My First Time At An Autograph Session

SHINee “2009 Year of Us” Autograph Session, on 31 January 2010 at Lot 1 Shopping Mall, to be exact.

In a nutshell, it was MADNESS. I have never seen this many people in Choa Chu Kang before, in every level of the mall (including B1, B2 & B3!), swarming all entrances possible AND spilling over to the mrt station. Oh, and the screams whenever “Ring Ding Dong” started playing…

Only the very lucky first 1000 fans in the queue were entitled to entry into the autograph session. (And I think there were approximately 3000 fans in total.) Pay S$60, get a SHINee “2009 Year of Us” album, a poster and a scratch card that indicates which member’s signature one is entitled to get. Some who were in the 1000 didn’t have enough money and had to leave the roof garden, others were happy / unhappy about the members they were assigned to and there were lots of fans requesting for swaps.

The management was also incredibly strict – anyone without the scratch card were asked to leave the venue. The crowd outside the roof garden were relentless; it was really scary when they started pushing the barricades when SHINee arrived and they wanted to enter.

The boys on stage! Interview questions include “What kind of girls do you like?” (Onew: Cute girls.) and “What should the girl wear to attract your attention?” (Onew: Something natural. Key: Something stylish like him.) The screaming was so loud that when the boys took turns to answer the questions I can only hear these few answers.

SHINee fans, don’t miss this incredibly rare opportunity of seeing SHINee perform live at the Esplanade Concert Hall on 1 & 2 Feb! We all know how difficult it is to get an SM artiste to perform in Singapore… and I’m not kidding when I say that I think this might be SHINee’s first and last time performing in our sunny little island…

오늘의 어휘

영감

inspiration

예문 연습: 선생님이 딸한테서 영감을 받은 노래를 연주할거예요. [Our teacher will perform a song that was inspired by his daughter.]

오늘의 어휘

금세

soon; shortly; any minute; at once; immediately = 금방

예문: 언니가 금세 돌아오고 있어서 빨리 준비하세요! [Unnie is coming back shortly so please prepare quickly!]

오늘의 동사

중얼거리다

mutter (under one’s breath); murmur; mumble; grumble (at, over, about)

예문 연습: 너무 화가 났지만 사람이 많아서 혼잣말로 중얼거릴 밖에 없었어요. [I was very angry but I had no choice but to grumble to myself as there were too many people.]

오늘의 문법

(동사) + 냐고 하다/묻다

“indirect quotation of a question”, which also means that you can use this grammar when someone asks a question and you want to quote this person and turn the said question into a sentence.

아줌마: (저한테) “남자친구이니?”

간단하는 예문 연습: 아줌마가 남자친구이냐고 물었어요. [The ahjumma asked if I have a boyfriend.]

예문 연습: 아줌마가 남자친구이냐고 물었는지 알게 되었어요. [I happened to know why the ahjumma asked if I have a boyfriend.]

오늘의 어휘

거꾸로

upside down; inside out; topsy-turvy; (in) the wrong way

예문 연습: 아침에 늦게 일어난데 서둘러 셔치를 거꾸로 입었어요. [I woke up late in the morning, and in my hurry I wore the shirt inside out.]

Ilsan Lake Park

일산호수공원에 간 이유를 다 “찬란한 유산” 때문이예요! 제 15 회에서 은성(한효주)이랑 준세(배수빈)가 거기서 로맨틱 자전거 데이트했잖아요! 이런 로맨틱 분위기 다시 느끼고 싶어서 가봤어요.

It is all because of Brillant Legacy / Shining Inheritance that I wanted to go to Ilsan Lake Park. In episode 15, Eun Sung (Han Hyo Joo) and Jun Se (Bae Soo Bin) had their romantic cycling date! And I wanted to relive those romantic moments…

서울근처 경기도에 있는 일산호수공원은 아주 큰 공원이예요. 공원의 전부 걸으면 3 시간 쯤 필요해요! 너무 커서 지난 번에 갔을 때 완전히 관광할 수 없는데 좀 아쉬웠어요!

Ilsan Lake Park is a massively huge park in Gyeonggi-do, a province next to Seoul. You would probably need about 3 hours to cover the entire park by foot! It was so big that I was unable to explore the entire park…what a pity!

관광한 시간이 많지 않는데 공원의 지도를 보면서 어디에 먼저 가야 할지 모를 때 장미원이 눈에 들어 왔어요. 늦여름이였지만 장미꽃들이 계속 피고 있었어요. 저는 얼마나 기쁜지 몰랐어요!

We didn’t have much time and while looking at the map of the park and was wondering which way to go, the rose garden caught my eye. I wasn’t expecting much flowers as it was late summer but I was very happy that the roses were still thriving and blooming!

꽃이 정말 예쁘죠? ^^

The flowers are really pretty, aren’t they? =)

이 모든 사람을 위한 공원에서 가족이랑 말하고 피크닉을 하면서 아이들이 놀 수 있거나 애인이랑 어느 날 행복하게 보낼 수 있는데 정말 좋은 장소이라고 생각해요.

Oh! And something interesting – the red track is meant for cyclists while the green track is for pedestrians!

My way of getting there: Take the subway (3rd line) and alight at Jeongbalsan station, get out of the exit that points in the direction of Ilsan Lake Park (it’s written in English, don’t worry) and follow the directions along the road. It’s a straight and direct route from the exit of the subway to Ilsan Lake Park. In the distance you should see this bridge… 

 …head towards it, cross the bridge and you have arrived at Ilsan Lake Park!

봄 때 한국에 가면 일산호수공원에 있는 한국 고양 꽃 전시회에 한 번 가보세요~ 진심으로 아름답다고 느껴요! 자전가랑 가고 싶다~

If you are visiting Korea in spring, how about heading to Ilsan Lake Park for the Goyang Korea Flower Show? I personally think it will be gorgeous! I would love to be there with my bicycle~

근데 저는 먼저 저의 배수빈을 찾아야 돼요! ^^*

But first… I need to find my Bae Soo Bin to go cycling with~ *grin*

오늘의 문법

(동작동사) + 게 되다

it turns out that, it happens that, it becomes that

This expression indicates that an action or event taking place without the subject’s (person’s) choice. You may also use this grammar when in a situation where something unexpected (may be good, may be bad) happened but you did not expect it.

So, instead of stating something (e.g. 많이 경험했어요. [I experienced a lot.]), you may want to say (e.g. 이번의 여행을 통해서 많이 경험하게 되었어요. [It turns out that I experienced a lot through this time’s travel. –> you did not expect to experience a lot, but you did]) to further illustrate the unexpected situation.

오늘의 동사

어처구니없다

(be) dumbfounded, absurd, preposterous

예문 연습: 이 사람이 저한테 어처구니없는 말을 했는데 저는 웃는지 울는지 정말 몰라요. [That person told me something so absurd I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry.]

오늘의 동사

쾌적하다

pleasant, nice = 깨끗하다 (neat and clean, tidy)

예문 연습: 방이 쾌적하면 편안하게 잠을 잘 수 있어요. [If the room is clean, one is able to sleep confortably.]