money you make the fever problems you will have
Believes the rich are obsessed with money	Believes the rich are obsessed with success
Believes the rich are selfish and self-absorbed (negative)	Believes the rich are selfish and self absorbed (positive)
Dreams of having enough money to retire	Dreams of having enough money to impact the world
Believes it’s shrewd to be cynical	Believes it’s shrewd to be optimistic
Believes the rich should support the poor	Believes in self-reliance
Sees the wealthy as oppressors	Sees the wealthy as liberators
Believes getting rich is outside their control	Knows getting rich is an inside job
Thinks the rich believe they are more intelligent	Knows intelligence has little to do with getting rich
Associates with anyone	Carefully monitors their associations
Have loosely defined goals with flexible deadlines	Have highly defined goals with do or die deadlines
Works as little as possible	Works as smart as possible
Loves to be comfortable	Is comfortable being uncomfortable
Is timid and scared	Is aggressive and bold
Longs for the good old days	Dreams of the future
Plays not to lose	Swings for the fences
Sets their financial expectations low so they’re never disappointed	Sets their financial expectations high so they’re always excited
Has a financial windfall and worries about losing it	Has a windfall and figures out how to leverage it
Externally motivated to make money	Internally motivated to make money
Suffers from lack consciousness	Enjoys prosperity consciousness
Believes money will make them happier	Knows money has little to do with happiness
Believes people seek money for power	Believes people seek money for control
Never makes the connection between money and health	Knows money can save your life
Believes ambition is a sin	Believes ambition is a virtue
Believes rich people are snobs	Believes rich people are guarding their consciousness
Believes rich people are arrogant	Believes rich people are confident
Believes self-made millionaires had an unfair advantage	Knows their advantage was hard work
Bases their beliefs about the rich on the minority	Bases their beliefs about the rich on the majority
Believes they’re missing something	Knows it’s beliefs that make the difference
Believes they lack desire	Knows we all have everything we need to be rich
Believes they must choose between a great family life and being rich	Knows you can have it all
Believes having a job gives them security	Knows there’s no such thing
Believes starting a business is risky	Believes starting a business is the fastest road to wealth
Believes it’s wrong  for a small group of people to possess most of the money	Welcomes the masses to join them
Believes wealth creates dysfunctional families	Believes unearned wealth creates dysfunctional families
Believes money creates corruption	Believes a lack of money creates corruption
Believes the rich are spiritually bankrupt	Believes the rich are among the most spiritual people in society
Believes if they become wealthy they will lose their friends	Believes being wealthy will expand their network
Believes you have to sacrifice your health to get rich	Believes being rich will make you healthier
Hands down their limited beliefs about money to their children	Hands down their unlimited beliefs about money to their children
Teaches their children how to survive	Teaches their kids how to get rich
Teaches their kids about money by example	Does the same thing
Teaches their kids how to save their pennies	Teaches their kids how to invest their pennies
Encourages their kids to be nice and make friends	Encourages their kids to be smart and build network
Teaches their kids to be happy with what they have	Teaches their kids how to go for their dreams
Minimizes the importance of money with their kids	Teaches their kids the importance of money
Teaches their children the games of the masses	Teaches their children the games of the wealthy
Doesn’t believe in personal development or self help	Believes they’re the secret to getting rich
Doesn’t connect travel with wealth	Knows travel connects them with the wealthy
Has access to the social skills of the masses	Has access to the social skills of the most refined among us
Would rather be entertained than educated	Would rather be educated than entertained
Believes rich people are workaholics	Knows millionaires have a ton of fun
Focuses on money when they need it	Focuses on money all the time

KEK at Pandan Gardens

Pandan Gardens is becoming more happening. I just had my dinner at KEK @ #01-12, 200 Pandan Gardens. Very yummy and taste as good as its parent company at Bukit Merah. The setup is rather modern, with a few round tables and square ones. The room is air-conditioned, hence very cooling. However, the sound from the kitchen is rather loud so not so conducive to be sitting in there too long. The salted egg crabs and mustard orange prawn ball are a good combination. Salty and sweet.

Seafood horfun ($6)

Mustard Orange Prawn ball ($15)

Sambal Kangkong ($8)

Duck of the Day ($15)

Salted Egg Crab Steamed (based on weight, small crab about $45)

Steambuns ($1.2 each)

Just outside this restaurant, there was also an opening of an outdoor trekking shop. They were having a bbq get together today.