After 9 years of wearing contacts and 10 years of wearing glasses, I've finally bid goodbye to them all. Yes, that's right, I am no longer wearing contacts or glasses. I'm freeeeeeeee~
For the past couple of years, I've thought about getting laser surgery for my eyes to correct my vision. I don't know why I waited so long...actually, I do know why. Cost was a major factor, but I was also afraid of the results. What if something goes wrong? What if I become blind forever because my head twitched in the middle of the surgery? Hey, I'm not that weird for thinking this! Finally after a year in Korea, contemplating on whether or not I should do it, I mustered up the courage to just call and set an appointment. I mean, after I go in for a consultation, I can decide if I want to get the surgery or not after. This is only a test run through, I'll probably chicken out.
First off, why get it done in Korea? Well, why not? It's cheaper. My friend had Lasik done in the States for (as far as I remember) ~5,000USD. That's like, 2500 per eye! I definitely didn't have that kind of money to be spending.i
Where in Korea?
I went on a whim with this one. Originally I was going to go to a place in Seoul where one of my friends got her eyes done. However, when I came around to calling and setting an appointment, her doctor that performed the surgery was no longer working at that hospital. Well, I wasn't going to just let anyone play with my eyes. I needed to see results first before I even let anyone take a look at my eyes. Another friend told me that she was going to get her eyes done at a well known hospital, and that if I was considering on getting my eyes done, I should go check out the clinic. So, I figured, she's getting her eyes done here, I should check it out. So which clinic was this? It was no other than B&VIIT (aka BNVIIT, I've included the English website for ya interested interwebs).
So, I decided that if I was going to do a consultation and if I was going to do the surgery, I'm going to do it all in one go! Probably not the brightest decision, but it was one of the smarter ones I made. Haaah. I made a reservation for consultation on a Saturday, as soon as I knew I had vacation the weeks following, you know...so I can have time to heal. Another smart decision made by me!
The consultation lasted about 2 hours. Seems like a pretty long time yeah? Well, they need to test your eyes and make sure they don't screw up your eyes. They wouldn't want a big fat lawsuit at their door. After a series of tests, they took me to a room where they explained to me that my eyes were very healthy and that I can choose between Lasik and Lasek surgery. It was my choice, they didn't pressure me into getting a specific one done. Which was pretty cool. I did some research before I even thought about getting surgery done, and I went in knowing that I wanted to get LASEK done. Between LASIK and LASEK, LASEK was "stronger" and it would be the better route if you're into extreme sports. I mean, I'm not an extreme sport-ologist but, if I had LASIK done and I decided one day to do some extreme sporting and I knock my head, I could probably lose my vision and that'd mean that I would have to do surgery again, if possible. So I went the safe route and chose LASEK even thought it was a longer recovery time. I gots time fo dats but I ain't gots time fo re-surgery.
The awesome thing about this clinic is that, (and I wouldn't know if the other clinics have this too or not but...) they had 3 classes for surgery. Just like any air flight, you have first class, business class, and then economy class, and respectively the price ranges from high to low. This clinic had Red (first class), Blue (business class), and Green (economy class). Red has all the perks of a first class trip such as choosing your own Grade A, experienced doctor (from their selection, of course) and better healthcare benefits, etc etc etc. Blue had experienced doctors, good benefits, and cheaper prices. Green, you can't choose your doctor who will perform your surgery, had okay benefits, but had the cheapest price. ME? Of course I went with first class, I mean...I don't roll with anything but first class, ya dig me? Actually, because the overall price was cheap, I went with Red because, well these are my eyes you're talking about and without my vision, I am nothing, so this was something I was willing to pay extra for. Plus being able to sit in a special secluded area for first class is always a plus, and way cooler than you folks sitting in economy class. Hmfph.
Shortly after, I went through another test to check the "nutrition" of my eyes. Why? I'm not sure because 5 minutes ago, I was just told that my eyes are very healthy. They made me put my hand on a machine, asked for my height and weight, and within a minute, the results were reveal. I had horrible nutrition in my eyes! Apparently, my eyes were one level from the lowest eye-nutrition level. WHAT?! You're telling me that my eyes are healthy, but they have the worst nutrition? I don't get it. How do you know? You tested this through my hands, are you sure this is accurate? I didn't bother to argue and nodded my head like any foreigner as she explained that I should take supplements to improve the nutrition in my eyes. Add that to my list of things I care for......
Anyways, so after 15 second reflecting session on what I wanted to do with my life, err...my vision, I set an appointment that day for my surgery! Exciting~~ I went for lunch and returned with my friends and bid farewell to my glasses forever. One note I do want to mention, AT B&VIIT, there are two separate buildings, one for examination and one for the surgery itself.
Before surgery, they explained to me the most important thing about LASEK is the care and recovery process. They dumped a bunch of information to me about oral medication, eye drops, medication this, medication that, and post surgery do's and don'ts. After that, I paid for surgery and then...off I went to get ready for surgery. The surgery itself took about 2 minutes basically. They put painkiller drops in my eyes, cleaned my eyes, made me stare at a green light, laser zap zap, cleaned, put on a protective contact lens, and da-tah! all done. I read somewhere online where some patients complained about a burning smell from the laser part, but I didn't smell anything. Hmm. Anyways, it was pretty cool though. I stared at the green light, I could see the red laser doing it's magic as my vision became super blurry, and as soon as the laser finished, they rinsed my eyes and...wow, my vision was crispy clear! After my surgery, since I was a Red class patient, I received Vitamin C injection, oohyay!
While getting my injection, I lay on a lazy boy enjoying this treatment. My eyes didn't hurt and it was calming...for the first 2 minutes. As the painkiller drops were waring away, I began to feel pain sensation in my eyes. At first it was like, if I had an eyelash in my eye but then...it felt like I had scratched my eyeballs. I endured the pain for about 2 minutes before I gave in to tugging my hair because of the pain. Haha. My eyes began to water a lot now. Luckily my injection was about finished and a nurse came in. She was all like, "how are you feeling miss?" and I'm like, "ugh, not good." She had the audacity to chuckle at me and asked, "painful?" and I said, "yes." She was nice enough to give me another dosage of the painkiller and walked me out after taking out my needle. And off I went home, yep. Just like that. On my way coming home really hurt though and my eyes were really sensitive to the light, even though it was getting dark outside. I had on a cap, dark sunglasses, and it honestly looked like I was crying because I broke up with my boyfriend or something. The tears wouldn't stop! Anyways, I ended up having to wrap my head with my cardigan because it was sooooooo bright out, at 8pm. LOL! Seriously, it was really bright! Shades, hat, cardigan. I'm pretty sure I looked stupid, but good thing I had a friend to lead me home!
Anyways, that night I woke up in the middle of the night crying because of the pain. This was probably at 1am. I had already taken a painkiller pill before going to bed. I strained my eyes to see what other thing I could eat or put in my eyes to make this pain stop. Seriously, because it hurt so much, I just plopped down on my floor and cried, wishing I had my mom here to take care of me. TT^TT It really hurt! I managed to read about an ointment I needed to put in my eye before I went to sleep. And so I dug like a mad-man (err, woman) through the little care package they gave me, and I ripped through boxes of medication, straining my eyes against my cell phone death light (which was set to brightness 0%), crying buckets of tears, and when I finally found the right ointment, I put that shit in my eye like a person who hasn't had water in 3 days. Then I went back to sleep, err...well I tried to. I woke up at 5 and put some eye drops in my eyes, and then I realized, I didn't eat my medication! FAIL! I quickly ate it and wanted to slap myself for forgetting. TT^TT So dumb Mina.
Anyways, so my first day (surgery day) was shit. The second day, my friend came over to take care of me, cooking for me and what not. I slept with sunglasses on because it was so bright out. I'm not kidding with this bright out part. Your eyes are soooo sensitive to light. My blinded self ended up putting a blanket over my window to block out the light. Haha. I lived like a vampire for the next day or two. The pain on the second day felt like I had a lemon juice in my eye, just stingy. But my first day felt like hell, a bunch of sand dumped in my eyes. Maybe if I ate my medicine, it wouldn't have hurt so much. And on my third day, I was able to take off my sunglasses and open my eyes for more than 30 seconds. By the end of the third day, I was cooking my own meals and turning on lights in my apartment. The following day, I went to the clinic to get my contacts removed. I passed the critical recovery stages, and now I needed to keep up with medication and eye drops, and I should be good to go.
Today, the day after my lens were removed, was the day I was waiting for most. I FINALLY got to shower. I was so excited to wash my face thoroughly and wash my hair, I woke up at 5am. Yeah. That was how excited I was, even when I went to went at 9pm. I only needed 8 hours of sleep, more or less with all the waking up and falling back asleep during those few hours. I washed my blankets and took a nice long shower. It felt so good!
I shouldn't be straining my eyes by staring at my computer screen for a long time. But, I'm writing for about 20~25 minutes and stopping for 30 minutes before continuing again. So this post actually took a couple of hours to write. Haha. This pretty much concludes my experience with LASEK surgery in Korea.
Why B&VIIT?
Well,
if it wasn't for the celebrities that...lol, I mean...what? Okay, maybe
I did choose that place in particular because notable Kpop idols such
as SNSD's Taeyeon, Sunny, Seohyun, F(x)'s Victoria, 2PM's Junho, TVXQ's
Changmin, Superjunior's Eunhyuk, EXO's Chanyeol, and others have gotten
their vision corrected at this clinic. I felt so much safer going in
knowing that celebrities had surgery here, and plus my friend who
recommended me the place.
About the clinic
They
are super friendly! I spoke minimal Korean, so I asked another Korean
friend to join me in this exciting experience. Most of the staff spoke
pretty well English to me, so my need for a Korean friend backup wasn't
needed. However, it made me feel safer. I like feeling safe. Hee.
How painful was it?
If you look at my personal profile, listed under hobbies are "enjoys self-inflicting pain, and fighting sedative medication", so I strangely enjoy pain. Okay, maybe it isn't listed there forreal but you get me. But I do want to note that, the first 2 days were quiet painful. If I taken my medication like how I was supposed to, maybe it would be a different story. I'm still calling myself an idiot for forgetting. However, everyone is entitled to their own pain endurance.
Would I recommend getting corrective vision surgery?
I'm not one to recommend anyone to do anything. However, if you're thinking about it, I say just do it. If you think you won't be able to handle the pain, take your baby-crying-ass elsewhere! lol, jokes aside, if you want to do it, do it. If you don't want to do it, don't do it. But think about the outcome =]
Throughout the whole ordeal, I thought: pain is temporary, results are forever.
It definitely helped me get through my struggles. I hope this helps. Btw, I DON'T REGRET THIS DECISION AT ALL!
this was updated on August 6, 2014
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
Attending My First Kpop Concert in Korea
Saturday, March 8, 2014...was the day of the concert. Of which kpop idol group, you may ask? It was none other than B.A.P! I've been on and on about this group when they first debut back on January 27, 2012 (some will argue 26th, or 28th, but the official date of debut is Jan 27th; 26th was the debut album release, and 28th was the showcase, but 27th was the first music show debut). Actually, I've been following Yongguk when he was still underground, known as Jepp Blackman, when I happened to stumble upon 벚꽃 (Cherry Flower) by Blackout (Maslo & Jepp Blackman) before he came famous. But I never realized that Jepp Blackman was Yongguk until some light was shed on after neitzens dug out his past. And then when Yongguk went on to a duo with Song Ji Eun "Going Crazy" and then with the duo BANG&ZELO "Never Give Up", I knew that TS Entertainment's new boy group was going to be different and awesome, and therefore, I am B.A.P stan. =P
The following will be fanaccount of my experience, attending B.A.P's Live On Earth 2014 Concert, Day 1: Earth Needs You.
I set foot on Olympic Park grounds in Seoul, a little before 12pm. Merchandise sales were about to begin at noon, and I had been racing to get to Seoul before 11 (didn't work out so well) to stand in line. I heard from previous fans that some came as early as 8am to wait in line for merch purchases. So when I got to the venue, there was already a long line that lead back to the bridge (and you'll understand if you've been there before). Of course I didn't go by myself, I went with two other friends. When we got there, there were staffs instructing us on where to go, where to stand. There was a SHINee concert going on as well, so double the fans, double the trouble for the fanwars.
At first, we wondered if this was the line for merch, or line for tickets, or line for entering. But the staff just asked if we were here for B.A.P or SHINee, we said B.A.P, and then they told us to stand in line. We waited in the cold, hungry and tired from the morning's travel, keeping ourselves warm with hotpacks, and eating Kimbap from the GS store we ended up purchasing at the venue. But little by little, the line began to move and we got closer and closer to the official goods tents. Ahh, I see, this is the merch line. We kept ourselves busy by singing along with B.A.B.Y and 1004, and the B.A.P First Sensibility melody video; the three videos that were blasted on repeated over and over and over again.
So, how long did I wait in line for? 4 hours. The first hour went by quickly, only because we were too busy trying to calm ourselves down from finally arrive, and shaking off the jitters. The next 2 hours were filled with trying to keep warm by dancing a little, and it was also the time when B.A.P was practicing, so we could hear a little of what was going on inside the concert hall.
We tried to guess the songs they were rehearsing, and that killed some time. At the last hour, we were getting really close to the tent so we toughed it out. Once at the merch tents, it went by really quick, less than a minute. This was almost like waiting in line for a rollercoaster ride at Six Flags or Disney World; long waiting line but the ride lasts merely seconds.
After purchasing a B.A.P popcard, hoodie, tshirt, whistle, logo, Matoki glow sick, and a signed album (by Zelo, with Daehyun's photocard), we were given a vita-water. Then we went to the ticket booth and got our tickets, then finally went to eat. No breakfast, no lunch (well, we shared a kimbap roll), and it was almost 4 and we were starving. We scouted the area, relied on Burger King for a source of energy, and then waited in line at our designated gate; 5pm was admission time.
At the concert, TS had an event for those with reserved seats. If you got a lucky ticket on your seat, you won all 6 member's concert poster. We coordinated and got seats together for the three of us. We ran to our sections, and checked underneath our seats. None. Darn! My friend put down her seat and... BAM! AHHHH~ Winning ticket. Next seat down. BAM! No ticket. Next seat down, BAM! AHHHH~ Winning ticket! We screamed and jumped with joy, taking pictures to prove our winning tickets.
We were so lucky~! With the successful luck, we could barely wait that hour for the concert to start. They began the concert a few minutes after 6...
They came onto the stage 1 by 1, jumping up from underneath the stage, complete with fireworks as if it were gunshots shooting here and there. Half of a UFO was present on stage in the back. I don't remember the order in which the members appeared on stage because I was too busy being excited to see my B.A.P members on stage, in real life, something I never imagined would come true when I was back in the States.
They began with One Shot, Badman, and then Power. After, there was Matoki skit with Youngjae and Zelo's Matoki characters: Totomato asking Jokomato about "what is love?", complete with English subtitles (thanks TS) and Korean subtitles. Then they performed Lovesick. After that, a coffee stand rolled on stage, called "Starbaby Coffee" (lol, get it? Starbucks Coffee, Starbaby Coffee). Himchan handed out iced coffee to a lucky fan on the standing ground, and then Daehyun also. And what song you may think they would perform next? Yep, you guessed it right, Coffee Shop. And then they performed Shady Lady.
The band rolls out onto stage after Shady Lady and there's a video with all these quotes from James J Corbett, Muhammad Ali, and George Foreman. And then the boys appear and perform Punch. The boys put on an act as they prepare Jongup and Youngjae for the virtual ring on stage. I really enjoyed the theatrical portion of this song, and the use of the props they had, using the lights to beam to each light to create a fighting ring. The boys made sure to "crouch down" to get in and out of the ring also, haha. Here we get to see a bit of DaeJae OTP while Daehyun is preparing Youngjae for the fight, and the two elder, Yongguk and Himchan are preparing Jongup to fight Youngjae. Zelo stands as the referee. Towards the end of the song, Youngjae uppercut punches Jongup, causing Jongup to fly onto his back, spitting out water from his mouth, and K.O.'s. Talk about awesome acting! Continuing on, the boys perform What The Hell next, No Mercy, and Bangx2.
Hul~ what is this? The lights dim and on comes a video montage called "One Evening" with narration done bytheeversosexyvoice Himchan. I didn't understand what he was saying but all the ooh's and ahh's from the crowd told me this was a sad story. Even more, the tone of his voice told me that it was sad. The last line of the narration, "break up" (in Korean of course), I understood that. On stage rolls a bed and a door with the doorsteps. A figure walks onto stage with sad music and, oh wait, what is this? The lights come on and it's our dear Youngjae. He begins to sing a familiar ballad song, but I can't tell what the hell it is. The lyrics sound familiar! And then....OHNOES! Youngjae's voice cracks and he begins crying. He has to stop himself from singing and the crowd goes wild, telling him not to cry. He clears his voice and begins singing again. Ahhhh, I know this song, It's All Lies. Due to him crying earlier, his voice cracks in reaching the high notes but damn Youngjae, you have true talent in acting! He leaves shortly after, but next to come on stage, two figures. One sitting by the door steps and another sitting on the bed. Oh wait, please don't tell me...*music cues* ...*ovaries bursting* it's Yongguk's self composed song, Q. Yongguk is sitting by the steps and, wait, wait, wait, is this...oh yes it is. It's Himchan on the bed. Hello BangHim! Yongguk's rapping his versus ever so awesomely while Himchan sings the chorus parts with SO MUCH EMOTIONS (eyes all closed, neck veins popping and all, yes)!! I might want to mention here that Yongguk is barefoot on stage heehee^^
(I believe the stage props were rolled out now) Next up, we have our dancing machine Jongup, who has a solo performance with a scarf (hee^^) and....OHMYGOODNESS O.O is he going to.... omg, he is! He rips off his shirt and the crowd goes wild over his chocolate abs. I ain't no pedonoona anymore, because he's legal~ I'm not gonna lie, I too screamed really loud. He leaves the stage and next we have our maknae, Zelo. Zelo-ya~ you better do a good son-...wait, what is this? The music is different. He's rapping...my mouth automatically is following along with his part. OMG! What song is this!?!? I'm rapping along with him now. I turn to my friends, desperate in figuring out this song title. He stops rapping, taking off a ring and tosses it. The crowd wails in the sadness and anger that he shows on stage. He walks around the stage and raps his part again. AHHH! It's his part in Voicemail/Voice Message. Daehyun joins Zelo on stage, singing the chorus parts, and then Zelo repeat his rap part once again, ending the song.
All the members come on stage and performs Save Me. And next up, we have a video skit, "Mato Planet Education: about mood intensity". An 8-bar measure dance, with 3 members of B.A.P (not sure which ones, or maybe it wasn't even the members, maybe it were the members of their dance team PLAY) on stage with the infamous horseface masks. They proceed to teach us, using the video to communicate in Korean and English (thank you TS), a simple dance: head, shoulders, hips, dust off your left shoulder, then right shoulder. The next round after head, shoulders, hips, you turn to your left and high five them, and then turn to right and high five them. It's been said that, if you fail to make contact with the person next to you, you will stress for the next few years so you MUST get friendly with the stranger next to you. And if you don't have anyone, it's okay, you can keep calm and high five yourself (thanks to Youngjae in the video demonstration, showing us how to high five ourselves).
After the demonstration the boys come on stage to perform Check On, having the audience follow along with the dance we just learn, to the song. Next the boys perform Excuse Me and while walking down the stairs going to the other side of the stage, our Youngjae gives fanservice only to get caught by the fans, holding on to him. I see him struggle to get out of the hold but finally he breaks free and walks calmly to the stage. At some point in the song, stringers come flying out and some are caught on Zelo and he's dragging it across with him on stage, haha. And then the song goes acapella, and our beatboxing machine Zelo is at it again, and then the music comes back and ends.
The next song is SPY. I'm not sure how to explain this but, Jongup has a small dance solo and then Yongguk bootyshakes at the end of the chorus. And then Zelo shakes his butt next. And at one point of the chorus, I catch our Yongguk messing up on the choreography. Maybe he was too excited, haha. And at the end, all the members turn around and shake their butts at us heehee^^
They take a break and talk to us, with Himchan making sure to say hello to the 2nd floor. Awhh, this is why I love you because you're so good at fanservice and including everyone. And wait, what is this? Yongguk is blowing kisses at the 2nd floor. They perform Hurricane next. During Himchan's "the roof is on fire" he backhugs Daehyun ohsocutely. Next they perform Dancing in the Rain, and the members tries to show Zelo's "abs" (that's if he has them), but he resisted and made sure to hold his shirt down. At the end of the song, Himchan is late upon returning to stage so he jets for the stage and runs into the members. Haha.
Talk ment. All I hear is KOREAN KOREAN KOREAN KOREAN. hahah but then!
Jongup: B
Zelo: A
J: P
Z: B
J: A
Z: B
J: Y
And that was the cue for the next song, B.A.B.Y. In the duration of the song, Yongguk acts as if he's skating/ice skating/olympic ice skating race on stage. After the end of the song, the boys say it's goodbye time. We whine of course and yell out encore. I'm seriously about to cry now because they can't just end like this. On comes a Twitter slide show with messages the members wrote, including pictures~
A figure appears on stage and the lights turn on. We see it's our Jongup and wait, is he...yes, he gets into his famous pose, at the beginning of 1004 (Angel). After performing, they stand on stage to talk. Everyone laughs at Youngjae at his pronunciation of "title" and "First Sensibility" and he's all like, "why are you laughing?". Because of this, he screws up and says, "our title warrior" and then we're all laughing again. Daehyun comes to rescue and takes over talking. Background music comes on, to set the mood, and Zelo begins his thanks to speech. Then Daehyun, Himchan, and Youngjae, but noooo, Youngjae had to start crying, and so Jongup went next. Then it returned to Youngjae, and lastly to wrap it up, Yongguk. It was really sweet that he mention his Grandma and Grandpa, and he says that BABYs are really 1004 (angels). During the talk, they reference Gag Concert's 안돼요 (andwaeyo), hahahahaha! I'm crying Himchannie~
Next they perform Stop It and Crash. Let me mention here that during Crash, Himchan takes the camera and begins taking pictures of the fans. Yongguk gave a lot of fan service, waving and smiling at the audience. They talk again, mentioning the members that their prospective "Earth Needs _______". Jongup does his impersonation of Olaf "yeah, why?" and "Yoohoo". Next they perform Warrior. They leave stage and a video appears with "Earth Needs ______" filling in the six words: Justice, Emotion, You, Happiness, Passion, and Love. The music background is With You, and then the music ends and the fans continue to acapella the song in the dark. It was awesome. Then the members come on stage and perform the last song With You. Himchan's always waving to the second floor (thank you). All the members are wearing the official concert t-shirt except for Yongguk and Zelo who are wearing black UNICEF shirts. Of course, what sort of ending is it if there's no confetti? Yongguk makes sure to say his thanks during the break of the song, and Yongguk blows a lot of kisses to everyone. Boy he sure loves to blow kisses, and he spent a lot of time on the right side of the concert stage, the side at which I were at.
To end, the UFO lets down it's stairs and boys all get on the UFO, the stairs retract, and the concert comes to an end.
After calming down, I gathered my things with my friends and we went to collect our posters and then left. My first B.A.P concert was amazing. Now for the next one, I'm definitely getting standing tickets. I need to
see my members up close!
TL;DR song list:
TL;DR
The following will be fanaccount of my experience, attending B.A.P's Live On Earth 2014 Concert, Day 1: Earth Needs You.
I set foot on Olympic Park grounds in Seoul, a little before 12pm. Merchandise sales were about to begin at noon, and I had been racing to get to Seoul before 11 (didn't work out so well) to stand in line. I heard from previous fans that some came as early as 8am to wait in line for merch purchases. So when I got to the venue, there was already a long line that lead back to the bridge (and you'll understand if you've been there before). Of course I didn't go by myself, I went with two other friends. When we got there, there were staffs instructing us on where to go, where to stand. There was a SHINee concert going on as well, so double the fans, double the trouble for the fanwars.
At first, we wondered if this was the line for merch, or line for tickets, or line for entering. But the staff just asked if we were here for B.A.P or SHINee, we said B.A.P, and then they told us to stand in line. We waited in the cold, hungry and tired from the morning's travel, keeping ourselves warm with hotpacks, and eating Kimbap from the GS store we ended up purchasing at the venue. But little by little, the line began to move and we got closer and closer to the official goods tents. Ahh, I see, this is the merch line. We kept ourselves busy by singing along with B.A.B.Y and 1004, and the B.A.P First Sensibility melody video; the three videos that were blasted on repeated over and over and over again.
So, how long did I wait in line for? 4 hours. The first hour went by quickly, only because we were too busy trying to calm ourselves down from finally arrive, and shaking off the jitters. The next 2 hours were filled with trying to keep warm by dancing a little, and it was also the time when B.A.P was practicing, so we could hear a little of what was going on inside the concert hall.
We tried to guess the songs they were rehearsing, and that killed some time. At the last hour, we were getting really close to the tent so we toughed it out. Once at the merch tents, it went by really quick, less than a minute. This was almost like waiting in line for a rollercoaster ride at Six Flags or Disney World; long waiting line but the ride lasts merely seconds.
After purchasing a B.A.P popcard, hoodie, tshirt, whistle, logo, Matoki glow sick, and a signed album (by Zelo, with Daehyun's photocard), we were given a vita-water. Then we went to the ticket booth and got our tickets, then finally went to eat. No breakfast, no lunch (well, we shared a kimbap roll), and it was almost 4 and we were starving. We scouted the area, relied on Burger King for a source of energy, and then waited in line at our designated gate; 5pm was admission time.
At the concert, TS had an event for those with reserved seats. If you got a lucky ticket on your seat, you won all 6 member's concert poster. We coordinated and got seats together for the three of us. We ran to our sections, and checked underneath our seats. None. Darn! My friend put down her seat and... BAM! AHHHH~ Winning ticket. Next seat down. BAM! No ticket. Next seat down, BAM! AHHHH~ Winning ticket! We screamed and jumped with joy, taking pictures to prove our winning tickets.
We were so lucky~! With the successful luck, we could barely wait that hour for the concert to start. They began the concert a few minutes after 6...
They came onto the stage 1 by 1, jumping up from underneath the stage, complete with fireworks as if it were gunshots shooting here and there. Half of a UFO was present on stage in the back. I don't remember the order in which the members appeared on stage because I was too busy being excited to see my B.A.P members on stage, in real life, something I never imagined would come true when I was back in the States.
They began with One Shot, Badman, and then Power. After, there was Matoki skit with Youngjae and Zelo's Matoki characters: Totomato asking Jokomato about "what is love?", complete with English subtitles (thanks TS) and Korean subtitles. Then they performed Lovesick. After that, a coffee stand rolled on stage, called "Starbaby Coffee" (lol, get it? Starbucks Coffee, Starbaby Coffee). Himchan handed out iced coffee to a lucky fan on the standing ground, and then Daehyun also. And what song you may think they would perform next? Yep, you guessed it right, Coffee Shop. And then they performed Shady Lady.
The band rolls out onto stage after Shady Lady and there's a video with all these quotes from James J Corbett, Muhammad Ali, and George Foreman. And then the boys appear and perform Punch. The boys put on an act as they prepare Jongup and Youngjae for the virtual ring on stage. I really enjoyed the theatrical portion of this song, and the use of the props they had, using the lights to beam to each light to create a fighting ring. The boys made sure to "crouch down" to get in and out of the ring also, haha. Here we get to see a bit of DaeJae OTP while Daehyun is preparing Youngjae for the fight, and the two elder, Yongguk and Himchan are preparing Jongup to fight Youngjae. Zelo stands as the referee. Towards the end of the song, Youngjae uppercut punches Jongup, causing Jongup to fly onto his back, spitting out water from his mouth, and K.O.'s. Talk about awesome acting! Continuing on, the boys perform What The Hell next, No Mercy, and Bangx2.
Hul~ what is this? The lights dim and on comes a video montage called "One Evening" with narration done by
(I believe the stage props were rolled out now) Next up, we have our dancing machine Jongup, who has a solo performance with a scarf (hee^^) and....OHMYGOODNESS O.O is he going to.... omg, he is! He rips off his shirt and the crowd goes wild over his chocolate abs. I ain't no pedonoona anymore, because he's legal~ I'm not gonna lie, I too screamed really loud. He leaves the stage and next we have our maknae, Zelo. Zelo-ya~ you better do a good son-...wait, what is this? The music is different. He's rapping...my mouth automatically is following along with his part. OMG! What song is this!?!? I'm rapping along with him now. I turn to my friends, desperate in figuring out this song title. He stops rapping, taking off a ring and tosses it. The crowd wails in the sadness and anger that he shows on stage. He walks around the stage and raps his part again. AHHH! It's his part in Voicemail/Voice Message. Daehyun joins Zelo on stage, singing the chorus parts, and then Zelo repeat his rap part once again, ending the song.
All the members come on stage and performs Save Me. And next up, we have a video skit, "Mato Planet Education: about mood intensity". An 8-bar measure dance, with 3 members of B.A.P (not sure which ones, or maybe it wasn't even the members, maybe it were the members of their dance team PLAY) on stage with the infamous horseface masks. They proceed to teach us, using the video to communicate in Korean and English (thank you TS), a simple dance: head, shoulders, hips, dust off your left shoulder, then right shoulder. The next round after head, shoulders, hips, you turn to your left and high five them, and then turn to right and high five them. It's been said that, if you fail to make contact with the person next to you, you will stress for the next few years so you MUST get friendly with the stranger next to you. And if you don't have anyone, it's okay, you can keep calm and high five yourself (thanks to Youngjae in the video demonstration, showing us how to high five ourselves).
After the demonstration the boys come on stage to perform Check On, having the audience follow along with the dance we just learn, to the song. Next the boys perform Excuse Me and while walking down the stairs going to the other side of the stage, our Youngjae gives fanservice only to get caught by the fans, holding on to him. I see him struggle to get out of the hold but finally he breaks free and walks calmly to the stage. At some point in the song, stringers come flying out and some are caught on Zelo and he's dragging it across with him on stage, haha. And then the song goes acapella, and our beatboxing machine Zelo is at it again, and then the music comes back and ends.
The next song is SPY. I'm not sure how to explain this but, Jongup has a small dance solo and then Yongguk bootyshakes at the end of the chorus. And then Zelo shakes his butt next. And at one point of the chorus, I catch our Yongguk messing up on the choreography. Maybe he was too excited, haha. And at the end, all the members turn around and shake their butts at us heehee^^
They take a break and talk to us, with Himchan making sure to say hello to the 2nd floor. Awhh, this is why I love you because you're so good at fanservice and including everyone. And wait, what is this? Yongguk is blowing kisses at the 2nd floor. They perform Hurricane next. During Himchan's "the roof is on fire" he backhugs Daehyun ohsocutely. Next they perform Dancing in the Rain, and the members tries to show Zelo's "abs" (that's if he has them), but he resisted and made sure to hold his shirt down. At the end of the song, Himchan is late upon returning to stage so he jets for the stage and runs into the members. Haha.
Talk ment. All I hear is KOREAN KOREAN KOREAN KOREAN. hahah but then!
Jongup: B
Zelo: A
J: P
Z: B
J: A
Z: B
J: Y
And that was the cue for the next song, B.A.B.Y. In the duration of the song, Yongguk acts as if he's skating/ice skating/olympic ice skating race on stage. After the end of the song, the boys say it's goodbye time. We whine of course and yell out encore. I'm seriously about to cry now because they can't just end like this. On comes a Twitter slide show with messages the members wrote, including pictures~
A figure appears on stage and the lights turn on. We see it's our Jongup and wait, is he...yes, he gets into his famous pose, at the beginning of 1004 (Angel). After performing, they stand on stage to talk. Everyone laughs at Youngjae at his pronunciation of "title" and "First Sensibility" and he's all like, "why are you laughing?". Because of this, he screws up and says, "our title warrior" and then we're all laughing again. Daehyun comes to rescue and takes over talking. Background music comes on, to set the mood, and Zelo begins his thanks to speech. Then Daehyun, Himchan, and Youngjae, but noooo, Youngjae had to start crying, and so Jongup went next. Then it returned to Youngjae, and lastly to wrap it up, Yongguk. It was really sweet that he mention his Grandma and Grandpa, and he says that BABYs are really 1004 (angels). During the talk, they reference Gag Concert's 안돼요 (andwaeyo), hahahahaha! I'm crying Himchannie~
Next they perform Stop It and Crash. Let me mention here that during Crash, Himchan takes the camera and begins taking pictures of the fans. Yongguk gave a lot of fan service, waving and smiling at the audience. They talk again, mentioning the members that their prospective "Earth Needs _______". Jongup does his impersonation of Olaf "yeah, why?" and "Yoohoo". Next they perform Warrior. They leave stage and a video appears with "Earth Needs ______" filling in the six words: Justice, Emotion, You, Happiness, Passion, and Love. The music background is With You, and then the music ends and the fans continue to acapella the song in the dark. It was awesome. Then the members come on stage and perform the last song With You. Himchan's always waving to the second floor (thank you). All the members are wearing the official concert t-shirt except for Yongguk and Zelo who are wearing black UNICEF shirts. Of course, what sort of ending is it if there's no confetti? Yongguk makes sure to say his thanks during the break of the song, and Yongguk blows a lot of kisses to everyone. Boy he sure loves to blow kisses, and he spent a lot of time on the right side of the concert stage, the side at which I were at.
To end, the UFO lets down it's stairs and boys all get on the UFO, the stairs retract, and the concert comes to an end.
After calming down, I gathered my things with my friends and we went to collect our posters and then left. My first B.A.P concert was amazing. Now for the next one, I'm definitely getting standing tickets. I need to
see my members up close!
- ONE SHOT
- BADMAN
- POWER
- LOVESICK
- COFFEE SHOP
- SHADY LADY
- PUNCH
- WHAT THE HELL
- NO MERCY
- BANG X2
- IT'S ALL LIES
- Q
- VOICEMAIL/VOICE MESSAGE
- SAVE ME
- CHECK ON
- EXCUSE ME
- SPY
- HURRICANE
- DANCING IN THE RAIN
- B.A.B.Y
- 1004
- STOP IT
- CRASH
- WARRIOR
- WITH YOU
TL;DR
- One Shot
- Badman
- Power
- Matoki skit, "what is love?"
- Lovesick
- Starbaby Coffee, Himchan and Daehyun gives out coffee to 2 lucky fans
- Coffee Shop
- Shady Lady
- band rolls out
- Quote montage with quotes from James J Corbett, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman
- Punch, theatrical song with YJ and JU fighting each other, YJ wins
- What The Hell
- No Mercy
- Bang X2
- Skit: "One Evening" narration by Himchan
- Youngjae solo, It's All Lies, cries during performance
- Yongguk and Himchan, Q
- JU dance, rips off shirt to show abs ^^
- Zelo solo, Voicemail/Voice Message; Daehyun joins for chorus
- Save Me
- Mato Planet Education skit: Mood intensity; teaches dance
- Check On, audience dance along with dance learned
- Excuse Me
- SPY
- Talk ment
- Hurricane
- Dancing in the Rain
- Talk ment
- B.A.B.Y
- Twitter slide show
- 1004
- Talk ment
- Stop It
- Crash
- Talk ment; "Earth Needs _____" plus Jongup's impersonation of Olaf
- Warrior
- Video "Earth Needs"
- Ending song With You
- CONFETTI
- All members return to stage, walk up onto UFO
- End
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
회식 (hweshik) 101
Korea is well known for the company to take the workers out for a meal. We call this 회식 (hwe-shik) or "a company dinner". There are two things you need to remember! Here's what you need to do.
For my first experience, my school took me to eat authentic Korean BBQ: 삼겹살 (samgyupsal) known as Pork Belly Fat. I know it sounds a bit weird but once you see it and have a taste of it, you won’t go back.
Firstly, the youngest or new employee, is the one turning the meat at the table but I lucked out. Possibly because they knew I was a new to this thinking: 'ah, foreigner won't know how to do it'. I've been so blessed with such wonderful co-workers though.
Secondly, be prepared to consume alcohol at all dinners. Receive, Give, and Pour everything with two hands, turn to your side to drink away from the elder, and never leave your elders with an empty shot glass. Even if you don't want to drink, take it anyway because it'll be seen as disrespectful if you don't. The catch is, drinking only half of the shot glass, and then leaving it on the table. Never fill a half empty, or half filled, shot glass with more.
After you finish, it’s typical that 냉면 (naeng myeon), which is chilled buckwheat noodles, is ordered and eaten. It's usually a little sour but very refreshing.
So that's what usually happens at a company dinner. Don't be nervous though and if you make mistakes, it's okay. You'll be corrected. They won't get upset at you because you failed; they know you're foreign to these customs so they won't make a big deal out it. However, if you try and learn their ways, ask questions, and show that you're open to their customs, they'll like you even more. Just remember this, always be polite. Good luck on your next 회식 and as always, remember to drink responsibly.
For my first experience, my school took me to eat authentic Korean BBQ: 삼겹살 (samgyupsal) known as Pork Belly Fat. I know it sounds a bit weird but once you see it and have a taste of it, you won’t go back.
Firstly, the youngest or new employee, is the one turning the meat at the table but I lucked out. Possibly because they knew I was a new to this thinking: 'ah, foreigner won't know how to do it'. I've been so blessed with such wonderful co-workers though.
Secondly, be prepared to consume alcohol at all dinners. Receive, Give, and Pour everything with two hands, turn to your side to drink away from the elder, and never leave your elders with an empty shot glass. Even if you don't want to drink, take it anyway because it'll be seen as disrespectful if you don't. The catch is, drinking only half of the shot glass, and then leaving it on the table. Never fill a half empty, or half filled, shot glass with more.
After you finish, it’s typical that 냉면 (naeng myeon), which is chilled buckwheat noodles, is ordered and eaten. It's usually a little sour but very refreshing.
So that's what usually happens at a company dinner. Don't be nervous though and if you make mistakes, it's okay. You'll be corrected. They won't get upset at you because you failed; they know you're foreign to these customs so they won't make a big deal out it. However, if you try and learn their ways, ask questions, and show that you're open to their customs, they'll like you even more. Just remember this, always be polite. Good luck on your next 회식 and as always, remember to drink responsibly.
Drinking Culture
Often, going out for a meal usually means there will be alcohol involved. If it weren't for my background in drinking, I think I would be getting drunk easily every time I go for a meal with friends, or with my school/work. Honestly though, I'm really amazed at the drinking culture here in Korea: it's no big deal and they drink every night if they wanted to (yes, that includes weekdays), as long as they can get up the next day for work. Here's a few of my favorite things I don't mind drinking with.
This lovely combination is called 치맥 (chi-mek) which is a play on the words 치킨 (chicken) +
맥주 (beer) . Therefore, this combination of 치맥 is chicken + beer. Sounds weird? Actually, it's not. Quite delicious and who knew that washing down your chicken with a nice cold beer would be so nice?
Chicken is really delicious. There's just something different from American fried chicken to Korean fried chicken. Chicken can be enjoyed with 소주 (soju) which is a Korean rice liquor, but this I will warn you, it's not as refreshing as a beer.
Have you noticed the side dishes that come with the meals? Yeah, often meals are served with side dishes that include radish, pickles, and a snack type cracker.
It’s often that you will most likely go to a bar to get another round of
drinks after your meal. Most bars you have to order food in order to
drink some beers, but there are some bars that allow you to not have to order food with your drinks. The expats in Korea refer to them as "foreigner bars" since it's just like an bar back in the States, drinks with optional food orders.
But don’t fret! If you don’t want to go out to a bar to drink and risk the chances of stuffing your face again, you can easily go to a convenience store (with tables and chairs out front) and buy some soju and snacks and enjoy your night that way.
On a side note, there are many different types of snacks you can buy to enjoy with your drinks. The yellow cheetos-puff looking type chips are actually banana flavored chips. BTW, Korea totally big on BANANAS!
Speaking of bananas, I present to you, banana milk!
Well, since I was on the topic of alcohol, I might as well touch upon the pricing right? A case of Cass beer (8 cans) is about 8-9 USD.
Soju on the other hand, is merely 1-2 USD depending on the brand you get. Now you choose which one you’d rather get..either a lot of liquor or little beer?
Regardless of your alcoholic beverage of choice, please drink responsibly. This has been a PSA, approved by Mina.
This lovely combination is called 치맥 (chi-mek) which is a play on the words 치킨 (chicken) +
맥주 (beer) . Therefore, this combination of 치맥 is chicken + beer. Sounds weird? Actually, it's not. Quite delicious and who knew that washing down your chicken with a nice cold beer would be so nice?
Have you noticed the side dishes that come with the meals? Yeah, often meals are served with side dishes that include radish, pickles, and a snack type cracker.
 |
| convenient store drinking, just like in the Korean dramas *side note: it is illegal to drink alcohol inside the convenient store, but it's fine if you drink alcohol outside/in front of the store. odd yea? |
But don’t fret! If you don’t want to go out to a bar to drink and risk the chances of stuffing your face again, you can easily go to a convenience store (with tables and chairs out front) and buy some soju and snacks and enjoy your night that way.
On a side note, there are many different types of snacks you can buy to enjoy with your drinks. The yellow cheetos-puff looking type chips are actually banana flavored chips. BTW, Korea totally big on BANANAS!
Speaking of bananas, I present to you, banana milk!
Well, since I was on the topic of alcohol, I might as well touch upon the pricing right? A case of Cass beer (8 cans) is about 8-9 USD.
Soju on the other hand, is merely 1-2 USD depending on the brand you get. Now you choose which one you’d rather get..either a lot of liquor or little beer?
Regardless of your alcoholic beverage of choice, please drink responsibly. This has been a PSA, approved by Mina.
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