A Global Community in our Havenite Home

[abs-oluteM]

 

 

As part of our efforts to serve you better and to make this platform here on our forum and Discord as inclusive as possible , we hope you can let us know where you are from. Perhaps if you prefer not to disclose your exact location, you could let us know the region where you're from.

The reason we hope to hear from you is so that we can decide when best to hold live events etc, especially if we were to integrate them with our voice channels on Discord. 

 

Tell us to what you love most about where you're from and what you hope this community can do for you.  😍 

gif credit Planet GIF

 

 

I will start off that I am from South East Asia , Malaysia to be exact. What I love most about where I'm from is  the warm and friendly folks and the great food. I hope that this platform will give us an opportunity to build genuine connections and friendships  in spite of us not having met in real life. 

 

 

[NiteWalker]

hahaha well im also from South East Asia and to be exact just like @abs-oluteM im too from Malaysia :) 

 

likewise....its the food first 😄 however for me cause i live on the island im surrounded by sea though to be honest i prefer the green :) 

 

this is a public area where all a lot of the public love due to the greenery and the cooling breeze where in this area it is really protected from the smokes and pollution since we need to park our car at a certain distance and walk in :)

 

 

[Chocolate]

@NiteWalker Where you live looks like a place we could holiday in!

 

I am from Singapore. It's a great city to live in. Efficient, safe and clean. After much travelling, I feel blessed that we have a good government.

 

I discovered k-dramas just this April and stumbled onto a forum. While there, I chanced upon a group of funny people. At the same time, I am learning a lot - a whole new way of communicating with a wide array of people from all over the world. (I am still new to this so if I overstep, apologies in advance.)

 

It's been interesting. But taking a lot of time - I haven't read a book since April! So I am very glad that winning in add/subtract only takes 15 minutes now instead of a whole day! 🤣

 

Credit: To the person who took this photograph

Edited August 23, 2020 by Chocolate

[SnowBlob]

I live in the land of downunder but as I said again and again...i'm not australian 🤣 I love it here though..a very nice country to live in.

 

Where i came from (south-east asia)..i love its food. The various types of noodles i could get there is no joke and i couldnt get those kinds of noodle here 😑( and now i'm making myself hungry...

 

 

[NiteWalker]

8 hours ago, Chocolate said:

@NiteWalker Where you live looks like a place we could holiday in!

 

on the island 😄 where we are famous for the foods 😉 u have your guess 😉 hehehehe

 

anyway that is only one of the botanical garden where the greenery is intact for a lil....however there are certain part which were connected at the other sides that were already chop off.....they had been chopping off too many green for development and we have ppl objecting however you know how government is....they over ride us 😞 

[CamelKnight]

I'm from the Netherlands, Arnhem to be exact (well, currently. I moved here last year). The best thing about the Netherlands is the weath... I mean the foo... I mean... erm... we've got a good educational system and our medical services are pretty great too? Oh wait! We've got one of the fastest Internet connections of the world, on average 😄 

The weather is ludicrous these days: either it's extremely wet, or we're burning up. At least during the summer. The winters lack snow (haven't been able to build an igloo in years) and if we do see some frosty temperatures it's only for a few days, tops.

The food is just bad. At home we mostly eat foreign dishes as the dutch cuisine is just the worst. Still, I guess I shouldn't complain. At least we're in the top percentages of the world. I've got a roof over my head, a full tummy and a steady job with a good income 🙂

 

Pic of Arnhem for those interested

cr. do whoever shot this pic.

[NiteWalker]

5 hours ago, CamelKnight said:

Oh wait! We've got one of the fastest Internet connections of the world, on average 😄 

 

my internet connection is GOOD now 😄 hahahahahaha.....im using fiber optic now!!!

 

FINALLY!!! i know u always rub it in on me lols

[Mouse]

I am in Canada (Toronto to be exact) although I was born and raised in Asia. 

 

What do I love about Canada? I love the turning of the seasons except for Winter. I love the diversity in this city - the culture, the people, the food. During the summer, there is a festival for different cultures which is a fun way to try different foods! Canada is beautiful, there's a lot of amazing places to go hiking or camping.  I am only about a 2-hour drive from the famous Niagara Falls. 

 

Although we have the great lakes, I do miss the ocean and wish we had real beaches. I also wish our Winters weren't so extreme. 🥶

 

Here is a picture of Toronto:

 

Photo Credit: https://www.seetorontonow.com/

 

A picture of Niagara Falls:

 

Photo Credit: https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/

 

 

[Jane]

Hello everyone, Jane here! My username is a bit of a mouthful, so don't bother using the long-form. Blame adolescence emo-ness for this name that was revived because I was too lazy to think of a new username when I joined this community.

 

I am from Singapore as well (+8 GMT). So count on me to pepper my sentences with Singlish exclamations ever so often. Here's another view of Singapore.

 

I have been watching k-dramas and k-variety shows on and off for more than ten years now but this is my first time actively joining a community, discussing and spazzing together. We don't have much to thank for during this pandemic, but this community is one of them. 😘 to everyone I have already met and the new friends to come.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by wallflowersforjane

[LaLa]

Hello~ I'm LaLa. A very simple username because I've no idea what username I had to choose. I used different username from my previous community because I feel this place is more homey than before. 😊

 

I'm from South East Asia. I'm a homebody so I haven't traveled to many places in my country yet. There're many beautiful places that my country has. When this pandemic ends or can be controlled, I wish I can travel as soon as possible. Currently gathering the funds or it. 😀

 

I've been hooked with K-Entertainment since 12 years ago. I've watched several k-dramas when I was younger but only in 2008 I started my journey and interest in k-dramas, musics and variety. Another hope of mine to visit South Korea one day to finally see the country I've been watching from internet. 

 

I'm an introvert and shy person. It does take time for me to warm up, but once I do, you might find another side of me that even shocked myself. 😛 See you guys around ~💕

 

[bluepebbles]

Hi everyone ! You can call me Lyra as well. Though yes need to have a new name for a new home i guess 😛

 

I am from South East Asia too, in tropical Philippines. I used to live in a colder region but because of work , I have been staying near the coast lines for more than a year now. I am not a sea person but I guess time already changed that. 

 

 

This was taken last week when me and my friend aka colleague went here so to have a break from work. Yes we do sometimes work on weekend but then we have this view so it's alright 🌊 

[TiNaDo]

Hi all, I am Tina. I am from Bulgaria - more precisely, from its capital, Sofia. Born and raised here. 🙂 

 

I know that most of you have not even heard of Bulgaria. It is a relatively small country in Southast Europe, the Balkan peninsula, bordering Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. To the east we have the beautiful Black Sea coastline:

 

 

Bulgaria is great mainly due to its nature and mountains. Honestly, after spending almost 6 years in the UK (hence, you might notice a bit of my British attitude I am not proud of 😄), the first thing I noticed when I was landing at the Sofia airport, was the green of Bulgaria. ❤️ The highest peak in the Balkans is precisely in Bulgaria - Musala (Rila mountain). I adore those mountains, really, especially the small towns/villages there - still like frozen in time after the Ottoman rule (which longed almost 5 centuries):

 

 

 

 

Enough about Bulgaria (by the way, we speak Bulgarian here - the first Cyrillic language; and our religion is Orthodox Christianity). 😉 

 

About me... I love languages. I speak fluently English and Russian; almost fluent (i.e. need some brushing up) in Spanish, French, and Turkish; have some fair knowledge of Greek and Arabic; and a very basic knowledge of Korean. (The last one, only because of k-dramas, of course. 😄) I understand pretty well Serbian (plus Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian) and Macedonian, due to their proximity to Bulgarian.

 

Otherwise... I like writing, I like watching dramas, I like reading. I am primarily a fan of Turkish dramas (having watching more than 200 of them, without exaggeration - this is how I learned the language), then come the k-dramas. I have not watched a lot but still have some faves I won't get into much detail of. What is important to know about me in relation to South Korea is that the oppa-est of my oppas 😄 is Kim Soo-hyun.

 

Also important... I am not very regular at all - sometimes I might disappear with weeks and only come to the forum for 5 minutes max. I am just overwhelmed with work and plenty of responsibilities outside it, which does not leave me any strength to write in the forum - max to watch something and doze off right away.

 

I have been part of this community since the end of May, which makes me (I guess) one of the newest members. Yet, I have felt at home ever since my joining, which I am immensely grateful for. Love you, beautiful people! ❤️ 

 

 

 

[Cambionn]

I'm from The Netherlands. Originally grew up in the countryside near Germany but now live in Kampen, a tiny city, yet the oldest in my country. What I like about my country is the freedom and diversity. You can do almost anything here and just be yourself without any real consequences, general social norms are very loose. I also enjoy the old historic buildings around me. I also like how we tend to have a somewhat high standard in electronics, causing us to have things like high-speed internet in almost any house, and be among the first countries to test new electronics and online services. Here is a shot from the city gates outside which is a pretty public park, this is a photo I took. Next to it a shot from the inner city, which comes from the official tourist site of The Netherlands (holland.com).

 

 

I might try to emigrate in a year to two years tho. As much as I like my country, I can't do the work I really want here, or in the west for that matter (I wanna make software for HRI or human-like AI). Since Japan is the biggest in this I've been looking into emigration for a few years now (I'm still in university which I need to finish first). Culturally it's quite the opposite of my country so that's going to take some effort. When I was there I missed things from here, but as soon as I'm here I miss things from there haha. Anyways, that caused me to learn about Japanese culture and language, the later for which I traveled each week to another university 2 hours from my house because I wanted to ensure my Japanese was thought well and they are the best language school in the country. I don't watch much Japanese TV, also because it's the hardest to find in my country beside anime (which I like sometimes but in general I tend to prefer live-action shows. Sadly those aren't nearly as populair abroad).

 

As for my interest in Chinese things, some friends of mine are Chinese (living in my country), and during my last project in Japan I made some more Chinese friends (living in China). They thought me some basics about Chinese culture. Since most foreigner in Japan are Chinese and I fell in love with Chinese palace drama I decided to minor in Chinese language and culture too. That way, keeping up with my Chinese friend (who mainly post on WeChat and Weibo) and watching drama (even when there are no subs yet) will become more easy.

 

My interest into Korean stuff came because I once heard Kpop somewhere (years ago, before the Korean wave) and liked it. As far as Korean stuff goes I still don't do much more than listen to music, but I do have some serries on my to watch list. I'm also a big fan of Korean skincare and make-up.

 

Otherwise, I'm mainly just a computernerd. As mentioned I'm studying software engineering. Altrough I'm a student I also regularly do projects with companies. I'm interested in almost anything computers (with obviously extra interest into socialisable computer stuff), gaming, watching TV, collecting CDs (of music I like, which ranges from K/C/Jpop to underground black metal and a lot in between), and find interest in learning about different cultures (both current and from the past) and random (useless) facts. Aside of English, Japanese and Mandarin I also speak Dutch, Nedersaxon, and some German. I want to learn more languages if I ever have the time.

 

I'm also one of those not so regularly visiting people. I might be active every single day for a while, than not be seen for months. Really depends on what I'm doing and how busy I am.

Edited August 25, 2020 by Cambionn

[abs-oluteM]

@TiNaDo ,......your country is gorgeous ....one for my travel bucketlist 

 

@Cambionn helllooooo..welcome to the forums and glad you found us.  I am so impressed that you speak so many languages.  I am so bad at learning new ones!

[Cambionn]

19 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

 helllooooo..welcome to the forums and glad you found us.  I am so impressed that you speak so many languages.  I am so bad at learning new ones!

Thank you! But honestly, I suck at languages too. And I speak them all to some degree, but not all fluently. I'm more of a mathematics and computer kinda person. It helps that Chinese and Japanese have little exceptions. Allows me to work more on logics. There is also many logic in the grammar and in the characters, which helps. For me, mainly vocabulary is difficult. Next to that, Dutch education puts a big importance in learning languages. It's good for mental growth and business (the country is mainly build on international trading, and it's economics still relies a lot on that). I actually had Dutch, English, German and French class in high school, but I still can't speak any more French than saying my name and where I'm from despite having had class for 3 years 😆.

Honestly, It's mainly that I come from a area with a local language (Nedersaxon), those areas have to learn standard Dutch as well. Considering it's 10 minutes walking from the German border, you'll get a lot of experience form there too (due to difference in taxes Germany is often a lot cheaper than The Netherlands so visiting is often lucrative). As for English, our education starts in primary school and a lot of TV and internet we use in English, so we kinda automatically use it a lot which also helps. That already gives me 4 languages automatically, all of which are from the same language family which is always easier. Then Japanese I learned because of what I wanna do, and Chinese just became interesting from multiple hobby perspectives.

Beside, my German, Japanese, and Chinese are rather limited right now(my Japanese is officially somewhere between CEFR A2 and CEFR B1, my Chinese is CEFR A1, German I got no official test/certificates in). In German and Japanese I can survive basic situations with broken speech, but my vocabulary is just too lacking for most complexer situations (although sometimes my vocabulary is weird. Like I keep forgetting the verb for opening doors, but I know what artificial intelligence is in Japanese 🙃. Elevators in Japan made it impossible to forget the verb for closing a door tho. I can still hear that female voice say ドアが閉まります). Beside in Japanese, I still have to think about grammar, so although I can do reasonably well when I take the time (and still make the occasional mistake but nothing too bad), I will easily miss (possible important) nuances in day to day conversation. In Chinese I'm even more limited, and pronouncing tones is hard for me too. Al trough I have a decent sound vocabulary by now, I'm not used to tones at all, so although I can do it when thinking about it, it's hard in normal speed conversation.

I need to study much much more. Especially my Japanese, I feel you can't go to a country trying to find work without learning about language and culture first, so I need much more improvement. Wish my Japanese was like my English and Dutch. I still feel dumb and scared trying to speak, especially to natives, and I stutter because I worry I look like a fool since I know it needs improvement 😭.

But I think languages are super interesting so I wanna learn more, although I want to master Japanese and Mandarin better first. Cantonese, Russian, and Latin are among the list of things I wanna learn for example. Maybe Korean and Hindi too. But it's so difficult, I would be surprised if I can even manage to master the ones I study now in my lifetime.

Wow, this became a lot longer than intended. Sorry if that's bothersome 😓

Edited August 25, 2020 by Cambionn

[joccu__]

hello everyone. My name is Johanna. I live in Finland, Naantali( south-western finland.)

My city is a summer city. and the place that people visit when they are here is moomin world.

 

I love Finland for it free education until you are 16. and even after then the school is free. You only have to buy your books, computers, calculator etc. The food in school are amazing. and the school system in here is top notch.

The public health system is amazing and doesn´t really cost.

 

Finland is a small country. It has little over 5 milj population. 

 

I love to talking in here with people about kdrama, music and other stuff. because my friends back here doesn´t really like kdrama.

[im0202]

Hi everyone, you can call me Alice, or just refer to me by my username. I'm from SEA, more specifically Singapore.

No photos attached as my fellow SG friends have already shared some above.😆

 

A little bit about myself: I'm an avid watcher of movies, tv shows,dramas and sports (mainly basketball and football, as my dad is). I listen to many genres of music and I love travelling and learning about different cultures. I'm currently working in the education industry and will probably continue to do so as I enjoy it.

 

I used to not be so active on forums and such, but after getting to know more of you, I try to visit the forums at least once a day to chat and discuss about dramas and stuff. It's been really fun and a life-saver as almost none of my friends in real life watch the same series/dramas as I do, and even if they do, they are just casual watchers. I'm the sort to get more invested in the show, so having a platform for discussion is really great.

 

[-StrongTower-]

Mabuhay! I am from the country passionate of beauty pageants and where crime rates are zero or close to zero whenever our boxing hero has a match , PHILIPPINES! 😄

 

But seriously, more than that we are a loving and super resilient kind of people. Right @bluepebbles ? 😄 (glad to meet someone from PH too).

 

Out of the 7,641 islands in the country, I live in the 10th largest island. We were once dubbed as the Tourist Destination of our country. If you guys wanna know more of my beautiful island, here's a video for you. It's just less than 3 mins .

 

 

I've been a fan of k-dramas for over a decade now. I'm so glad to have found another community where I can share with and learn from my fellow k/c/j-fans.

 

See you around guys!

 

p.s. If you're wondering who the girl is in the video, NO it's not me. hahahahahha

She's our province's bet for our Miss Universe-Philippines 2020. 

 

 

 

[bluepebbles]

On 8/26/2020 at 11:23 PM, -StrongTower- said:

Mabuhay! I am from the country passionate of beauty pageants and where crime rates are zero or close to zero whenever our boxing hero has a match , PHILIPPINES! 😄

 

But seriously, more than that we are a loving and super resilient kind of people. Right @bluepebbles ? 😄 (glad to meet someone from PH too).

 

Out of the 7,641 islands in the country, I live in the 10th largest island. We were once dubbed as the Tourist Destination of our country. If you guys wanna know more of my beautiful island, here's a video for you. It's just less than 3 mins .

 

 

 

 

Yay Mabuhay !

I have been to Bohol  way back 2009! Surely It’s one of the paradise tourist spots . I hope i can  visit once again to meet you perhaps!

 

[Nohamahmoud2002]

My name is Noha. I am from Egypt. I think I am the only one. Anyway we all share the same interest, and that's watching Asian drama. Luckily I studied English language and literature at university and before that at school, so I find it easy to watch with English subtitles. People from Middle east (ex. Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia  etc.) in general prefer either dubbing or Arabic subs. I like watching KBSWORLD on TV and sometimes I watch drama on the tablet from other channels such as MBC and SBS, but KBS is easier. I watch only Korean drama because the language is familiar to me. I got used to it and even tried learning basic words using Duolingo and lingodeer apps.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Nohamahmoud2002

[stroppyse]

I'm from the Central West Coast of the United States!

 

This is a pic of Big Sur which is one of my fave hikes/camp places. It's really that beautiful, though I know that there are a lot of beautiful places all over the world.

 

On the West Coast, the distances are significant. So, I may travel hundreds of miles to visit a sister office or relatives. Our public transportation is not that great yet, however, so that means a lot of driving.

 

This is another area that I love to visit called Death Valley which is the warmest area in the US. It's about an 8 hour drive for me, but it's so breathtakingly beautiful there, though the summer temperatures can get to about 50 C, so it's much nicer in the other three seasons.

 

I guess I grew up a suburban kid, but I love the national parks that we have in the US.

 

I have Korean ancestry and I'm bi-lingual English/Korean though I grew up in the US so English is my main language. However, it's useful for watching k-dramas which I really started in order to improve my ability to listen to Korean, then got hooked because they were so different from Western fare.

 

I also watch some tw-dramas and c-dramas, but only when I have time on my hands since I have to actually read the subtitles for those. I tend to watch a lot more k-dramas since I can multi-task as I watch those.

 

@TiNaDo, I've been to Bulgaria several years ago, visiting a friend. I visited Sofia, did some hiking in the Balkan Mountains, visited Rila and Bachkovo. Bulgaria is beautiful outside of Sofia. 

 

[NiteWalker]

9 hours ago, stroppyse said:

This is another area that I love to visit called Death Valley which is the warmest area in the US. It's about an 8 hour drive for me, but it's so breathtakingly beautiful there, though the summer temperatures can get to about 50 C, so it's much nicer in the other three seasons.

 

my dear looking at the picture is beautiful and it make me feel the heat that i cringe....sorry being in the weather im from i kinda hate heat and honestly nowadays i shy from the SEA!!!

[stroppyse]

1 hour ago, NiteWalker said:

 

my dear looking at the picture is beautiful and it make me feel the heat that i cringe....sorry being in the weather im from i kinda hate heat and honestly nowadays i shy from the SEA!!!

 

So, no sea and no desert? Aww, that's too bad. I love the mountains as well, but there is something so sere and beautiful about both the sea and the desert. I think it's those miles of undulating terrain that constantly shift and create different shadows that you can watch change in front of your eyes.

 

Malaysia has some beautiful places as well, though isn't it very hot and very wet there all the time?

[NiteWalker]

4 minutes ago, stroppyse said:

Malaysia has some beautiful places as well, though isn't it very hot and very wet there all the time?

 

yea....it is....lols....though not all the times....sometimes it so hot u just want to hide....and when it wet u just want curl up and sleep lols....

 

4 minutes ago, stroppyse said:

So, no sea and no desert? Aww, that's too bad. I love the mountains as well, but there is something so sere and beautiful about both the sea and the desert. I think it's those miles of undulating terrain that constantly shift and create different shadows that you can watch change in front of your eyes.

 

hahaha as long as i can hide under some tree when i watch the sea then is still acceptable....though it not easy to find one when you're near the sea...

 

desert i wont know....cause i never enjoy desert even in pictures as it remind me of heat more than usual.....

 

i prefer seeing the mountain / forest more....and occasionally sea  watching the sunset together isnt that bad

 

 

well i did went to Malacca a part in West Msia that is pretty rich for their historical site....honestly? i didnt really enjoy the times there...while there is no sea / mountain....the heat during our visit make me melt!!! i nearly got heat stroke and luckily we managed to find some coconut water to cool me off!!

 

[stroppyse]

16 minutes ago, NiteWalker said:

well i did went to Malacca a part in West Msia that is pretty rich for their historical site....honestly? i didnt really enjoy the times there...while there is no sea / mountain....the heat during our visit make me melt!!! i nearly got heat stroke and luckily we managed to find some coconut water to cool me off!!

 

Malaysia always looks so lush! Except for KL which looks like a lot of other overcrowded cities. LOL I've always wanted to go visit Borneo.

 

Glad you survived Malacca anyway.