Cozmopolitan Sunkyoung

Today I did my first-ever rock climbing, which was great fun!
오늘 처음으로 암벽등반을 했는데, 완전 재밌었다!

The rock climbing was the main programme of my company’s department fun day that a colleague of mine and her husband, who started rock climbing in the spring of last year, co-organised. Despite the rain yesterday and early this morning, we kept up the plan.
암벽등반은 한 회사 동료와 작년 봄에 암벽 등반을 시작한 그녀의 남편이 마련한 부서 야유회의 메인 프로그램이었다. 어제 그리고 오늘 이른 아침에 내린 비에도 불구하고 우리는 계획대로 움직였다.

When I was given the route to the rock climbing site, I wanted to ride my bicycle to get there. As it came closer to the date, however, I started to worry that if I cycle, I would get exhausted after 10 km cycling in the heat therefore end up being unable to enjoy rock climbing much. Also, it has been over a month since I rode a bicycle last. I finally decided to take a taxi.
암벽등반 장소로 가는 약도를 처음 받았을 때에는 자전거로 가고 싶었다. 하지만 날자가 다가오면서 10 킬로미터 되는 거리를 땡볕에 자전거 타고 갔다가 지쳐서 암벽등반을 못하는 게 아닌가 싶어 걱정이 되기 시작했다. 그리고 마지막으로 자전거를 탄 지 한 달이 넘게 지나기도 했고. 그래서 최종적으로 택시를 타고 가기로 결정했다.

When I woke up this morning, however, it was lightly cloudy and there was cool breeze after rain early in the morning. It is my favourite weather and a perfect condition for cycling. I couldn’t resist it. Moreover, the way I got dressed up was not appropriate for taking a taxi. So, I did bike riding for almost 21 km today and below is the route.
그런데 오늘 아침에 일어났더니 구름이 옅게 깔려있고 이른 아침 비가 내린 후라 시원한 바람이 불고 있었다. 이것이야말로 내가 가장 좋아하는 날씨이자 자전거 타기에 완벽한 조건 아닌가. 그냥 넘길 수가 없었다. 게다가 오늘 복장도 택시 타기에는 적합하지 않았다. 그리하여 거의 21 km 되는 거리를 자전거로 이동했고 아래 지도에 경로를 기록했다.

큰 지도에서 Cycling Routes 보기

Dairy Farm is a leisure place that used to be a granite quarry. I don’t know where the present name came from but there was nothing related to dairy. Instead, there were climbing rock walls, cycling/walking routes in greenery surrounding.
Dairy Farm은 예전에는 화강암 채석장이 있던 곳으로 지금은 여가를 즐길 수 있는 공원이 되었다. 이 이름(낙농장)이 대체 어디서 왔는지 알 수 없지만, 그곳에는 낙농과 관련된 건 하나도 없었다. 대신, 초록으로 둘러싸인 암벽과 사이클링/산보길이 있었다.

After watching some of my colleagues and their families climbing, I was finally ready for climbing.
동료 몇 명과 그들의 가족들이 하는 것을 지켜본 후 나도 마침내 준비가 되었다.

I learnt rock climbing is not about using your hands but puling up your legs.
암벽등반은 손으로 하는 게 아니라 다리를 끌어올려야 한다는 것을 배웠다.

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Often it was difficult to rest myself assured of the new spots where I attempted to reach out my hands and feet.
손과 발을 새로운 지점에 뻗을 때마다 마음을 놓기가 종종 어려웠다.

What should I do next? / 이 다음에는 어떻게 해야 해요?

Towards the top / 정상을 향하여

Final big step to the top / 정상을 향한 마지막 도약

Almost to the top / 거의 다 왔음

Yay, finally made it to the top! / 앗싸, 마침내 정상에 도착!

Happy climber / 행복한 암벽등반가

My clothing set today. I was going to do something again I didn’t manage to take a picture of when I first did in the morning.
오늘 내 복장. 아침에 처음 했을 때에는 미처 사진으로 담지 못한 무언가를 다시 하러 가는 중이다.

It was limbo! / 그건 바로 림보!

Jersey whose copy was created by S and design by her husband who arranged today’s rock climbing
오늘 암벽등반을 마련한 S가 카피를 쓰고 그녀의 남편이 디자인한 저지. “이 암벽을 고분고분하게 만들테다.”

Two weeks ago, after I had a plain Chinese dish – rice plus several side dishes as you like – for Sunday dinner at a hawker centre, I couldn’t stop drinking water until I went to bed. Apparently, it was because of the excessive intake of MSG which is still a part of common practice in Singapore, and this made me seriously think of eating out less often.
2주 전에 호커스 센터(싱가폴식 야외/실내 푸드 코트: 대부분 대단위 주거 단지에 위치해 있다.)에서 중국식 한끼 식사(밥에 원하는 반찬을 몇 가지 골라 먹는)를 일요일 저녁으로 먹은 뒤 자기 전가지 물을 쉴새 없이 마셨다. 명백히, 싱가폴에서는 아직까지 사용이 빈번한 MSG 과다 섭취 때문이었는데, 이 일을 계기로 외식을 줄여야 겠다고 심각하게 생각하게 되었다.

It’s been almost six months since I moved to Singapore and so far I’ve cooked only twice while I was staying in my friend’s for the first two weeks. As living alone, I have found cooking for oneself only uneasy in many terms and, above all, it is really cheap to eat out in Singapore as long as you go to hawkers centres, not proper restaurants.
싱가폴에 온 지 6개월이 거의 다 되가는데 지금까지 직접 요리한 적은 딱 두 번, 처음 2주 동안 친구네서 살 때였다. 혼자 살면서 밥을 직접 해먹는다는 것은 여러 모로 쉽지 않다고 생각해 왔는데, 무엇보다도 싱가폴에서는 제대로 된 레스토랑에 가서 먹지 않고 호커스 센터에서 먹는다면 사 먹는 게 정말 싸다.

However, this unstoppable drinking night led me to break this six-month-old habit and I made some salad combined with a loaf of baguette for weekend meals. The price differences were huge. Let me put them down here.
하지만, 이 멈추지 않는 갈증의 밤을 겪고 난후 지난 6개월 동안 익숙했던 습관을 버려야겠다 마음 먹은지라 주말 동안의 양식으로 바게뜨를 곁들인 샐러드를 만들었다. 가격차는 아주 컸다. 얼마가 들었나 아래와 같이 보자.

<Weekend Meals>

Hawkers Center
2 meals x $ 3.50 = $ 7.00

Homemade Salad plus Baguette
Mixed salad leaves 100g = $ 4.50
Parma ham 45g = $ 7.95
Comte cheese 64g = $ 4.34
Cherry tomatoes 350g = $ 3.40
1 Yellow paprika = $ 1.19
A loaf of baguette = $ 2.40
Total = $ 23.78
(excluding olive oil with garlic 500ml = $ 9.60 & garlic pepper salt chili mix 35g = $ 8.00)

Obviously, there can be no point for the price competitiveness. However, nobody would make their position firm on this aspect. The prices for making home food far exceed those for eating out, but considering what this cheap food could bring to my body eventually, the essence of food prevails.
당연히 가격경쟁력에서는 논의의 여지가 없다. 하지만 가격만 가지고 자신의 입장을 굳건히 내세울 사람은 없을 것이다. 집에서 밥 해 먹는 비용이 밖에서 사 먹는 비용보다 훨씬 더 들지만, 이 값싼 음식들이 결국 내 몸에 가져올 결과들을 생각해 본다면 음식의 정수가 모든 것에 우세할 밖에.

I’m now thinking of buying a cookery book soon and if you know any simple recipes for yummy and healthy salads, please share them with me.
이 참에 샐러드 만들기 요리책을 살까 생각 중인데, 혹시 자신만의 간단하면서도 맛 최고, 영양 만점의 샐러드 레시피가 있다면 공유 부탁 바람.

오늘 아침은 평소보다 늦게 일어났다. 통근 시간을 번 만큼 침대에서 밍기적 거렸다. 혹시 감기 증세가 있나 싶어 코를 킁킁거려봤으나 이상 징후는 보이지 않았다. 컴을 켜고 아웃룩에 접속해 업무 메일을 처리했다. 회사 사람들과 원활히 연락하기 위해 스카이프에도 접속했다. 여러 친구들이 휴가를 즐기라고 했으나 난 아픈 것도 아니어서 재택근무를 한 터라 진정한 휴가도 아니었다.
This morning I got up later than usual. As much time I saved for commuting, I lazed out in the bed. I tried to sniff to see if I had any flu symptoms but there was nothing unusual. I turned on my netbook, logged on to Outlook and got several work-related mails done. I also got connected to Skype for smooth communication with my colleagues. Many of my friends told me to enjoy the rest, but as I am not sick, I’ve worked at home therefore it hasn’t been a true holiday.

점심으로 타이식 볶음 국수인 ‘팟 타이’가 먹고 싶어 자전거를 타고 집 근처 타이 레스토랑에 갔다. 제대로 된 타이 전통 음식을 지난 달 방콕에서 제대로 먹고 온 터라 생각만큼 끝내주게 맛있지 않았다. 입맛이 없어진 탓도 있었겠다. 밥을 먹은 뒤 식당이 위치한 쇼핑몰에 있는 약국편의점에 가서 디지털 체온계를 샀다. (‘가디언’ 디지털 체온계: SGD 8.50) 혹시나 싶어 수술용 마스크도 봤는데 가장 싼 게 (네 갠가 다섯 개 한 묶음에) 12.80 달러였다. 그래서 사지 않았다.
For lunch, I wanted to have ‘pat thai’,  Thai fried noodles, so went to a nearby Thai restaurant. Since I had lots of genuinely Thai traditional food in Bangkok last month, it wasn’t that great as I expected. Maybe it was also because I have lost my appetite. After lunch, I went to a drug store in the same shopping mall as the restaurant to buy a digital thermometer (‘guardian digital thermometer’: SGD 8.50) Just for a possible case, I checked a surgical mask too but the cheapest one (a batch of four or five masks) cost SGD 12.80. So I didn’t buy it.

가택 격리를 엄격히 적용하자면 나는 쇼핑몰에 가지 말았어야 했다. 하지만 난 아무 증상이 없고 단지 예방 차원에서 회사 출입이 금지된 것이기 때문에 오후 한가한 시간대에 작은 쇼핑몰을 가는 것은 괜찮다고 생각했다. 그리고 나도 밥은 먹어야 할 것 아닌가.
If the home quarantine rule was strictly applied, I shouldn’t have gone to a shopping mall. But as I don’t have any symptoms and, only for the preventive purpose, I have been prevented from entering the office, I thought it should be alright for me to go to a small shopping mall in the lose time of a day. And I needed to have food more than anything else.

설명서대로 체온을 재 봤더니 36.5도로 지극히 정상이었다. 이대로 괜찮으면 내일 회사에 가도 되지 않을까라는 생각이 들었다.
According to the instruction, I measured my temperature and it was 36.5 Celsius degrees, which is very normal. I thought that, if it remains so, I could come to work tomorrow.

오후 4시에는 싱가폴과 브뤼셀을 잇는 컨퍼런스 콜이 있어서 스카이프로 1시간 넘게 통화를 했다. 기술이 좋으니 집에서도 이런 일을 할 수 있구나.
At 16h, I participated in a conference call connecting two spots in Singapore and Brussels via Skype. Thanks to a great technology, we can do this kind of job at home.

회사와 상담한 결과 내일 아침에 고열이 없으면 회사에 와도 좋다는 허락을 받았다. 나의 가택 격리는 오늘로 끝날 것 같다.
As a result of consultation with my company, I’ve got permitted to come to the office unless I don’t have a fever tomorrow morning. It seems that my home quarantine will be finished on day 2.

오늘 아침 10시 경에 ‘준(準) 가택 격리’ 중이라는 업데이트를 트위터에 올리고 이 메시지가 자동 연결로 페이스북에 올라갔을 때 토론토, 브뤼셀, 런던에 있는 친구들로부터 곧 연락이 왔다. (고국에 있는 친구들아, IT 강국 한국이라는데 웹 활용도와 접근도는 너무 낮은 거 아이가?)
When I tweeted at around 10h this morning that I was semi-home-quarantined and this message was synchronised with facebook’s status update, some of my friends from Toronto, Brussels and London sent me messages. (Hey my friends in home country, where it promotes itself with strong IT power, don’t you think you show so low degree of application of and access to the web?)

오래 가진 않겠지만 가택격리 일지를 작성하여 H1N1 바이러스 관리와 관련한 기록을 남기고자 한다.
I don’t think this will last long but by writing a home quarantine log I would like to keep records of dealing with H1N1 virus.

사건의 전모는 이렇다. 월요일 저녁에 베트남에 주말 여행을 다녀 온 친구 A를 만나 영화를 보고 저녁을 먹은 뒤 헤어졌다. (아이스 에이지 3 봤는데 열라 재밌었다!) 영화 마치고 나서 친구가 핸드폰을 다시 켰을 때 문자를 받았는데 그와 같이 동행했던 사람들 중 세 명이 독감 증세를 보여서 검사를 받고 있다는 것이었다. 그 중 한 명은 H1N1 바이러스에 걸렸을 가능성이 아주 높다고. 이 때까지만 해도 이 것이 나에게로까지 영향을 미칠 것이라고 생각하지 못했다.
The story starts here. On Monday evening of this week, I met my friend A, who had just returned from his weekend trip to Vietnam, and we watched a movie and had dinner. (The movie was ‘Ice Age 3′ and it was so funny!) After the film was finished, he turned on his mobile and found a text message that three of his travelling mates showed flu symptoms so they were being investigated. In addition, it said one of those three were most likely to have got H1N1. By this time, I did not think that this incident would have an impact on me.

어제 퇴근 무렵 에는 회사에서 전체 메일을 보냈다. 우리 동료 B도 내 친구와 함께 베트남으로 간 일행 중 한 명인데 어제 의심받았던 동행자가 결국은 H1N1으로 판정받은데다 B도 경미한 독감 증세를 보여서 병원에 갔다가 심각한 증세가 아니라고 H1N1 검사는 받지 않고 항생제만 받았단다. 이에 따라 회사는 B에게 4일간 집에 머무르라고 병가를 주었다. 그리고 이 메일 끝에는 H1N1 감염자와 접촉한 사람이 있으면 즉시 회사에 알리라고 써 있었다. 이 때도 내가 여기에 해당될 것이라고는 생각 못 했다.
Around a closing time at work yesterday, we got a group mail containing the following message. Our colleague B also joined the group with my friend A to Vietnam, and in addition to the final confirmation of the above person’s infection, he had minor flu symptoms so went to a pandemic preparedness clinic (PPC). However, his symptoms were so minor he was not tested for H1N1 but received courses of anti-biotics and four days’ sick-leave accordingly. At the end of the email, finance & admin manager wrote that if there’s anyone who has close contact with H1N1 victim, they should report immediately to him. By this time, again, I did not think at all that I would soon be the one who should do this.

어젯 밤 10시 조금 넘어서 친구 A 한테서 문자가 왔다. 자신도 H1N1 양성 판정을 받았다며 나도 독감 증세를 보이면 병원에 가서 진찰을 받으라는 거였다. 그래서 동료 B 얘기를 했더니 그렇다면 나도 어쩌면 회사에 가면 안 될지도 모르겠다는 거다. 그리고 다음 날 보건부에서 자신을 방문해 접촉했던 사람을 추적할 것이라고도 했다. 보건부 홈페이지도 가보라고 했고.
Last night shortly after 22h, I got a text from my friend A that he’d been confirmed that he had H1N1 too. So, if I am presented with any flu symptoms, I should go to a general practitioner and to get assessed. I told him about my colleague B’s case with my company and he replied that I may have to leave the office too. He added that people from Ministry of Health would visit him the next day for monitoring and contact tracing, and also advised me to go to MoH’s web site.

그래서 자기 전 보건부 홈페이지를 들어가봤다.  H1N1 감염자와의 가까운 접촉이 어느 정도를 말하는 건가 싶어서 봤더니 1시간 이상 2미터가 넘지 않는 거리에 있었던 거란다. 7시에 만나 10시 반에 헤어졌고, 영화를 나란히 앉아 봤고, 저녁을 같이 먹었고, 만났을 때 헤어졌을 때 포옹까지 했으니 꽤나 가까운 접촉이었다. 회사에는 이내 이메일을 썼다. 내가 마지막 문장에 해당하는 사람이 되었다고, 일단은 내일 아침에 예방 차원에서 회사를 안 가야 할 것 같은데 조언을 해달라고.
So I visited MoH’s web page before going to bed. I searched for how close the ‘close contact with H1N1 victim’ referred to and it showed contact within 2 metres spending more than 1 hour. I met him at 19h30 and we went our respective homes at 22h30, watched a movie sitting side-by-side, had dinner, and greeted and said good-bye to each other with hugs. So it was quite close. I emailed to my company right away that it turned out I came to fall into a case of the last sentence and that it seemed that I may not even go to work the next day for a prevention purpose so the manager should advise me.

오늘 아침 행정 업무 부서는 나에게 금요일까지 회사에 오지 말고 가까운 유행병 진료소에 당장 간 뒤 결과를 보고 하라고 했지만, 내 상사와 부서 사람들은 이들이 과잉 반응을 보인다고 판단하였다. 환자들 가득한 유행병 진료소에 가 봤자 독감 증상이 없어서 검사도 못 받을 거고 환자들 가득한 곳에 갔다 오히려 질병에 노출된다고. 그리하여 긴급 소회의를 했고 결론은 만약의 그리고 최악의 상태를 예방하기 위하여 나에게도 금요일까지 가택격리를 조처하였다.
This morning admin manager emailed me I should not come to the office by this Friday and immediately go to a nearby PPC and report the result to him. But, my supervisors and colleagues in my close department thought that admin dept. was overreacting. Even if I go to a PPC, I wouldn’t get a test because I don’t have any symptoms. Moreover, going to a PPC full of flu patients will rather increase a risk of being exposed to the virus. Soon they had a small meeting and concluded I should be home quarantined as well for the purpose of prevention of the possible and worst situation.

약 두 시간 전에는 보건부에서 전화가 와서 내 신상정보와 건강 상태를 물었다. (이 상황에 대해 블로그에 써도 되냐고 물었는데 된다고 했다.) 계속 아무 탈 없길 바라고 체온을 검사하라는데 난 체온계가 없는 걸!
About two hours ago, MoH called me and asked my personal information and health situation. (I asked the staff whether I could write a blog post about this and she said it is okay.) She wished me well and told me to check my temperature. But I don’t have a thermometer!

어찌되었든 난 아무 증상 없이 아직까지 완전 무사하다. 강제로 가택 격리되어 기분이 좀 뭥미할 뿐이다. 아, 그리고 내 친구 A와 동료 B가 얼른 낫길 바란다.
Anyway, I am still totally fine without any symptoms. It’s just that I feel a little mouldy because of enforced home-quarantine. I hope my friend A and colleague B will get well soon.

It has been only about a month since I came to Singapore but I have already had a fair number of friends who were in town.

Irish Reunion – Keith on the left has been working in Singapore since past February and was so kind to have offered me to stay at his place before I found my own. Brendan left Korea last November and has since been living in Shanghai. We all worked together at Irish Association of Korea while we were in Seoul, organising St. Patrick’s Day for the past two years. These lads are one of those who have significantly influenced me to be (like) Irish. See what colour I am wearing! And of course we had bottles of Bulmers, Irish cider, before dinner.

Last month Mitchy and I missed a chance to see each other in Korea by only two days. But on Wednesday of last week, thinking about what I was going to do during the long weekend (according to my company rules, if a public holiday falls on either Saturday or Sunday, following Monday becomes a replacement holiday. How great! I’ve never worked for a company that has this brilliant rule.), suddenly I came up with a spontaneous idea that it would be good if Mitchy, who’s staying in Taipei throughout May and going to Seoul next month, could come to Singapore and spend the weekend together. And, fortunately, he was also spontaneous enough to make it  happen. We had a lot of fun, visiting different places, having great food, and, as usual, encountering some hilarious situations. A further story is to be posted soon.

Tamzyn was stopping over in Singapore for two days and one night on her way from Australia back to Ireland. We worked together at an English school in my hometown, Koje, for about a year before I left for the Netherlands in June 2003 and I met her again in Cork in summer 2005 while I was doing my internship in Dublin. Weeks ago this year she sent me a message via facebook when she saw my status update on my arrival in Singapore and finally we met each other half a day before her departure. Tamzyn has applied for a professional jewelry design programme in Kilkenny and I wish her the very best of luck!

Now, you have seen my lovely place where anyone of you are always welcomed, and who’s going to be my next guest?

My family and many friends have asked what my place looks like and I’ve finally got some free time to upload the photos. So here they are.

In Singapore, there are four main types of housings: condominium, HDB, apartment and private houses. Of these, I think the first two housings need to be explained a bit. A condominium is a kind of apartment complex which usually consists of a swimming pool, a tennis court, gym, and BBQ garden. HDB, acronym for Housing and Development Board, is government-built housing and is often located in a very large cluster near public transport.

Varsity Park, where I live, is a condo near my company and I think its name ‘varsity’ comes from its location close to National University of Singapore. When I first visited this condo for viewing a room that was being rented out by a family of four from Sri Lanka, I took to the place right away and you can see why.

Of many good things about my place, I like that it has a lot of water space throughout the area. It does help cool down the temperature and is also good for mentality, I think. The artificial stepping stones on the left are my favourite part of the condominium.

A small hut on the right in the first photo is a reading room, most part of which is stood above the swimming pool. Next to this small studying space where I often go to use the fast wireless internet, there are function room where one can organise (religious) lectures, (children’s birthday) parties etc. – These are the occasions I’ve watched so far -, and another floating house that is not seen on the photo is gym.

This is a swimming pool where you can hardly see a crazy person swimming in rain. It is only a couple of steps away from my place. So, when you visit my place, make sure that you bring a swimsuit with ya!

P.S. – As I’m reluctant to post my address and mobile number here at my blog, if you email me, this contact information will be shown in my signature of the reply.

두 친구는 눈밭을 가로질러 집으로 돌아가는 길이었습니다.
피글렛은 푸 같은 좋은 친구가 있어 너무나 다행이라 생각하며 살며시 미소를 지었습니다.

푸는 속으로 생각했습니다.
‘이 돼지 녀석, 재채기 하기만 해봐라, 아주 뒈졌어.’

This is the picture file I got from my friend, Gillian in London, soon after the outbreak of swine flu occured. This world-wide contagious disease has influenced a lot of aspects on our current life, no matter how serious they were, and, to me, anything related to pandemic influenza is now an indispensable element, at least for my work.

My official job title is ‘Project Executive for the ASEF Network for Public Health.’ This network aims at establishing a stable and constructive working collaboration between various regional, international organisations in Asia and Europe with particular regard to preparedness planning for and rapid containment of pandemic influenza. Initially, the project mostly mentioned avian influenza as a representative example of pandemic influenza but it was only five days later since I started working when the swine flu hit the world.

Currently, project manager and I are on the status of consultation process, meeting as many relevant people and organisations as possible in order to seek for useful ideas and insights for designing the network. For this reason, we’ve been confirmed to travel to Jakarta on the last week of May and another trip to Bangkok the following week is being planned. Unfortunately, we don’t see any possible meetings or events in Europe this year but hopefully next year.

As many of you know well, what I do now is exactly what I have always wanted to do: building up or enhancing collaboration between different cultures/organisations; working in an international setting; having chances to meet people from various backgrounds. Work is not everything but something very important on how you feel about your life. And I now feel pretty good about this new chapter of my life.