the boy-band break-down.

After watching k-pop obsessively for the past year of my life, I have come to understand that there is a definite formula for making up a Korean boy band. Ok, it didn’t take me a year to realize this, but it’s taken a year for me to run out of things to write about. Ok, I haven’t actually run out of things to write about… I just felt like spending hours browsing pictures of hot k-poppers ok!?

So here it is… I have cracked the code and now any group of 5 to 17 guys can rise to stardom as long as they have these key components.

It helps if he looks slightly elf-ish.

who apparently likes to wear white!

It’s difficult to tell just from pictures but if you watch the videos it’s true! They CAN’T look sad… ever!

… until right now.

Watch out… spudgy’s gonna getcha!

So there are your basic members. Of course if you only have 5 members there’s definitely room for expansion. You could use a few guys who wear too much eye-liner and you want to get at least 2 more colours of the rainbow in their hairstyles.

Once the group is formed your job is pretty simple… just follow these two easy steps:

like… C’MON!

and…

That’s all there is to it!! There may be a bit of singing and dancing and warding off screaming fangirls while you’re at it but you get the idea.

😀

For Spudgy references go to eatyourkimchi.com… especially here! 

what’s age got to do with it?

When I was home, naturally I was drilled for tidbits and stories about Korean life. One thing that really baffled people was the difference between Korean age and International age. If a Korean person tells you their age you usually have to subtract one or two years from what they say to get their International age.

In brief, Koreans consider a newborn a year old because of the time spent in the womb. Also, everyone’s age changes at the lunar new year, so in January everybody’s age goes up one year. A baby could be born December 31 and be considered 2 years old the next day. Think of it like this – the January after a child is born is the second calendar year that he/she has been alive, so he/she is considered two years old. This could mean that they’re only 3 days old but that’s just how it’s done.

but I don’t wanna be 4 yet!

This is common in China and other East Asian countries. Now, as crazy foreign as this seems to me, I am going to assume that there is some kind of ancient wisdom and reasoning behind it because Koreans take their age very seriously.

Seriously, the first thing that most Koreans will ask you after your name is your age. Depending on who’s asking I will either give my International age (24) or my Korean age (26). For dating purposes, I will tell a guy that I’m whatever age is closest to his without being older than him (if he’s 25, I’m 24 but if he’s 28, I’m 26). Koreans don’t usually date too far outside their age bracket (maybe a one year leeway). For that matter, Koreans don’t usually make friends outside their age bracket.

A Korean friend once told me that you can only call someone your ‘chingu’ (friend) if they are the same age as you. If you are a year younger than someone, you have to call them by the correct term. If you are a girl talking to an older guy, you call him ‘oppa’ and talking to an older girl you call her ‘oni’. If you are a guy talking to an older guy you call him ‘hyong’ and talking to an older girl you call her ‘nuna’. These terms actually mean big brother and sister, which can be confusing but that’s for another blog.

Calling a guy ‘oppa’ is supposed to be really cute… sometimes :P!

Someone’s age also depends on how you conjugate your verbs when you’re speaking to them, but we won’t get into that either. This is why it’s so important to know people’s ages right away.

The bottom line is that age is a huge factor in Korean culture and although it’s very different from the Canadian attitude, there is so much more respect towards elders (even if they’re only a few years older) than there is back home.

after all…. age is just a number, right?

HBDGD!

Saw this on my news feed today and it made me smile :)!

Cool dude!

Home for a… rest?

 “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”  ~ Lin Yutang

As most of you know, I just went home to Canada for two glorious weeks. While it was a lovely change from the fast pace of Seoul, my vacation was super busy, visiting family and catching up with friends. It was an awesome time and really made me appreciate some things from home that I hadn’t thought I’d missed.

No beaches like this in Seoul unfortunately…

I loved the fact that I could hop on my bike and be at my grandma’s house in 5 minutes. Biking isn’t really an option in this city, and while there are bike shops and some paths, it’s not a safe or efficient mode of transportation. I definitely took my bike for granted when I lived at home!

I also loved not being glued to my phone every hour of the day. I’m not really a phone-a-holic, but being able to say “I’ll see you when I see you” or “I’ll swing by your place in an hour” rather than texting people constantly to meet up was great.

Reunited and it feels so good 🙂

It was so fantastic to see all of my family and friends again! I keep in fairly close contact with my immediate fam and a few close friends but mostly I rely on facebook to keep me up to date. I know this is so cliche but it really felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other. It’s comforting to know that even though I’m pretty bad at keeping in touch with people, my relationship with them doesn’t change based on how much I talk (or don’t talk) to them.

Some of my favs!

I am still on a high from my visit but I am definitely glad that I decided to stay in Seoul for another term because, as I’ve said before, I’m not ready to leave Korea yet :)!