김선아님이 “hi..dia..^^”라고 했어요!
Kim Sun-Ah said, “hi..dia..^^”.
It was not the first time – but it feels like the first time all the time.
So, yesterday was the launch of Kim Sun-Ah’s Official Facebook page. We’ve been crazily waiting for it since it was announced the night before the opening. When it was opened at exactly 12:00nn (Seoul Time), I was the third person to like it (I think). And I was the first one to make a wall post.
All throughout the day, fans came by and left wall posts one after the other. I keep refreshing the page mainly because I want to read the wall posts by her fans. A big percentage of my Facebook friends are her fans (as of this time 85 out of 1,230 likes were my friends). I was happy seeing familiar faces on Kim Sun-Ah’s wall and at the same time I was happy reading messages from people I don’t know saying how much they like Kim Sun-Ah, how happy they are that she’s on Facebook, and asking her questions. It makes my heart warm and it makes me feel proud. Plus I also enjoyed that about half of the wall posts are in Korean, thus I get to test my Korean and see whether I can understand them or not.
Around 7:00pm (Seoul Time) Kim Sun-Ah started leaving comments on posts on her wall. She started replying from the most recent post and moved her way to down. I keep refreshing the page as she leaves replies one after the other. As I stare on my laptop screen, I kept wondering if it’s really her or her management staff. It was the first time she/they were online since the launch. They have prepared the facebook page days ago and were just opened to the public yesterday noon. Could it really be her? Maybe it’s just her staff.
The replies were mostly short. Mostly ‘thanks’ and ‘yes’ or ‘no’s. But they were cute like 아니네용, 안될껀없는뎅 and some spellings were modified like 우윳빛깔 (for 우유 빛깔) – exactly how our Suna Unnie used to do most of the time (I actually learned those from her). Still, I cannot be sure. Any Korean can do that anyway.
But when it reached Ayu’s post, my heart skipped a bit. She said Ayu’s name on her comment – and talked to her in Korean, then in Japanese. Suna Unnie knows Ayu. Ayu is a Japanese who speaks good Korean and who frequents Kim Sun-Ah’s events. Whenever there’s an event (a fanmeeting, a birthday party, an M.T., etc) Ayu is around – in Korea, in Japan, even in Taiwan. But she didn’t type in Japanese. She wrote them in 한글. She does that sometimes, but sometimes she also types in Japanase. But it could also very well be one of her staff. They must have known Ayu too. Especially because a few years ago, she helped MBC in translating Japanese-Korean-Japanese dialogue in Kim Sun-Ah’s drama When It’s At Night (밤이면 밤마다).
Another reply came. The post was: 자주 만나지요….. Kim Sun-Ah’s reply was: 아!!! 어디서……ㅋㅋ – that IS very Suna! It could really be her after all…
My heartbeat stops as another one of my post came nearer and nearer… and after pressing another Refresh…
There – at the bottom of my wall post – she replied hi..dia..^^
Right there and then, I died!
…
That must be her! No! That’s DEFINITELY her! There’s no way for her management team to know I’m Dia. I would be in doubt if I’m using Dia Soriano as my Facebook name. But I’m not.
In fact, I was surprised as to how Suna Unnie recognized that it was me – Dia. It’s the last 3 letters of my name but I’ve never used Alodia in her cafe and I never signed as Alodia on any letters/gifts I gave her. Unless she even read the shipper’s address on packages I sent her (and why would she do that?). Or maybe she remembered it when she sent me a package before. Nah! I’m sure it’s her manager who wrote my address on that parcel. Or maybe she remembered it when she signed a photo for me last year and she wrote my complete name – surname and all (because we were told to send her our full names!). But other than that, to her I’m always Dia. Hmm… she could’ve recognized our photo together since it was my profile picture in Facebook. After all it was on that day when I heard her call my name “Dia”. Or she must’ve read my first post on her wall when I wrote 디야 – 필리핀. Or my comments on some photos she uploaded that I also signed as 디야 – 필리핀. I really don’t know… And it really surprised me – a wonderful surprise at that!
But as my good Vietnamese friend told me, “Why are you surprised? Have you forgotten how good our Unnie’s memory is? She surely remembers you!”. She has a point. Our Unnie is known for her good memory. She remembers events, dates, names and faces well. She also replied to another fan, Yummy (a fan from Hong Kong who’s also a frequent attendee of events), with a ‘hi..yummy^^’
My friend has a point. 압니다. 알았지만 놀랐다. I know, but it still surprises me. I just can’t believe it that she recognized me again – and can still remember me. Her “calling” my name again feels like heaven.
The first time she “said” my name was 2 years ago. My friend told me: (선아언니가) 디야 한국말이 많이 늘었는데 반말이랑 섞여있다고 했어요. (*facepalm ㅠㅠ*). The second time was last year – on her cafe. I seldom almost never got a chance to get a reply from her on her cafe. It needs timing and luck. And I’m not very good with both – especially the first one. In fact, all these years, I only got one reply from her – and that was last year. But on that one reply, she said my name: 유투…. 디야….^^. The third time, which was also last year, she said my name in front of me: “Dia, please be careful.”
Then yesterday, once more, she said my name.
My friend said Suna Unnie has a knack for calling my name. 🙂
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She didn’t reply to everyone though. I was actually surprised that she exerted effort to reply to a handful of fans. She started from the most recent and replied to the next 22 or 23 posts (and liked one post). Then went back and replied to 2 or 3 new ones (a total of 25 replies). She said on the last post that that would be all for the day. And she never re-reply anymore. A couple of hours later she posted a new photo and a new message but she never replied to posts anymore.
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Finally I had my luck yesterday. I was not planning to post another message on her wall after my first one. I don’t want to flood it. I’ve said my piece. I’m simply enjoying reading other fans’ wall posts. However a good friend from Taiwan, Selena, posted: we are Taiwan fans .love you forever~~♥♥♥♥♥ So I wrote on again on Suna Unnie’s wall: We are Filipino fans. And we love you too~~ ♥♥♥♥♥ – as a response to Selena’s post somehow. If Selena didn’t post that, I would’ve stayed quiet – and I wouldn’t have gotten a comment from Suna Unnie since she didn’t reached the bottom posts (the early posts). Thanks Selena! 🙂
I wished she’d seen my first post though. It’s better and it makes more sense – I think. Plus I made an effort to write it in Korean. ㅋㅋㅋ. I’m not sure if my Korean is correct, but at least I didn’t mix formal with banmal speech anymore, did I? O.o
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Facebook has never been this fun. Even if Suna Unnie is not online, it’s still fun. There’s a certain atmosphere on her page that gave warmth to my heart. Reading fans’ comments, meeting more and more new friends – It’s just wonderful and heartwarming.
But somehow it’s very addicting. All I did yesterday and today is to be on Facebook (and do my part time job). I didn’t have time left to study Korean anymore. But I get to read a lot of Korean and get to write Korean responses too. Would that compensate for me not doing my Korean lessons for the past 2 days? LOL 😀
