Candace: Today was our music show day. We had to get an early start because the Korean girls here already have a jump on us by knowing the procedure for getting into them, when to line up, what the signs and people are saying, and all other general things about these shows (there are about 5 major music broadcasting stations that hold pre-recordings and live shows open to a few fans. They make it REALLY REALLY difficult for foreigners to get into these things. M!Countdown & Show Champion are the easiest to get into as they don't do a ticket lottery system like the other shows (Music Core, Music Bank, Inkigayo). They generally require you to show up and queue at the crack of dawn (sometimes the crazy ones show up the night before and spend the night O.O), and either put your name down with a list-maker for your designated group you are here to see, or to take a picture of yourself with a sign for your designated group & send it to the number on the sign (who is the list-maker and will put your name down in the order the texts are received). Then you have to wait for hours and hours and hours and basically spend your whole day in that general area T.T And I am not the world's most patient person.
The other three broadcasting stations have a lottery system in which you register on their channel website and then sign up for a chance to win a ticket to the program that day. Unfortunately, since we are foreigners the site kept rejecting us for dumb reasons (passport photo was too small, wrong password entered, random Error messages, etc) and we finally concluded they just don't like foreigners applying for them. Whatever. I seriously do NOT care that much, we were over it.
The other three broadcasting stations have a lottery system in which you register on their channel website and then sign up for a chance to win a ticket to the program that day. Unfortunately, since we are foreigners the site kept rejecting us for dumb reasons (passport photo was too small, wrong password entered, random Error messages, etc) and we finally concluded they just don't like foreigners applying for them. Whatever. I seriously do NOT care that much, we were over it.
Back to M!Countdown. This was of the "lining up for hours" variety, which we were game for just to try it and see what it was like. Waiting in line isn't bad if you have friends with you to stay occupied with haha (and lots of coffeeshops and food places to nom at ^^). HOWEVER. We had to do the take a picture with the sign and then MMS it to the number written on it. Aaaaaand as we are foreigners, we can't do such things with our data turned off...we wandered off to a Starbucks to brainstorm and defrost (YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE HOW EFFING COLD IT WAS THAT EARLY IN THE MORNING HERE IN SEOUL. There wasn't just a small white cloud everytime we breathed out, it was like a freaking all-body engulfing snowstorm. I was wearing like 8 layers and was still freezing my little Southern California butt off. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE LIVE LIKE THIS ITS NOT EVEN REALLY WINTER ANYMORE).
After a good couple hours of sipping espresso, racking my brain, and trying to think of a way to send a picture message without using our data plan, I FINALLY touched on a way. I had been using Kakaotalk and Line (both messaging applications, like iMessage that rely on Wifi, but way cooler) with my Korean friends just fine since the Starbucks had Wifi. And we can send pictures with Kakao and Line...I don't know who the person with the phone number was but if you add them as a contact the messaging application will automatically search for them on the app. If they have it, they will be added to your messaging app contact list right away. Efficient eh? So I just added it and sat back to wait for them to pop up. And presto, once they did, I sent off my picture! So much pain searching on google for a way to send or email a picture to a foreign phone when the answer was sitting right in front of me... >.< This is hard.
After a good couple hours of sipping espresso, racking my brain, and trying to think of a way to send a picture message without using our data plan, I FINALLY touched on a way. I had been using Kakaotalk and Line (both messaging applications, like iMessage that rely on Wifi, but way cooler) with my Korean friends just fine since the Starbucks had Wifi. And we can send pictures with Kakao and Line...I don't know who the person with the phone number was but if you add them as a contact the messaging application will automatically search for them on the app. If they have it, they will be added to your messaging app contact list right away. Efficient eh? So I just added it and sat back to wait for them to pop up. And presto, once they did, I sent off my picture! So much pain searching on google for a way to send or email a picture to a foreign phone when the answer was sitting right in front of me... >.< This is hard.
We had been too late this morning to get in line for the live show, so our only option was to do this thing for the pre-recording. They allow quite a few people into these (those who are willing to go through all this waking up early, waiting, being bossed around by the little korean coordinators, sitting in line, etc). These things are very very very organized. I heard they had to start doing the music shows like this because of the injuries and madness that had occurred due to massive crowds of fangirls at these things. No wonder it's like the military up in here. We stood in line for awhile while they sorted everyone out, then were released around 11PM with strict instructions on when to come back (before 1 pm) and what we needed to have (our copy of their latest album with CD in it).
We had met the sweetest girls while waiting in line! One of them was standing in front of me; she was Korean and I couldn't pronounce her name (she said it too fast >.<) so she said to call her Tina. She SAID her English wasn't good but it was seriously really good! Not conversation level but she understood a ton and spoke sentences and all. I practiced a little of my Korean with her haha. Before we had even spoken and we had all JUST gotten into line, I was telling Jess how I was so cold and Tina went Oh! and turned right around. She handed me a warm fleece blanket right out of her purse!!!! I hadn't even spoken to the girl yet haha, I was a total English-speaking stranger to her! How sweet is that? :) I thanked her and snuggled with the blanket for a good hour until the sun warmed me up. Again, my SoCal upbringing is really not helping me out over here...
We had met the sweetest girls while waiting in line! One of them was standing in front of me; she was Korean and I couldn't pronounce her name (she said it too fast >.<) so she said to call her Tina. She SAID her English wasn't good but it was seriously really good! Not conversation level but she understood a ton and spoke sentences and all. I practiced a little of my Korean with her haha. Before we had even spoken and we had all JUST gotten into line, I was telling Jess how I was so cold and Tina went Oh! and turned right around. She handed me a warm fleece blanket right out of her purse!!!! I hadn't even spoken to the girl yet haha, I was a total English-speaking stranger to her! How sweet is that? :) I thanked her and snuggled with the blanket for a good hour until the sun warmed me up. Again, my SoCal upbringing is really not helping me out over here...
Once released we wandered into the Mnet building to find a restroom. And then I go off again on my Korean bathroom obsession hahaha if you all remember from my last blog. But seriously the stalls were super cool in here!! AND...THEY HAD TELEVISIONS IN THEIR PUBLIC STALLS. YEA. I SAID TVS. They were in the door right in front of you when you sat. WHAT NOW AMERICA.
We got lunch at this chic, modern little place called SchoolFood with Liz & Mari. Now you might think this is a strange name for a food place...But contrary to America-driven expectations, school food here is really good! (see post I did on Yonsei University's cafeterias). Anyways, they had everything here from sushi (which they called Mari haha like our new friend Mari!), varieties of dokbokki (spicy Korean ricecake dish), and some crazy kinds of ramen. I got some form of tonkatsu ramen with garlic chips in a savory broth. It was DELICIOUS. The broth was slightly thick so it clung to the noodles more than a traditional ramen broth, and the flavor was heavenly. It was preceded by some kind of onion ring broth soup that was equally delicious; a nice, light opener to the meal.
A quick coffee run to the Coffee Bean in the area and we were headed back to the meet-up spot. This Coffee Bean was seriously the biggest one I've ever seen in my life. The building was three stories tall, made entirely of glass and light wood and it was ALL Coffee Bean. Like, damn.
When we returned to our line, we got a second number (which I have no idea what it means but apparently it made sense to the coordinators). Several times throughout the day we had to take out of albums and hold them up for inspection. We were moved inside the studio building to wait further, which was now not so bad because we could sit, play games, watch movies, and talk amongst each other more freely now. We could also hear snippets of music coming from all the studios of different artists and we saw some walking through the lobby earlier. I slept a little while we waited; waiting is so not my thing, even with people to wait with -.-
Once we were allowed into the actual pre-recording to see the artists, we were reminded to leave everything outside; phones, wallets, sweaters, etc. Only our physical bodies were allowed into the studio lol. And the recording was truly amazing! They have such amazing voices live (sounds EXACTLY like the album) and look even more perfect than on camera. How is that possible? So many American singers I used to love as a teeny-bopper broke my heart when I heard them sing live and it sounded terrible, or when I saw photos of them in a magazine and then on the street and they looked NOTHING alike. Even if they are foreign and sing in a different language, I appreciate how talented & professional they are at such a young age.
Once we were allowed into the actual pre-recording to see the artists, we were reminded to leave everything outside; phones, wallets, sweaters, etc. Only our physical bodies were allowed into the studio lol. And the recording was truly amazing! They have such amazing voices live (sounds EXACTLY like the album) and look even more perfect than on camera. How is that possible? So many American singers I used to love as a teeny-bopper broke my heart when I heard them sing live and it sounded terrible, or when I saw photos of them in a magazine and then on the street and they looked NOTHING alike. Even if they are foreign and sing in a different language, I appreciate how talented & professional they are at such a young age.
They had a fansigning event later this evening at COEX (giant shopping mall). It's right by our hotel in Gangnam so we went early to see what it was about. Fansigning events are generally limited to 100 people who get their albums signed & give presents or whatever, and that is decided by lottery (if you buy an album from a designated store, your name gets put in). So we were just going as spectators tonight. It was sheer madness once the event started. The girls here are NUTS. It's like it was WWII out here and snapping a photo of the artists with their gigantic news-reporter-status cameras was the only way to survive. The girls were like 5 feet tall and probably no more than 80 pounds and I was COMPLETELY intimidated by them haha. They meant business. They all brought giant stools to stand on to get above the crowd so I went and bought one from the Sanrio store nearby. The Korean fangirls brought like folding ladders and stuff though so they kept propping them up right in front of us and I had to keep moving. It was like one giant flashing lightbulbs moshpit @.@ I was over it in about 10 minutes and just wanted to leave.
I met a really nice Japanese girl who was all by herself and had just arrived from the airport...suitcase and all 0.0 I was amazed haha. Such dedication! Anyways, I sat and attempted to talk to her with my limited Japanese for awhile. She was so happy and excited I spoke a little Japanese, the poor thing spoke almost no English and no Korean at all. The frenzied mob never backed down for a second the entire the boys were signing CDs...that's all they were doing. SITTING THERE SIGNING CDS. They weren't singing or dancing or talking to us or answering questions. I have no idea why these girls were all so crazy/rude/pushy/mean/bitchy. Seriously, let's take it down a notch or twenty. I was exhausted by the end of it; there were so many people packed into that small space that it was unbearably hot and there was like zero oxygen in the air. I felt so yucky that even though we got back to our hotel tired out, I HAD to take a shower before I could sleep. Talk about an ordeal haha, I don't know how these Korean girls do it on a daily basis! I need like a week of recovery after this...
I met a really nice Japanese girl who was all by herself and had just arrived from the airport...suitcase and all 0.0 I was amazed haha. Such dedication! Anyways, I sat and attempted to talk to her with my limited Japanese for awhile. She was so happy and excited I spoke a little Japanese, the poor thing spoke almost no English and no Korean at all. The frenzied mob never backed down for a second the entire the boys were signing CDs...that's all they were doing. SITTING THERE SIGNING CDS. They weren't singing or dancing or talking to us or answering questions. I have no idea why these girls were all so crazy/rude/pushy/mean/bitchy. Seriously, let's take it down a notch or twenty. I was exhausted by the end of it; there were so many people packed into that small space that it was unbearably hot and there was like zero oxygen in the air. I felt so yucky that even though we got back to our hotel tired out, I HAD to take a shower before I could sleep. Talk about an ordeal haha, I don't know how these Korean girls do it on a daily basis! I need like a week of recovery after this...
Jess: The sign we had to take a picture in front of and message it to the number. Then we got the black numbers first them the blue ones. And finally the building that the show records in.
Jess: They had some pretty awesome paintings and sculptures all over the place. This one with all the hearts is the one we had to line up at for the pre recording. There was one we saw on our bus ride to the place that had wire sculptures of animals behinds sticking out of the wall. Wish I could've taken a picture of it but I was trying not to fall over while standing on the bus. >_<
Jess: That surreal moment when you see one of your favorite musicians up close. Wish we could've brought our phones in for the prerecording. It was even better than the fansign since people weren't crazy and no one had stools. I really wanted to kick the stools out from under the girls in front of us.
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