설날: Korean Lunar New Year

A month ago, I was able to celebrate the Lunar New Year here in Seoul. Much like Chuseok, the city was very empty with nothing really open save a few stores and small restaurants. So unlike Chuseok, I was prepared, I was able to stock up on food before the grocery stores and restaurants started to resemble a ghost town and was even able to rope two of the guys from my program to go out sight-seeing with me on the actual day of Seoullal.

The city was really empty so we were able to get to the shrine in no time at all. Another perk to going to historical places on a national holiday was that it was free entrance to everyone (the normal price is 1000 won). But unlike a normal day where you go in with a  tour guide only since it is a working shrine, we had to go around ourselves, so I think we missed out on learning about the different things we were seeing because all we had to go on were the signs posted Korean with severely limited English explanation. Plus I have always loved being taken on tours and told all the hidden stores of the place!

The cool thing about the shrine is that it is a working shrine, meaning that even today they have ceremonies to honor the Royal Families of ancient Korea. So it was cool to see all the shrines and alters that were set up for us to see.

Another tradition for the Lunar New Year is that you need to eat Rice Cake soup in order to age a year. Well this proved a little difficult because as I mentioned before, most places where closed for the holiday with the people running them out of the city to their hometowns to take care of their family's ceremonial plots.  But find a place we did. It was not the best 떡국 but it counts in my book!

So that was how I spent my Lunar New Year here in Seoul. How did you all spend yours?

BTOB Fansign Ilsan 2014-03-02

Ok, so my two friends and I were really lucky to have gotten into the same fansign. We all met up and went to the department store together and walked around the mall until we thought it was a good time to go draw our numbers for the fansign. When we got to the desk to check in we found out that we were pulling numbers out of a box, so that it was completely random. My two friends got numbers 50 and 54, while I pulled number 150 (aka the very last number). So we then waited around outside the room where the closed fansign was going to be.

We had to take off our shoes and put them in plastic bags under our seats. Truthfully I am really glad we went into the room earlier than everyone else, because I had on my EXO Tao socks. I just grabbed a clean pair and did not really think anything about it because I was under the impression that we would be wearing our shoes. So I had to really quickly turn my socks inside out so that no one could really see what type of socks that I was wearing. The hall quickly filled up with all the fansign participants, many of who I have started to recognize form all the schedules that I have been attending.

Everyone in the back where I was were vying for the good shots for their respective fan sites, so once the guys walked in, I really was not able to see anything because everyone around me where standing on their chairs to get the shots.  So I do what I do best and whipped out my journal to take notes for the fan account  that I would be writing later and also starting to organize the order of events for my fan account for the AlphaBAT  fansign account that I am also writing.  I am very lucky though that I was able to stand up and watch both of my friends go through the line and interact with the boys.  It was so much fun seeing my Danish younger brother get a hug from Peniel and hearing all the girls in the back with me started taking pictures like crazy and commenting on the interactions. And of course my Danish Unnie interact with her ultimate was awesome!

When it was my turn, I was terrified because I was the last one to go through, so everyone was focused on me and everyone was sitting down (which they were not doing earlier). But even before it was my turn to interact with the boys, I was already dying.  Minhyuk was the first one in the sitting order and even before it was my turn, that boy was already getting my feelz all messed up. He was talking with the girl in front of him, but looked over at me, smirked and winked before turning back to the girl in front of him. I am so thankful that my Korean BB cream is able to keep my face from resembling a tomato. The worse thing about it was that my Danish friends were able to see that reaction all the way from their seats.

Ok, so I am going to do this list style so I can make this a little easier. And I so wish that Eungkwang could have joined us, but I know that he was working hard in his role for SNL Korea! He has such a calming presence about himself that you are just instantly calmed down, plus I feel like he would have been the member that would have remembered me from ASC and his Musical that I attended.

Minhyuk

• Very handsome and stares at you like you are the only person in the room.
• Spoke to me in English until he found out that I am able to speak a little Korean , when spoke to me in Korean with the occasional English phrase when he realized I did not completely catch what he was saying.
• Asked where I was from and whether I was living here in Korea or just visiting. When he found out that I was living here, he asked if it was because I was studying Korean and where I was studying.
• After signing and talking to me, he reached out both of his hand and interlaced our fingers while giving me the most intense stare I have ever had in my life. His eye lined eyes really draw you in and make you flustered!
• Said thanks and then let me go (both with his eyes and hands)

Sungjae

• Poor baby was so tired. He was yawing when I came up to him, but he smiled a little and started to sign my album.
• Spoke in all English to me
• Asked where I was from and when he found out that I was from the states kept talking in broken English that his older sister is in New York and that he loves to visit the States.
• Also was the only member to write my name in Korean

Ilhoon

• This kid is adorable and has the prettiest eyes that I have ever seen on any human being. And them being lined in eye liner is just a death sentence to whoever looks at him.
• Did not really talk all that much and when he did, he spoke in English
• Asked where I was from and smiled when I said from the states.
• Finished signing and looked up at me with puppy eyes, smiled, looked back down to the page and drew an extra bigger heart next to his name and then looked back up at me with the look that resembled an excited puppy looking for praise.

Changsub

• Probably the cutest member in the whole fansign.
• Spoke in English to me even when I was speaking Korean to him. Asked me where I was from like the other members, but when he found out I was from the states he really started to get talking. In his cute breaking English, he told me that the States were his dream country and that someday he wants to go back there.  But the cutest thing was after he spoke, he looked up at me as if to say “was this the proper way to say that/where you able to understand me?” I just looked at him and nodded.

Peniel

• He is actually pretty tan for a Korean, either that or his hair really brings out the bronze under tones that are naturally in his skin. Damn that boy is fine…
• Peniel really did not look up all that much and did the normal where are you from that the other members had asked me. He smiled a little when I told him the States and when I further explained that I was from North Carolina.
• I was finally able to make him look up at me when I said “Random question…but d you like Reese’s peanut butter cups?” He seemed a little taken a back but told me that he loved them. As I was walking towards the next member, he turned back to me and asked me why. I just slightly smiled and told him that I got a package from home and just wanted to check if he liked them or not ;)

Hyunsik

• This by needs to be endorsed by Colgate. Seriously he has one of the most beautiful smiles in the world and will make you feel happier just by looking at him. I am telling you his eye smile is a dangerous weapon that he uses with the technique of a master.
• So he, like the other members, spoke to me in English. But the only difference this time around was that his was deep and had very little trace of an accent. The only give away that he was not a natural speaker was that he seemed a little shy and self-conscious about his ability to speak to me in English. He asked me where I was from and how old I was. I told him and then he smiled at me and hand back my album all signed and ready to go.

Truthfully by the time that I was at Peniel going to Hyunsik, I was feeling a little rushed because at this point the background music was being turned off and Minhyuk was being made to stand up to start saying the closing remarks.  Even though I was not being rushed by fan staff or anything, I still felt that I needed to rush through a little so that I was not holding them up from whatever they were going to be doing after they left the fansign.  But even though I was feeling rushed, truthfully I might have gotten a little more time than everyone else because I was the last person in line.
All in all I was so luck and am super thankful that I was able to go to the fansign and meet theses six wonderful young men!