Settling on an auspicious wedding date (DIY)

Each culture or custom has it own way of determining the auspicious dates for marriage. Some of the young couples these days may prefer to hold the solemnization or wedding on some special memorable dates (e.g. engagement date, birthday date, day of first-met), many would still play safe and engage a fengshui master to calculate an auspicious date and time for marriage, fetch the bride (FTB), etc. It is about $60-$150 to engage a fengshui master. However, the few auspicious dates may be quite popular and it is likely that one would need to pre-book the wedding venue a year in advance in order to have one's preferred choice of hotel ballroom. If the hotel of choice is booked, one may need to reconsult the fengshui master again for other dates. The reiteration process may add additional costs and inconvenience.

I have discovered a way to more or less determine an auspicious date (chinese way) with certain level of confidence. I would like to document down and share. Below is an example:

First, list down the Chinese zodiacs of the bride, groom, bride's parents, groom parents. You could also list the Chinese zodiacs if you would like to consider other key people in your familiy e.g. siblings. However, the more variety of zodiacs would limit your dates even more. 

Second, list down the dates in the period which you would like to consider, e.g. Fri, Sat, Sun dates between Apr-Jun 2014. 

Y-axis, dates from 19 Mar 2014-29 Mar 2014 are listed.

X-axis, relevant zodiacs are listed. (Column D-H are for bride groom and their parents)

Third, use some reliable sources on lunar calendar to determine if the date clashes with which zodiac and whether the date is generally good for wedding. A plausible one is Sina 星坐算命. 

冲 (clash) 虎 (tiger); 宜 (positive) 嫁娶 (wedding)

Hence, 01-01-2014 is a good date for wedding but clashes with tiger

Fourth, for dates that are good for wedding, indicate (1) in column C. If it is not good indicate (-1). For respective zodiacs, indicate (-1) if the date clashes with the zodiac.

Lastly, if there is any (-1) for date or zodiac, indicate -1. If the date is good for marriage and there is no clashes with any zodiac, the number should 1 in column L and M (as shown for 21 Mar 2014). This is a little more confusing as it is not a normal summation. If L is negative, do not bother to do for M. If L is positive, do for M. If both L and M are positive, the date should be your first priority. 

With the above method, you could have a lot more flexibility in determining the few best dates for you to decide for your actual wedding. Relatively easy, isn't it?

Once you have decided the date and you would like to find out which timings are good for fetch-the-bride. You could use the following calendar which is usually made available a few months before the actual year to determine the timing for fetch-the-bride.

As indicated in the calendar, 7am-1pm is very auspicious, 1pm-7pm is so-so. 7pm-9pm is bad.

 

Places to visit in Daejeon, a Korean city less travelled

My fiance lives a in city called Daejeon in South Korea. Most tourists know about Seoul, Jeju and Busan. Fewer would have travelled in-land. Daejeon is near the middle of South Korea, which is better known as the Silicon Valley of Korea.

Circled in red is Daejeon.

There are many corporate research institutes, centres and science parks in Daejeon, for example Daedeok Innopolis is composed of 28 state-run research centres, 79 private research institutes, with as many as 20,000 researchers. One of the famous institutions is KAIST. In addition, Daejeon Government Complex was constructed to move some government offices away from the densely populated capital Seoul. 

In this city less travelled, there are a few places which I will always go. The first being the hair salon. I am able to colour my hair, rebond and curl the ends with merely $100-140. It is really value for money. In Singapore, one will probably pay around $400-500 for similar service. The salon is called 하얀 미용실, located at Taepyeong 2 (I)-dong, Jung-Gu, Daejeon. You can also call +82 42-542-8545. However, you may need to converse in Korean. Not many people in Daejeon speaks fluent English, unlike Seoul which is more cosmopolitan. My Sungsoo is a rare Daejeon-er who can speak good English. :) 

Location of 하얀 미용실

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This is me during my first visit to this salon.

The second place which I have good memories of is the jewelry shop called 골드인 (Gold-In). It is very near Daejeong Station. This is where Sungsoo bought both the couple ring and my engagement ring.

Location of 골드인

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This is me outside 골드인.

I tried on their tiara... Suddenly, I looked very princessyyy. :)

My bling bling engagement ring from dear Sungsoo.

Other places which I love hanging out are the supermarkets (Homeplus and Costco). I used to go to Costco in California, USA. I love mega shops, as there are so many things to see. But you would need to buy in bulk. Homeplus is within a stone-throw from where Sungsoo stay. We usually buy fresh yoghurt before heading home.

Costco. Even the trolley is so huge that can fit me inside.

Homeplus. Sungsoo and his fashionable mom. :)

RoNeo Pre-Wedding at La Mariee

La Mariee has kindly created a music video for us as we begin our walk together as Mr and Mrs Ro. 

Dating a Korean

I did a quick google on "dating a Korean". It is interesting to note there are many sites providing advices. Some of which are listed below:

1) Dating a Korean Guy (The Things We Should Expect)

2) Dating Korean Guys (Advice and Stuff) 

3) Want to Marry a Korean? Here's 7 Things You Should Know!

4) Advice on Dating Korean Men Attracts Anger, Support

5) How do Korean guys treat their women?

6) Misconceptions about Korean Men (Part 1)

7) Misconceptions about Korean Men (Part 2)

8) Discover how Korean Guys Are Different 

9) The Shocking Truth About Dating Korean Men

10) What to Expect when dating a Korean Guy

11) Many more... 

A quick compilation of some generalized traits:
1) Possessive
2) Self-driven (money, career)
3) Particular about appearance and style
4) Expectations on gals (appearance, smartness, ability to cook)
5) Dramatic (hot tempered, expressive when talking)
6) Health conscious

Yet, each and every person has their own uniqueness, depending on their upbringing, exposure to overseas, person's strive, interests and priorities. 

My unique Sungsoo have some special non-Korean characteristics. 

1) Sungsoo can't take kimchi spice well. In fact, he loves Western food more (e.g. Pizzas), while I love korean food more and I eat more spice.

2) Sungsoo doesn't smoke. His family doesn't. Korean male smoking is among the highest in the OECD at 47.3%. Thank goodness, my Sungsoo doesn't. Well, I dislike the smell of smoke and the action of people smoking.

3) Sungsoo is very obsessed with doing work-out, building muscles and keeping fit. He was once 8% body fat. He started his work-out training when he was in America. He thinks guys in Korean shows (꽃미남) are too girly. *LOL* 

4) Sungsoo often gets mistaken for his nationality. The Singapore hawker aunty spoke to him in Mandarin and asked if he is from Hongkong. When we were traveling around, people thought he is a Japanese. 

5) Sungsoo loves a Singaporean (that's me). And his parents love me (a non-Korean). 

So how is it like dating Uniquely Sungsoo? We have done crazy things like dancing tango on the Singapore MRT platform. Once, we danced to the music in ThatCDShop in Raffles City Shopping Centre and the music was abruptly stopped to "get us out". Life has been interesting every since I met Sungsoo. Hope we continue to live what we love, and to have an enjoyable and fruitful life together. :)

A little story on how Sungsoo and I first started as e-pals...

When friends, colleagues, relatives ask me about how Sungsoo and I started, they will usually end up with an exclamation of disbelief after hearing our story. 

Well, Sungsoo and I started as e-pals (electronic version of penpal) in 2009. During that time, Friendster and Facebook have already started popularizing. However, we chose to use a social platform less conventional called Interpals. 2009 was the year when my dad turned 60. My sis and I decided to treat him for a trip to Korea. Prior signing up for a travel package, I did consider to go free-and-easy. That was Q3 2009 when I started to use Interpals and write to a couple of Korean e-pals for their recommendation for places to visit. Despite writing to a few, it was Sungsoo who was able to communicate well back to me in English. What caught my eyes was a pict of Sungsoo at Makansutra Gluttons Bay near Esplanade, with a table full of Singaporean dishes . 

Sungsoo looked so satisfied with good food laid in front of him.

My first thought was "This Korean has been in Singapore. And he loves Singaporean food. lol" There were a lot of topics which we talked about and Sungsoo was quite humorous. Always never fail to make me smile or laugh when I read his messages. For about a 9 months, I looked forward to every single messages he wrote and I loved it when he promptly replied. The communications grew longer (~1-3 pages) and there was endless topics which we could talk about, including typical topics penpals write about. From everyday life and observations, personal strengths and weaknesses, work, interests, etc... We didn't want to use any form of visual communication. At that time, maybe we felt e-pals are e-pals and there weren't a compelling need to go beyond writing. But eventually, we tried using the Singtel online sms service to send msges. That provided instantaneous replies but the system restricted us to maximum 20 msges a day and we carefully drafted each message so as to fully exploit the free service. Once, Sungsoo decided to call and when I picked up the phone, I was naturally nervous and I giggled a lot. Amazingly we spoke till almost 4am. We started to grow closely and we succumbed to adding each other on Facebook. Finally, on 28 March Singapore time midnight (equivalent to 29 March Korea time early morning), Sungsoo arrived in Singapore Changi Airport. 

Sungsoo was in Korea, Kat was in Singapore