On a mission for the best resume photo

I have an extremely low tolerance for heat :( 

I was the only one in wherever I was today walking around with half my faux leather jacket on me and half of my sleeveless top exposed with my open toe wedges.
Even so, I was perspiring most of the time and I felt even hotter than ever looking at the people around me wearing sweaters and coats.
It’s time to bring my summer paper fan around.

It’s quite sad how spring and autumn are disappearing.
Just 2 weeks ago, it was still pretty chilly and I was wearing a new wool coat I got from Gmarket.
Now, it’s so warm in the day…today, it hit 22.3 deg C!

Anyway, I feel really accomplished today :)
Finally, I’ve completed something that has been on my “Things To Do in Korea” list for the longest time and that is…

GETTING MY HAIR STYLED AT JUNO HAIR AND HAVING A GOOD RESUME PHOTO TAKEN

It took me so long to get this done!
I would like to say that I just didn’t have the time to do so but after talking to a CMBA guy last Tuesday during our Post-Welcoming Party party, he said it’s not about not having the time to do anything; it’s about not making the time to do whatever one has to do.

So back to my day:

the only reason why I love spring: flora and fauna. not loving the increase in temperature though

I made an appointment at Juno Hair (Myeongdong Store #1) 11am with my now favourite hair stylist in Seoul- Soyou 소유 (she’s off on Wednesdays). 

Not the one in the same building as Adidas. It’s on the opposite side. 

Juno Hair, or at least at the salon I went to, has 2 types of treatment/clinic (as the Koreans refer to it): the 98,000KRW and the 120,000KRW.
I like it that Soyou recommended the cheaper one to me instead of the more expensive one that most employees like to do to their customers because she knows how I feel about my hair weighing me down and it’s really like a blanket around my neck. The more expensive one is of course better in terms of the benefits for the hair but it also makes my hair heavier which I don’t want.
I also had my hair trimmed a little. A haircut at Juno costs 25,000KRW.
In addition, I told Soyou that I was going to have my resume photo taken after my hair appointment so she styled my hair with a flat iron for a cleaner and more professional look :)

Reading my negotiations case while having the treatment done

Complimentary bread with peanut butter jam and wet tissues provided

This is my 3rd time at Juno Hair. The 1st time was January 2013 in Seomyeon, Busan and the 2nd time was 2 weeks ago in this Myeongdong branch. I’m very satisfied with the customer service here and the quality of the hair services I have received. So I decided to sign up as a member! Signing up as a member is free and you receive 10% off for hair services excluding treatment. On top of that, I received 6,000KRW worth of gift vouchers. The 10% discount can be used on the very day that you sign up for the membership. Juno Hair is definitely on the pricey side and I’ll think twice before getting my hair permed here because I always get my hair permed in Edae area for less. But for haircuts, dry (wash and blow) and styling, I think it’s alright to pay slightly more for the service and some pampering. And Soyou always walks me to the entrance from the 3rd floor all the way to the 1st floor after the end of my appointment with her. 

Juno Hair Myeongdong Salon #1- highly recommended! 

It’s better to make an appointment before going: 02-756-3141 준오헤어 명동 1호점 

My stylist: Soyou 소유 

Towards the end of my hair session with her, she asked if I used treatment on my hair, which I don’t and didn’t quite understand what she meant by using treatment since having treatment done is something I can only get at the hair salon and not on my own. She recommended using “treatment” instead of conditioner after shampooing and it should be done everyday, just like how you would apply essence or serum to your face everyday. Hair essence is more like the sunscreen that you apply on your face at the end. So basically, after shampooing and towel-drying my hair, I’m supposed to apply the “treatment” to my hair, especially the ends, and then wrap my hair up in a plastic shower cap and continue with the rest of my bathing routine before rinsing out the “treatment” at the end. I didn’t know where to get a good “treatment” so I bought the one that Juno Hair has for 65,000KRW:

From Euljiro-1-ga Station 을지로일가역, I took the subway to SNU Station 서울대입구역 (about 36 mins journey) to get to the photo studio that Alice, my junior, had recommended to me. Exit via Exit #3> go down the escalators and enter the building> take the escalators/lift up to the 7th floor to Chaeum Studio.

I actually brought my suit and wore my formal blouse for nothing because you can use the ones the studio has and whatever it has is better than whatever I had; black and white’s more professional than my black and blue and I love the blazer that I wore for my photo! In the changing room, there’s even a vanity corner with hairstyling tools that you can use to prep.

After I had my photo taken, I made payment for it and was told to return in about 3 hours’ time to collect them. But what was I to do for 3 hours in the southern part of Seoul? I’m not a Gangnam person…so I asked if I could collect them in 2 hours instead and also asked them to show me the shots first before I leave for 2 hours because if they aren’t satisfactory, I want to have them retaken immediately rather than to come back 2 hours later and be disappointed. I know they must have thought that I’m a very fussy and problematic customer but I’m just very fed up with taking so many pictures that I’m never satisfied with. It’s not cheap taking them ok!!!! This is like my umpteenth time having my photo taken in a studio and I really need a good picture for my resume and internship/job applications. And today, I even invested in getting my hair done so that I look better for the photo and my mission was to get a nice picture taken once and for all and that’s it.

The next thing I knew, I found myself sitting beside the female staff in the studio (maybe the photographer’s wife?) as she showed me the shots and allowed me to choose the one that I preferred before working her magic. At first, I thought she would just show me the shots as I had requested and then I would go off for 2 hours and come back. But she started doing the photoshopping in front of me and while I was telling her the areas that I wanted to be adjusted, I felt that I might be preventing her from doing her job properly by being there so I was going to leave when the both of them (the photographer and the lady) told me to stay and make whatever requests I have for the photoshopping because they wanted me to have a photo that I’ll finally be satisfied with!!!!!
OMG, so nice and sweet of them…so instead of coming back 2 hours later, I sat beside the lady as she weaved her magic and gave me virtual plastic surgery, acceding to all my requests with regards to the photoshopping. 1 hour later, the photos were printed and I’M SO HAPPY. MISSION COMPLETED!

They saw how satisfied I was with my photos that they asked if I could write a review about them on their Naver blog so I did and while I was doing so, the photographer printed 5 more copies of the white background one for me for free while the lady printed 2 big ones for me (1 for H after I told her about him).

All in all, I paid 40,000KRW: 5,000KRW for each soft copy sent via email (I had to pay 10,000KRW in total for one with a grey background and another with the white background that Yonsei wants) and I had to pay extra for having the white background ones printed too (maybe 10,000KRW? I can’t remember). But frankly speaking, I was willing to pay more than 50,000KRW to have a photo that I’m satisfied with. My Korean classmate had hers taken in Hongdae for about 70,000-80,000KRW but it includes hair styling and makeup done.
So anyway, I’m very happy today because my mission was completed successfully and I strongly recommend this studio for your resume photo. In fact, if you’re here in Korea for a holiday, you could set aside time to get your hair done at a hair salon and then have a nice resume (or even passport) photo taken on the same day.

Let me show you the recent photos I have had taken:

At a photo studio in Anam (near Korea University) in late 2010 and early 2011.

2013: studio in Seomyeon Busan (my passport photo now ㅠㅜㅜㅜ) || studio in Ulsan (my student ID photo…total ajumma)

“Professional” resume photo taking in NUS Biz Sch 2011? || the recommended photo studio in Yonsei University Dec 2013

I swear I don’t look so bad in person ㅠㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ

And today’s products:

Ok, I’ve been beautified but I would like to think that this is a more accurate representation of what I look like 

Last errand for the day was buying a book I need for my Negotiations class’ final term project at Kyobo Bookstore in Gangnam before I returned to Sinchon.

Love Kyobo! If the bookstore has stock for the book you want, you can click on the “print” button and you get a printout of the location of your book :) 

Due to the last minute work for the case competition, I ended up with a backlog again and somehow, China doesn’t like me.
#1. I had very bad motion sickness from the flight there. 1st time in my life!!!!! So I was KO for Day 1.
#2. My phone’s LCD screen protector which sat nicely on my phone for the past 1.5 years fell out.
#3. The photo printing on my Casetagram phone cover peeled out in quite a number of spots.
#4. My luggage was damaged on the return back to Korea. There’s a big hole and 3 long crack lines.
#5. I couldn’t really connect to the internet with my Macbook for some strange reason and the wifi in my hotel room didn’t work smoothly and well for me.

I missed Korea.

Now I have to catch up with school and clear my backlog of blog entries.
The cycle begins again.

3. Open House

Wow, so I went for our program’s Open House to share about life here in business school and right after the event was over, my class president came over to tell us that the school gave us money in appreciation for our efforts so…it was free dinner for each of us!!!! The budget was pretty generous so we decided on Outback Steakhouse, which I’ve always wanted to try.

I’m glad that I didn’t have to pay for the meal myself because it isn’t cheap and to me, now that I’ve tried it, I probably won’t be back another time unless someone’s paying for me haha. I eat to live. I only return to a restaurant or eatery many times if it’s cheap with decent food or for the ambience. I’m more of an ambience person which means that sometimes, I’d rather spend more just for the ambience. Which leads me to the point that I’m being tempted to go to Namhae with Jeannie and Yong Kang next month because Jeannie dangled the carrot of a free dinner at Hilton Hotel.

Anyway, I better get back to my case again. I’ve really really realised that I’m a last-minute person and that I only go into full steam the day before something’s due and I go into a panic mode. Friday’s coming soon!!!!!

I’ll update this entry and my past entries with photos when I’m done with this case competition!

And on Monday, there’ll be an info session for Hyundai’s MBA Case Competition. This semester’s gonna be a busy one and maintaining my GPA is going to be real tough :’(

OH YES! I received a wonderful SMS this morning. I got my 2nd scholarship for this year. I’m on a roll :)

2. 1st real day of classes

We had our team meeting for the case competition today.
And then, 6 hours of classes!
But given that this week is the first week, it’s basically introduction and we ended early for Investments, went for dinner together (love going out as a big group) before going back to the 2nd floor lounge to work on the case. Ahhhhhhhh everything’s in a mess. My brain’s in a mess. I need to organise everything but it’s so difficult. I hate this period. The pressure in my brain’s building up. Can’t wait for Saturday to be over! For that 12 minutes to be over.

1. First day of Spring Semester

I can’t wait for this week to be over.
The stress really is building up!!!!!
Friday’s coming :(

After much hesitation today, I went for Korean class.
I’m still thinking whether to drop it because I can only take a maximum of 18 credits this semester and some of my classmates are maxing it to 18 without taking any language classes. With my Korean class, it means I have 18.5 credits and I can’t add the Negotiations class.
Shall go for the Negotiations class on Thursday to see if it’s worthwhile dropping my Korean class. This week, many people are shopping haha.
Anyway, the other reason why I don’t want to take Korean class this semester is because it’s on a Monday, when I have no other classes. When it’s my free day, I want to keep it free. Every time I go for a class, I’m terribly unproductive after that so the day is pretty much wasted for me. So I want it to be on Tues/Wed/Thurs. But James is right too, I’m a full-time MBA student, not a part-time student so why am I complaining about having to go for class on a Monday when I live on campus?? But I just want it free… a WHOLE day free to do whatever I want.

Anyway, today’s Korean class was about 다문화 가정 multi-cultural families, which was the topic for the volunteering project that I had to come up with for yesterday’s scholarship interview, so I had a lot to talk about it. Halfway during class, 선생님 asked me if I had any 고정 관념 fixed perceptions before I came to Korea and then after talking for awhile, I realised that I do have. And also, I talked about how I’ve been increasingly feeling about Korea. Lately, I’ve been talking to others about this a lot.

I love Korea. I do. And I still love studying the Korean language though it takes up time and it’s hard juggling the demands of a full-time MBA program and studying a language. But things are just not the same as they were when I was on exchange at Korea University. Then, I was a tourist for 6 months. Now, I’m living here for a longer time. I don’t feel like a tourist anymore and hence, there isn’t much to talk about my life here unless I go out. Here, I’m alone most of the time. Of course I have friends here but everyone’s busy with their own lives and their own lifestyles. There’s no Jeannie here whom I hung out with all the time when we were on exchange and had similar goals for the 6 months that we had here. So I would say it’s the people who really make or break things for you in a foreign country. I like Seoul, but I love Busan, or rather, the time I was there with my fellow scholars. There, we were all living in the dorm together, and going for Korean class everyday together, with nothing much to do after class. Here in Seoul, everyone leads different lives. In Seoul, I walk around Myeongdong, Cheonggyecheon and Edae/Sinchon area a lot. ALONE. I spend my time in department stores and window-shopping. In Busan, I would have taken a bus down to Gwangan to sit in a cafe and just watch the sea or go to Spaland in Centum City if I were alone. I could always go out with my roommate, Valentina or my Korean class classmates too. I miss Busan a lot. If I were to stay in Korea next time, I would buy a nice and pretty apartment by Gwangan or Haeundae.
Another thing is that when I was an exchange student here for only 6 months, I saw only the nice side of Korea. Now that I’ve been here for about 1.5 years, I’ve seen things that I don’t like and I’ve learnt more about the culture here that I don’t like. Of course, maybe it’s the same in Singapore too but I have not come across such situations in Singapore before so to me, Singapore’s better in the relative sense. This being a public space makes it difficult for me to reveal much but last year, I was really disappointed in a few events that really woke me up from my Korean dream and made me really happy to be back in Singapore this year. This is probably the most truthful entry I’ve ever written in this blog about my feelings about Korea for this stay back in Korea. I know that I’m studying here with the Korean people’s tax money and I know there are many people who wish that they got the scholarship that I have. I am grateful. I truly am. In fact, I was really angry when I heard about some fellow scholars who gave up the scholarship because they denied others of the chance that they had.
I’m doing well in school and I’ve been really involved with my school’s activities and I’m even representing my school for a competition. If I do get the additional scholarship that I interviewed for yesterday, I hope that I can contribute back to the Korean society with the volunteering work that I will be doing for the next 9 months. But nothing will erase the fact that I was very disappointed last year, had my heart broken a few times (I’m still attached to H btw, but I’m referring to many things)- mainly because I had set my expectations too high. And this 2.5 years here is not a 6 month exchange program. You’re here for a longer period of time, and you see more things. It’s nice to come here for a holiday but when it’s not your holiday, it’s a different story altogether. I know that there are many Singaporeans out there who have their own Korean dreams. I was one of them. But I felt let down in some ways. But of course, you need the bad days for you to appreciate the good days and the good times better. All these only make me a stronger person and I must admit that I’ve grown a lot over the past 1.5 years, especially last year!

The most important thing that I have to decide for this year is whether I will continue to work in Korea for about 2 years after I graduate or to return to Singapore. The deciding factor will be my summer internship experience. I have heard a lot about the working culture here in Korea and it scares me. But of course, I cannot judge much since I have not experienced it yet so I will have to decide after August.

Even though I had class today, tomorrow’s the start of my business classes. Need to maintain, if not, improve my GPA!!!