On Tuesday I went to hang out with like my new best friend here in Korea, Theresa. I met her at Music Core that first Saturday in the B1A4 line. First we checked in an area nearby if they were filming a certain music show that's not one of the main four. When that turned out nothing we ate at KFC before heading down to somewhere in the southern part of Seoul in order to see if we could meet the group Block B near their company. Their car wasn't there when we got there, but she took me in and showed me where the company's office is and we went to chill in a cafe nearby. We hung around for several hours before eventually heading off and leaving.
Back in Sinchon I took her to this one mandu (dumpling) restaurant that I had noticed had an extremely cheap menu and was pleasantly surprised. You can get 10 mandu for 3,000 won ($2.50), and if you're eating in you get soup along with it. Mandu ramyeon (= ramen) is also 3,000 won ($2.50). Regular ramyeon is 2,500 won ($2.12), and I believe the most expensive thing on the menu is curry at 5,000 won ($4.23). But the serving portions are huge and it's completely delicious.
The next day I went out to buy CDs for fansignings with Theresa and later got lunch at Mapo Mandu again before going to orientation at school, which started at 3pm. But they really just cannot fit everybody into their auditorium, so I was left standing outside before giving up and going to buy my textbooks. I was placed into the second level, which I'm extremely glad for. I'm even one of the better people in the class, but there are still plenty of things I don't know so I think it really was the best choice. I bought the textbooks Japanese versions, since most of the Korean learning I've done has been from Japanese books. It doesn't make much of a difference other than the translations in the back of the book, because most of the instructions are in Korean anyway. Books altogether were 68,000 won ($57.58), and there's two textbooks, one practice book, and one reading book. It will be the same price each term from here on out as well.
Afterwards I met up with Franz and Dani and headed to Mapo Mandu again for dinner. I had eaten lunch late, so I just took them there and helped them order. I also helped finish off Dani's mandu ramyeon when she couldn't finish all of it. I love the food there so much...
I was able to head back home for a couple hours then before leaving again for my second day of K-pop dance classes at JK Studio. Much as with the first time, this time was also very fun. We recorded the dance as well, and I'm waiting for it to show up on the official facebook or their website. I want to see how I did!
Thursday was the first day of actual classes, so I got to meet my classmates and our teachers. We jumped right into things, and the amount of homework we have nightly is pretty ridiculous. For each vocabulary word (aruond 4+ per section) we have to make two or three sentences, and for each grammar point (2+ per section) we have to make two sample conversations. Then we also have to copy the sample dialogue from the book twice. On top of that we have to do all the practice pages for each section in our practice book, and there are around four or five per chapter. We do a section a day, so that is a loooot of homework every night. I will do it, though! I will.
After the first day of classes I went home and was hanging around for a bit when I suddenly got a text from one of my friends here. She was like, oh hey, we're going to queue for U-Kiss for M!Countdown. Meet me at Hongdae in 10 minutes and we can head up. Hongdae is one station away from Sinchon, where I live. But I'm a good 5 minute walk from the station and I was in my pajamas. I somehow managed to get dressed, out to the station and to Hongdae before my friend even got back to the station and bus stops. I didn't look good, but I was there.
We took a bus up to Digital Media City where M!Countdown is and I went to line up. They didn't have enough space for like anybody in the live show though, except for two of us we weren't able to get in. But! U-Kiss was taking part in a free, public concert that was just across the street after they were done with M!Countdown so we went to chill there until the concert would happen and we got to see them anyway.
The concert started with this group of guys and girls from who knows where that did a sort of dancing skit thing. It was interesting and funny, but for some reason it was only funny to me and the group of foreigners I was with because all the Koreans were all sitting there completely poker faced. After they were done the MCs came out and spoke English (so we knew it was something for Arirang, a Korean station that broadcasts in English) and started introducing the groups. Though I don't remember for sure everybody who we saw, we for sure saw Blady and Maybee, who are both really good.
Finally it was time for U-Kiss, the headliners of the show. They came out on stage and I like flipped out. I was flailing and screaming for my favorite member, the leader Soohyun. The foreigners I'm friends with now see them relatively often, so they're not really freaking out at all. Soohyun looks over and gives me a sort of awkward wave and I spazz and flail and cling onto my friend Stephanie. She started petting my hair and the youngest of U-Kiss, Dongho, supposedly started cracking up. At that point I was flailing too much to really realize for sure what was happening.
U-Kiss performed Neverland, and they were amazing like always. After they were off stage the show was over, and we waited around a bit for them to come out... At which point the Korean girls scream and run off in a certain direction and we're like, oh hey, let's follow them. Coming around to the exit of a blocked off parking lot everyone stopped. We got to see U-Kiss drive away in two different cars and they rolled down their windows partway and waved at us. So nice~. That was the end of that day.
On Friday I had my second day of classes and I made some more friends. During the day I had gotten a text from a friend that Music Bank would still be queueing when I got out of class, so I hurried the 20 minute or so walk down to the station and went over to where KBS was. After some wandering I found out where I needed to be. And even though I originally had gone because they said U-Kiss would be there... I spotted a line for Infinite. Apologizing to my friend and glad I had my Infinite CD in my bag, I went to queue with them and managed to get in! While waiting I made friends with two Japanese girls who were behind me in the line, and I bought the official Infinite penlight.
-creeps down in the corner-
Because Music Bank's live show requires you to have tickets, it was just the prerecording. After waiting for a few hours we got let in and were set down in the seats to watch Infinite prerecord their comeback performance of Paradise. They went through it four times, with the first time being a sort of practice/rehearsal run with the cameras in the positions they would be in. The Japanese girl who I made friends with also was a Sunggyu fan, and while they were getting ready for that first runthrough we both called out "Sunggyu~!" and he looked up at us and waved. So happy~ <3
Afterwards I had a bit of time, so we stood around waiting for people to leave and were greatly disappointed when nothing happened. There also was a rather rude security guard who unfortunately spoke English, so I couldn't pretend I didn't understand he was telling us to go behind a certain area. After around thirty minutes of that I had to run off to head to my dance school for an MT.
MT stands for Members Training, which basically is a sort of group bonding thing that Korean school groups, clubs and things like dance schools do. People from all the various dance classes came to the dance school and we made food (pasta, baked apples, ddeokbokki) and sat around and talked for a while. Most of the people were drinking quite a bit, but I gladly refrained. Yes, I am old enough here, but yeah... Do not want.
We hung around and people gradually got crazier (= more drunk). At 11pm I got a call from Theresa, who I had asked to let me know about the results of the Infinite fansigning. In the beginning of the call she had a sort of grim voice and said that one of us had gotten into the fansigning... and I was standing there like, oh no, it was her and not me, wasn't it? And she then said, "Go get yourself a bottle of soju (Korean alcohol) and celebrate, because you got in!" and I'm pretty sure I screamed and like fell to the floor on my knees. I had gone out to the stairs since it was loud inside the dance school and my friend Alyssa and one of the Korean boys at the dance school Sanghoon were there to witness it. I continued to freak out for the rest of the night.
And then at around 11:30pm we started doing a sort of comedy/performance competition. But unfortunately, what happens in the MT stays at the MT, and I'm not going to share any of the strange pictures or videos on here. I will say, it involved crossdressing and people wearing stockings over their heads as well as some pretty bad (and pretty good) acting.
Because some people had things to do the next day, including me (Music Core and Infinite fansigning), Mia (a girl who goes to Seogang, a school near mine) and three of the Korean boys (Sanghoon, Kyungmin oppa, and Kyungbin). Oppa literally means older brother to a girl, but it's a term used pretty often to refer to a guy who's older than you but not too old to not be a sibling. They all needed to take the same bus as us, and after our little competition thing we had to run off and barely made the last bus of the night. On the bus we spoke some in mixed Korean and English, and I and Mia both got some phone numbers.
That night I stayed up until around 3am before finally getting to sleep, getting ready for the amazing and busy weekend. And that will be in my next post. So look forward to it~.
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