Saju Cafe: Your Destiny is written in a tiny little book

While Ian Oppa was here, we took him to a saju cafe in Shinchon. Saju means "fortune," so as you can probably guess, a saju cafe is a place where you order up a beverage along with your fortune. Or, more accurately, you are forced to purchase a drink in order to get your fortune told.

The fortune tellers are specially trained to read (interpret?) your fortune from what looks like a really worn book of Chinese characters. You must provide your birth date and birth time (Some fortune tellers will ask for your birth information according to Korean time). Then, the fortune teller scribbles down a few illegible characters into her notebook. From these few scribblings, she can then tell you about your personality, health, love life, and finances.

Cyndi & I have been to a couple of saju cafes (usually with Bo Unnie). It's sort of become a hobby. Some people golf. We get our fortunes told. Some people take fortune telling very seriously. I've determined that I go because I'm narcissistic and enjoy hearing about myself. I also believe, or would like to believe, that my birth date and time have some effect on the person that I am.

That's definitely how I felt when we got our fortunes told at Hera, a saju cafe in Shinchon. In addition to a tarot card reading, there are several saju options at Hera. We all debated between the one-year fortune (10,000 won) and the whole-life fortune (20,000). Ian-Oppa went all-in and decided to go for the whole-life fortune. After we heard the eerie accuracy of Ian-Oppa's fortune, Cyndi & I immediately followed suit.

I won't go into the details of Ian Oppa's fortune, but I will say that almost everything she said rang true. She even spoke of a few issues that Ian-Oppa had never even discussed with us. We kept staring at her little notebook and thinking to ourselves, "You got all of that from a few Chinese characters?"

My fortune was also quite accurate and in line with what I've heard from other sajus. I think what particularly stood out about this particular saju is her manner of speaking. She spoke with an authority, and offered more details than I've received from prior readings. Most of what she said were things that I already knew about myself, but hearing her say what she said without any prompting from me was still pretty trippy.

With the success of Ian-Oppa's reading, we decided to take Piliksu to Hera earlier this week. I don't think his reading was as dead-on as Ian-Oppa's, but it wasn't far-fetched either. Piliksu gave me permission to post about his reading, so chingus back home, you can tell me what you think about his reading.

Piliksu's Saju:

• His face and fortune indicate that he is very lucky, particularly when it comes to money.
• He is very interested in making money.
• He gets bored with women very easily.
  
• He is sensitive.
  
• He's close to his mom. His mother brings him luck, so he should always be good to her.
• He also has "wife luck." He will likely marry a woman that is older than him. His future wife will also bring him luck (e.g., money).
  
• He needs a wife that will take care of him.
  
• His future wife will be Asian-American.
• He will have one son (The saju does not reveal if and how many daughters he will have).
  
• He should invest his money (particularly in real estate) or else money will keep going out. His wife may be a big factor in this out flow of cash.
• She could tell that he had started new job a year or to ago. His new job was a good move.
• However, Felix will not be at this company long term. When he's around 35 or so, he'll want to venture out on his own, and perhaps get involved with trade or technology.
  
• His body is weak, so he must exercise regularly.
  
• He should also avoid drinking, because he has a weak liver.
  
• Since he was born in the winter, his body seeks heat (i.e., alcohol). Thus, he can drink a lot.
• Rainy days make him want to drink.
  
• He should NOT live in China. If he lives in Asia, he needs to live in warm climates, such as Singapore or Malaysia.
  
• She advised him to avoid lending money to friends. This will be hard, since he is a generous guy.
  

I can't recall everything that the saju said, but she did keep emphasizing that there was a lot of money and luck in his fortune. So ladies, if you're in your early 30's, are caring, and of Asian descent, please holla at our friend, Piliksu (Don't worry. That's not his real name)

As for the rest of you, if you're interested in getting your fortune told, Hera is located behind the Hyundae Department store, heading towards Edae and Choi's Tacos. It's in a building or two after Mr. Pizza. It's in the same building as Lovely Bar(?). Unfortunately, the saju woman only speaks Korean. Don't forget to pick up a stamp card. You get a free tarot card reading after six saju sessions.