First Time

Today is 13^th August, 2011. Exactly 9 years ago was a day that had changed my life totally. Why? That was because that day Winter Sonata aka Gyeol Yeonga was first ever been broadcasted on Malaysia TV.

Why did I say it changed my life? That was because

If I didn’t watch that Korean series, I wouldn’t watched the other Korean dramas. Then I wouldn’t fell in love with the dramas actors, the songs. And for sure I wouldn’t addicted to k-pop that became phenomena later after the dramas.

In other words, if I didn’t fall with Winter Sonata, I wouldn’t became a Korean maniac like I am now. Winter Sonata was the beginning of everything, to me also to those out there who love Korean dramas, songs, culture and places so much.

I was twelve at that time (very young rite? So do rite now! :P). The first preview of the drama drew my attention as the people looked neither Japanese nor Chinese. Besides, it was this drama that opened my eyes about a country that exists between Japan and China. At that time I didn’t know that there is another country and people called Korea and Korean. I was twelve remember?! (do forgive the 12 years old me). Haha..

Watching the first episode was enough to make me fell in love and addicted to the drama. I liked it so much. At that time, the main song “cheom buteo jigeum kkaji” always terngiang2 dalam kepala. To me the music and melody gave the sad and lonely feeling, which fit with the season, WINTER.

Choeum Buteo Jigeum Kkaji

*bila dengar je selalu rasa sejuk*

I liked the drama so much to the point I wrote on a diary about what I watched; the dialogues, the actors’ expressions in every episode. In EVERY EPISODE. That’s because I was afraid I might forget about it, kinda naïve wasn’t it? (see, how would a 12 year old girl know about how the internet and technologies developed in later years, rite?! How would she know about how nowadays we can watch, download or else through online, anywhere at any time, rite? She was just buta IT (tapi sekarang pun… :( )).

 

Every details of the episodes written by 12 year old me

(so naive kan?)

Thinking back about it, the 21 year old me think that the 12 year old me felt that Winter Sonata was so special and important enough to be written in a diary.

Speaking about the past, I remembered so many things apart from writing the drama story in a diary.

I became a huge fan of the main leads Bae Yong Jun and Choi Ji Woo. The amount of how I like Bae Yong Jun was nearly 40% of the amount how I like Jang Keun Suk now (oh what a 12 year old girl knows about love at that time, haha) and besides, I not only like Keun Suk, I love him (sapa nak gelak silakan gelak XD).

Since I was a form 1 student, the school session was different and we finished at 6.50pm. Going back home took nearly 30 mins and I always missed the early part of the episodes. There was a time I was so late for the drama, I became  so anxious and nearly got hit by bus when crossing a road. Huhu… -_-“

The 12 YEAR OLD me saw Winter Sonata VCD sold. It was RM 99.00 at that time. She innocently and meticulously collected duit raya to buy the VCD. She was so happy when the VCD finally hers (oh I still remember that feeling! I went home running and jumping at that time, haha). She really liked the smell of the VCD box. She watched the whole 20 episodes series five times in a row. Every time ended with crying…

And most important, I started learning Korean language through this drama (the drama broadcasted on TV was dubbed in Mandarin. Watching the VCD version enabled me to listen to the REAL dialogues and intonation in Korean). I wrote words that I knew the meaning in another book (semangat kan!).

I think the first song that I can translate by chance was My Memory (translate here meaning that I can identify what the words of the lyric lead to what words in the translation).

My Memory

Aaaa~ I really like the songs, either sang by singers or just instrumental.

And the drama itself, it showed so many beautiful places (the drama has promoted South Korea to the world and mounting the tourism industry of that country). Me myself really really wanted to go the that places, one of them was Nami Island, a very beautiful and peaceful place where Jun Sang and Yu Jin spent their memorable time together… (In other words, their dating place, haha).. To be melodramatic, the place where they played truant, playing with the snow and enjoying the wind of winter… aaaa~

Since then, I really like winter. Such a cold, sad and lonely season. I wondered how the snow looks like closely, how it feel when we touch it, and how would a winter breeze feels like. Is it the similar feeling as the songs?

That’s why I planned to go to Korea during winter, to Nami Island especially, by the time I am 22, 10 years after I watched the drama (macam Jun Sang pulak balik lepas hilang ingatan 10 tahun, haha). And ALHAMDULILLAH I made it. Huge thanks to Kak Intan who helped and went together with me :)

Speaking of this, I didn’t post any of the days of my trip to South Korea yet. Errr… tak abes tulis lagi, huhu..

       A loner traveled on a foreign yet pleasant land. (pfffft~)

I think Winter Sonata had changed my life a lot. I wonder how I would be if I didn’t watch the drama… hmm…. (because of this drama, I even dreamed of marrying an architect and building our house designed by him near a seaside... hahaha! )

To conclude, everything has their beginning. Everyone or everything has their FIRST TIME. Babies have their first time walking; kids have their first time coming to school; cars have their first time being used; birds have their first time flying; Sakura trees have their first time blossoming and EVERYONE has their first time falling in love…. (chewaaah!!!! Haha~)

The First Time

*teringat waktu Jun Sang mainkan lagu ni untuk Yu Jin.. so sweeeet~ somebody please… for me? Haha~  in your dreams laaa~*

p.s: sangat rindu waktu2 berada kat Nami Island tempohari.. :((

Tiru Yu Jin ^^,