Universitas Sillimaniensis

Negros Oriental

The first semester of AY 2012-2013 was bloody hell, so much I don't want to even think about it. My friends and I need to "de-stress" and do something exciting. So we decided to visit Negros Oriental since our college classmate is currently doing her law at Silliman University. Other than relieving the stress, the trip was actually more of catching up a good old friend and surprisingly it was in time for the yearly Buglasan Festival. We planned just a day before departure, sometimes not planning adds more adrenaline to the fun that lies ahead.
An so from the Cebu South Bus Terminal (Php 169.00) we head off for Liloan, Santander. We arrived at Liloan 11:45 AM just in time for the ferry (Php 60.00) bound for Sibulan, Negros by 12:00 noon. We crossed Tanyon Strait for about 15 minutes and the waves were plain torture. It might help to drink some meds for motion sickness. Another way (though this might take 15 min more of your time) is take a direct bus (Php 250.00) from the terminal, drop by Bato, Santander and take the RoRo straight to Dumaguete City.
By12:30 PM we were in Sibulan which is a 10 min jeepney ride (Php 11.00) to Dumaguete City. Kenny has been living in Dumaguete for 2 years now so she did all the recommendations, from food to the sidetrips and what not. We took our lunch at Sta. Theresa Resto, the food was affordable and delicious. When I say delicious, I mean it. So far of all the trips I've been, Dumaguete has the best food and my friends agree to that.

Dumaguete has a lot of foreigners, Asians, Europeans, Americans and locals alike so looking for a place to stay should not be bothersome. Just like food, hotels are also cheap. Ours was Php 1000 for 24 hours, we're four so we just spend Php 250.00 per person. We chose a strategic hotel located in the downtown area so it's easy to just go anywhere. After settling down we head off for a hot spring in Valencia, 40 min jeepney ride (Php 11.00) from Dumaguete, then we took a "habal-habal" to bring us to Pulangbato hot spring in Malabo. The place was very remote, a valley located in between ranges of a dormant volcano so when people go there they normal ask the "habal-habal" drivers to wait. From Valencia to Malabo plus the waiting period (2-4 hours), and the from Malabo to Dumaguete, the habal-habal cost Php. 150.00 per person. The name Pulangbato literally means red rock primarily caused by high concentrations of iron.

 After dipping ourselves to the 40 degree Celsius water, we were once again spoiling our gut to the sumptuous goodies of Dumaguete and head straight to Qyosko for dinner. We then spend the night strolling along the boulevard, enjoying the festivities of Buglasan and did a little of the booze in Hayahay.

The next day we went to Sans Rival, a must-go resto/bistro, and the highly acclaimed Silliman University. Sans Rival and Silliman are quiet big names in Dumaguete and I have only good memories for them so I will be scribbling a separate blog for these.(Silliman University, Sans Rival)

Meme

Learned a new word tonight, "meme". It's kindda hard to explain, watch the amazing video to understand more. Plus, Tim's proposal is a tear jerker. The couples are both Malaysian bloggers by the way, perhaps one of the coolest fellas I've seen on the internet. Song by Christina Perri, A Thousand Years which also happens to be the OST for Breaking Dawn. So let's get inspired, much love :)

Don't murder me

Everybody is having the Korean craze, from the drama series to fashion to gadgets to language. OK. I'm no fashionita or techy so I'm gonna get a point to somewhere I mastered more or less. A lot of people had been murdering the Korean language, blame it to ignorance, mistranslation in subtitles and habitual use. So today let us start the new year with an improved knowledge on Hanguk-mal (hanguk: korea; mal:language). First, one must know that each Korean character (called Hangul) has an equivalent English letter in the alphabet. Therefore mispronunciation starts from this confusion because more often an English translation is misspelled thus changing the way it is spoken. 

Here are the commonly used/mispronounced Korean words by foreign speakers.

1. Ramen

    Correct spelling: ramyeon (ramen is a general term for a noodle originating from Japan, when talking about an instant noodle in South Korea you are 

    actually referring to ramyeon)

2. Unni

    Correct spelling: eonni (should be used only by a younger girl when calling an older female)

3. Nuna (should be used only by a younger boy when calling an older female)

4. Hyung 
  Correct spelling: hyeong (should be used only by a younger boy when calling an older male)

5. Oppa (should be used only by a younger girl when calling an older male; may also be a form of endearment by couples but not all the time)

When to use "yo", "imnida", "imnika"?

Korean language is similar to Japanese, where there are terms to signify different levels of honor. All the time, yo, imnida and imnika is used by anybody when talking to someone older regardless of sex or even with a 1 year gap.

"Yo" is the same as "imnida" but it is more friendly and less formal but still tags respect. It is often used by students when talking to a professor they are very comfortable with, to a freshman talking to his senior or when talking to a street vendor (e.g. Annyeonghaseyo) "Yo" could also be used when asking questions. For example, olmayeyo (how much)?

"Imnida" on the other hand is used when talking in front of the class, when attending a conference, when talking to the university president, to a politician or to someone you first met (e.g. Annyeonghashimnikka). "Imnikka" has the same degree with imnida but only used when asking questions and is found at the end of the sentence. (For example, Myot (what) shi (time) imnikka (is it)?