Jun. K and Enlistment...How is this Stan handling being a military wife? LOL!!!

Bae has enlisted and it was a shock, but not a surprise. Obviously, I knew he was going to enlist, as I wrote the Blog "So Your Bias Will Enlist". What I didn't know is that he was going to have a little DUI situation and have to basically go on a self-inflicted hiatus. I figured it would happen in the month of May and we all had theories. I wish I had a picture of my work calendar because I wrote down the dates that other idols were enlisting and thought maybe he would go the same day. I was close but wrong. Enlistment date: May 8th.

My initial reaction to his enlistment:                         

So I hyperventilated a little and dropped a tear or two but I soon got it together and read his letter in several English translations.  I thought for sure Minjun would have posted a pic on Instagram before he enlisted, but after reading the letter, I see that getting into a little trouble publically was very disheartening/disappointing to himself and he took all very seriously as he should. The way he had locked himself up, I thought the next time I was going to see Minjun was on the day his enlistment would be over. LUCKILY someone is the best leaker or poster or Jun. K stan because he has been in the Army for 13 days (Korea Time) and we have so many updates and postings. Honestly, it's like a breath of fresh air. I feel like I am seeing him more than I did before the DUI even. 

Insignia

 What is awesome is there is a way for me to write a letter to him, which I have drafted and written in hangul and just need to type it on the Korean Military website... www.mil.kr/iletter 
This is the 2nd Infantry's Insignia that you have to click to find him. 

He even wrote a letter to fans expressing how everyone is getting along and that he was able to learn formations easily (Easier than 2pm's Choreography). I am now feeling proud of him as he is toughing it out better than I once thought and he is even being a leader to his squad in the army. I hope he continues to do well. 
I also think it is safe to say that he has a great face without make up. While active with 2pm Kim Min Jun ssi is made up with a lot of make up. There is a great deal of contouring done with his face. 2pm make up artist once said this was due to the fact that his face isn't as symmetric as the others and so this takes more time. All I know is with or without make-up that's MY BAE!!!! I love him. I will continue to wait for him. 627 days left. 
 Special thanks for the pics to:
blossom137
junkayfreak
j.k_meichan_5678
tamajunkei_602

  

Yeah Jun. K enlisted and....

I'll get back to that in a moment, but first, a fellow kpopper tagged me to a post from Buzzfeed discussing African American BTS stans who are dealing with Racism within the ARMY standom. Upon moving into these Twitter groups with Armies, these young ladies found themselves in a ball of hate as they were taunted and called n*****. This is not necessarily disturbing to me because the truth of the matter is that I have always known racism. I know that it exists. What sucks is that that once again African American WOMEN are finding themselves excluded from a group that they really shouldn't feel excluded from... The article stated that some had decided to come up with an African American Army subgroup.  Youngins' may not know this one but: "Can't we all just get along?" 

Stories like this are not new to me, but in all honesty, it hasn't happened to me...YET....  First, I am a Jun. K stan (FOR SURE), but I have pretty much kept myself in a small group, as a matter of fact, I have two VERY close Jun. K stan friends one in London and one in Singapore. For about 2 years now its been us in our own personal chat group. I consider myself the elder as I am the oldest and the 2 are my little sisters. I take it seriously as a friendship, created from an admiration of Jun. K but I hope it can continue as friends even after Jun. K. (WHOA way sentimental) (We talk about everything sometimes) 

Recently, I have dived further into the standom. My boy band is 2pm, our Fandom is called Hottest, We have all kinds of Hottests, Japanese Hottests, Indonesian Hottests, Pinoy Hottests, Arabic Hottests... It's worldwide... obviously. I started talking to more and more hottests because at a time like this...a generational shift which really means our boys will be on a long ass hiatus because of the Military we have to stick together to hold each other up while we wait. Hottests have been the best sweetest friends ever. Knock on wood. I haven't had a bad experience as a hottest dealing with race or anything else. I have never even been in an argument with Hottests. I think this is because most of us are older and by older, I mean like 50 with a daughter who is 25 and a granddaughter that is 4 and they all love 2pm. The Armies in discussion are teenagers or in their early 20s. 

AND...
I tend to have a different experience as an African American being that I am what they call high yellow... Personally, I like to think that Hottests are just good people. 2pm has shown us again and again and again and again (If you are a hottest you get it) that they are decent humans. Let's continue to be real Korea is an Asian country that has some strong nationalistic views and unfortunately believes some stereotypes about Black folks. (They had a famous blackface character up until recently.) A young friend of mine says it's getting better, and I have another friend, an awesome Melanin enriched chick who has made Korea her home. Another friend talked about how people literally gawked while she was on the metro. I have never been to Korea...YET... but because of my experience in the United States, because of the way I look I can only imagine people would still gawk trying to figure it out.... most people know I am "something" but there are questions like: What is she? WAIT STOP... just remember the most WOW moment with a Korean lady in the USA... She literally looked at my skin and looked at her skin then looked at my mom and wanted to know "What happened?" Because I was lighter than her (a Korean woman), yet my mom is brown skin as she is African American. (Mom was offended and I am just like welcome to my world). Yeah, there is that skin color thing in Korea as in getting your skin as close to milky is the best) I am reminded of a time that someone made a comment about Jun. K's completion in his music video versus in person and it was almost as if he apologized for having dark skin. AGAIN "Why can't we all just get along?

Trying to conclude: 
Why does this happen? Do we ask white people why do they like Beyonce or tell them that they can't like Beyonce? Why can't little black girls like Korean Pop artists? I can't even get into the appropriation of black music that is Korean Pop. Save that for another blog. The real question is why can't black girls be black girls and why are we ridiculed for the beautiful melanin of our skin? I guess the world will never know. 

Overall I love 2pm, I love my skin, I love my mom's skin, I want to touch Jun.K's skin, I love Hottests and I am glad to have all of it. 

If there are black girls out there who love KPOP but are hiding it... PLEASE let it be known... we can make our own group. Black KPOP Stans unite!!!!