#sk diary

[kokkiri-desu]

Term abroad in South Korea - Part 2 🇰🇷

Starbucks in the Coex mall. Gangnam, Seoul, Korea. Feb 2020

Being all alone in Seoul I also started going around alone. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be :) Travelling/taking a trip alone lets you spend time with yourself; you walk/look in your own pace; you go wherever you want to without having to discuss it with someone else first. Of course it’s also fun to travel with friends or family but I think it’s almost a life accomplishment to find fun in spending time with oneself and travelling alone. So these pictures were taken at Starbucks in a popular mall in Gangnam. It is super huge so you can get lost easily, which I did a few times - but I wasn’t in a hurry so I just walked and walked and walked and looked and looked and looked and just enjoyed (as you can see I’m fond of malls - I was born in Bangkok and it’s a mall city so...). The drink I ordered is called 허니자몽블랙티 (Honey Grapefruit Black Tea) which I fell in love with T^T I normally don’t drink anything that contains caffeine but this tea was so good and I am so sad we don’t have it here in Germany. So for about a week I went around alone in Seoul, exploring a bit by myself. But of course I couldn’t stay alone in Seoul forever - you can learn many things by yourself and grow as a person, but there are also things you learn while being with others - and for me as an introvert that’s kind of necessary. I didn’t want to just stay inside my own little world anymore. I was ready to go on a adventure of self-development :) Stay tuned for my next posts ~

If you have any questions or anything you're curios about - feel free to ask me 😊💙

[maddieloveskpop]

Fatherland tour report

Even before getting into K-pop, I'd always felt closer to my Korean side than my Chinese side, because we saw my mum's family more often and perhaps because my dad's side was farther removed from the homeland. However, being in Hong Kong I realized that I have more connection to that side than I'd thought, if just through the food. Eating in Cantonese restaurants was extremely familiar, because the layout of the cutlery and the proceedings were the same as I had grown up with. Hearing Cantonese around me was also comforting in a way - it's the way I've learned to differentiate between Cantonese and Mandarin, because one sounds "right" to me (like my grandma's voice) and the other does not. I also felt less like I stuck out physically, though I've also always believed I look more like my dad than my mum, and Hong Kong is much more ethnically diverse than Korea or even the part of Toronto where I live. (Hong Kong is also less formal than Korea, so I felt less like my behaviour in public marked me as an outsider.)

[maddieloveskpop]

In the Trax for Bloo CD store in Myeongdong I lay down and wept.

[maddieloveskpop]

K-pop in its context

The place I hear pop songs most frequently is in stores, though I'm not sure if that's just because it's where I'm most frequently found. The group I've heard most often during my shopping trips is Beast - as I said in a previous post, both "Midnight" and "아름다운 밤이야" (It's A Beautiful Night) get lots of play. Orange Caramel's "Lipstick" and Kara's "Pandora" are also strong contenders.

"Gangnam Style" is also everywhere - obviously, though I've heard quite a few stories from foreigners teaching English here who've received e-mails from home asking "Have you heard of this song???" But it's everywhere in a way that seems more democratic or more part of the public than the implied imposition of shopping music. Unlike the songs I've heard in stores, I've heard "Gangnam Style" mostly in snippets - someone's ringtone, or a clip playing in the metro, or the video playing without sound at a rest stop souvenir stand. And "X style" is a popular snowclone both in conversation and in advertising. (X is usually a place, though in most ads it's a brand.)

Other "pop in the wild" anecdotes, by song:

A nice R&B remix of ZE:A's "후유증" (Aftermath) surprised me in a cafe. (The original song itself is fairly popular in stores.)

I heard Super Junior's "Spy" for the first time while shopping and I actually liked it a lot, though it doesn't sound so great on this second listen I'm doing as I type. NU'EST's "Action" also sounded a lot better to me in public than when I had sat down and listened to it, at least until the unnecessary dubstep breakdown, which remains unnecessary.

BTOB's "Wow" also gets played pretty often in stores, but it sounds just as good on its own as in public.

Indie group Busker Busker remains popular; I hear both "벚꽃 엔딩" (Cherry Blossom Ending) and "정말로 사랑한다면" (If You Really Love Me) a lot. I heard a group jam of the latter on Jungjang-no in Gwangju, where a few guys were playing guitars, djembe (?), and melodica in the square.

Songs that have come up as a result of conversation are Secret's "Shy Boy" (which a Korean friend sang the chorus of while we were talking about shy people) and Miss A's "Bad Girl Good Girl".

According to my friend, in some gay clubs they play American dance music in the first half of the night and K-pop in the second half. When certain songs come on, many people in the crowd do the choreographed moves, though it's spontaneous and not like a line dance.

While taking the lift to Namsan, a tour guide on the elevator with us started playing Sistar's "Alone" on her phone speakers before she walked out. Similarly, I encountered a couple on a mountain in Suncheon playing "Loving U" over the boy's phone speakers as they walked.

At the Buso Fortress (near Buyeo), a group of girls on a school trip started singing Teen Top's "To You" from "ireokke na honja" through the rap, all in unison.

In Jeonju, I woke up at 2:30 AM to a crowd of people singing Big Bang's "Haru Haru" to a backing track with a keyboard playing the melody, something like crowd karaoke, I imagine. They also sang Wonder Girls' "Be My Baby" before retiring for the night.

[maddieloveskpop]

What I think about when I'm in Seoul

where I should go

what I should eat

whether or not I should buy something

what constitutes a good souvenir

where can I charge my phone?

whether or not I'm passing for local when I don't speak

the advantages and disadvantages of passing for local

whether or not I'm experiencing something similar to white privilege despite the language barrier

if that's even possible

what songs are playing in public spaces

how many times I've heard a song in public (Beast just pulled ahead in the race; I've heard both "Midnight" and "It's A Beautiful Night" at least 3 times each while shopping)

what people around me on the metro might be listening to

cute boys t b q h

what I could have said to Kris of EXO-M when I ran into him in Apgujeong instead of being too shy to talk to him

how to say what I want to say in Korean

who might speak English in my immediate vicinity

how much I talk about K-pop and if it's too much

seriously, where can I charge my phone?