My Great K-pop Adventure, Part One: The Flashmob

[This entry is hideously overdue... So my apologies for a delay of nearly two months for the full story of my K-pop experience...]

Somewhere, on my lengthy Korea Bucket List, is "see a K-pop concert." 

Now, I should start by saying K-pop isn't my style really at all, but, being as I'm in Korea, and I hear about K-pop constantly in the classroom, I've managed to develop a passing interest. By this I mean I don't listen to K-pop and have actually only bought one K-pop song on iTunes... Overall, I'm not a fan of K-pop simply because I'm rarely a fan of anything "pop" in general, the notable exception being NSYNC, of course. However, I do have to admit that some of those songs are damn catchy. If I was the type of person who worked out at a gym, I can see a K-pop playlist as being really fun to do workout things to. Truly. But otherwise? I'll stick to my mellow, folky-indie-rock, thanks. 

I'm sure you can see the dilemma here. I don't like the music, but I want to see a concert in person. Why, you ask? Because the atmosphere at a K-pop concert, from what I'd been told, is nothing short of Beatlemania. (Stay tuned for part two of this adventure, where I describe how it is, indeed, sheer insanity.) I just really felt like this was something I wanted to witness myself. Lately it's seemed that K-pop, if it has its way, would happily take over the world. And I wanted to see this hot mess with my own eyes. 

So, on September 1st, bleary-eyed and semi-apprehensive, my friend Talisa and I woke up early so we could catch a cab to the Chinatown area of Incheon. We knew very little of what the day would entail, but the promises of "flash mob" and "free tickets to a K-pop concert" were enough for us to jump right in, hoping the day would exceed our (admittedly low and/or vague) expectations. 

At some point back in July, I'd happened upon a Facebook invite for the event via a local expat/teacher group. Some organizations, somehow affiliated with Incheon Tourism Organization, were looking to promote their upcoming annual K-pop concert. The concert, Korean Music Wave 2013, boasted a massive lineup of 20 different idol groups, many of whom I hear about on a daily basis from my students. The actual tickets to the concert were a cheap ₩5,000, and apparently they sold out lightning fast. In order to promote Incheon's tourism (and Korea in general) to foreigners, they also set aside a ton of foreigner-only tickets for various giveaways. Some options involved buying something from an Incheon business and showing your receipt, while others were more extravagant, such as spending a night in a particular Incheon hotel. The option that caught my eye, however, was a K-pop flash mob. 

Free ticket in exchange for dancing? WHERE DO I SIGN UP. 

Yes, "flash mop." 

As we got out of our cab at Incheon Station, we easily found the stationed flash mob coordinators who gave us directions to the rec center where we would be learning our choreography. Once there, we got checked in, which included the first of three stamps that we would get throughout the day. Maps and schedules were also handed out, and we were ushered into a black box theater to begin rehearsal. 

Stamped and mapped. 

Before rehearsing, we also got a rundown of the day. After practicing the dance, we would walk to the nearby Jayu Park for our first performance. Second, we were to head to Sinpo Market for a performance near one of its entrances. Then, our third and final performance, was to be outside of Munhak Stadium, where the concert was being held. As the day went, we would also get vouchers for free coffee and ₩5,000 in "money" to be spent at Sinpo Market. Upon completion of the final flash mob, we would get a souvenir shirt and a concert ticket! Simple enough, right?

Our teachers, explaining our marathon, K-pop filled day.

The choreography was from the videos for two popular K-pop songs: "Fantastic Baby" by Big Bang and "Gentleman" by PSY. A fairly simple routine, but definitely one that required more rehearsal time than we were given, which was about an hour. Maybe I have outrageously high standards due to twenty or so years of dance training and classes, but they really didn't teach us well... But that's a long-winded rant that none of you care about. 

Though we were under-rehearsed (and generally confused), our first two performances were (luckily) in pretty uncrowded areas, giving us some much needed "dress" rehearsals. 

Dancers starting to fill in at Jayu Park. 

I have very few pictures of us actually dancing since I was in the middle of dancing myself! I managed to snap the above photo right before jumping in, since we were supposed to trickle in instead of joining the flash mob all at once. (Which was a concept most seemed to... have trouble understanding. Mostly because I don't think that was explained well. Le sigh.) 

First round of freebies to use at Sinpo Market. 

I wonder what that very conspicuous group of foreigners is doing lurking in the street? The area of street pictured is where we had our second performance.

All stamped and ready for the final performance!

After grabbing food and coffee with our vouchers in Sinpo Market, we hopped on some shuttle buses to be driven across town to Munhak Stadium. The final performance was scheduled for 3:30pm, almost five hours before the concert was set to begin, but we knew that this last flash mob would have a much, much larger audience. 

Walking up to the stadium, you could feel the energy and excitement from the throngs of K-pop fans. Vendors were selling various items that declared your love for the idol group of your choice, long lines had already formed outside the gates, and we saw quite a few groups of girls run screaming past us for no apparent reason. We milled around our designated dancing space, trying (and failing) to blend into the crowd until the music started at 3:30.

So, without further ado, here's a shaky, blurry video of some clips from our dance: 

I was actually surprised that by the end, we'd drawn quite a crowd! After our performance, our dance teachers did some K-pop dance covers of their own. They were, of course, way, way better than us, as they'd actually rehearsed their routines carefully and for longer than an hour. When the guys were dancing, the teenage girls around us looked like they were ready to faint -- the screams were deafening. One of the dudes took his shirt off and all hell nearly broke loose. Needless to say, I began bracing myself for what would happen once I was actually inside the stadium... 

Part of our audience. 

Panoramic shot of the circle that had formed, with the girls dancing in the middle.

After the dancing ended, we were all done! We lined up to get our souvenir shirts and tickets, and shortly after, all we had to do is wait for them to let us inside the stadium. Everyone was getting really excited for the show itself at this point, though after all that dancing and trekking around Incheon, we were also all hoping our ground tickets would magically involve chairs...

The experience, while exhausting, was really great. I've been in a few flash mobs before, back in Austin, and they'd always been loads of fun. Getting to run around town and dance was enough for me, really, so the free concert ticket was a bonus. Definitely one of the more memorable days I've had in Korea so far. 

Stay tuned for Part Two, which will cover the concert itself, including some moments when I was actually afraid for my life... I'll just leave you with this as a preview/hint: Teenage girls are intense when they're mere feet away from the objects of their lust... 

The story of a tank top.

As many of you know or have seen on this blog, you can find some really, really strange, random t-shirts in Korea. To give you a taste, here are my favorites that I found while wandering around shops in Osan last week.

"Erpretatiou, and theint the words of the wivi"

"In every other state that the wolf lives in they are endangered

She was disappointed his face that ugly enough to tree a wolf."

And then here's the one I actually bought, because it was the cheapest (and strangest) at only $5:

The front, with a big "Save Ferrets," instead of the popular "Save Ferris."

And then the back: "Get it dyed red" and "Naute not to asy for anything from but simply tc say thank you." 

It absolutely baffles me as to how some of these things end up printed on shirts -- we've found logos for various stores back in the U.S., different organizations (Red Cross, Girl Scouts), a wealth of strange Engrish, and the occasional logo for something that appears to be from a personal event (family reunion, wedding, etc.).

Normally, when I've seen the latter, I've assumed someone is just making up names and stuff for the sake of slapping it on a shirt. However, while in Osan, there was one that really caught my eye:

I did a double-take as soon as I saw "Tulsa" on this shirt, surprised to see something with my hometown printed on it. After getting a good laugh, showing everyone I was with, and taking a picture, I put it back -- $20 was too much to spend on a tank top while on my current budget (called "it's two days before payday and my three month vacation took all of my money..."). And, yellow just isn't really my color, you know?

In hindsight, I've made a huge mistake. I should've bought that shirt.

Why? (Besides the obvious reasons of it being so damn random and also about my hometown?)

Well, because I found Jason and Kasia. 

Once I got home that night, it dawned on me that I should Google the info on the shirt. Was this a real wedding? Are these real people? Could I somehow find them and send the picture of the shirt?

A quick Google search led me to the website for their wedding photographer, where I found a password-protected album of their wedding photos. Unable to access it and find any more info about this couple (like their last names so I could try to find them on Facebook or something), I emailed the photographer, explaining this strange situation and my mission to show them the photo of the shirt.

Their wedding photographer quickly emailed me back, also sharing my confusion and amusement. He then forwarded my message to the contact email he still had on file for Jason and Kasia, and I had a message in my inbox from Kasia when I woke up last Sunday morning! Apparently the logo is from their wedding invitation -- the girl who designed it must've had it up on her website, and somehow, someone found it and decided to make a shirt.

And this is where I started kicking myself for not buying the shirt -- Kasia, of course, would like to have the shirt and has offered to pay for me to send it to her. But, it was in Osan, which is two hours away from where I live in Incheon. I was able to enlist the help of my friend, Amy, who lives in Osan, but by the time she made it back to the store, the shirt was gone. Sigh.

I hope that I might be able to find the shirt elsewhere... next weekend's plans involve a shopping trip to my dear Bupyeong Underground Shopping Center, which is home to all of the wonderfully bizarre shirts I buy (and give to family and friends). Bupyeong has a remarkable mess of completely random things, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that fate will reunite me with this shirt.

Kasia has been understanding about not being able to get the shirt to her, and I can only hope that somehow, I'll come across another one. If nothing else, she's got a great story and a photo to prove it! And hey, I do too.

ps. Anyone in Korea that is reading this, whether I know you or not: if you find this shirt, buy it and contact me. I will pay you back! And then you can feel awesome about yourself for helping me complete this unusual quest to send a very special shirt to some complete strangers. :)