New Year's Eve in Seoul

Koreans go by a lunar calendar and celebrate the Asian New Year very similar to Chinese New Year or Vietnamese Tet. However the Western New Year is also very popular and widely celebrated. There is a large square in Seoul that hosts a New Year's celebration very similar to Time's Square in NYC. Since Vinny and I aren't the biggest fans of the tourist crowds during Christmas and New Year's in NYC, we were fairly hesitant to wander into the large square where supposely 100,000 people gather.

After our 6 hour nap, Vinny and I were still very exhausted. I've decided that the downfall of turning 25 is that I actually get jet lag now. I've never had jet lag prior to this trip but I guess that is what happens when you get older... Factoring in the near 0 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures, the fact that we couldn't speak any Korean, our jet lag, and the fact that we didn't want to be sick for the remainder of our trip, Vinny and I decided to opt out of venturing to the famous square and its New Year's Eve celebrations. So from the comfort of our hotel room where we were nice and toasty, we watched the celebration on TV and I am now addicted to Korean pop culture. It's so fun! Vinny and I marveled that the pop artists who were performing in this square had no warm clothes on and yet they were singing and dancing outside in the frigid temperatures. Some of these women were in dresses and no stockings! You could see their breath on the TV and we wondered if they would get hypothermia. I spent the wee hours of 2010, fascinated the Korean pop artists performing and now my favorite Korean pop band is 2 p.m. (just think Spice Girls in Korea). I'll have to post links to their songs when I can find them. They are everywhere in the subways, in the shopping areas, etc.

All in all, it was a great start to 2010.