So two Saturdays ago was one of the most important events in my life....as a kpop fan that is. lol.

August 21 was the SM Town Live Concert in Olympic Stadium in Seoul . Gabi got tickets through a friend of hers so we got to be part of the selective 35,000 at the concert!



We started the day in lines of people, trying to figure out how to change the eticket for our actually tickets. After a little bit of difficulty we finally made it inside the stadium!



The concert began at 4pm and started with the lesser known singers, mainly known for drama theme songs they had sung.

The one thing that is pretty awesome about Korean concerts is the fans. In America the one thing I hate about concerts is you pay for a seat but end up standing the entire freaking time and struggling to see around the 6’4” person in front of you. No, korean fans are way cooler. They stay in their seats and chill out but are still really enthusiastic and hyper. It’s pretty awesome because everyone in the crowd had a balloon and they were waving them in support of the groups. Each color represented a certain group. It looked really awesome in person to see all of the balloon waving. Then later, when it got dark, people pulled out glow sticks to wave instead! It was pretty awesome! WAY better than the lighter/cellphone thing we have going on in America. lol.



Then finally we got to some good stuff!

F(x) was one of the first better known bands who came out. They were pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of theirs but I can’t complain.



Then Jessica from SNSD and one other girl came out singing Kesha’s Tik Tok. I kind of wonder whether they had the rights to use the song or not.... but no else seemed to be too worried about it and it was pretty entertaining to hear the “Barbie” version. lol.



Then SHINee finally came on! It was pretty awesome because they were the first real big name to come out and they sang their first big hit, “Juliette.” It was also awesome because they utilized all of the stages, coming super close to where we were sitting. Well, as close as they could get, we weren’t sitting down by the stage or anything.



After SHINee came TRAX. I hadn’t heard of TRAX before the concert, but I am a devoted fan now. TRAX is a rock group by SM and they well, rocked ^^ The guitarist was fantastic and it didn’t hurt that he was sporting white hair and a whole white outfit. Talk about hot. But seriously, their music was really awesome! It was a nice surprise to find a new band to follow!!



After TRAX was Girl’s Generation or SNSD. I liked them before the concert, but I have to say I lost a bit of respect for them. They sounded like the Chipettes for half the concert and their sickeningly sweet act got on my nerves. They weren’t bad though, when they sang their hits. It was the lesser known stuff that got annoying. lol.



After SNSD was finally Super Junior!!!!!!!!!!! They opened with Super Girl which is actually a song from Super Junior M, the Chinese branch of the group, but it was still really awesome!!!



Then, FINALLY, came BoA!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing to finally see the performer I have been following since high school. Never in my life did I believe I would be able to see BoA live in concert. Not only did I get to see her live in concert, I got to see her special 10th anniversary celebration and video. She was, of course amazing!!!!



Then, they had what seemed to be a good bye song. The concert seemed to be over....but wait.... was it????

NOOOOOO! It was JUST the beginning!!!! Well, ok, intermission! hehehe.

They turned everything off like it was over and we thought wait, it can’t be over, the concert is supposed to be longer than this. Finally after about 15-20 minutes laser lights started up and out came???



Super Junior singing...wait for it.... Sorry Sorry!!!!!

Yes, that was another all time amazing moment for me as a kpop lover. A-MA-ZING! The lights, the dancing, the outfits, everything. Fantastic.

Turns out the second half of the concert is where it was really at. All of the bands saved all of their best songs for this part of the concert. We’re talking, Sorry Sorry, Oh!, Bonamana, Mystery, Lucifer, Dangerous, Mirotic, Hurricane Venus, Wonder Boy, Let Me, Don’t Don, and SO much more!



So we’re jamming out, and the lights go out and these green laser lights start going off and this dark voice over the speaker comes on and say….. “WE ARE DBSK!”

Man, the whole place went CRAZY!!!!

Here came two members of DBSK on wires floating down from the top of the Olympic Statium!!!!



It was SOOOOOO amazing to get to see them! They even performed Mirotic, one of my all time favorites of their and one of their last songs before the broke up.



You see several members of DBSK got into a legal battle with SM over their contract and the group pretty much broke up over it. Which is also why there were only two members at the concert. However, it was STILL fantastic! I never thought I would get to see them live!!!

After DBSK there was several more songs from ever group.



SNSD ended with Oh!


SHINee ended with Lucifer!



Super Junior ended with Wonder Boy.


And last, but certainly not least, BoA and the entire concert, ended with her new hit Hurricane Venus.

By the time the concert ended it was 11pm. Yes, that’s right. The concert lasted 7 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It truly was an amazing day though. I can’t believe I only paid 44,000won to see all of those amazing groups and to pretty much hear every song they’ve ever been known for plus all of their current hits! It was SO fantastic!



K.C.

One of the hardest parts of my job is constantly having to say goodbye. Not only do students come and go, but your coworkers are constantly leaving. Since I arrived here, I have had to say goodbye to 5 coworkers over a span of 8 months. When you think about it, that’s a lot! I’m not very good with goodbyes anyways. However, I’ve gotten more used to it and the next one leaving is ME! lol.


Anyways, Orla, one of my coworkers was getting ready to leave and go to grad school, so the weekend before she was to leave all of the coworkers headed out for a fun night.

We started out the night with all you can eat galbi in Sinchon. What can I say.... it was all you can eat galbi! lol. yummmmmmm. We also had several rounds of soju shots and beer.

I was planning on going home after dinner because I had an early morning appointment. However, I decided to stick around and see what the Hongdae night life is all about.

We then headed over to Hongdae. Now, I’ve been to Hogndae in the daytime, but this was my first time, in 8 months, that I had been to Hongdae at night to party.

We started at the park in Hongdae. We got some beer/KGB at the GS and listened to some music, watched some break dancing and just hung out and talked. It was really fun. I actually had a great conversation about literature! yay!

Then we headed to Orla’s favorite bar, the Hoe Bar by the park. There I had an “amaretto sour.” I use the quotation marks because it wasn’t really an amaretto sour. It was all amaretto and grenadine. ew. It was really sickeningly sweet. We got an extra one from the waiter so Derek, Orla and I decided it would be a good idea to stick our straws into it and slurp it down as fast as possible. Talk about sugar overload! lol!

After the Hoe Bar we headed to Orla’s favorite dance club, club Q.Vo. It was really fun! It costs 15,000won to get in, but you get a free drink card when you pay. So we head in and Orla gets us all Long Island Ice Teas... Now I’m already feeling pretty good from the soju, KGB and amaretto sours but by the time I drink the long island ice tea, I’m feeling pretty far gone. Then somehow I get stuck with another long island ice tea. I drink that down and I’m definitely gone.

Now anyone who knows me knows I don’t like clubs and I don’t like dancing. In fact, when I got there I was annoyed from people constantly running into me and kept myself up against the bar to try and stay out of the way. BUT, after that last long island ice tea I became a dancing machine. I didn’t say GOOD dancing, just dancing. lol. Orla and I headed out into the crowd and found some people to dance with. I danced with a couple of guys, made some new friends and had a blast!! Like I said, I was pretty gone. lol. I didn’t even mind having random people dancing up against me. It was like I did a 180. lol.

We finally headed out about 5:30 in the morning and I got to bed around 7.

It was such a blast! I plan to go back to Hongdae to party again. I do NOT, however, plan to take in that much alcohol ever ever again. lol. It was not easy getting up and heading out to the 7 hour long SM town concert the next morning... lol.
So overall, my first encounter with Hongdae nightlife was very good! I didn’t include all the details (some details remain a mystery to me too. lol) but I think you get the idea!

K.C.

The only proof of my crazy night, now long washed away.

**Picture Credit: I didn't have my camera, so these pics all belong to Gabi!**

Two Sundays ago I went to Everland with Gabi and a previous student of mine and his parents. It really was a blast even though it was super hot and I turned into a babysitter for the day.





When we finally made it we were met with what looked like a cute European landscape. It was pretty cool because from faraway it looked pretty real!


The theme at the time was Summer Splash so the whole place was done up with an underwater theme. However, my favorite part was a section that looked straight out of beauty and the beast :-)







Of course we had to go on the merry-go-round. It’s an all time favorite!



As we were finishing the Carousel, the water parade began so we watched the water parade and then followed it to where they put on a whole show. It was really cute with lots of water explosions and bad guys, etc.



After lunch we went on a cute little train ride. Then it was FINALLY time for me to ride the T-Express!!!!

I walked up and there was, get this, NO LINE. I walked up and got on! I was pretty much in shock!

Here is some info about the T-Express!

• South Korea's first wooden roller coaster 
• World's steepest wooden roller coaster(77 degrees) 
• Falling altitude : 56m (7th in the world) 
• Attraction time : 3min 00sec (the longest in Asia, 7th in the world)
• Air time : 12 times (the most air times in South Korea)
• Altitude : 56m (the highest in Asia, 3rd in the world)
• Maximum Speed : 104 km/h (the fastest in Asia, 8th in the world)

After the T-Express we decided to go on safari. We got in line and had to wait about a half an hour. Not too bad. We finally got to the bus, which then took us around to the different sections of the safari.



The first section of the Safari was the Tiger section. They had white tigers and normal tigers together and they roamed free. It was really cool. The white tigers were definitely my favorite!



The next section had the giraffes, elephant, camel and zebras, but it was less exciting. These animals were in sections and were not roaming freely. I couldn’t help but feel that they really didn’t get enough space to live in. it was kind of sad.



Lastly we went to the bear section where the bears roamed free. It was pretty cool because the bears would come up to the bus and the bus driver would get the bears to do tricks for treats. Each bear was good at a different trick and they ranged from sticking out their tongue to sitting on their butt and grabbing their legs.



After the Safari we went on another water ride but this was more like a whitewater rafting type ride. Luckily they had these plastic sheets you put over yourself to keep from getting wet.



After that ride we went to see a Sea lion show. It was supposed to be the three musketeer story line but really it was just sea lions doing tricks. The kids seemed to really like it. So I guess it was good. Lol.



After the sea lion show Gabi and I were pretty tired. They wanted to stay on to watch the night parade so we decided to part ways.



The trip home was a story in itself, to say the least. However, we made it! We finally found the right bus station and got on a city bus which dropped us off at Gangbyeon. Hungry and tired, we picked up a Pizza School pizza and chilled at Gabi’s for a while. Then I headed home and zonked out pretty quick.


K.C.