weekend from heaven and hell-SS501 encore in Seoul

This weekend had a totally different feel than my weekend two weeks ago in Bangkok. :( I guess I will start with Friday night. I was so keyed up about the concerts that i could not go to bed. I finally went at three-but did not fall asleep until 5-then i had to get up at six--now I know how ss501 feels !

Saturday 02/27/2010: I got up on time but took to long to get ready and ended missing the bus so I had to pay $35 more to take the train to Seoul. Fortunately a dear friend had loaned me the money. My trip to Seoul was uneventful fortunately. I was hungry so i went to Bennigans to eat lunch. I didnt eat breakfast and didnt know when I would be able to eat again, but again I was so keyed up that I couldnt eat! So I then made my way to the subway station-completely forgetting that it was a holiday weekend-I was surprised by how crowded the subway station was. I got my subway/bus card and made it to my train no problems. I did great all the way to the last two stops before i had to get off-even made transfers correctly. Two stops before Olympic Park-the tracks forked and I kept getting on and off the wrong train-3 times. Finally I met 2 korean girls who were also going to the SS501 concert and they said they would help me. While we were talking, 4 girls from HongKong Triple S showed up-they also had taken the wrong train so the 7 of us stayed together until we got to the concert. We then decided to eat lunch. I had brought the rest of my sandwich to finish later. I wanted something to drink so i went into GS 25 and decided to use the ATM machine in there. The machine charged me for taking the money but did not give me the money. So after explaining to five workers what had happened, they called the machine owner who said for me to try it again-this time it worked but i was still out the $20 from the first try! I then went to eat and go find my spot in line. Then I noticed a tent that said Luggage check. I was so happy because I had been carrying around my bags all day and was tired so I decided to check them. Since it was warm and i had on a spring jacket I decided to also give them my heavy coat and purse. Since I was in standing zone C I didnt want to be bothered with them. So then I went to get in line. I was so happy that i was first but them remembered that last year they lined us up in order by ticket number so i didnt really worry about it. I stood there for two hours only to find out that i was standing in the wrong line. Again remembering last time i didnt worry that i had to be in the other line that was twice as long as the one i was in already-so I moved. While I was in line, a TV crew asked me where I was from and asked if they could interview me about SS501-so even though I was exhausted I said ok! After the interview I saw Liezle-one of the fans I met in Thailand. I was so happy to see her. I had been so lonely all day standing by myself so it was so nice to see a familiar face. If you remember, I had checked my coat and purse, well at this point it got really cold and started to rain-and you guessed it-my umbrella was in my purse! So then they start trying to line us up by ticket number but because there were so many foreigners there that did not understand-they gave up trying! Finally I got into the concert area. Once inside I made my way to the back part of the stage where i knew JungMin, Kyu Jong, and Hyun Joong stood alot. I found myself standing next to a 64 year old Korean woman who lives in the Czech Republic-but came to Korea just for the concerts because she loves leader Hyun Joong! We talked about the parody subs videos for DejaVu. When they started singing the song and Baby Joon sang the part "in my eyes" we both looked at each other and started laughing so hard!

The concert--They must have spent a fortune on pyrotechnics for this thing because it seems there were more than usual! When the intro music started playing sparks traveled along a wire across the ceiling to form a star, then the curtain fell and there they were-the five angels that stole my heart!!!! They did their standard hits DeJa Vu (opener) ASCFU, 4 chance, and Unlock
Then they did a little bit of talking and Kyu started picking on Baby! Then Baby Joon had his solo stage. He came out looking sharp in a blue suit with a black shirt. He sang a beautiful song that I had never heard before then, he sung a song he wrote aboout on twitter called Girls, Girls, Girls You Know. I didnt understand when I read it on Twitter-but when I heard it-I instantly loved it. That was when I accepted the fact that Baby Joon is just as awesome as the others! Then it was our Beautiful Kyu Jong's turn!!! He came out in white pants, white trench coat, white/silver top hat, and white cane to sing Never let you go. When the song finished, they kept flashing "Wuss UP" on the screen. Then the showed a slide show of Kyu pictures. They were so adorable-sad, funny, KYUte, sweet-very emotional-then he popped out of the stage and started singing "Wuss Up". They all then came on stage and did a few songs I didnt know plus because Im stupid. Then they showed a very disturbing video of Jungmin-that looked like he attacked a girl in a crime of passion and then was rubbing her blood on his lips. He then came on stage and started singing "If you Can" joined on the Duet by Kara's Gyuri. He then sung a song called Kiss-which I had never heard before but apparently the other foreigners around me knew it quite well! He was joined by Kara dancing with him. Then Kara performed their songs Lupin and Mister. All five guys returned to the stage to do UR Man-then Young Saeng showed his special solo that was very different. He sung a really cool song that mixed several different types of music into one song-rap, hiphop, dance--I absolutely loved it surprisingly! I think the rap and monologue in it was in english-not to sure! Then a live orchestra was on stage and he started directing them. He then threw the conductors stick and started singing the hard rock version of Find. When he yelled "guitar" during the guitar solo-it looked like leader was the one doing the guitar solo-again not to sure but it looked like it and others around me said the same thing. The only thing I remember next is seeing the sexy shower video of leader. I guess I have seen it so many times now that it doesnt drive me as crazy as it use to. Then leader came out riding the same red/black motorcycle on stage that he rode in the video. He then did his super hot dance to the intro of please be nice to me and started singing. He was wearing his usual black jacket and a shiny gold button down shirt. I guess the were going thru to many ripped t-shirts so they decided to use a button down shirt with velcro-or so it appeared! He didnt take his shirt off all the way but opened it all the way-which to me is sexier because it is more teasing! They then did all the songs from Rebirth. During one costume change-JungMin was rushing so fast that he put his clothes on inside out! During Green Peas-many cute things happened:
1) Kyu seemed to be worried about doing the count down so he was trying to get JungMin to do it and JungMin kept saying no you are going to do it.
2) In the middle of the song bubbles were blown onto the stage and Kyu just got up from where he was sitting and started chasing bubbles
3) When they first set down-JungMin had a stuffed horse that sat inside his jacket on his lap then when he got up and started walking around the stage-he started teasing girls in the audience with it. I dont know if he actually gave it to anybody or not.

Other cute/interesting moments:
1) during Because Im stupid, leader was standing right in front of me. They seemed to be having problems with their sound. Girls kept screaming his name and he gave a slight smile and half wave. He looked a little annoyed because he couldnt hear the others to know when it was his part. At the end of the song he turned around and gave a big smile and good wave.
2) during the encore part of the show, somebody threw a blow up Zebra on stage and JungMin put it between his legs and rode it around the stage.
3) Our shy prince YoungSaeng-is shy no more. Also during the encore portion-he went up on the back part of the stage where the most people could see him and ripped off his shirt then baby Joon yelled in the Mic "ooooh Sexy!"
4) during the concert I screamed so hard that I could taste blood in my mouth--I dont think that is normal!!!

AFTER THE CONCERT:
I went to get my stuff-no problem! Then I go to get a taxi. I was tired and my feet were killing me-so instead of trying to get one at the taxi stand, I walked down a little ways-a trick I learned here in Gyeongju at the train station-my apartment is to close to the station for them so they refuse to take me so i have to walk down a little. I get a taxi-get in and tel the driver where I need to go-he takes me back to the taxi stand and tells me to get out-that he doesnt know where my hotel is. I stand there for 1/2 an hr in the cold and another driver helps on his phone to find a way to my hotel-since apparently nobody has ever heard of it even though it is a really big busy hotel in the area-Jamsil Tourist Hotel. one and a half hrs and 11 taxi's later I finally get in one-call the hotel and give the phone to the driver. Some of the taxis said no they wouldnt take me but some pulled over then when i started walking to it they would take off again. Close to midnight I get to my hotel and I am starving and of course there are no open restaurants in the area so I walk 2 blocks down the street to a convenient store to get some water and triangle kimbap-remember all I had eaten was the sandwich from bennigans in the morning. I eat and go to bed-finally at 2 AM.

Sunday 2/28/2010 I wake up at 7AM with a migraine headache and my feet hurt so bad that I couldn't even walk to the bathroom!. Thank God I remembered to bring my headache medicine with me. I took three pills and went back to sleep. I woke back up at 10 and started to get ready. The hotel had my favorite kind of shower-that was the best damn shower I had in a loooooong time!!!! I check out and head to Olympic park. Again I dont know when I will eat so I go eat first. I go to Burger King but get irritated because as much as I love Korea-Koreans do not know the meaning of "get in line and wait your turn!!!" so I just say screw it and go somewhere else (I really wanted BK since we dont have them here is Gyeongju :( !!) I go to Quizno's instead and find gold: a turkey sandwich and Arizona Green Tea with lemon and honey!!! I am happy again!!! Two rarities in Korea that I love! I then start walking to Olympic park and fall and bust my knee! Nobody bothers to see if I am alright-they just keep on walking and staring. By this point I am ready to say forget it-I am not going to the second concert! I decide to go anyway-nothing is going to keep me from seeing my precious SS501 boys!!! I go thru the same procedure as saturday-get ticket-get wristband-store bags-get in line. Again I am first-and alone! I try calling my friends but my phone was dying and I needed to save some battery for the Green Peas event and then to call my friend Lindsey to let her know when I will get to Cheonan. So I stand there-alone, exhausted and in a lot of pain. At this point I notice something trickling down my leg. I lift my pant leg and my knee is bleeding and really swollen from falling! I go get it cleaned up and get back in line. Sunday they decide to line us up in order but dont make us stay out in the cold as long. Im lad because on top of everything else I had a sore throat, slight fever and started coughing-oh I cant afford to be sick!!!! Inside I try talking to a few people but no one will talk to me-so again I am very lonely. The conert starts ans is basically the same as Saturday but there were a few changes:
1) JungMin sang my favorite song "Only Me" (my other favorite songs are Saengies song "Its not love" and "4 Chance" , "fighter" and "Deja Vu")
2) After his solo-JungMin introduced the new girl group Rainbow. The introduction was so cute!!!! They sung their song Gossip Girl (which I really liked) and an english song that i know but dont know the title.
3) Everybody already knows this part-but right before Green Peas leader started talking and started crying so hard that he couldnt talk and although i couldnt understand a word they were saying -I started crying also. The camera then panned to baby Joon and he was also crying pretty hard. Although JungMin claims to be a strong man and not cry-him and Young Saeng were tearing up also! JungMin-you are never to old to cry and some girls find it sexy-as long as it is not done to often. Then they sang Green Peas and at the set time everybody turned off their light sticks and help up their cell phones. It looked really cool and the guys noticed and asked about it after the song. Then Kyu started talking and he started sobbing.
4) When JungMin was introducing himself as "sexy Charisma" he got tongue tied and couldnt say it.
5) After Green Peas we all sung Happy birthday to Kyu Jong and they brought out a big cake. Then the fun began-The water guns! Leader tackled Baby Joon to the ground, tried to rip his shirt off and poured a 2 liter bottle of water on him! This happened right in front of where I was standing-I was laughing so hard! Then they tried to get Kyu and he ran away. Min started chasing him and sid on the water. He finally got Kyu to come back and all four picked Kyu up and dunked him in a tub of water then gave him a shower!!!
6) some of the male dancers were dressed in yellow strapless sundresses with a lot of make up on and "I <3 id="SPELLING_ERROR_99" class="blsp-spelling-error">parasal and was walking on stage and did a face plant on the floor-ouch made me think about my poor knee!
7) Some girls next to me had a blow up giraffe and tried to give it to Min during because Im stupid. He started to take then hesitated, gave his beautiful smile and and shook his finger no. They later threw it on stage and one of the dancers picked it up and was playing with it.

AFTER THE CONCERT

I got my stuff and some cash and went to get another taxi. I thought about taking the subway back to the train station but was afraid I would miss the last train so I opted to take a taxi-thinking it would cost maybe 20,000 won-BIG MISTAKE! The driver picked up me and two other passengers. He dropped them off in Dondaemun and charged them 40,000 won then he took me the rest of the way to the train station and charged me 60,000 won! I got there at 9:27 so I was able to catch the 9:40 KTX to Cheonan-Asan station. I called and told Lindsey then my phone died! I got to Cheonan and we decided to take the subway to her home in Dujeong Dong because we are both broke. She just returned from Canada and because my hagwan is having such financial difficulties-I have only been working part time for the last 2 months. The subway was only 900 won then a 20 minute walk to her apartment. I was so hungry and of course there was no kimbap nara on the way so we stopped to get a pizza-Lindseys idea because I was so depressed. She calls it one of my "happy foods" along with soda, SoJu, SamGypSal, and chocolate!!! One of these days I am going to get the chance to tell leader and Saengie that I want to drink Soju with them. I think Lindsey can match leader--I can do about half of what she does! We didnt get to have our triple S night while I was there (triple S night =Soju, Samgypsal, and Singing) mostly because we are both broke and we both gave up SoJu for lent (along with coffee, juice, chocolate milk, and soda's). My mom said she is giving up sex for lent!!! I told her that you need to give up something you have regularly not something that is easy to avoid!!!! Anyway.... off subject! I got to bed around 1130. By bed I mean Lindseys old torn up ghetto couch-but it is really comfortable to sleep on. I tossed and turned all night because my legs were hurting so bad.

Monday: 3/1/2010 Lindseys alarm on her phone startled me a wake at 9AM. I was so exhausted that i couldnt move-last thing I remember is her saying she is going to take a shower. Sometime later I was thinking wow she sure is taking a long shower-I wish she would hurry so I can pee! Then I get a text message-its from Lindsey! She had taken her shower, got dressed, gone to the doctor and was now at physical therapy-I had no clue she had left. The shower I was hearing was the rain outside! I must have been sleeping hard! She told me to be ready by 1130 because Grace "Unnie" was taking us to a jimjilbang. I had never been before because I didnt like the idea of sitting in a room with a bunch of naked women-naked men-ok, but not other naked women! Then I got to thinking how the heat would be good for my knee and back (some of you may remember I hurt my back just before Persona BangKok) so I said I would go. It was different than I expected-great even! They give you shorts and a t-shirt to put on and they have different rooms with different temperatures. I found the hottest room I could find and went to sleep. You may remember I loved the heat in Bangkok and cried when I came back to Korea because it was so cold. After the Jimjilbang we met my friends YuNa and YoungSuk for dinner at Kimbap nara (one of my fav places to eat--cheap, fast, and tasty!!!) Then I started worrying about my dog "Baby" (yes he is named after Hyung Joon-actually all 5: Young "baby" Kyu Min Hyun-but I just call him baby!) so I decided to go home so I could check on him. As my weekend has been so unlucky so far-it continued-I missed the last bus by 15 minutes and the last train by 5 minutes. I went back to Lindseys and was asleep by 9:30.

Tuesday: I got up at 630 to catch the 745 train to Gyeongju. While waiting I met a kid that has been here a week and lost his passport so he was going to seoul from Daegu. He asked a lady if he was in Seoul and she said yes-he saw me and I told him he was in Cheonan. He went to get another ticket and came back. I found out that he was from near my home. I am from florida and he is from Mississippi. We talked for a while and I helped him map out his subway route in seoul using my map on my cell phone. We then went on our seperate trains that left at the same time. I got to DongDaegu and was hungry so I went to Dunkin Donuts-I needed something cheap and fast. I only had 6,000 won so I used two and put the other four in my pocket-thank God I did. When I got to Gyeongju, my bag tipped over and my wallet and gatorade fell out. I saw the gatorade fall out but not the wallet. I got off the train and went to get some cash from the ATM and no wallet! I instantly went into panic mode because my id, atm card and my friend JungYoun's id was in there (I had to use her id in order to get the concert tickets-since I am a foreigner I can not use most korean websites-especially to buy stuff--thankfully one of my students called DSP and they created an acct for me to use the ss501 website!) I used my last 4000 won to get a taxi home. I was so happy to see my messy apartment and my dog-especially my dog. I was so worried about him. I dont like leaving him that long by himself-usually I dont but since I had no money or time to arrange a babysitter I had to. Two hours later I started my new part time job. On M-W-F I work at one hagwan and Tu/Th I work at another. It was pretty good but a very long day. My fourth class is all girls and all SS501 fans-especially Min, leader, and Saengie-so guess which class is now my fav. class! After work I went back to the train station and they had found my wallet. I got it, went to the ATM and withdrew my last 10,000 won from my Korean bank acct. and my last $10 from US bank acct! Hopefully I can make it last until the tenth when I get paid again. I will be eating a lot of ramyeon and kimbap for the next two weeks ! HEHEHEHE! My mom says I need to open up a special bank acct just for SS501 events and merchandise!!!