안녕! It’s Ari, your talkative Korean friend and new year reminder 🎉 새해 복 많이 받으세요! Today’s newsletter is about a soup that will make you one year older, the end of the infamous Korean age system, and a new K-Drama that everyone’s talking about. Let’s start!
Sorry for a short newsletter today. I didn’t like my first draft so I rewrote it but I didn’t have enough time to write a full one 🙏
Have This Soup And Get One Year Older
In Korea, there’s a saying that “If you eat a bowl of tteokguk, you get one year older.” Because of Korean age, all Koreans get one year older altogether when a new year starts. How crazy it is! 🙃 And we have tteokguk on the first day of a new year. So having tteokguk means “getting one year older” for many Koreans though it might finally change with the end of Korean age that I’ll talk about later in this newsletter. Tteokguk is a soup made with tteok or rice cakes that are sliced as a bite-sized. You can add various toppings like eggs, dried seaweed (gim), chopped green onion, and others. In northern areas including Seoul, tteokmanduguk which is tteokguk including mandu is popular while in southern areas such as Busan, tteokguk (without mandu) is popular. It’ll make you warm during the cold winter. Watch the recipe video above and try for yourself!
The End Of Korean Age, Finally…?
If you’re a long-time subscriber of my newsletter, you know how much I disrespect Korean age system. It’s not just because this weird age system makes me older than I really am. (Under the Korean age system, you become one year old the minute you’re born so your Korean age is always one or two years older than your real age.) It’s just not right for people who were born on different dates to get one year older at the same time, on January 1st. It’s sad that so many Koreans have died without even knowing their real age. It’s crazy that Koreans need a calculator to know their real age. When you put your birthdate, it tells you your real age 🙃
But thankfully and finally, this crazy age system might come to an end in the near future. On December 8th, 2022, a bill was passed in National Assembly. It’s about making real age as the one and only age system starting from June, 2023. Actually, there has been three different age systems in Korea meaning Koreans have lived with three different ages; Imagine that you have three ages and you have to use them according to settings. It has been a total chaos! 😱 With the bill passed, people are expressing mixed feelings. Some are skeptical that the bill can’t easily change the old tradition so they think the Korean age system won’t go away. Others are looking forward to a simple and accurate age system and excited to get one or two years younger. Whether they’re skeptical or excited, they all are asking one question: “Okay, then what’s my real age?” (searching for the calculator)
One last thing for today’s newsletter is my K-Drama recommendation. The Glory was released last week on Netflix and everyone on the Korean internet is talking about this revenge series. It’s about a woman who lives for absolute revenge against her childhood bullies who destroyed her life. I just finished the 6th episode out of 8. It’s great! If you like gloomy series and if you love & hate villain characters played by talented actors, you’ll love this series. The drama is written by Kim Eun-sook who wrote Guardian: The Lonely and Great God. She’s known for writing witty lines. I recommend an advanced Korean learner to turn on Korean subtitles to enjoy the witty lines.
Thanks for reading! And again, 새해 복 많이 받으세요! (Happy new year!) 🎉 I wish you and your loved ones the best for 2023. Love you 💖 See you next week! 안녕!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 해피 뉴 이어 (I still don’t understand stand why year becomes 이어 lol) 새해 복 많이 받으세요~ 아리님. 너무 오랜만이죠ㅜ 이 뉴스레터 계속 하고 있어서 정말 다행이에요 ^^. I didn’t know you had a TikTok. I’m gonna go follow you rn!