EVERYTHING KOREAN. (Warning: It's gna be long)

A big YAY to a happy post today. Why a happy post? Cause I couldn't care less about all these negative feelings I'm going through. To hell with these feelings HAHAHA I'm feeling happier nowadays, alhamdulillah. I feel more thankful for everything in my life and I thank Allah swt for everything. 

So anywayyyyy back to topic. That picture up there? Yes, drew it myself. Not proud of it though since it's the most simplest drawing I've ever drawn and... yep. So what's up with the SKorea flag and Singapore flag? Well, first of all, obviously I'm Singaporean. Secondly, most of you guys know I'm crazy over Korean Pop, Korean Variety Shows, Korean Drama, Korean Food and basically... you know... everything Korean. My friends and family say I have an obsession with everything Korean. Well, that's partially true... But it's not THAT true. There's a difference between the word "obsession" and "interest". It's like a 50-50 kind of thing. Or maybe 45-55. You guess which is which. I retweet tweets in Korean/Hangul and some may think "She retweets these kind of tweets in another language. Does she even understand a single thing?" Well sorry to burst your bubbles, but I do, okay? Not fully but I do get a brief idea of what these people are tweeting.

So how did this Korean "obsession/interest" thing started? Well, it started in 2012. It all started with Running Man. Never have I laughed so hard at a variety show before in my entire life. I may laugh at the local variety shows but it's just... "meh" kind of feeling. But for running man, I can re-watch it dozens of times of the same episode and still laugh as hard as I did before. And 2012 was the year I was taking my 'N' level. Buuuuut, I was not THAT obsessed over RM yet so yes, I did pretty well for Ns... despite of the endless "night-walks" and "running man catching game" during night study in school till late night. Shush. 

And then comes 2013. I remembered myself saying "Omg eww, why do you like KPOP? The guys look like girls" etc etc. You know, those typical haters. Never have I ever imagined myself being in the KPOP world when I actually said those sentences just 4 years back (lower secondary moments). I need a smack in my head cause I have not regretted entering the KPOP world. Say whatever you want but if KPOP keeps me happy, so be it. Accept it. So who was the first KPOP boy band that I love? 

JJANG! It's these guys. The first ever KPOP group I laid my eyes on. BIG BANG. 빅뱅. And I was not even disappointed once. These boys. The talents. The humour. The songs. Everything. How did it all started? Well, it started with a dream... 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

but seriously though. I swear it started with a dream. Dreamt that these boys came to my school (YT) and they sang specially for me etc. Laughing out loud, I didn't even knew who they were when I had that dream. I didn't even know WHO Big Bang was when I had that dream. Well, I only knew Taeyang (YoungBae ssi) since I danced to his song "wedding dress" during NDP 2010. SOOOOOOOOO yeah. That's how it all started. I searched for them on Google and Youtube. Their first music video which caught my eyes (and ears) was "하루 하루" (Day by Day). It was such a touching and sad music video and the meaning of the song. (First time crying at a music video though). And then variety shows of them in it. (Favourite is "Night after Night".) And also videos of them performing, doing stupid things and etc. Even had endless amounts of dreams about them. 

I thought to myself "Damn, why must I go crazy over them now???" This was during my O levels period, mind you. I was panicking myself, afraid that I will be too busy going crazy over these boys that I won't focus on my studies. I watched their videos almost every night (literally). I tried so hard to reduce my thinking of them but it gets harder and harder everyday. But someway, somehow, I managed to focus on my studies. Well, their music/songs helped me since it was on replay while I was doing my revision and thankfully, I did pretty well for 'Os'. So yay :D

So slowly combining both RM and BB, my interest in Korea started rising. And during my holidays after Os, I spent most of my time watching KDramas starting from 2013-2014. "I Hear Your Voice", "The Heirs", "Emergency Couple", "My Love from Another Star", "Doctor Stranger" and now currently episode 10 of "School 2013" starring LeeJongSuk and KimWooBin. *heart-shaped eyes emoji* 

So as I enter 2014, I already had a list full of Korean words used in everyday conversations. Yes, I'm that obsessed with the Hangul/Korean language. As I entered polytechnic, the first thing I searched for was Korean/(KPOP)Korean-loving friends. And thank God, I did. When I first entered this course (Digital Animation), I thought it was gna be filled with "anime" people. And I don't really fancy anime in a slightest bit. Sorry-not-sorry to say that tho ha ha ha. Soooo, I found friends who liked KPOP and korean stuffs and yep, couldn't stop talking about them up until now. But, I still have yet to find a korean friend tho. I'm still upset about that because how can I learn about Korean Culture and language when I don't even have a Korean friend to begin with. And yet people say Singapore Poly has a lot of Koreans... Guess all of them are under different schools than me, yes? Either that or they're staying away from me. Possible. 

LOOK AT THESE BOYS. LOOK AT EACH OF THEM. SUPER ADORABLE. 

Sooooo as I entered poly, I remember telling my friends about "방탄소년단" (Bangtan Boys) (Bulletproof Scouts). I told her "Where the hell did these boys come from?" "Suddenly popping out from nowhere and being all popular." "WHAT COMPANY ARE THEY EVEN FROM???" Well, I didn't like them at first because most of the VIP friends I know were going to their fandom and leaving Big Bang. But then my cousin introduced me to these boys. It started with "하루만" and "Boy in Luv". Well, they introduced me to "Beautiful" but these 2 songs were the ones which caught my attention. The part which caught my attention the most was "Boy In Luv", during the bridge part when Jungkook pulls out a rose and serenades and then Jin and then Jimin. Jimin caught my attention the most. DID YOU SEE THE WAY HE LOOKED AT THE GIRL?! During the "널 밀어내진 못하겠어" part. I dieded. (inside joke). Could never stop replaying that part. And 하루만 during the second chorus and V was singing. How can someone have such a sweet voice in one moment and drastically changed it to a deep (Similar to RapMonster's) voice in another part of the song? Yep, only V. And similar to BB, I couldn't stop watching their music videos and BANGTANTV. It has no end. Their humour is something that I understand but my friends could never understand. What more with their new latest album being released this year? It just got better. Loving all 7 of them and what's even better is that Jimin and V are 95-liners. But they're actually just a few months older than me despite of me being a 96. 

I still am a VIP. But at the same time, I'm also an ARMY. Heading for the YGFAMILY POWER TOUR this weekend with my teacher. YES. MY. TEACHER. She's a VIP and an ARMY too so a big YAY to that. Still am waiting for BIGBANG to release their album tho. Annnnnd Seungri ssi is not coming along for the concert since he got into a major car accident. :( Wishing for him to have a speedy recovery. The sight of the accident looks... very... major. :( (his car literally flipped). 

But one hard thing about you being the only one amongst your group of friends who love everything Korean is that... they won't entertain you. At all. Even when you said a single word in Korean, they'll roll their eyes at you. In Singapore, they have a term called "STEP" which means that you're trying to be someone you're not. Well, it's not "STEP" when you're learning something new and trying hard to improve. And when they ask you where you want to eat and you say "How about Seoul Garden Hotpot?" (cause I've been dying to try the food there) their reply will always be a big fat NO. When you even try to practice the Korean Language with them, they won't even entertain you. Same goes for my family. Their reply would always be "K." LIKE THE BIG FAT GIANT "K" SHOVED INTO YOUR FACE. These is why I want to find Korean friends or someone who is interested in the Korean Culture or language or anything related to Korea. I even tried cooking some Korean food for the family like 떡볶이 and 김밥 but they don't even eat it. Okay, maybe a few bites but then I had to finish the rest of it because they didn't like it. *disappointed emoji*

AND NO, IF I HAVE KOREAN FRIENDS, I DO NOT EXPECT THEM TO LOOK LIKE SOME KPOP STAR OR ACTOR. I AM NOT THAT KIND OF PERSON. In fact I don't even care how they look like. Everyone's beautiful in my eyes. But I just want someone to teach me about their culture and language, that's all. 

I admit that KPOP, KDramas and KVariety were the ones which got me into Korean things but now I'm very serious about learning their culture and language. I'm learning the Korean language through a friend (who has a lot of Korean friends), internet (Talktomeinkorean is the best website ever), dramas, variety shows and songs. I took the time and effort to listen to what they say and tried to even write it in hangul myself and translate it later on. I can read hangul but I can't speak it fluently yet. I searched for classes available in Singapore and the prices are... wow. Well it's not THAT expensive but cmon, I'm a jobless 18 y-old kid who is currently schooling in Singapore Polytechnic and is saving money for a car license (Damn why are things in Singapore so expensive). So priority to car license first then maybe Korean Language classes. I learnt how to say some basic intro such as "안녕하세요. 저는 ______ 입니다. 정말 반가워요. *bows and shake hands*" Of course if they were to ask where I was from or what's my age, I know how to answer them too. I just love the way people speak Hangul. Like the rhythm and tone and speed. I don't know, it's just nice to hear people speak in Hangul when I happen to bump into Koreans here in Singapore. It's like, if I can speak Hangul fluently, trust me, I won't shut up. It's similar to how some girls here in Singapore love it when British people talk. They have that certain accent and it's like music to their ears. That's how it feels for me when I hear the Korean Language. I tried listening to KBS news on tv and I could understand a little here and there but not fully. 

Sometimes I joked with my friends asking "뭐 먹고 싶어요?" and apparently they understand so yaaaaaay.

I even have a dream of entering KARTS (Korea Art University) after getting my diploma buuuuuut parents won't allow it saying that they prefer to see me growing up in front of their very own eyes and that Singapore universities and degrees are better known in the world. I told them to move to SKorea with me but they said they wanted to stay in Singapore. So yep, there goes my dream flying off into thin air. *waves goodbye to dream* If I can't live in SKorea, at least let me go there for my holidays or school trips or internship. Animation is also quite known in Korea just so you know. Like this is made by MESAI (http://mesai.co.kr/), an independent Korean Animation Team(not a company). 

http://youtu.be/vN83DfmH9Tw

Look at that animation! SO SMOOTH. THEY EVEN SHOWED HOW THEY MADE THE ANIMATION AND STORYBOARD AND TEST RENDER. IF THAT'S NOT COOL, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IS. AND IT'S ALL DONE IN MAYA(animation software). ONE OF MY INSPIRATION IN ANIMATION, I SWEAR. I even showed this to my animation lecturer, begging him to make a trip to Korea and visit some animation studios or even these guys and told him that animation is known in Korea too and not only Japan (since he kept telling the class about going to Japan for some game show...).

But to sum it all up, I just want to know more about Korea, the culture, the language, the people... everything. Super inspired by "EatYourKimchi" and the tips they give about living in Korea as foreigners are useful as hell. Sorry for the lengthy post but I had to explain this cause people are getting the wrong idea whenever I talk about Korea. So the effort and time I put in for this lengthy post was worth it. It's currently 6am in the morning here and I'm not asleep yet cause I was planning what to write for this post. And it's the holidays here so why not, right? Should head to bed now. 

잘자요,얘들아. :)