Restless Seoul : Planned and Surprise Concerts (Featuring "Muscle Boy" and "Just-Released-from-the-Hospital Boy")

Hello everyone!

Disclaimer: All photos in this blog belong to their original owners. I didn't take a lot of them. Thanks to the internet for sharing things!
Here's a song that you can play while you read this blog:

I'm afraid I was a bit under the weather this week, and had another stressful week at work. I am up to planning about 10 lessons a week across 4 grades, and it's wearing me down a lot.

I keep telling myself that my job isn't that hard, but I was reminded by one of my best friends, Megan, that that't not entirely true. I think I am selling myself short by saying my job is easy. Yes, most of what I do is plan activities and games for children, but I am also trying to teach them a language. Plus I have to consider different levels, different skills, and balancing everything together with my coteacher. I've had 3 coteachers for 3rd/4th grade in 3 weeks, and each time I change I have to adjust like it's my first time here all over again. Sharing a classroom is no joke. My job is different than my last chapter of life (Grad school and teaching freshman comp) but it't no less challenging.

Anyway, I did have a pretty incredible weekend, featuring two of my favorite Korean stars.

The title of this blog comes from a variety show that features these two: Lee Joon (muscle boy) from MBLAQ and Kyuhyun (Just-Released-from-the-Hospital Boy) from Super Junior. When competing, Kyuhyun and Joon are the last two, and Kyuhyun remarks that it isn't fair since Joon is Muscle Boy and Kyu is Just-Released-from-the-Hospital Boy.

In a twist of fate, David beats Goliath. I love them.You should still watch the video because it's hilarious and it gives you a taste of whatever the hell Korean variety shows are like for the idols.

Anywho, here's more to love.

This is my favorite Lee Joon hairstyle

If I never leave Korea, you know why.

Lee Joon is from the Kpop group MBLAQ. I think he is one of the most handsome beings to ever exist, and he is hilarious on variety shows. I love his little cat smile. And his abs.

I'm getting ahead of myself. After a stressful week of miscommunications (resulting in an incident where I had absolutely no lesson plan for 3rd grade... so much for making a good impression on my coteacher...) and illness, my plan was to go home Friday night and catch up on TV and do nothing but sleep.

The announcement that changed my life (for a few hours)

The Kpop gods had other plans. In the morning, we found out the Kyuhyun from Super Junior was going to have a surprise free solo concert at 1:30 at Ewha Women's University. DAMN!! That's really close to where Tina and I live. Alas, we had to teach. BUT there was a silver lining. At 3 PM it was announced that there would be a second surprise free solo concert at 9:30... all the way in Gangnam.

We discussed it and decided to go. At first I was hesitant because I wasn't feeling well, but I felt good enough by the end of the day and we went to a pharmacy and got some medicine.

I AM SO GLAD WE WENT.

Kyuhyun is my (sometimes) bias from SuJu. His voice is incredible and he's adorable on variety shows and otherwise, and he is just swoonworthy.

Kyuhunnie <3

From his album "At Gwanghwamun"

Sometimes we go to SPAO to see the ads because SuJu is their model group.

The concert started at 9:30, but we had to get there really early to get spots. And they lined us up to wait at like 7:45. So we stood out in the rain for almost 2 hours before he came onstage. Fortunately Koreans all put their umbrellas up, so we were mostly dry. They kept playing stuff from his solo album. And by stuff I mean they played the one song "At Gwanghwamun" for 2 hours. It't the only song that has a MV so far from the album. About 10 minutes before the show they handed out ponchos despite the fact that it had stopped raining.

Tina and I made the most of our time by counting down the number of times we would hear the song before the concert started, and by making up the plot of a Kdrama based on one of the handsome security guards singing along to the song the 15th time we heard it.

Now, when they were lining us up, Tina and I were in the back, but they told people to move to the sides. Not ones to waste an opportunity to get close, we did. AND WE GOT AN INCREDIBLE VIEW.

Here are far too many pictures of something that I care about wayyyyy too much:

When I zoom I get close!

Second row of people. Actual distance from an angel.

He was very sweet an apologetic about the rain.

He has lovely hands. I'm a sucker for hands.

And here is his angel voice:

He sings on a lot of OSTs (soundtracks) so he treated us to his very popular "7 Years of Love." He's so adorable when he messes up. Anyway, I didn't to record the whole thing. I wanted to enjoy the amber of the moment (I reference Slaughterhouse Five with some regularity in my life) and just enjoy seeing Kyuhyun live for the third time. Tina took a lot of videos of her favorite refrains, and I know that I will be able to invoke some memories just listening to this clip.

It was so worth my time! I love Korea's kpop culture (mostly) and the fact that they do try to do stuff for their fans. Even if it is a rainy, cold, outdoor concert when it's almost December.

In the afterglow of the Kyuhyun concert, we prepared for another concert.

This one was planned a while ago. We were going to see MBLAQ, a favorite group (though not belonging to SM or YG entertainment) of ours. We had been discussing the fact that we would love to see them live if htey had a concert. Tina and Sarah had already seen them last year, but Janell and I never had.

The handsome men of MBLAQ: Seungho, G.O., Lee Joon, Thunder, and Mir.

We should have been a little more careful about what we wished for. The concert was called "Curtain Call." Ominous. When the concert was announced, it was revealed that the members of the group would leave to do their compulsory military service (as a Kpop fan, this is the worst) for 2 years. It would be too hard to shift them out like they do with SuJu. In Kpop groups, each person usually specializes in something like vocals, rap, dance, or whatever. In a group like SuJu, when there are 10+ members, others can cover when someone has to leave. But in a group of 5 like MBLAQ that would be very difficult.

Something worse was afoot, though. Soon after the announcement of the concert, it was leaked that Lee Joon was not going to renew his contract and would leave MBLAQ. He has a pretty stable acting career and has often expressed his wish to pursue acting and dislikes being known as an idol. But then it was revealed that Thunder would be also leaving the group. Thunder's older sister Sandara is part of the insanely popular and awesome YG group 2ne1, so there was a lot of speculation about his choice.

I couldn't take pictures during the show, but here's beforehand

Nothing is confirmed and the members are quiet about stuff, but the atmosphere at the concert was intense. Usually idol groups pull a lot of antics and do funny things like crossdress during the show, which I was expecting. There was none of that.

We were really close to the stage, probably closer even than when we went to SuJu. Like we were hella close.

How close were we? Hella.

The show was reeeeeeeeally good. Like they are incredible singers and dancers. But I felt like the atmosphere wasn't optimistic. It wasn't, LET'S GIVE THEM ONE LAST INCREDIBLE SHOW AND SHOW THEM WE'RE STILL MBLAQ UNITED. It was more... this is the end.

Frankly, it was really depressing. Sometimes it felt like they were just going through the motions. Lee Joon and Thunder especially seemed less interested in hyping the crowd then Seungho, Mir, and G.O. did.

I forgive him for being so serious. Mostly because I think his jawline can cut diamonds and should be classified as a weapon of mass destruction.

And when they were talking near the end of the show, everyone was just crying. It broke my heart to see several of the members crying so hard that they couldn't speak. Mir and Seungho especially could not hold it together.

Mir (the youngest in the group) being a sad panda

Seungho, the leader of MBLAQ, trying to speak.

Trying to keep it together.

Lost it.

People in the crowd were openly weeping. I have only been a fan for like a year, so I am sad but not despondent at the group's possible disbandment. I am also sad that this is probably the only time I will ever see them live. Regardless of whether or not they disband, if they go into the army it will be like 2 years before they come back, and I am not sure if I will still be in Korea.

It was a pretty good concert. But I got spoiled by a comeback SuJu concert and a surprise Kyu concert before this. It felt a little empty to see MBLAQ on their last leg and showing no attempts to hide it. I just wish I could have seen the group I saw on Hello Baby and other variety shows, and the antics I had come to expect from a Kpop concert. Still, I was hella close to some handsome and talented dudes, and the fans at this concert weren't nearly as pushy as SuJu's. It was a really good weekend overall.

Best of luck to all of you, MBLAQ. May you find happiness wherever you go! And Kyuhyun, please have another concert soon!

I am off to plan more winter camp things, and get back to the reality of Monday. Blehhhh. Anyway, here are some of my favorite MBLAQ songs.