Korea Winter Travel Fair 2013 ~ My POV

The KOREA WINTER TRAVEL FAIR 2013 was held last October 19-20, 2013 at SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City!

main stage & VIP area

free beauty clinics~

travel agencies!

more agencies to choose from!

It's a 2-day event that promotes about Korean Tourism. Korea has now become a place that a whole lot of Filipinos would want to visit! Mainly because of Korean dramas or K-pop, but that's not all, Korea IS a very beautiful country.

It's vast culture interests and attracts many people to want to visit the place and experience their specialties, visit historical places, and learn more about it's fruitful culture that had been passed down from generations.

This is officially the 1st KTO Manila event that I joined as a Wow Korea Supporter!!!

I got my VIP invitation last Thursday and was so happy to be invited to the special opening ceremony of the event! I was really happy to be a part or an extension of KTO Manila and be able to attend their events!

I commuted all the way to SM Aura for these awesome event. I went with my mom and got there at around 12 noon. There were still not much people around since it was still early. I registered and got raffle tickets from the registration booth and met some of my fellow Wow Korea Supporters!

famous airlines

While there were still not much people, I grabbed the chance to survey and observe each of the booths trying to see what they have in store for the attendees. Each booth showcased the different tour packages that they can offer travelers for this winter season. Prices, inclusions, promos, flights, lodging, everything varied and you'll just have every choice in the world! Attached below would be a link to the promotional video and walkthrough video that I've made especially for this important event! So check it out! XD

my free scalp check!

Let's start off with the beauty clinics, there were 3 to be specific. The Wonjin Beauty Medical Group offered a free service of measuring the age of your skin. The Medical Palace Korean Medicine Clinic gave free acupuncture sessions to attendees. Lee Moon Won Korean Medicine Clinic checked the scalp of attendees for free to see if they have any signs of hair loss problems. I was only able to try the scalp checking and thank God that I had a normal scalp with proportional hair growth by randomly checking at different locations of my scalp! :D

Famous airlines were present to offer their services to clients. Korean Air offered free sign-ups to avail of the free miles card that they offered. Korean Air is my dream airline and I promise that once I can go to Korea, I'll definitely ride Korean Air! I've heard that they have the best service, comfort, and ofcourse, Korean-filled experience in their flights! Free movies and unlimited Kpop songs to choose from while flying!


Booths of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air, Jeju Air, and Asiana Airlines were also present and each gave out fliers showing the list of flights and prices that they offered. All were competitive especially in their prices for flying to Korea! So choose wisely my fellow travelers!

Next would be the travel agencies, the following set their booths up at the fair! American Express Transnational, ARK Travel Express, Far Eastern Travel Agency, Golden Sky Travel, Rajah Travel, Rakso, Skynet Travel, and Travel Plus! So much agencies and packages to choose from! The fair truly brought what you have looking for right in front of you! No more hassle in canvassing at different agencies if they have packages! There were all available at the fair!

Me and my mom posing at the Ski Korea booth!

Last, but not the least, there was the Ski Korea Booth where you could take souvenir photos with loved ones and friends! It really looked like we were in Korea! The Philippine Star booth gave out newspapers as they are the official media partner of the fair. ANNNNNDD! The SACHOOM BOOTH! Sachoom, one of the most famous Non-Verbal Korean Performance group came all the way from Korea just to perform for us! How cool is that?! We also got to watch them for free, and believe me, their skill level are only available at paid shows worldwide so it was truly a chance of a lifetime! I'm so thankful I got to witness them live! Also, by just downloading the "KOREA PERFORMANCE" application in your gadgets, you instantly get a chance to join the lucky draw box contest and get to win instant prizes according to the color of the ball you've picked! Orange for a pen, Pink for a R16 card case, and Green for a free 16GB USB!!!! I really wanted the USB but I'm still very satisfied with the R16 card case that I got! It's cool and 3D like!

the R16 card case that I won!

cocktail food! Yum! Love the apple iced tea!

After booth surveying, it's now time for the official opening ceremony of the Korea Winter Travel Fair 2013. VIPs and guests were served with cocktail food first, and as a Wow Korea Supporter, we were included in the guest list! The food was great and luxurious! hehe! A few moments later, all the VIPs arrived and we gathered around sitted at front to watch the opening ceremony. The event's MC is the famous Ms. Kring Elenzano! The owner of CNA Accessory Store together with Jimmy Kim! The Krimmy couple that we all know! Opening remarks were given by Mr. Sangyong Zhu, the KTO Manila Director, and Mr. Seong Un-Hwang, the KCC Director!

Ms. Kring Elenzano

Mr. Sangyong Zhu

Mr. Seong Un-Hwang

The ceremony was followed by an awarding of a plague for the SM Aura representative, and the official cutting of ribbon was done by all of the VIPs present at the ceremony. They were general managers of the different airlines and travel agencies, Korean representatives of the beauty clinics and Sachoom. All of them gathered at this special event to help promote Korea.

Finally, the moment I have been waiting for all day was here! It was now time for Sachoom's performance! I've been hearing so much that they were awesome according to the people who saw their rehearsal and all were also very good looking! haha! Finally, they came out with a bang and danced gracefully, skillfully, awesomely, and mind-blowingly! Their dances composed of different styles ranging from traditional, to classical, to hiphop, to breakdancing, and to kpop! Now that's really something! A crowd even gathered around at the 2nd floor just to have a glimpse of their great performance! Our row composed of the Wow Korea Supporters cheered and shouted during their entire performance! We definitely became their instant fans the moment they came out the stage! When they got to their kpop dance numbers, we went crazy as they danced to the songs of Super Junior, 2ne1, Big Bang, and Psy! They performed perfectly and we were just speechless and amazed at their performance! Even after they left the stage, we hurriedly followed them wanting to have our photos taken with them but sadly, they went backstage to change. Luckily a few of them came out and we were able to take some photos with them! Specifically #1 #5 #7 & #99 !!!! I only know the names of #5 HY and #7 Djun! I'm so happy that I was able to ran after HY and have a photo taken with him! He was definitely my favourite out of the group so I was really satisfied and happy that day. It was just like I met a kpop idol of mine! <3 Scroll down below and see Sachoom's performance yourself! I've caught them on video just for you guys!

Raffles were given off such as a roundtrip ticket to America sponsored by the Asiana Airlines and 2 Super Show 5 SVIP tickets were raffled off! Too bad none of us supporters got them. T-T

Mr. Zhu being interviewed by ABS-CBN!

There were more raffles at the 2nd day and Sachoom performed again as well. Unfortunately, due to SM Aura being really far from home, I couldn't attend the 2nd day of the event. Even though I only got to attend the first day, it was all WORTH IT and I really had the best time with my mom, my friend Knatt that I invited to come, and the Wow Korea Supporters that attended that day!

With #7 Djun~

With #99

With my fave~! #5 HY

#1 who looks like a doll <3

Thank you so much for the KTO Staff for inviting us to these event, thank you for making us feel very welcomed, and most of all, thank you for sharing with us another Korea-inspired event that I will never forget! I'm now a big fan of Sachoom and I'm hoping that I'll be able to see their performance again when I finally am able to visit Korea!

With Joodit, Ate Ren, & me!

Joodit.Reinalyn.Camille.Me

We, Wow Korea Supporters that attended that day, even plan to start SACHOOMPH! For Sachoom to have an official fan club in the Philippines! But that's a great future plan that we need to discuss~ hihi!

Me and my bestfriend that I invited to the event! :D

Wow Korea Supporters!

Korea Winter Travel Fair 2013 Videos:

Promotional Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwX9kmFowg8

Walkthrough Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REy_Ljttg9I

Sachoom Performances:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFwcEsWXMC4

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihBpdB-qGs

Part 3 (Kpop): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYrWtwOUAIw

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post!!! Enjoy Korea-lovers!! <3

Yours Truly,
Darlene ~ <3

Learning Korean @ ENLI~~~ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Hi there everyone!  여러분 안녕!

Today, I'll share to you my experience of officially learning the Korean language or 한국어!

Ever since the start of this year, I really wanted to attend a language center or school to officially learn Korean.

I've canvassed for some time and found that studying a language ain't cheap. It requires a few thousand pesos and majority of the places were really far from my home. There were great deals offered by the Korean Cultural Center, Ateneo or UP but all were dead far from my house. Even if the tuition is cheap, I'll end up spending the same money due to commuting expenses plus more effort and time spend just to get there.

After searching for so long, I encountered Every Nation Language Institute, or in short ENLI as we call it. I searched them at Facebook and inquired regarding their prices. They had a Makati branch that was still far from where I lived but much nearer compared to the others.

I still wasn't earning at that time so obviously, I had no funds to enroll myself to a language school and my parents won't allow me to spend so much on a personal hobby. Well mainly because I only wanted to learn Korean because of my love of Kpop and Kdramas.

I imagined being able to converse fluently in Korean one day and be able to talk to my idols when I meet them. It would be so cool to be able to talk to them as most of them aren't fluent in English. I want to be able to convey my feelings for them without needing a translator.

After a while, ENLI held a contest offering 5 winners a free 20-hour language session of their choice! I was ecstatic when I found out and told myself that this was my chance to finally be able to start learning Korean! I'm sure I'll be allowed to learn since it was free and I didn't have to spend for tuition! I joined the contest and put all my effort into it! And finally.... TADA!!!!!

Me & Gillian freaked when we saw we won! XD

I was literally screaming at home when I found I won and thank the Lord for giving me this chance to finally be one step nearer to my goals! This was the stepping stone to my Korea-related future.

Entrance of ENLI Makati

The entire duration of my Korean Class at ENLI started from June 8, 2013 and ended just last Saturday, October 12, 2013. After finishing my free 20 hours, I decided to extend for a little more since it would be a waste because I already started the program. There were still so much to learn and I wanted to learn them!

I had two great teachers: Sir Louie/루위 선생님 & Shine Ssaem/쌰인 쌤 !!!

We had two teachers because the first one had to leave due to emergency reasons. Nonetheless, I'm really happy that I got to learn Korean from two wonderful teachers that made the class fun, informative, and most of all, a great learning environment!

In the midst of learning Korean~ the board is full!

Me & Gillian's notes~

I never got bored attending my Korean classes because it was something that I really really wanted and my determination to learn the language was evident. I was so happy that I was able to do well on the first day as I had already self-learned Hangul way beforehand. Every session consisted of different topics ranging from vocabulary to grammatical lessons. We had lots of examples to learn from and performed exercises to test out what we've learned. We also always have reading and writing sessions to familiarize ourselves in the right way of pronouncing the words and being able to spell them correctly. I find spelling really difficult because Korean words are sometimes pronounced differently on how it's spelled! It really takes TONS of memorization to be able to learn this awesome language. Also, I find it really interesting whenever I encounter Korean words that sounds freakishly similar to its Chinese counterpart. Since I know Chinese, some Korean words are very easy to recognize and remember since both are very close to each other. I always challenged myself to write in Korean and not use the English anymore as this would make me more comfortable in reading Hangul and it would make me more familiar with the language. 3-hour sessions seemed to pass by so quickly every time because we were really enjoying what we were studying. I even always review the past lessons at home before going to class the next day wanting to be able to get good marks on our exercises.

It definitely is more fun studying in a group than self-studying at home because you get to interact with friends and try out what you've learned with them. We were originally five in the class but due to personal reasons, only two of us, Gillian and me, got to attend the last session together with our teacher, Shine Ssaem! Gillian was also one of the winners of the contest I won and we knew each other already even before this.

With our 예뻐 (pretty) Shine Ssaem!

I was really glad that I'm able to experience this great opportunity with a friend. Learning Korean is really not easy but it will never fail to interest me and I would want to continue learning it at my own time for now. I'm beginning to be busy at work so I plan to attend formal classes again at a later time. Self-studying is my solution for now and ofcourse, TONS of listening to Korean pop music and watching Korean dramas and variety shows! It's so fun and fulfilling to know and feel that you understand words that they are saying in the songs or shows as this proves that you are one step closer.

My Yesung Korean notebook & notes! (gotta be inpired!)

Right now, it's easier to understand the language as I already know the correct sentence structures. I'm able to understand the words in a sentence and just use context clues to fill-in the blanks. I really feel happy that I'm able to read Korean much faster now. I always try to read all the Korean signs I see along the roads I pass and feel so happy inside when I understand them.


Even after all this, I still know that I'm a long long way to go before I can really master the language. I have to continue practicing endlessly and memorizing new vocabulary day by day. I promise myself that I'll never give this up and that I'll be able to speak it well already when the time comes that I can finally visit Korea. It is my ultimate dream and goal now that I'll someday be able to travel to that beautiful country that produces all the things that revolves around my life right now. I really wish that I was born Korean or that I'll get the chance someday to go live there even if its just a year or two.

I want to thank ENLI too for giving me this chance to learn Korean. The staff and teachers at ENLI are very nice and understanding. They see to it that students feel at home at the center and asks about how you're doing. They kid and joke around with that makes you feel comfortable when you're with them. The teachers are really good at their respective languages and I'm really happy to say that I was able to be a part of ENLI. As to their slogan, "Every Filipino, A World Speaker," I'm very happy to say that I'm a Filipino that's proud to be able to speak a number of languages. :)

Lunch at KFC, a break from our 4-hour class~

Now, for all those wanting to learn Korean out there. Korean is not that difficult to learn. Just remember that patience, hard work, and determination is all it takes. Start learning even just the letters yourself and you'll find yourself learning more in no time. Watching dramas and listening to songs also helps a lot as I know it's much easier to memorize things that you love. Even if you don't have that much funds to study Korean, there are tons of places out there that offers cheaper classes. You just have to put the effort in finding them. Also, work hard in earning and spend a little less on other things and save it for tuition if you are really determined to enroll yourself into a school. I promise that all hard work will be worth it because it is something that you want and love. Money can never be used to measure the happiness that you feel when you're doing something that you are passionate about! Fighting! Believe, then you can.

Our last day! Korean V pose at the ENLI Makati lobby~

With Sir Louie! The complete members of our Korean Language program~ I miss them~~

This space is reserved for a pic of me & Gillian when we finally get our certificates! haha~ <3

Thank you and til' next time! XD

Feel free to message, comment, or talk to me~! I welcome anyone that shares that same interests as me! <3

ENLI's FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/enLi.Philippines

~Darlene <3