seoul, south korea > part III

its party time.

we're in the bus, smiles all around. well, most of us anyway! as we left the air dome back at Jamsil Olympic Stadium, after all the presentations were finally done, all all the photos were taken, after all the challenges were complete, we left for the bus that would take us to our next spot. and we all got to go, and by around 7 pm, we were ready.



ready to leave and party the night away. the whole bunch of us, including all the other teams were on board, and you could feel the palpable sense of relaxation in the interior ambiance's of the bus. no one was under pressure, everyone's shoulders were lighter of their burdens, and the inner auras of people filled with a sense of relief and joy that the challenge was over, manifested on their faces, through their body language, and simply expressed in their eyes.

and so were on our way.

everyone was seated, but i was too excited. i only had 2 hours sleep last night, but somehow i was bursting with energy. my eyes were lit up, and i was hyper. i was all over the place, walking front to back, back to front, front to back, back to front, front to back.

you get the picture.

i couldn't help it, i really was excited. i guess its true what people say that fatigue is simply a state of mind, and you can snap rite out of it whenever you like. no time was that more evident in my life than last nite. i wasn't even yawning. i was walking about so much, i even started singing the song "breakfast at tiffanys'" by deep blue something to the 2 korean chicks, the french chick and the australian chick sitting next to me!

i had an international audience ... and another dream of performing like a rock star infront of a crowd came true that nite! i take what i can get. after all of that, one of the lovely koreans told me that i was like a 5 year old, running around uncontrollably in the bus! haha, i smiled too.

i took that as a compliment, as acknowledgment to my vibrant youthfulness!

after around 30 mins being stuck in the jam, we finally reached our destination. it was a club, but a club like i've never seen before. this was a 3 storey structure. the interior spaces were defined by the incorporation of metal cargo containers ( like the kind you'd find on ships ) and spaces
were divided to 5 distinctly different functions.

we had a bar and dining space on the ground floor, situated next to an exhibition space showing architectural projects from germany, 5 individual art studios and a library on the first floor, and finally and office and another exhibition space on the third! it was an odd amalgamation of creative spaces all wrapped in a single box, 40'00" high.

but it was cool.

and so, this was where we spent the night.

we partied, we dined, we feasted and we told each other stories, we made each other laugh, we participated in each others memories and we relished in each others company.

at that moment i felt so lucky. i felt so blessed to be in korea at that time, talking to people from all over the planet, sharing amazing experiences with each other and it was all happening to me.

could this be the best thing that ever happened to me?

i've been pretty blessed so far, but this was surreal. its something i've felt i was always destined for, because i always had a feeling that i must follow my passion, in this case architecture, regardless of the obstructions that laid in front of me. i must pull through, and like the treasure that one would find at the end of the rainbow, guarded by some mythical leprechaun, the rewards would be unbelievable and worth every bead of sweat i poured to get this far.

and this moment was definitely one of the treasures that ive received after embracing my passion wholeheartedly and going as far as i can.

i spent most of my time with the members of my team. Team G. and i was loving every minute of it. we talked about everything we could think of. Hee told me of her dreams to visit New York one day, inspired by watching some american rom-com movie i cant remember now. Jien told me she could never cut class cause her mother was a teacher. Katie told me she was 17 when she had a first kiss.

stuff like that.
i tried teaching them a bit of hindi, in my efforts to expose them to something i grew up with, and i thought we could start with " I love you", which in hindi was "Mujhe Tumse Mohabbat Hain" ... the first two words were ok, but by the time we reached the third word, they threw thier hands in the air and gave up! too hard, it seems ... well, at least they tried.


we played games, one called 3 - 6 - 9, which i completely sucked at. i lost every turn, forced to drink coke every freaking time i lost, but with these dried snacks inside the drink! it was horrible, man. but all in good fun i thought...at least we were all laughing. one of the funnier moments that night was when katie, the interpreter, showed us a picture of her boyfriend, and one of the other girls said the guy looked like something like Waldo, from wheres' waldo!

i gotta admit, she was right!

and so that was how we let the evening pass. from around 7.30 right till the bewitching midnite hour, we chatted. about anything and everything. we wanted to squeeze every moment of joy we could from this blessed meeting of minds and spirits. and no matter how much i tried, i knew that i would never be able to completely embrace the moment.

i just did the best i could to ensure this moment never dies,
silently thanking God in my heart, for this.

for everything.

this very well could be, the best thing that has happened to me. at least in my professional career. and like all good things it was coming to an end. one by one we started to leave. we took photos of ourselves, realising, we might never meet up again, cherishing every second. i know of course the night had to come to an end, but it just seems so unfair. this was the best part of this trip! why cant we just have one more day?

by around 12.30, almost everyone from Team G had left, and i started mingling with the others in the conference. there was still a good crowd left, and i went from table to table, meeting people from all over the planet. i spoke to these 2 guys from italy and portugal, and then these 2 people from bosnia joined us. i pretty much just joined them, getting involved in their conversations, enjoying whatever else that was left of the night. we spoke till about 2.30 and my last conversations that night was between me, my malaysian counterpart, Grey, Sharon from Taiwan and this other korean guy...whose name unfortunately i cant remember!

he asked me where i was from, and of course i said malaysia and i told him that Grey and i were from the same country, he look baffled. puzzled. bewildered. he was wondering how come 2 people of 2 different races come from the same country? you see, thats thing about homogeneous societies like korea..its very difficult for them to grasp the notion that multiple races can live in 1 country. it took quite some time for me to convince him, we DO come from the same place.we malaysians take it for granted that living in a country with different races and that almost everyone here speaks english relatively fluently is no big deal.

guys, trust me, it is. we're lucky, and we dont even realise it.

around 3,00 am, it was pretty much over. we were all getting ready to go back to the hotel. and we did. we took a cab, me, sharon and grey straight back to the hotel. the night, unfortunately, was over. reality bites, and she bites hard. we got back to the hotel, and we saw the australian girl at the reception counter looking anxious and panicky. we found that she had lost her passport earlier and there was virtually no way to retrieve it. our heart went out for her.

hopefully they'll be a silver lining in this cloud, and she gets some good news in the morning. we on the other hand were exhausted and all we wanted to do was hit the sack. straight to our rooms, straight to our beds. and as i laid there silently on my bed, i couldnt help but feel just a tinge of sadness. what had been an incredible journey of friendship, camaraderie and adventure was coming to an end. these were the last thought floating in my mind before i slept.

we were going home tomorrow.