K-POP

Last weekend, I was able to use my foreigner status to score free tickets to a Korean pop (K-pop) festival called Asia Is One. I went with a group of people and we had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into. The concert was held at the World Cup Stadium. When we got off the subway and got above ground, I was immediately overwhelmed by hundreds, possibly thousands of teeny boppers who were super energized to see their soul mates perform. I have had my fair share of experiences in Asia with feeling claustrophobic, so I was able to function. After figuring out our ticket situation and dodging the stampede of screamers running into the stadium, we found our way to our seats. As we entered the "loading zone" into the stadium, we were blown with some sort of antibacterial air that supposedly got rid of the swine flu germs that were all over our bodies. We also went through cameras that tested our body temperature. I felt like I was in some sort of experiment. I probably was. Fabulous. All I knew was that I was swine free and relieved. ha. We entered the stadium and waited for the show to begin. They kept playing the most depressing clip of children in Indonesia moving and carrying rocks on their heads. I'm not sure what the point of that was, but I'm pretty sure I saw it about 20 times during the show. It kinda puts a damper on the screaming and dancing atmosphere. Big Bang was the headliner. When they were finished and came back for the encore, everyone was surprised that it was a different band singing. Strange. All of the bands were entertaining and made me giggle during the entire 4 hour show. Yes, 4 hours. I will be ok if I never listen to K-pop again. I got to hear all the songs that my students have been tormenting me with for months. I have to be careful about saying "Nobody", "Sorry", "I don't care", etc. My students will literally stop what they are doing and sing those damn songs. A lot of the popular songs have a few English words or phrases in them. Right now, there is a commercial on TV that says "Ole!". I hear "Ole" probably 100 times a day, everyday. I love my life. Really, I do.

Here are some of the AMAZING pictures from the concert performers. ha.


RUN!!!!


Paranoia, Paranoia. Everybody's paranoid. Yes, they are serious.



"Girls Generation" Yes, they really have this many members in their group.



I love the lead singer's hair. It looks so natural.


I know your life is now changed by seeing these pictures. Not the best quality, but you can get the idea. Watching all of the girls in the crowds crying, dancing to the music (you can tell they have been rehearsing daily for months), and singing every word, brought me back to my own boy band days. I had a slight obsession with the Backstreet Boys and N*Sync. When I say slight, I mean extreme. I went to way too many concerts and was totally those girls. Awesome. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

ps. I never cried. That's a little much, even for me.


Bye, Bye, Bye, BYE BYE! (Do you know that song???)


xoxo

1 Month left in Korea.