Baaa...

2015 is the Year of the Sheep.  While lunar new year doesn't yet start until mid-February (February 19th to be exact), Seoul is starting the party early.  The city is decorated with sheep a-plenty.  The thing is, though, these sheep are not dramatic and bold like Chinese imagery.  This being Korea, all the sheep are cute.  See exhibits one and two below compared to the Chinese sheep above.

I'm told this is a big year for me, since I was born in the Year of the Sheep in 1979 (each animal sign comes every twelve years).  When Giselle came to visit from Hong Kong, she brought a cup coaster that says that sheep are charming, elegant, and artistic.  I'll take that.

But when I looked up my Chinese horoscope tonight, all I read was doom and gloom: "Sheep year people are often worriers who are shy, pessimistic, moody, indecisive, oversensitive, weak-willed and puzzled about life...They do not dare to express their love openly and usually have interests in strange theories."  The same site says I should stay away from "sharp tools and weapons such as knives, swords, saws, and scissors, because [I] may easily get injured this year."

Hmm... I think that'll probably be the last Chinese horoscope I read for the year (much to Tyler's relief).

So what's with all the cute sheep in Seoul?  I'm not quite sure.  Some of it ranges from the cool (an art gallery focusing on sheep lets visitors write their dreams for 2015 on a cute sheep postcard, which will get sent to your home midway in the year)...

... to the super weird (and seemingly un-hygienic): there's a Sheep Cafe in Hongdae that has... you guessed it, sheep that customers can pet and feed (the owner lets them out of their fence twice an hour and customers can feed them dried grass).  You can't make this stuff up.  Apparently the waffles there are good too.

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Lunar new year is a big deal here (and note: I did not call it Chinese new year because I got enough dirty looks when I came here calling it that!).  While Koreans have off one day for January 1st, they have three days off for lunar new years (which conveniently also falls on Valentines... Bali, here we come!)

The three day celebration is one of the most significant traditional Korean holidays, with families celebrating the day before Korean new year, new year's day itself, and the day after Korean new year.  Fun fact: Korean new year is generally the same day as Chinese new year, except when the new moon occurs between Korean midnight and Chinese midnight -- in which case Korean new year is one day after China's.

In modern times, traditions of Korean new year and "western" new year have merged.  In both, you bow to elders and eat "ddukguk" or rice cake soup.  Having a bowl of this soup symbolizes getting a year older (apparently this tradition stems back to the Pre-Josun Dynasty, which started in 1392).

In fact, on January 1st, all of us here in Korea turned one year older! (and plus I already gained a year moving here in September, since Koreans consider a baby one year old once its born).  There's a Korean expression, "How many bowls of rice cake soup have you eaten?" which essentially means, how old are you?

With Giselle arriving shortly after the new year, Tyler did some research into good ddukguk in the city.  We headed to Gaeseong Traditional Dumplings House near Insadong.  My mouth is actually literally watering just thinking about it.  The recipe is based on the current owner's grandmother (who made it for other villagers in Gaeseong) and who handed the "secret recipe" to her daughter, who then passed it on to her daughter.

We ate it and all turned one year older.  The soup was worth the extra year in age, it was that good.  Anyway, it doesn't really matter because I've lost track of how old I'm considered here anyway...

So whether I'm now 35, 36, or 37 (yikes!), I've resolved that this year will be a great year indeed...  Despite what the Chinese horoscopes say.