In the random information category: I have literally been shoveling chocopies into my face these past several days. Some days I even eat a full box worth of chocopies all on my own (= around 1550~1860 calories)... and yet I am still maintaining or even losing weight. And it's not like I'm not eating anything else besides that either so... I'm confused.
Also on Wednesday my glasses broke (one of the nose pieces fell off) and I like panicked asking around for people who knew where cheap glasses shops were so I could buy new ones. They tend to be cheap in Korea anyway, but at that point I didn't want to spend much money at all. I left early for dance lessons and went to Hongdae where a friend said there was a cheap glasses shop. I walked around looking for it and found what I later learned was the wrong shop, but I went in and they were like, 'oh no, we can fix it for you.' Five minutes later and my glasses are as good as new, and how much did it cost? 1,000 won, or around 85 cents USD. Korea, I love you.
Thursday was completely uneventful... and now we get to start my story of the weekend! In all of it's bad and good. Thinking back, more bad things happened than good but all of the good things were amazingly wonderful and completely outweighed the bad things.
Friday Oct. 7th, 2011
On Friday we didn't have actual classes at school because we were having a writing contest in honor of the day that Hangul (the Korean alphabet) was created. We all met in the classroom at the normal time class starts before a teacher came to get us and tell us to move to the little sort of outdoor stadium thing that there is at Yonsei... I don't know the name of it, but it's huge and open, like an amphitheater.
Before the actual competition started they brought out these two huge party balls (or whatever they're even called) and threw out sort of hacky-sack like things on the ground all around them before calling down the level 2 and level 1 students to the open area in front of the stage. Apparently we were to throw these hacky-sacks at the party balls until they cracked open and the themes for the two different options for writing (poetry and essay) to come out of them. The theme for poetry ended up being 바람 (baram, wind), and the theme for essay was 노래 (norae, song). I wrote an essay.
And as it turns out... that is where we had to write and sit. In no shade. For nearly six hours. Needless to say I got a pretty funky sunburn. Though the worst of it was on the arm that I was using to hold up a fan to cover my face for the majority of the day.
Besides the writing part of the writing competition, which was from ten to noon, we also had a thirty minute lunch break in which I went with two of my classmates, Miyu and Asuka, to get lunch from the convenience store inside the student center. Everyone seems amazed that I can eat Korean Shin Ramyeon (the shin is written with the hanja for 'spicy') and not be troubled at all... but really, it is probably the only spicy Korean food that I can actually stand...
We went back and they were doing a Taekwondo demonstration that was really amazing. There was a lot of board-breaking and even making three people high standing pyramids (with each new level standing on the people below's shoulders) and the person having to jump and flip to kick the board the person on top was holding and break it. I have videos that will most likely get uploaded somewhere at some point... Just not right now.
There also were various performances, including traditional Korean singing and comedy (the girls picked a random girl out of the audience, made her say what her ideal type of guy was, and then went searching through the crowd for a guy... and then made them hug.) as well as a demonstration of a traditional Korean wedding. They brought around these sort of mini-Korean style pancakes that they eat at weddings and fed them to random people and I was one of the people to be fed. Definitely was an... interesting taste? I don't even know what to compare it to.
As the day went on people from my class gradually left, but I was determined to stick around to see if I would win. Because the prize for first place was 700,000 won, and the three second place prizes were 400,000 won each. Of course in the end I didn't get anything, even in the ticket raffle drawing, but it was fun being there anyway. We also played a Korean history/culture related question game involving running from one side of the open area to the other whether we thought the statement they said was right or wrong.
After that I went to grab a quick lunch and my dancing things before heading to the dance studio to practice Good-Bye Baby with Alyssa. We're planning on dancing it at the studio's street performance thing not this coming weekend but the weekend afterwards, so we're working really hard on getting it just right.
Once practicing was done we headed home and I actually got to sleep early before the next day.
Saturday Oct. 8th, 2011
It was yet another music show day! This week I dragged along one of the first friends I made here in Korea on the placement test day, Franz. He's really into the girl groups, and even though I didn't know what girl groups were performing that day he said he wanted to go along even if he had to line up with me for Infinite. I met him a bit later than I usually would head up to the music show and we went to take the express bus. Taking the train from Sinchon to Jeongbalsan (the closest station to MBC Dream Center) takes more than an hour, but taking the express bus from in front of Yonsei to a couple streets away only takes 30 minutes, and the costs aren't that different. The only time you should avoid the bus is rush hour. I'll make a whole post about Korean public transport at some point.
We got up to Ilsan and, unable to find any of the girl group lines, we just signed up for Infinite and went to sit with a friend I had made the week before. She's also an Infinite fan, and she posts fan accounts on her tumblr! Since I don't remember everything from the performances and such, I will be linking to those later...
We ran off to grab take out food at a mandu restaurant for breakfast. I got an Omurice and he got Cheese Ramyeon. We then proceeded to take our food back to our little camping spot and eat there and make all the Koreans jealous. Not really, but most of them tend to not eat much on the music show days. For the take out ramyeon they gave him a bowl thing... and then put the ramyeon in a bag. It was hilarious, so of course I took a picture.
And this is my omurice...
It was a pretty long and interesting day... Everybody thought Franz and I were dating. We shared chips and snacks with a group of Korean girls in front of us in the line who were really nice. And one of the fan staff seemed to have a crush on Franz after I told her that he wasn't my boyfriend... She would keep coming to make sure he was okay or stand in a certain spot to block the sun from him. And then the next day (which I will get to later) she asked if he had come as well.
Our prerecording started a bit late, but we got it and had some pretty good seats right in the middle and a bit back. I screamed my head off for Sunggyu, and Franz helped me out some, though I don't think he ever specifically looked in our direction. The Korean girls we had spoken to before were super excited, and I asked them and it turned out it was their first time coming to a music show for Infinite. Yay, newbies! Eventually the prerecording ended and we headed back out, lined up again, and were finally told to be back at a certain time later to line up again for the live. My Inspirit-ELF friend, Franz and I went to the same restaurant we had gotten take out from before and had a sit down lunch. I got a bulkogi set, my friend got mandu and Franz got cheese ramyeon again. Omnomnom...
Went back for the live show and there were still a ton of people around. Because there were four really big fanclubs there that day, even though Music Core is in a huge studio we were worried about getting in. There was ELF (the Super Junior fans, one of the biggest groups in Korea), Inspirit (Infinite fans), BANAs (B1A4 fans) and Best Friends (Boyfriend fans). Each group had well over 100 people, and since Franz and I were at the back of the Infinite line I was worried.
But then a random guy walked over to Franz and I from the ticketed line... Because you can ballot for actual tickets to get into the show for sure or if you don't want to go with a fan club... and handed us tickets and was like, "Come, come!" I (and then Franz when I explained the situation) went wide-eyed as we were lead over to the ticketed line. Some nice Korean had two extra tickets and gave them to us so we were guaranteed entry into the show. Korea! I love you! I really do...
We got into the live, and surprisingly they weren't being nearly as strict about cameras as they usually are. Tons of people (especially in the ticketed section) were taking videos of all the artists and such, except for the ones whose fanstaff noticed the cameras would ask them to stop... but they can't actually confiscate the cameras like the MBC staff can. I was a good K-pop fan and didn't record anything, but I took a picture of the stage before the show started.
I screamed for pretty much all of the groups, but especially Infinite, B1A4, U-Kiss, Super Junior and Boyfriend... Kim Kyujong's new solo song Yesterday was really good as well. And all of the female solo artists are really good! I explained who the groups were as they came out to Franz, but there was one group that took no explanation for him... Brown Eyed Girls. As soon as they came out and I said who it was Franz flipped out and was screaming like a maniac. Most of the Koreans around us were laughing at him (and me when I yelled for the boygroups) because they aren't the fanclub people and they just don't understand. Hmph. Hahaha.
After the live show I decided to wait around for the groups to leave. Franz decided to stay as well, but I ended up telling him how to get back to Sinchon because he wanted to go to the fireworks show in Seoul that night. I'd been planning on going as well, but at this point boy bands outweigh fireworks by quite a bit. Infinite had left early because they had a concert to perform in that was rather far away, but I got to wave at B1A4, Boyfriend, U-Kiss and Super Junior!
If you want to read a more detailed fan account of that day, you can read my friend's tumblr post here.
I headed home and got some rest before the next ridiculously long day...
Sunday Oct. 9th, 2011
Now why was this a ridiculously long day, you may ask? For Inkigayo (the Sunday music show) Infinite had a pre-recording (where they record their portion of the show for that day before the live show), the live show, and also a post-recording (where they record their portion for the show the week after). Basically, I woke up at 4:30am, got to the SBS studio where Inkigayo is at around 7, and would be there until 8 at night or later...
Something that it seems like some foreign (as in not in Korea) fans don't really seem to get is how much energy it takes just supporting the idols as a serious fan here. I didn't understand it before getting here, as well. And although we aren't doing the amount of exercise/dancing/calorie-burning activities that the idols do, we're waking up before them and having just as long of a day. It's really, really exhausting. Really fun, but really exhausting...
Anyway, I got to the people who were running the fan lists for that day for Infinite and one of the girls recognized me (she was one of the girls who helped me get to the fansigning) and took one of the lists and wrote my name and the last four digits of my phone number on it to make sure I was on the list. And this is where a problem arose... there are two different lists, one for official fanclub members, and one for non-fanclub members. She had written me on the fanclub member lists accidentally, and well... I'll get more into that later.
I met with the same Inspirit-ELF friend I had been hanging around with Saturday and we sat around with a Korean girl she had met for a while. At one point I ran off to a PC room to print out proof saying that I had bought the music online even though it was my friend's screencap files so I could be further up in the line. Eventually it was time to line up for the prerecording and, to my despair, I couldn't hear my name called.
Going up to the fanstaff once everyone in line I said that I hadn't heard my name. They recognize me by now, and they were just as confused as I was. I explained that I had come early and they checked the non-member list and my name was nowhere on there. It turned out the girl who recognized me had written my name on the fanclub member list instead. Unable to do anything to just fit me in the line approximately where I would have been I had to go to the back of the line.
On most music show days, this wouldn't have been that bad... But today not only did they have two recordings, but they also were giving out 14 signed posters. Tons of people showed up... We even (most likely) had more people than Super Junior come to see Infinite, because we had a total of around (more than?) 400 people. My friend was B86 (B is for non-fanclub members, A is fanclub members) and while originally I probably would have been around B100, because I was at almost the very back of the line I was B223, even behind some people who had just barely come in time for lining up. Upset because I had gone there early I was ridiculous and started crying in front of all those people. Will I ever be able to go to Inkigayo and not have something make me cry? I don't even know.
But I got my number and we did manage to all fit into the studio for the pre-recording. I was actually just across the aisle from my friend, so we talked back and forth. Then the actual recording started and Infinite was just as friendly and amazing as normal. From my seat I was able to see into the backstage area rather well so even while they were waiting backstage to go on stage for the first time me and the people in my section were able to yell and wave and get some hearts from the members!
All of their recordings were perfect... except for one, where right at the start Sunggyu tripped a little and they had to start over. The poor guy was so embarrassed and he hid his head in his hands. Between takes the members would go back into the backstage area to talk over what to do differently that time and of course me and my section were flipping out. When they would prepare for a new take in their starting position there were times where Woohyun and Dongwoo would reach over and hit the other's butt or when Dongwoo hit Sungyeol on the opposite side of his head and Sungyeol completely failed at hitting him back. More details are at my friend's fan account, which I will link to again later.
After the prerecording was over we stood up to start filing out and still were waving and yelling at the members backstage. Hoya was being hilarious... He was the last one to leave backstage, and he waved up at all of us who could see him, and we all screamed and waved back and he left... then came back again and waved and the same happened. This happened around 5 times, with him waving or making a heart or a peace sign at us. I'm pretty sure at least one of the times he looked directly at me and my friend. That idiot... he totally did it just to get the reaction out of the fans. It's okay though, we love him anyway. (Especially the Korean Inspirits... they love Hoya.)
Heading out of the studio we went into an area further away so we wouldn't be in the way of other groups going in to line up again. Then they started giving out the posters by choosing a number with a number generator. The girl next to my friend got a poster, and a Korean girl who I had helped to find the Infinite people to sign up on the lists for getting in did as well. What is my luck? But then again, to start with it was 10 of the people out of over 400... All of the people in the picture below are the Infintie fans lined up for giving out the posters.
After the posters had been given out they asked who wanted to get into the live. It turned out that if you chose to go into the live you would be in the back of the post-recording, so thinking that nothing big would happen me and my friend decided not to go into the live. Instead we went to get lunch in the basement food court of the nearby HomePlus before heading back to get back in line for the post recording.
Lined up according to number again, as the show came on everyone started watching it on their phones. People would comment or gasp for other performers, but when Infinite finally came on near the end of the show (since they're now one of the more popular groups promoting) everyone cheered and started watching. There was a ton more 'ooh' and 'aah'ing at the good shots or complaining when they cut at a bad part. Afterwards everyone was overall satisfied and saying how good it was. After that all that was left before the winning announcement were Brown Eyed Girls and Super Junior's performances.
When the winning announcement came on we all sort of sat back. Everyone was expecting Brown Eyed Girls or Super Junior to win, but we all still kept watching anyway. Then the count down came, three two one... and it changed to a shot of Sunggyu from the performance the week before. A moment of surprised silence, and then screams and everyone jumped up and flailed and gave hugs to people nearby and started crying. We couldn't even hear their thank you speech because everybody was too loud. People walking by were so confused and freaked out but we just didn't care because Infinite won.
It was just... so amazing. Sure, we weren't inside watching it happen, but I think being outside with the almost 400 Infinite fans screaming and jumping and just being so amazingly happy and surprised was possibly the best way to experience that. We were all just so happy and when Infinite started crying so many of us started crying too, including me... I'm so happy to have been here in Korea to experience that.
Though in the end I was not allowed to hold it up (silly rules), but I made a song that said congratulations for the post recording.
We went into the post-recording and the energy was just amazing. Everyone was screaming so loud, especially when Infinite came out. And all of Infinite was so happy and smiling and throwing hearts so much and obviously so happy. The fan chants were also unbelievably loud and so energetic. When they went off stage after their practice run through everyone started singing "il-wi chukha hamnida~" to the tune of happy birthday before one of the girls close to the fanstaff (the girl who had recognized me that morning) shouted out to wait until they came out. One of the staff then said that it would be okay and so we waited.
Infinite came out and talked with the staff before taking their places to start the first actual recording and we all started singing. They all looked so happy and touched and like they wanted to cry, but it was like no, we just had our make-up redone after crying when we won, and we still have to perform so there weren't any tears. The energy continued to be super high and after a while they finished. They all walked off stage waving and throwing hearts and being friendly until the very end.
After we filed out almost the whole group waited near the exit of the building's parking lot for Infinite to leave. There were Inspirits lining the street waiting for them to leave. Then they came out and everyone cheered and took pictures and video and waved and yelled. Hoya and Sungjong both stuck their heads out of the sunroof and wove and blew kisses, Dongwoo stuck his head out of the window, and Sunggyu rolled down his window to wave.
Everyone slowly made their way home and I went to sleep that night surprisingly early, but very happy. Overall it was a really amazing day.
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