Aka Aurora's Tales

As an Ibuzz Korea members, I always get a newsletter from Ibuzz Korea about events which are going to be held. This time, I got an invitation to attend 2013 Ibuzz Korea Award in Seoul on November 20th, 2013 in Fradia Convention Hall, Jamwon, Seoul. It was a special invitation, so only 300 members got the invitation. The aim of this event is appreciating all of the bloggers and videologgers who shared their writing / video about Korea in the Ibuzz Korea page. Since they spread about Korean cultures widely to the entire world, so they are worth for this kind of award. Beside the awarding event, there were live stage performances from ZE:A and Dalshabet. There was a lucky draw and games too.

Well, let's start from the beginning of the story !

The event venue was at the Fradia Convention Hall, Jamwon, Seoul. I headed from Myeongdong station to Jamwon station. I went out of the Exit 1 and I found a standing banner of Ibuzz Korea which led me to an Ibuzz Korea shuttle bus. This shuttle bus run every 10 minutes to pick the lucky members up and drive them to the event venue. In the bus, I didn't only meet Korean, but also a lot of foreigners. Around 5 minutes, I arrived at Fradia.

2013 Ibuzz Korea Award Banner

We walked at the red carpet like celebrities do and got our photo taken by a photographer who was standby in front of the main door. Once I got into the lobby, one of the staff asked my email address and she checked it on her computer. Then I got my hand band and a light stick.

The  hand band

The light stick

Then she told me that I could go around of the venue. First, I visited a room with a big 3D screen. They played a video about Korean cultures. I borrow eda 3D glasses to watch the video. After watching the videos, I took a picture of myself with Buzz Korea banner as my background.

The big 3D Screen which plays Korean cultures video

2013 Ibuzz Korea Award banner

I headed to the 2nd floor to see other things which were available at the venue. On the 2nd floor, there were some Korea zones, sucs as Korean Foods Zone, K-Pop Zone, Korean Games Zone, etc. I passed by the Welcome Drink Zone where people could drink water, juice, soft drinks, even wine ! I got my orange juice and definitely headed to the Korean Foods zone. I was hungry, though. Hahaha. My eyes and myself couldn't believe that the foods were sooooooo many. I queued and took some of my favorite Korean foods. I took Bibimbab ( sponsored by Bibigo ), bulgogi ( Korean beef dish ), Haemul Pajeon ( Seafood pancake ), Chicken Gangjong ( Sweet and Hot Chicken ), and vegetables salad with olive oil. Those foods were soooooo good !!! Unfortunately I couldn't take the dessert, I was too full. But I could see there were assorted cakes, such as red velvet cake, chocolate cake, cheese cake , then puddings, cookies, and even macaroons.

Korean foods at the Korean Foods Zone

While eating and chitchatting, people could listen to their favorite K-pop songs in the K-Pop Zone. There were some tables with 4-5 headphones and iPods each. Well I tried it, of course.

K-Pop Zone

At 5:30PM, the event was started. Ricky Kim, as an MC, went on the stage then greeted all of the audiences. I couldn't see his face because my table was quite far from the stage and the lighting against my view. Ricky asked the Korean Tourism Organization leader to give a speech as a welcoming speech for all of the audiences who came. He delivered his speech in English so everybody could understand what he said well.



And here's the full rundown for 2013 Ibuzz Korea Award event :


After the speech, this is what people waited for. Yup, stage live performance of Dalshabet, one of the most famous Korean girlband ! I am familiar with some of their songs since I'm an ultimate viewer of Inkigayo or M Countdown hahahaha

After the performances, Dalshabet had some giveaways for the lucky participants. So they picked 3 message cards which were written by all of the participants before the event was started. Unfortunately, I'm never lucky enough. They gave 3 signed CDs and also a chance to take a picture together and shake hands. After Dalshabet's performances, here the awarding event began. There are some categories, such as Blog of The Year, Video of The Year, Buzz of The Year, and K-Spot of The Year. All of the prizes were handed in by the Korean Tourism Organization President. Congratulations for all of the winners!










Surprisingly, there was a lucky draw event too! And the prizes were so tempting. The main prize was a jacket which was a private collection of one of the ZE:A members. The lucky participant who got it was a girl next to my table. Ah, really I was not lucky~~~ :(  Then, it's time for ZE:A ! ZE:a minus Kwanghee performed 4 of their numbers and they were quite interactive o the audiences. Most of the members can speak English well too. What a surprise! ^^ People were cheering on them and even hysterically screaming to them.

ZE:A

Directions

Dongguk Univ. Station (Seoul Subway Line 3), Exit 5. Go 110m forward, and go past the Jangchung Gym (장충체육관). Turn right, and go 60m forward to arrive at the Shilla Duty Free Shop

Since I've graduated from University of Indonesia, I didn't have any formal school to attend. I am just working now while taking some courses. But yeah, I still look for some scholarships and apply for it. In November, I applied for the 2012 AMINEF's Community College Initiative Scholarship Program. I chose to study Early Childhood Education because I am now working as a teacher. That was my first time to apply a scholarship. But time flew. I didn't get any news from the AMINEF. So I just tried to forget about it.

In the beginning of December, I was in the middle of the queue in a bank. My index finger played on my smartphone to read some tweets in my Twitter's timeline. I saw an announcement about Korean Scholarship which was held by Geumgang University, Nonsan, South Korea, cooperated with Korean Cultural Center Indonesia. It is a 4 months language training scholarship.

The basic requirements are :
1. Minimum Diploma graduate
2. If you still enroll in a university, you can apply, but you need to attach a reference letter from your Dean.
3. No need a TOEFL / TOPIK Score
4. The birth year is minimum in 1991
5. Make an introductory video in English

For more info, you can just visit Geumgang University website : Geumgang University .

I collected my application on December 17th, 2012. I didn't expect for something, but at least I tried it. As the time goes by, in January 2013, I went to Hongkong for my annual holiday. When I came back to Indonesia, I got an email which stated that I'm failed to get my scholarship :'(( It was such a disaster for me. There were only 13 people who were accepted, including 2 Indonesian girls. Hmmm ... It's maybe not my turn to get a scholarship.

But one day after I taught, I got an email from Geumgang University which notified me as one of the successful applicant! Yup they added 7 more students to join this scholarship ! Yay, my dream came true !

Right now I am currently studying Korean language in an Intermediate Level. It's difficult but the class is really exciting :D

I will write about it in my upcoming posts

Hi !

It's been a long time not to post something in my blog. Well, I'm kinda ( trying to be ) busy with my work, but yeah laziness always come over me hahahaha. So I have a lot of story to begin my first post in 2013. Let's start it with my trip to Hongkong which was held in January 5th - January 10th, 2013.

Start now !

Soooo, actually in March 2012 after my arrival from Singapore, I browsed some airlines to get some inspirations where to go for my annual holiday next year. My mom was really dreaming to go to Hongkong, because my auntie told her about it before. I actually prepare to go to South Korea. But finally, we decided to go to Hongkong first. Lucky us, we got a really cheap ticket to go to Hongkong with Garuda Indonesia, an Indonesian first-class airlines, for only US$ 247 RETURN ! We departed from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport ( CGK ) anyway. I came to Hongkong with 2 of my aunties and 1 of my auntie's friend who is so close with us, Tante Dyah ( Tante = Auntie ).

But in November 2012, my first auntie, Mimi, got a light stroke or infark, But she'd still like to go! So yeah we brought her wheel chair as well.

Taraaaaa, so we departed on January 4th, 2013 at 23:25 PM ( Indonesia timezone +7 ).