#4: Happy Valentine's Day!

LOOOOOOOVE IS IN THE AIR! (Note to self: the next time I put in pictures for occasions... I should totally get the Cafe Seoul crew to do it.)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! Sending lots of love to all our listeners all around the world from Seoul, the heart of Korea!

 

This instalment of Cafe Seoul sees some of our characters finding a love interest... Oooooh! Someone catches the eye of our super hero Kimchi Kim. Love Adventures sees a chivalrous young man saving June from a lorry. Who is this man? Will June find true love with her mysterious hero? Kekeke. In the hagwon, we have a bossy girl Sora who um... shall I say collects boyfriends because she wants to consider her options. Evidently girls are smarter than boys HAHA! We also find out about a new candy called Cinnamon Blurts, of which will make you speak the truth and nothing but the truth! It'll be interesting if it were real - I wonder how many couples will stay together after eating that candy... hiak hiak hiak.... ;)

This episode has to be my favouritest yet! It's hilarious and cute who which girl wouldn't like to hear an episode about lurrrrrrrrve. This episode is a little naughty, so... I guess how funny this episode it is to you is how deep your head is in the gutter - BWAHAHA. Yeah, I've got a gutterbrain, but... who doesn't?! Heh heh. Those that deny would probably have their heads down in the gutter a lot further than you think.

One thing about Valentine's Day in Korea is that it's celebrated very differently. 14 February is a day whereby girls give nice chocolates to the boy they like, while every other boy gets cheapo chocolate as a sign of friendship. And then a month later on 14 March, there is White Day where boys give the girls chocolate in return. And a month later, on 14 April, single unhappy people who got no love on Valentine’s Day dress in black to wallow in their self pity and enjoy each others’ miserable company. Awww, sad.

Unfortunately, I have never received flowers or chocolate in all my 25 years. Sigh, extremely sad. I think I just dated the wrong people. Well, I was young and foolish back then... Lol. However, I did have memories of high school when my group of girlfriends would make presents for each other for Valentine's Day. So, well I guess I can say I've received something for Valentine's before. :) What is your most memorable Valentine's Day experience? Share it with us! You can email it to us at cafeseoulpodcast@gmail.com and I'll post the most interesting ones! :)

#3. Seollal (Happy Lunar New Year!)

Happy Lunar New Year from Cafe Seoul! It's Seollal (설날), otherwise known as the first day of the Lunar New Year! I should have gotten the Cafe Seoul crew to dress up in traditional Korean outfits and take picture... but I did not, so this will have to suffice. Hahaha.

Seollal is one of the important Korean holidays, the other being Chuseok (추석) which is like a major harvest festival in Korea. This holiday season, Cafe Seoul talks a little bit about this holiday with K'Sta giving tips on how to enjoy the holiday without gaining weight - omg, you mean... it's possible?!!! WOOHOO!!!! This episode, we also introduce a new teacher at the hagwon and also Ideaaaaaaaa Man! And if you remember Kimchi Kim, he now has his own children's series and makes some new friends, who are also food, of course.

Readers all around the world, how do you celebrate the Lunar New Year, if you do that is. And if you don't, what do you during the holidays? Write in and let us know! We might even create a skit out of it.... Maybe. ^^

For me, I'm from Chinese so I do celebrate the Lunar New Year with lots of food, visiting and getting money. It's somewhat similar to the Korean tradition actually. In Korea, people usually return to their hometowns to visit family and relatives and dress up in colourful hanboks (refer to above picture) and celebrate the occasion! Sebae is also observed during Seolall - this is filial piety oriented. The younger generation wishes the older generation by performing ONE traditional bow (more than one bow is usually observed during rituals for the deceased) and saying 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (saehae bok mani badeuseyo) which loosely translates into "have a blessed New Year". The older generation then reciprocate this action by giving them money in "luck bags" intricately designed with words of wisdom.

It's pretty similar for the Chinese tradition, we dress up in new clothes, signifying a new beginning (legit reason to buy new clothes!!) and gather at a family member's house the day before Lunar New Year to have a sumptious meal. Food served or prepapred is usually lavish, to signify a rich beginning of the abundance of food. On Lunar New Year Day itself, we wear the new clothes and wish the elders well who give us money packed in red packets in return for our blessings... These red packets are usually printed with prosperous wishes in gold... so yeah, it's pretty similar!

This episode is our best yet! The editing and audio quality is getting better! Content wise, I think it's a little better... though, still a little rough. However, but effort is evident! These guys have got potential and give them some time and it'll be HUUUUUGE!