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A holiday I would never forget

Holidays, a time everyone gets hyped up over, parents planning activities for the
family to spend quality time with and school children (as well as teachers) jumping for
joy. Hello, waking up late, celebrating, going for tuition and best of all, vacations! In my
case, a holiday I would never forget is a fruitful one I experienced five years ago, where
my family I spent six days in the land of K-Pop and ' kimchi '- Korea.

Finally, after ages of waiting, our family arrived in beautiful Korea. Stepping out of
the plane, we could feel the chilly weather to our bones. Never experiencing that kind of
weather, my siblings and I were totally excited. Passing through immigration and
baggage claim, we were talking animatedly about our new surroundings. Since we went
with tour group, we knew we were in good hands.

Incident number one. We were supposed to take a bus to check in at the hotel, as
instructed. I guessed I was overeager and without thinking. I ran to a random bus and
knocked on the door. The young bus driver opened the door and looked at me with a
puzzled expression. He started asking me something in Korean, which of course I did
not understand. I tried to reply in English, but before I could make the attempt, my father
quickly apologized to the driver and walked me back to the tour group who was

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watching from afar, shaking with laughter. It turned out that the bus I was running to was
not the bus we were supposed to take. I dismissed my burning cheeks. I was glad I
could be the butt of everyone's jokes on my first day in a foreign country.

It was a bit past lunch time when we were done checking in our hotel. No doubt,
everybody's stomachs were grumbling. Thank God after checking in, we were going to
have our lunch and do a bit of sightseeing. While waiting for the others outside the
hotel, we walked around nearby. There was a row of vending machines that sold various
snacks and beverages, including Hagen Dazs ice-cream, and instant noodles. My
mother had a craving for Nescafe, so she spent her first Korean money on that.

At the restaurant, a delicious meal was already spread out for us. That was the first
time we all tried kimchi, a spicy and sour vegetable side dish. I did not think it was
horrible, but I preferred the fish kimchi much better. We all ate using chopsticks, so that
was kind or awkward for me and my siblings, as we were not skilled at using them yet.
Being Malaysians, we were used to rice, so it was a good thing that the Korean meal
included rice and a few other side dishes, eaten from a Bento box. It was weird though,
the rice was stickier compared to the rice we eat at home, mainly to make it easier to
eat using chopsticks. There was also hot and scrumptious miso soup together with the
meal. Since my sister and my brother did not like it much, I finished up theirs. I gulped
the warm soup down my throat- a nice contrast from the shivering weather outside.

One of the highlights of our activities that we did in Korea was skilling. Everybody
from the tour group was looking forward to that, even the 52-year old couple traveling
with us. Since it wasnt fully snowing yet, the hill was covered with artificial snow. After
grabbing our ski gear, we listen to a briefing by the instructor. He was very help full,
especially with us kids and the elderly couple.

Feeling jumpy and hyperactive, me and my sister made our way to the cable car
and successfully skied down a slope. I thought, " We're natural at this," and my sister
could not agree more. When we came to see how our parents and brother were doing,
my brother started to throw a snowball towards me and my sister. It hit me, and we
started having a small snowball fight of our own, just like in the movies! I guessed we
got a bit out of hand and my sister accidentally hit a woman's back. when she turned
around, she had this angry look on her face and started to walk towards us. I hurried my
siblings to continue skiing with our parents, and we ran away before she could catch us.
Breathless, we giggled in naivety as we recapped the moment.

In a way, skiing is like swimming. Why do I say so? Well, when swimming, you do
not feel tired, but you would see the effect when you get ravenous and eat more after a
session or when you intend to take a nap, but it is extended to long hours. The same

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goes to skiing. When we arrived at the hotel after skiing, we were drained out and
starving. Instant noodles saved the day! We all ate curry-flavored Maggi together,
savoring the momentary pleasure. We also dozed off quite early that night, right after
going for a walk to enjoy the amazing night view of the mountains, and breathing the
cool, fresh winter air.

Shopping in Korea was also different compared to Malaysia. Its malls were packed
with small shops or stall on every floor. Big boutiques were not seen as much as the
quaint kiosks. Nevertheless, I found shopping at their markets more enjoyable,
especially because you could haggle the price. Their specialties were crystals, fabrics
and outerwear. Apart from that, I also liked their wet markets, mainly because they were
very clean and they did not have that fishy smell. I remembered a shocking incident
when walking through the stalls of the wet market. A large fish jumped out its aquarium
and onto the floor. I stared at it and suddenly, I saw a huge cutting knife slicing through
the fish's neck! It was the owner of the stall's doing. Then, the owner left the fish
flapping around lifelessly without a head.

There was also a treasure trove among the stalls of the wet market- a tiny shop
which served grilled seafood. My family stepped into the shop and ordered some grilled
fish and cockles.

After saying our prayers, we devoured our mouth-watering find of the day. Dripped
in a type of sauce, the seafood was the best I had ever eaten, as you could taste the
freshness. Or maybe I was just hungry after a full day of activities.

If it was up to me, there were so many things to write on my memorable trip to

Korean. Not only we got to spend quality time together as a family, but we also learnt
countless new things and even discovered hidden talents. My father always said we
should travel with an open mind and an open heart. This is when you get to see your
capability to adapt to changes. Just enjoy the simple things in life and be thankful of
what you have. So, do just that. Who knows you might discover a part of yourself you
never know existed?

I stand silently in the cool, crisp air. Around me, the houses cast off a sullen light in the
covering darkness. I slowly walk forward, my thundering footsteps the only disturbance
in an otherwise quiet night. Inside the house, the television blares on with soap operas.
The moon is rising, emitting a faint light as it appears over the horizon. The stars are
clearly visible, tiny jewels of light studded in the black quilt of the night sky. I look to the
stars, and my mind wanders.

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A majesty is evident in the quiet brilliance of these points of light. I lose myself in their
shine. Out there are wonders. Millions of balls of gas, planets and even black holes
exist up beyond the black veil of night. Hundreds of galaxies swirl gracefully out in the
vast emptiness of space. The universe, with all its mysteries, looms just beyond the
horizon.

I had read about space when I was in 2nd grade, spending many evenings sprawled on
my bed, devouring books by Isaac Asimov on asteroids, comets, stars, planets and
black holes. These heavenly objects represented the unknown and their enticingly
mysterious names Enceladus, Andromeda, Io called to me. As a high school
student, I read Stephen Hawkings A Brief History of Time and watched a Nova series
on string theory on the Internet to get a better idea of how our universe works.

Something about the heavens draws me in. A hint of something exotic, beyond the
mundane interactions of daily life. Up there, stars with so much gravity that not even
light could escape twisted the fabric of the universe, quasars blew out large bursts of
radio waves and dark energy stretched the universes boundaries. Scientists could
explain neither how the universe began nor how the universe was going to end. Up
beyond the black veil of night, something remains out of reach of human knowledge,
wafting a scent of mysteries unsolved.

When I learned that we were going to cover space in school, I became thrilled at the
prospect of discovering the universes secrets. I fervently hoped that the teacher would
tell me about the Big Bang and black holes in detail. However, I was bitterly
disappointed. The teacher glossed over black holes, instead focusing on teaching the
names of the planets and moon phases, in the order that they both occurred. The
universe, with all its mysteries and complexity, was condensed to 16 easy to remember
words. Class focused more on the sparse words inside the McDougall-Little textbook
than on the universe that lay outside, beckoning to us to view its wonders.

Yet, I cannot stay out forever. Already, I can hear them. The soft, insistent lisp of my
opened textbook. The accusing him of my computer. The grim tramp of duties coming to
drag me away from my galaxies and dark matter. My heavy sigh tumbles into the night
air; many days could pass before I could escape their grasp to come out again. With
one last longing glance, I plod towards the door. As the door clicks behind me, I return
to the comfortable, mundane sounds of television soap operas and clanging spoons in
the sink.

Behind me, the stars smile mysteriously behind their black veil.

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