photo from reuters news:
“Participants eat Jajangmyeon, Chinese-style noodles topped with a thick sauce of black bean paste to celebrate “Black Day” for love in South Korea. Lonely hearts try to ease their pain by diving head first into bowls of noodles. Black Day is marked by people who have not found love. They dress in dark colours and commiserating over meals of black food, with the dish of choice being Jajangmyeon.“

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p.e. recently wrote about Q.S.M. and Q.S.W. (Quest Single Men & Quest Single Women) recently on his blog. and the comments it generated was quite amazing, humorous and insightful. perhaps we’ll one day create www.Qharmony.com ;). 

anyway, being no stranger to the ‘single’ life for many, many, many (will you get the point) years… i found it very interesting when i visited my mutha-land: seoul, s. korea last october (and the year before that as well), that many locals there told me how focused/driven the younger-generation koreans were, on finding a partner/mate.
they are driven to have a boyfriend/girlfriend that they can go eat and watch movies, etc…
and being there and seeing the commercials, many of the famous “k-dramas” on t.v.s, i definitely felt there was much truth to that.
i almost felt like it was so important for single men/women to have a partner that it was more like they were looking for the latest accessory to their life versus a real-life person with whom they would journey with… grow with… and yes even fight with (as i’m learning now.  ;)) ** i know, i know… an incredible over-generalization…
and there is much pressure from parents and family to find someone… and with this image/message being bombarded on them constantly, i can see how some almost feel less than whole unless they have someone in their lives to bring… dare i say?… ‘completion’.

so, as i read the article heading “black day for love, big day for noodles” this morning, i was like… ??? and then, after reading it, it made sense… everything except when i got to:
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“Some days have gained traction such as Black Day, while others such as Green Day in August, when couples are supposed to drink cheap liquor that comes in green bottles and walk in the woods, have yet to attract much of a following.“

uhhh… drink cheap liquor and then walk in the woods? wow… nothing makes more sense than to drink cheap liquor, get buzzed/drunk and then walk into the woods. sounds totally safe and smart to do…

gotta love dem koreans…

and PS - i absolutely LOVE jajangmyeong (the black noodles)… who wants to eat some with me?