Korean New Year

It's Korean new years day now in Korea.

Korean New Years day (not January 1st!!!!) is my favorite day.

At least, it used to be.

Because of this:

MONAY!

I mean, money...

This is the day when children get the biggest allowance of the year.

But now that I'm in college, I can't really get any allowance from the adults.

In fact, in a few years, I'll be giving money for the elders to give to the children when they bow.

I love being legally adult, but the one resentment is that I cannot get the allowance in the

Korean New Years...

Here... This is what adults must go through...

First of all, this is probably the busiest times of the year for the adults

because it takes lots of preparation and food to celebrate the New Year.

By the way, "celebrating" means thanking our ancestors for the safe years in the past.

So it's more like Thanksgiving rather than New Years celebration...

This is what they have to make:

It's also a stress for the adults because the market raises the prices of the fruits

and vegetables needed for celebrating the New Year.

Way to make money, Markets! Bahhh!

These are pan fried tofu, fish, meat, and vegetables.

They are one of the necessary food for the New Years.

This is Tukgook.

This is a sliced tuk(mochi) cuisine that people eat in the New Year.

This is supposed to make you gain one more year of age...

That's why there's a joke that kids say when they eat two bowls of these.

They think they're two years older when they eat two bowls of tukgook. Lol...

Speaking of kids, here's what they have to do to get the allowance from the adults:

BOW!

They bow to show respect to the adults, and also to charm them.

They really are cute all dressed up in Hanbok (Korean traditional clothes).

This little colorful pocket's called the "luck sack"

HAHAHAHAHA THAT SOUNDED SO WRONG.

Okay, I'll call it a "Luck Bag".

This is where the kids put the money they get from the adults.

There's a picture of a kid receiving the allowance after bowing...

So... What do the kids pay for getting this much allowance?

Nuttin(nothing)!!!

But for the adults, this is rather a big stress than happiness....

Here's a graph of the adult's biggest stress:

1st: The red bar (36.3%): The cost/finance/money for this day

2nd: turquoise bar (21.6%): The work, cleaning, cooking, setting up... (probably 99% women...)

3rd: green bar (21.3%): The nosy in-laws and relatives minding everyone else's business

4th: blue bar (16.9%): All the driving and the money cost for transportation. 

(Transportation's a big part because it beats the traffic of New York during the rush hour...)

5th: Gifts for bosses and others. Some really dirty people use this time of the year to

bribe their bosses with very expensive gifts. Shame, shame, shame!!! >:(

Yeah, Korean New Year seems so tiresome and good only for kids!

Why are we not getting rid of this tradition yet??

Because it's probably worth it to see your relatives faces at least once a year...

Especially nowadays when everyone's so busy working and working and working,

I think it's important to have a family gathering to catch up on each other at least once a year.

It doesn't hurt to do it once a year, right?

Happy New Year!!!! <3

K-pop: JYJ in South America Sells Out

It looks like JYJ recently did a concert in South America,

and it really does look like they've set the record for selling fast!

Selling faster than the very very well known artists from the U.S.

It's kind of amazing how big K-pop has become.

They performed their most popular songs:

Be My Girl

Be The One

The Beginning

This picture was taken in Chile while they were performing.

You think Chile looks heated up?

I don't know...

I think Peru really beat them 

because people spent their night lining up in the streets just to get the tickets for the concert....!!!

Below says, "Peru loves JYJ so much!"

That's really sweet :)

Look at all the love JYJ's receiving.

I honestly didn't really know many of their songs

until just a few days ago,

and they really were good.

I know pictures won't do enough here,

so I'll show you a video of how it was.

...and this was in Chile. Heated up!!!

So, if you're curious what they sound like,

maybe look up their songs on Youtube.

Many of their song titles are in English, so you guys shouldn't have to type Korean to look them up.

Hope you enjoy them!!!

Rumor Has It: Stevie Wonder Likes Korean Singer Naul

Recently, I've heard a rumor that Stevie Wonder(right) has been hitting on Naul(left) from a Korean singer group called "Brown Eyed Soul".

And the rumor has it that Stevie Wonder indeed does like Naul.

Ugh! Guys! I meant MUSICALLY likes Naul! D:

Stevie Wonder is by no means gay, and neither is Naul,

but they seemed to be very interested in each other's music.

As a matter of fact, Naol has been looked up to Stevie Wonder even before he became a singer,

and he expresses how much Stevie Wonder inspired him.

When Stevie Wonder presented Naul with a song that Stevie Wonder wrote,

Naul could not hide his happiness for this.

Better yet, when Stevie Wonder called Naul to come over to the U.S. and record a song

that Wonder presented Naul,

he said that this was "[his] dream come true"

He also added he could not believe that this was happening in reality.

However, because so many things have been planned but not yet set on stone,

the Naul's manager and his company is still taking precautions

hence anything changes.

We'll keep you posted about this

as soon as we find out what came of this!

How Much Does Korean K-pop Star IU Earn?

Remember this girl a few blogs ago?

Just in case you guys don't remember,

her name is I.U.

She's a young singer who's been on the popularity ride recently.

I saw that some people have been wondering how much this girl makes.

I cannot tell you how much she makes each month because celebrities' incomes aren't constant,

but I can tell you how much she made very recently.

Here are the sources of her incomes:

1. Singing/dancing performance

2. Her CD

3. Modeling

4. CF

Especially for a girl so young, pretty, and talented, 

the people pay an enormous amount to just take a single shot of her.

Now, here's an estimate of how much she made in less than a month:

$8,000,000

She's only 18, and she's made this much in less than a month.

This is probably because of her extremely popular new album,

but it makes me wonder how much she'll make when she grows older

and matures not only as a singer but also as a person.....


Just for a little bonus, here are some of her songs :)


Past Love






Unreturned Love(Crush) Medly




See her potentials? :)

Korean Male Celebrities' Physique! Enjoy, Ladies :)

Here are some of the finest bodies of Korea (...hopefully...)

I don't know the names of all the celebrities down here,

but I'm pretty sure their middle names are all "Gorgeous".

Enjoy, ladies! ... and possibly gentlemen :)

I hope you feel refreshed in your eyes :P

What's the sin in liking good-looking pictures?

It's harmless.

No guilt!

Korean Wine and Cafe, Moolgogi (Fish)

The name of this cafe is kind of funny.

It's called Moolgogi, which means "fish" in Korean.

I don't know why it's named fish,

but just because the name is fish doesn't mean you can drink like a fish there... :)

Unlike its silly name,

it looked pretty simple and plain inside.

It's very spacious, too.

They look pretty successful in selling wine, I guess.

Why?

Look at all those wine bottles up on the high shelves.... 

We ordered a Banana and Pecan Waffle.

Obviously, if you're allergic to pecan, don't order it!!!!

They like their customers walk out alive.

They also gave us a scoop of thick, creamy vanilla ice cream.

I definitely recommend this menu,

especially if you're looking for a snack to split with your friends.

We'll probably post a blog about their wine, too, so don't go away for ever!

Moolgogi Cafe & Wine

Seoul-shi Mapo-gu Seokyo-dong 401-1 1st floor

02-338-0913

Korean Funny Video: First Time On an Escalator

This funny, but a little painful video has been a hot issue recently in Korea.

Below is a video of two people who have never been on an escalator before.

We get to see their first time on an escalator.

Let's see how it goes...

*FYI, nobody got hurt in this video!!! Possibly a couple of bruises, but nothing more than that.

It's good to get a laugh out of this,

but watch and learn!

Be careful going on the escalator because just because it's the millionth time you're on it

doesn't mean you're going to be perfectly safe.

Stay safe, guys!

South Korea's Internet Speed

I am blogging about missing South Korea's internet speed because right now,

I'm in Chicago, and I am so frustrated that things are not loading as fast as it did in Korea.

But some people may think, 'Hey, how much faster is Korean internet, though it is a well known

fact that they have the fastest internet in the world?'

Well, let me show you.

Below is the graph of the internet speed from the fastest to slowest.

Now do you see why I'm so frustrated with the internet speed over here?

It's because the internet speed in here is 4 times slower than in Korea...

I'd be frustrated even if I were in Hong Kong or Japan

because even Hong Kong and Japan has half the speed of Korean internet.

I wonder what makes all the differences in the speeds of internet in different countries...

Korea Gives K-Pop Calender For Free

The number of tourists visiting Korea has increased tremendously,

and K-pop is now known world wide with tons of non-Korean listeners.

Speaking of K-pop, I hear Korean government made some cool calenders for

the tourists

FOR FREE.

Here's the calender of the talk:

Cool cover, yeah?

Now, let's see our stars.... :) Finally!

January - Super Junior

February - Kara

March - 4minute

April - F(x)

May - Wonder Girls

June - Sistar

July - 2PM

August - 2NE1

September - Miss A

October - BEAST

November - T-ara

December - Big Bang

By the way,

I saw the member Victory from this group Big Bang,

and I confirmed his nickname "panda" with my very own eyes.

He really did have very very dark, deep dark-circles.

It was a late hour at a supermarket around my house.

Had I know this was going to happen, I would have brought a pen and a paper for his autograph!!!

Darn it...

But even more importantly,

people planning on visiting Korea soon should really start looking for this

because the government is not going to print out an infinite number of these awesome calenders!