안녕! It’s Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a food for chilly weather, a recent craze that is sweeping my country, and how to ask a friend to do something together in Korean. Let’s start!
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🥘 Getting Chilly Outside, Time For Bulgogi Stew
The temperature is going down which means it’s time to have ttukbaegi bulgogi! Ttukbaegi is a stone bowl used for stew or soup in Korean cuisine. If you put bulgogi, starch noodle, vegetables, and water in this bowl and boil them, it’s ttukbaegi bulgogi. It’s like bulgogi stew. If you don’t have the bowl, you can replace it with any small pot you have. You can enjoy this food on its own or have it with rice. Just don’t forget to have kimchi as a side dish. Watch the above video and try for yourself! It’ll make a perfect weekend dinner 😋
💕 Why Korean Girls Love Ajeossi
Lee Dong-wook ☝ a 40-year-old Korean actor who played a grim reaper in Goblin: The Lonely And Great God, recently opened a chat room on Bubble, a private messaging app between stars and fans. Soon after the opening, the number of Bubble users reportedly increased 18 times 😱 This is one of examples of the recent ajeossi craze that is sweeping the country. Ajeossi (아저씨), in Korean, refers to a man aged between 40s and 50s. Lately, young women are in love with ajeossi celebrities. And there’s a reason for this.
The recent viral article titled “From Lee Dong-wook to Lee Jung-jae, What’s Behind Ajeossi Craze” sums up why young women love male celebrities who are much older than them as the following,
In a 'dangerous world' where even a cup of coffee with a stranger makes you nervous... Young women's desire for a safe relationship leads to the popularity of the 'harmless male image,' and the 'gentle words and actions' of male celebrities in their 40s and over are charms that young women can safely admire.
(Sorry for the awkward translation. I tried my best to translate the article with the help of Google Translate 🙃) Recently, violence and murder against young women are increasing in the country and a lot of them are committed by an ex-boyfriend or a stocker. It made young women worried and therefore seek for a safe relationship. While looking for a man who they feel safe to be around, they got attracted to ajeossi celebrities who are gentle, kind, most importantly, extremely handsome and looking much younger than their age 👇
You might think, “I can’t understand. Aren’t young male celebrities gentle and handsome as well? Why do girls love old men? It’s creepy!” Actually, it’s not about the age. It’s about the “gentle words and actions.” I guess young women just happened to find this gentle attitude more from older celebrities than from same-aged or younger male celebrities. The recent ajeossi craze shows that it’s becoming harder for Korean women to have a “safe relationship” in a “dangerous world.” And as a result, it’s changing Korean women’s ideal type and K-Drama lead males as well. Bad guys are not popular anymore. No more tsundere lead males anymore. It’s time for handsome and harmless men just like Lee Jun-ho in Extraordinary Attorney Woo 💖
🥺 Learn Korean With Ari
I recently came across this tweet and it melt my heart ❤️ So today I prepared some sentences the sweet 10yo in the tweet can use to the new kid in her class. They’re also ones you can use to your friend. It’s about asking or suggesting a friend to do something together. All sentences are in casual form since it’s about speaking to a friend.
점심 같이 먹자. Let’s have a lunch together.
숙제 같이 하자. Let’s do the homework together.
넷플릭스 같이 보자. Let’s watch a Netflix show/movie together.
Today’s keyword, 같이 means “together” and -자 means “Let’s -.” Actually, you can just say 점심 먹자 to suggest to have a lunch with you. But if you add 같이, it emphasizes that you want to have a lunch “together.” It sounds more friendly and kinder.
Assignment (Level: 🍰🍰🍰)
What are the three things you want to do with your friend this weekend? Make three sentences suggesting your friend to do the three things together, one per each sentence, using the expressions we learned today. Due by 4 pm Wednesday, October 5th ET. Correct answers will be announced & shared on the next podcast episode!
Last thing I want to share is Best Couple award acceptance speech at APAN Star Awards. It’s a historic moment of a BL drama couple (male-male) winning a Best Couple award at a Korean award ceremony for the first time 🎉 The winners are Park Seo-ham and Jaechan who starred in Semantic Error, a big-hit BL drama. Park is serving in the military now so his life-size cutout attended the ceremony 😅
Thanks for reading! If you liked my newsletter, like, share, or leave a tip 👆 to support my work. It’ll make my day! See you next week. 안녕!