So, this morning I missed my bus and had to take a cab. Not so great since I don't know the Ha So neighborhood at all. Anyway, the cab driver dropped me in some residential area and I had to figure it out. No worries, I managed it all on my own (much to Ian's dismay, he would have felt better had I called Chun wha). Now I have a little sheet that tells me what to tell the cab driver.
Today was a good day for us. Thursdays always are. My Beginner 1 class was a bunch of brats today, however. I actually yelled. If you know me at all, you know that it takes a lot.
Ian asked his Fluent 3 class (the highest of any we have) for Korean music suggestions. Since I don't have any pictures for today (as it was completely average) I thought I'd let you entertain yourself with the videos for some of the songs they like. Popular music here (a mix of Pop, Club and Hip-Hop genres) is called K-Pop. Warning: this music is not so great. Granted, it's not much worse than a lot of American club music. But, I know that it will not suit many your tastes. I don't blame you, I think Ian and I will stick to listening to Pandora Radio online. I've found some Korean "Indie" and Rock online, too, so I'll trow that in at the end to give you some relief.
The most popular band with our students:
2NE1 (pronounced "to anyone" or "twenty-one"). This song is called "I Don't Care."
Phew! You survived that one. Maybe. Maybe you skipped it. I'm not judging you. Here's a couple of songs from the Korean Michael Jackson wannabe, G-Dragon. First, the wildly popular song "Heartbreaker." Then I'll show you how much this guy rips off American music. Most people will never know, because it just doesn't make it over here.
Here's a little mash up someone made to show the copy-cat nature of G-Dragon.
He is definitely not alone. Copy cats are all over K-Pop.
(Big Bang- "This Love")
Maroon 5 with "This Love" (the original)
Here's one more K-Pop favorite for your listening pleasure:
Super Juniors- "Sorry Sorry"
Alright! You made it through. Would you like some stickers? The appropriate response to that question is "YES!" because tiny green square stickers are like crack to Korean children and adolescents.
Here are a couple of Korean "alternative" songs/bands that I found online. Much to my surprise, IT DOES EXIST! To be said in a manner not unlike Jack Skellington's response to the Christmas spirit.
Here is a band called Pia with "Gloomy Sunday." It reminds us of late 90s angst rock (ala Puddle of Mudd, or Staind, something of that nature).
Ah. The next few are a bit more our style.
Windy City- "All Time Rockers"
The Black Skirts-"좋아해줘" ( I have no idea what that says)
Add4- "늦은면 큰일나요" (also, no idea) (This is South Korea's first ever rock band, the song is from 1964).
I think that's probably plenty. :) It seems like we might actually meet up with some other teachers this weekend. I got a message back from Sara Jayne (one of the girls that contacted us through the blog) saying that she would keep me posted. We were invited to dinner by Tonya (one of the Wonderland teachers Ian met) but we had to decline because they were meeting at 8:30 and I was still across town at Ha So. But, it looks like there's a big group and that we'll meet them very soon. I'm stoked.
I apologize about the random video sizes!
ReplyDeleteMy internet connection is very slow at the moment, but I promise I will assail my ears with this K-Pop soon.
ReplyDelete(Also, thanks for the hairdo feedback, I really appreciate it!)
Well, by some miracle, posting has decided to start working in my firefox, when it was grossly broken before...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, on the k-pop, I just wanted to say there used to be a few k-pop stations on shoutcast, and I found them to be quite good. Haven't listened in about a year, though, so they might be gone.
Meanwhile, too bad they wanna be copycats -- low self-esteem. Someone needs to remind them who is making all those LCD screens.
That was quite interesting, I don't like the K-pop any better than I like it here, in hip hop version. I do have to say I kind-of liked the others though. The 60s band was very Beatle-esk.
ReplyDeleteThey have great talent , wonder why they imitate North American music. I can only guess, that the youth is trying to be as western as possible.
Maybe they are not privy to USA news over the past eight years
Glad you're finally going to meet other teachers.
ReplyDeleteAnd I found them all a bit clangy on the ears. But, then again, I find myself listening to opera, classical, and jazz more and more so even the hard rock I used to love is jarring on today's ears unless I've had a few and am out dancing.