Seollal. The lunar new year. Another year has passed. But what a year that was. Some tragedies, some good stories.
In March last year, the whole of South Korea mourned the death of the 46 sailors who lost their lives when their ship was torpedoed, and in November, everything went from tensioned to scary when the Yeongpyeong Island came under artillery fire from North Korea.
But there were good stories, too. Kim Yu-na won South Korea’s first Olympic gold in figure skating at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and Seoul successfully hosted its first G20 summit in November.
And in June, I joined the thousands of football fans at the Sangam World Cup Stadium to watch South Korea play against Argentina, and my first essay in Pilipino won the 2nd prize at the Jose Rizal essay writing contest. In March, my humble winter photo was aired by CNN, no less!
But perhaps, two of the most memorable highlights of my year were participating in the Philippine national elections by casting my vote in Korea through the overseas absentee voting in April, which saw the election of a new Philippine president, Noynoy Aquino, replacing Gloria’s rotten presidency. Gosh, that woman mismanaged the country!
The other memorable highlight? Seeing Angelina Jolie in person in July! I was speechless when I saw her first at her press conference, but then I had fun when I saw her again at the premiere of her movie, SALT. She was just stunning and gorgeous, and I could watch that film over and over and over….again. Ha-ha-ha!
Well, life has been good during the past year, and I am thankful for that. We all have our ups and downs, and we should be thankful for both, too. We learn from the challenges and trials, and we must appreciate and be grateful for the blessings and good times.
I don’t know what’s in store for me in the next months. I don’t want any tragedies and sad stories. But if they come, I will accept them as they are, and still consider myself lucky. I will not be counting the months though; I will just take it one day at a time.
So, as I watch that last sunset of the passing lunar year (yes, I took that photo above from my window), I wish everyone a better, happier and richer lunar new year!
May this year be fun, fruitful and good for all of us!
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