What is it like to be a Starbucks Partner.

Firstly, partner? What is Starbucks partner? At first, maybe in the first week I started working, my store manager keep on saying partner but I never understand to whom she is referring to as 'partner'.

So I found out, partner refers to the Starbucks employee. Specifically, the one in store - not supervisor, assistant manager or store manager. Like, the lowest grade in the store itself.

My main reason to apply working in Starbucks was because of my previous trip to South Korea - Busan. I had caramel macchiato in few different cafe, remember this post? Café hopping in Busan!

So when I came back from Busan, I'm still so in love with caramel macchiato but can't find the same taste like I had in Busan, especially from Bom Bom Cafe. So I decided to be a barista so I could make my own coffee - I had zero knowledge about coffee at this time.

I waited almost 2 months to get employed - cause I never know that we can just walk-in and ask whether they have vacancy or not. haha. So finally I got accepted. Yeay me.

the first 2 days is a bit too messed for me since everything is so new and they are working too fast. oh ya, my first week started with closing shift - the heaviest shit ever so I had the hardest experience first which I thought was very tiring but things get easier for me on the 2nd week.

I took around a month to memorise all the recipes and steps while referring to my belacan notes haha *note: I had bad memory at this time so I took longer than other people.

Alhamdulillah everything got easier and I had so much fun working in Starbucks. I got to learn how to make coffee - the reason why I joined Starbucks. Eventhough I didnt get to make the same coffee as the one I had in Bom Bom Cafe, instead I had my own favorite Starbucks coffee now. Nope, its not Caramel Macchiato. It's called - Double shot iced shaken espresso with caramel syrup instead of classic syrup + lot of ice. This drink have almost the same taste that i'm looking for, so instantly it becomes my favorite drink!

Apart from making drinks, I got to make new friends - my colleagues. They're some of the best people that I've ever met. Most of them are younger than me, well actually all of them but I think, I learnt a lot from them too, about life, work and I could say, everything! It was fun meeting them everyday at work.

One more thing what makes me love working in Starbucks was the customers. I love meeting the regular and new customers. Most of them are friendly and I even manage to make new friends with the customers, and we still keep in touch up till now! Not even a day is considered as bad day when I was working there.

I love interacting with customers and I felt satisfied to give the best service to them. Such a rewarding feeling! Especially when the customers thank us, it was the best feeling ever. It is small thing for them, but for people who work in this field, it is appreciated very much! Well, at least for me ;)

Last but not least, the coffee shop environment itself, who doesn't love it!?

Ah! I almost forget one of the interesting thing.........coffee tasting! One of my favorite lesson while working there. We get to learn about the coffee bean itself. Where is it from, the processing method, how do you taste coffee, what is the taste - starting from how the farmer plant the coffee tree until the coffee bean delivered to the store. Very interesting indeed. We dont only work there but at the same time we gain knowledge too! It's been almost 1 year since I quit, still remember some but most of them I forgot already haha~

But anyway, I worked in Starbucks for 5 and half months only. It was one of the best experience in my life and I could never forget it. Sometimes I miss working in Starbucks but due to commitments....I can only go there as a customer instead of working there.

Me trying to make latte art but failed miserably, obviously...hahaha

The last coffee tasting that I conducted

Willow Blend paired with orange sunkist

It went very well :) Thank you everyone <3

When we were to recap some coffee tasting method, lets take some wefieeee

This was when me and the other 2 partners had knowledge test. 

Not only about coffee but as Starbucks partner also.

Kaw-kaw I memorized everything the night before. Haha.

It was worth it though. Thanks to Madelyn and Sha who 'force' us ;)

I'm not wearing Starbucks uniform cause it was my off day but still go to store

- how I love to be there so much hahaa -

anyway it was because we need to have meeting so it was compulsory ;p

Thank you for all the memories, everyone <3

What does Korean Language, means to me.

This post is closely related to my previous post
Applying for KGSP 2018 - 2nd round result!

I have been watching korean drama (kdrama) maybe since 2005 and 'My Girl' is my first kdrama ever (as far as I can remember) and next was Autumn In My Heart (AIMH), I still remember I borrowed my friend's CD to watch it at home and cry my heart out while everyone is sleeping XD After my 2nd kdrama I started to have an interest to sing my favorite song at that time which is an OST of AIMH titled Gido (Prayer) by Jung Il-Young. Enjoy the video below HAHA

So at that time I had a limited access to internet and not even know how to look for the lyrics and so, just by following how the singer pronounce it while listening to the song (I even recorded it in a cassette!), I created my own word as long as it sounds the same! Funny but true that's how I learnt my first korean words XD After I finish my high school in 2007 I started to study hangul properly by learning the characters and how to write them. I still keep those books though HAHA

The learning continues and I especially studied very hard while waiting for the announcement of the 2nd round result of KGSP-G 2018. When I got to know that I didnt passed, ironically I started to hate korean language and swear that I wont ever write in korean or to do anything related to korea it self. I stopped studying, put away all the books, I dont watch any dramas or variety shows, uninstall all the apps related to learning korean in my phone (which I had 2-3 apps) - conclusion is I throw everything away out of my life. I did. Totally broken hearted.

But,

One thing that I can't put away is, at the time I'm teaching English to a few of korean student and adult. I used to love seeing them but it gets tiring during the depression phase 미안해 내가 잘못했어 😅 whether I want it or not I still need to make money and they're becoming my friends so how can I put them aside. They're very nice people and I love how one of my student (an adult woman) tried to calm me down the day after the result is out (eventho I act strong but I guess she knew that I had high hopes so maybe thats why)

So I tried to get back up and since Ramadhan is coming soon at that time I need to prepare myself to be better. I can't stay the way I am at that time. Day by day things get better and till this day I watch kdrama as usual and I had some thoughts that its not useless to study korean language. Yet, its an advantage if I can speak other languages so why not!? Eventhough I dont actually study hard like I did before but it is more than enough that I know where Korean language stands in my heart. Gituh kau berkata-kata, laily! XD

I realised that I studied korean because I'm curious and because of the language itself, not because of KGSP only, so why would I stop learning it just because I failed to get the scholarship? Said me to myself HAHA

So thats it. That's how I came to a realization of how important korean language is to me. The 13 years time is not a joke.  Almost half of my life. So how can I stop learning it out of sudden, right?

Eventhough I took some time to actually realised that, I'm glad that I did because it never feels right when I decided to put korean language away so now I feel much better!
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Eventhough my korean is getting worst now xD

Quiz on Korea 2018 - Malaysia

More details about this contest click HERE.

Actually I rushly registered to this contest due to my broken hearted (refer previous post lol) so that I may have a chance to go to South Korea this year, again (I dont even understand myself what makes me want to go to korea every single year, can you just stop it laily!?) But actually I dont have expectation to join the contest and I forgot about it until...

I received an RSVP to the 1st preliminary. I was like..wow I forgot about this. Starting from the moment I received the email, I was contemplating whether I should say yes or no. After few hours with the thoughts of 'just do it for the sake of getting a new experience' I replied Yes. But after that, I still wonder around and think whether I should go or not since I dont think I can win the contest anyway.

Now that I think about this, wth is happening with myself with this low confident attitude! XD Even in the morning today after I woke up believe it or not, I was still thinking about not going and looking for a reason why. Thank god I did. Phew. Why is women born to be so complicated and overthinking. This is tiring XD

Since I did a lot of thinking whether I should go or not, obviously I dont do any preparation for the contest HAHA luckily I arrived 30 minutes early and look for some related questions and lucky me again I found the last year questions! Well, it supposed to help me since few same questions came out for this year's quiz too, but I forgot what I read. Thats what last minute revision did to me XD

I can say that the question is verrrrry hard for me. Most of it related to culture thingy and terms in korean. If you join this contest just because of KPop just forget about it. I'm so relieved that none of the questions is related to KPop since I know nothing about it lol

Most of the questions are objective (multiple choices answer) and some subjective questions which you need to write the answer in english also in korean language. There are few questions in english but you need to refer to korean phrases or korean proverbs given (which I have 0 knowledge at XD) Also for the subjective questions there are 3 marks or 4 marks for each depending on the difficulties of the questions.

Compare with last year questions, I think this year is much more difficult. Like I said earlier, I don't expect to win or even go to the 2nd Preliminary at all. But right now the thing that I'm curious is MY ANSWERS! ARE THEY CORRECT OR NOT!? XD I'm also wondering what is my level on korea knowledge. Anyway they might post the questions and answers (like the one that I found for last year contest) but it will take some time maybe.

As a gift, all participants received Ryan's gel pen XD I forgot to mentioned, I'm not sure how I got selected for the 1st preliminary. Maybe they choose everyone who registered for the contest since my session is the 1st one (around 40 people) so I believed there will be more sessions after mine.

So whoever managed to go to 2nd Preliminary soon, best of luck to you guys! ^^

Applying for KGSP 2018 - 2nd round result!

I have been contemplating whether I should update the last 2 posts that I've been drafting since the day I wrote it and today I decided, let's just do it.

Why?

The main reason was, I didn't passed through the 2nd round.

Sad. Yes.

Actually I had a minor depression and I'm battling with myself for about 2 weeks. Just right after the result was out on 30th April 2018 (a day earlier) until before Ramadhan started. I could say it was really bad.

Maybe because I had a very high expectation to get accepted and when I didnt...only God knows.

But I guess I've moved on from that phase and decided to do this post. Life must go on right!?

I'm not sure whether I'm going to apply for this scholarship again or not next year. I'm still thinking but 70% of my thought says not to apply 🤣 lets see how it goes next year.


Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS to all the successful scholars on 2nd round for KGSP-G 2018 I hope all of you can passed the medical exam successfully. The result will be out maybe on 20th June 2018, Good luck and all the best! 😊

Applying for KGSP 2018 - 1st round result!

Alhamdulillah!

I managed to passed the 1st round. I am so thankful! *crying inside*

I mentioned in the previous post that Sookmyung Women's University won't announce the 1st round result right? So how did I know that I passed?

Of course.

I emailed them. That's the only way I got to know about the result 😆

At first I'm not planning to email them eventhough my heart tells me to do so. But an applicant from the same university posted in FB group asking about any news. She ended up sent an email and got to know the result in just after few minutes. What a fast response! Right away I did the same and after few minutes I received a reply...

Once again I am so so so thankful. This means I will go to the 2nd round selection. May Allah ease everything for me. Ameen!!

Applying for KGSP 2018 - 1st round Interview.

I guess this will be my first official post related to KGSP application. As an introduction, this year is my second time applying. Phew. Both have never been an easy journey. I passed through completing all the documents required and it arrived safely in the University that I'm applying.

I'm going to share about my experience of going through the 1st round interview. Before and after the process, I will share it next time.

Yes, it's a miracle for me that I received the interview invitation compare to my first application - no news at all 😆 anyway it's a whole new experience for me. A day before they announce official interview schedule, the admin sent me an email informed me that I will go through Skype interview on 28th March 2018 and they're asking for my skype ID and so on.

The next day when they post the interview schedule I found out that I was the only participants out of 17 people that need to go through skype interview (the others are through phone interview) and I was like, "Why am I the only one?" Cliche but yes I  did. Turned out the skype interview was requested by the department that I'm applying which is Library and Information Science at Sookmyung Women's University.

Of course I was so nervous and luckily an acquaintance of mine remind me to wear something proper or else I would've wear a very casual clothes. I just grabbed whatever available in my house to give a good impression. Since I need to wear something formal, I need to put on a blazer which i never have and ended up borrow my sister's one lol. So this how i looked like on the interview day. Since i woke up so early, look at my eyebag lol.

So I waited an hour early for the interview on 28th and here what happened. I'v prepared a lot of predictable questions that they might asked as what have been shared by other participants in FB group. They have a list which contains around 20 questions and I work so hard practising and memorize the answers in a very simple but in an impressive way - which I believe that I did lol.

During the interview the first question that they ( 2 professors) asked was to introduce myself. I have prepare my own sentence and it goes well as I planned. Typical first question. So I did introduce myself but it doesnt seems enough for them and they asked me the question from statement of purpose (included in the application form but i forgot about it and dont think that they will ask ㅡ.ㅡ) thank god I do still remember some points. It's very important to read it all over again right before the interview take place. Dont be like me ㅠㅠ

Things seems wrong starting from here. They started talking about korean language and test my korean language ability. It goes on until the end of interview and at the same time they talked/introduce about the major that I'm applying (different major than my bachelor degree) which is VERY UNPREDICTABLE but the professors are so nice, friendly and so informative.

There was a little bit of pressure especially when they asked me to speak korean but I think it doesn't go well since I was so nervous and seems like those korean words that I know are blocked ㅠㅠ As my korean is getting worst day by day I feel so lacking phew. They asked me something like this 무슨 한식 좋아해요? Or maybe the sentence is a little bit more difficult since I couldnt catch a word that they're saying and ended up they translate the whole sentence for me. At this moment i felt quite down. Why why why why did I forgot!

Anyway it was a good experience. The professors seems like they liked me and offers for support if anything goes wrong with my application for KGSP lol at that moment I had a mixed feelings. "Are they accepting me or not?" is what I thought. They also said that they're very delighted to have me in their department and so on. But at the same time they're quite worry for my korean language skills because it wasn't as good as they expected, maybe. I forgot to mentioned that KGSP include a year of korean language class which they might not know of - some of professors didn't know about this - so this is the only point that I regret of during the interview.

That's it.

I guess it went very well. I got to know from last year successful applicant that Sookmyung Women's University didn't announce the 1st round result - not sure how it goes this year - so they waited until 2nd round result which for this year application it will be on 1st May. I really hope that they could announce it for this year but if they don't then I have no choice but to wait until 1st May.

So, let's wait for it and pray harder! 화이팅! 레일리 할수있어!!

2018.

Hey, it's already March 2018!

It's been almost a year since I'm back in Malaysia and yes lots of things happened for sure. Anyway, I can say your own country is the best place where you can be.

I might have a big news soon so till then, as usual
I'm gonna leave this space empty lol.

See ya on May!

Café hopping in Busan!

Finally! A post that I promise myself lol.

My ranking on coffee shop in South Korea.

*this is just my personal ranking*

Actually I've been to more than the listed coffee shop, but this is all that I could remember, please excuse my STM and  I wanted to try more but due to time constraints and my poor health condition at that time so here it goes..

8th : Starbucks

Sorry but this is the last ranking, Starbucks. I couldnt be more dissappointed that the coffee is quite tasteless for me. I ordered hot Caramel Macchiato (CM). Maybe because I have high expectation or maybe the barista made a mistake I dont know. I won't mention which branch for this one. Large size cup costs me around 5300 won maybe.

7th : Tom n Tom Coffee (Seomyeon, Busan)

Actually 7th place is a normal ranking for me. Again, I've tried hot and Iced CM here. Iced is better. Doesn't mean its on the 7th place it doesnt taste good. It is good enough for me! I dont remember the exact price but maybe around 4800 won for small cup.

6th : Paik's Coffee (Kyungsungdae, Busan)

I bought Iced CM twice and its really good! Most importantly it is cheap too! A very tall cup costs me just 3500 won! But it falls on 6th place because they put too much ice instead of coffee itself.

My previous related to Paik's Coffee

5th : Paris Baguette (Marine City, Haeundae, Busan)

I've been to Paris Baguette a lot of time but never thought of buying their coffee and it turns out it is so addictive actually. I finished the large cup in no time! Again I don't remember the exact price but maybe around 4000-5000 won for Iced CM large cup. Look at the cute design!

My previous post related to Paris Baguette

4th : Venti Giant Coffee (Namsan-dong, Busan)

You can refer to post when I went to Beomeosa Temple. I don't remember the exact price but maybe around 3000-3500 for a small cup.

My previous post related to Venti Giant Coffee

3rd : McDonalds (Seomyeon, Busan)

I never thought that McDonalds sells one of the best Iced CM! It totally deserves the 3rd place! I'm not sure if it is seasonal of fixed drinks. No words to describe and its quite cheap too just 3400 for large cup! I took photo of the receipt too lol. Actually I had Ediya's Hot CM before I had McDonalds and I drank 2 cups of large coffee on the same night! Just to stay up for Eric's farewell :'(

2nd : Ediya Coffee (Haeundae, Busan)

At first I want to rank Ediya Coffee (Hot CM) as the last place since I've tried it twice and still dissappointed until I've tried their Iced CM! Speechless and regret why I never buy it before. Sadly, that was my last night in Busan so I will never have chance to buy it again on the next day. This one costs me around 3500 for large cup and satisfied!

1st : Cafe Bom Bom (Seomyeon, Busan)

My first ranking coffee! The first sip was awesome and I told myself this will be my lifetime favorite coffee and it really is untill now. I didnt get any better one after I've tried this! The difference with the rest is..they put whipped cream and large cup just costs 3500 won and they only sells large cup!! The other cafe's listed above didnt include whipped cream maybe will costs extra 500-1000 won. But this one...speechless *sparkling eyes looking at the coffee adorably* I gotta try this only once ㅠㅠ the second visit when I was sick and I bought hot tea (not my favor) and they dont have a lot of branches. So its difficult to find one especially in Busan (maybe just 1 or 2 branches) you can find their website on google to look for their branch location.

My previous post related to Cafe Bom Bom

My first coffee in SK was Starbucks and my last cup was Ediya Coffee and it was all in Busan. I never thought of trying coffee when I was in Seoul instead I bought juices which is obviously more expensive (poor me) for just a small cup.

I guess some of you might be wondering why did I just bought Caramel Macchiato and not other types of coffee in all the cafe's. Well, I decided to just try CM so that I can compare which one is the best and to write this post lol.