Meeting new sisters

When I blogged about our outings with the Joonsfamily sisters Kelly, Jos and Jessica, our dear sister Jelen asked : “I always wonder what will be the feeling of meeting you guys, will I be tongue tied, shy, talkative?”

Hahaha Jelen, you’re so cute. If you asked me this question a few year ago, I would really be tongue-tied. Imagine, living in the remote Siberian land of Toronto, how did I ever expect to meet any diehard BYJ fans? (Hehe, although I do admit I am the luckiest to have both gosijo and ivy there) Now here I am in pseudo Baeland (aka Japan, as princess refers to), I probably have bumped into a Bae sister every time I walk out the door and not even realizing it. The other day, my son yelled to me while we were riding the subway, "Mama, is that woman your sister? She’s carrying a BYJ bag, aren’t you going up to talk to her?" Errrrr…… well, not really, not unless I want people to think I am a desperate 'gaijin' housewife!

Dear sisters, the fact is, unless you are a party animal or a UN Ambassador (and are drunk at the same time!), how many people can go up to a total stranger and immediately pour out their hearts and souls about their dream man whom they’ve never met, who happens to live thousands of miles away and doesn’t even know they exist?! Hahaha, maybe one kind, YES, only Bae sisters can!

Well dear Jelen, I am not qualified but if I really have to answer the feeling of meeting a new Bae sister : tongue-tied, shy or talkative? I’ll say, “hehe, All of the above!” I personally find most Bae sisters I’ve met so far are charmingly ‘low key’ (just like Yong Joon), what keeps the gatherings so warm and lively is simply the sincerity and pure love for our prince. I'll share my personal guidelines :

1. Be natural

Yong Joon has said it many times before, “he always wanted a pure, sincere, trustworthy woman who strives to improve herself.” We do feel our best when we behave naturally, and then we’ll let the friendship flourish. If I feel really shy and conscious, hehe, it’s perfectly fine to just sit and listen. (or in my case in Japan, 'try' to listen :)

2. No expectation

Isn’t it true that if there is no expectation, then there is no disappointment? Then anything good happens will become a nice surprise. But as a human being, we do have requirements and expectation on ourselves, that’s called ‘motivation’, but it would not be fair to impose them on others. Just like Yong Joon, he’s a perfectionist and is extremely harsh on himself, but he’s never demanding of others.

3. Think Yonsama

Yeah afterall, he is the reason why we know each other in the first place! I guess this is the only preparation we need for our gathering :

- how we know about him, what attracts us most, where we surf for news and pictures
- bring along favorite books and memorabilia to share
- exchange BYJ ‘business’ cards (I still haven't prepared mine, embarassed :)
- if anyone had a personal encounter with him, then she’s guaranteed to be the ‘star’ of the show! Be prepared to share the story in every minute detail, hehe, preferably with pictures to show for it too :)

It’s not a problem to repeat any BYJ story over and over again, Bae sisters will never get tired of listening to anything BYJ!

4. Trust own intuition

Just like meeting any new friends, there are always some sisters whom we feel closer to than others. That’s perfectly ok, we don’t have to be bosom-buddies with everyone we meet, otherwise we’ll need 48 hours a day to socialize, right? It’s intuitive human behavior to have an impression of people we meet, but not passing judgement.

You can say BYJ family is probably a homogenous yet the most diversified group of women gathered for the love of one extraordinary man. We come from different countries, upbringings, age groups, professions, with our own languages and cultures. We have very diverse personalities, interests, hobbies, goals, outlooks in life and attitudes towards others. Even though we love the same man, interestingly enough, I find in real life our sisters' tastes in men are all very different. That only proves our prince is universally gorgeous and outstanding who appeals to women from every corner of society. Best of all, BYJ family can recognize and celebrate these differences and exist harmoniously; complementing, supporting and caring about each other.

I really like a card that a dear sister sent me recently, it says, “Think kindly, act gently, care deeply, give freely.” This simply is as beautiful as our Yong Joon!