Better late than never eh? Part 1
Ok So it's been almost 2 weeks since the KBS NYC Korean Concert. I don't have pics myself but I'll explain as I tell my story.
We left on Thursday thee 6th, 3 days before the show on Sunday. We didn't actually hit the road until about 4:30 pm. The rent a car place was supposed to pick us up at Noon but they didn't give him our apartment letter so he was knocking on Every apartment door and asking if they had rented a car. *head desk*. We got the car, came home and packed it up, gassed the car up, got snacks at Target and then headed off. The original plan was that I would drive so long as the sun was up and then Psy would drive at night. I turned this trip into a pure test of my own skills and ability's and drove ALL of it. Ohio was nice, boring but nice, and we stopped to eat dinner at Denny's in Mansfield, OH and then headed off again. We hit Akron, OH around 8pm I want to say and that was nerve wracking for me. It's a college town so of course it's busy and shit plus I was driving on the Interstate for the first REAL time in my entire life so yea, not a pleasant place. Took the Ohio turnpike into Pennsylvania and drove through the central mountains AT NIGHT. God I hated that part. It's pitch black out, I can't see much around me except the road itself and the tail lights of cars and it's now 12am on Friday morning. By now my head is killing me because I have no idea we are driving through mountains, I've been up since 8am the day before, and I'm still kinda freaking out with interstate driving. We take the Pennsylvania turnpike into Maryland and made it to Annapolis, MD around 3am. So let me paint this picture for ya, it's 3am Friday morning, I have been driving all day with a few stops here and there, I have a massive headache and all I want to do at that moment is pass out and sleep cus if I don't get any sleep we will never make it to New Jersey. I am in an area of the country that I have NEVER been too and it's been a few years since Psy had lived there so things have changed and........there is a boat show in town. Every hotel is booked up because of the boat show except for the kind desk lady at Country Inn who gave me a room at a discounted rate because I walked back in crying and asking where I could find a room seeing as I have no idea how to navigate the area. 4am we pass out and by 2 pm we are feed and back on the road. Drove out of Maryland and into Delaware when just as you think 'hey Delaware isn't so bad it's a nice lil state' I was hit with this sight
That is the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Your thinking 'big deal it's a bridge' but I looked at Psy and said "We don't have to go over that do we?" but yes, we did in fact need to go over it. I have a weird fear of heights you see as well as bridges. I can fly in a plane and be ok but when my grandmother took me to the top of the St .Louis Arch I refused to look out any of the windows and sat in the middle of the observation deck crying. I can drive over most bridges and be ok but huge, massive foreboding bridges like this one.. I'm not ok. So I get in the center lane and just focus on the car in front of me. I remember breathing really heavy and deep and gripping the steering wheel so hard that just as we hit the apex of the bridge I got kinda light headed and could hear my heart beating in my ears. I ended up taking a wrong tun after we got off the bridge and having to put the car in park on the side of an on ramp and trying to calm myself down and stop shaking. I have to say that I REALLY really really hate that fucking bridge. Psy made things all better by putting on FT Island's Sunshine Girl for me and then we drove on into New Jersey. If anyone ever tells you New Jersey doesn't smell weird you have my permission to punch them and call them a dirty liar. New Jersey does in fact smell weird. But not a good weird, it's a stinky smelly bad weird. We got into Ridgefield Park around 7pm after running into MASSIVE stop go traffic on the NJ turnpike. The hotel we stayed at was SUPER nice. It was the Hilton Garden Inn and we really were like minuets away from the park. This is where the fun starts. I go to car and grab the drinks we had as well as the snacks and I see 3 charter buses that were not there before. I go back to the room and tell Psy and we begin our hunt for Idols. There was much seeking around and tell tale signs that there were in fact idols in the hotel because we say many Korean guys walking around with TONS of bags of snacks and such. We both looked at each other and went "that's Idol shopping" not to mention the group of Korean guys that sat near the elevators and did not move at all until we sat outside because we were convinced that they didn't want us to see what floor they were going too. Turns out they were going to the 2nd floor, the same floor we were on. To this day we have no idea what idols were there, if they were.
Saturday we drove to the park because Psy was meeting up with a friend of hers and we wanted to get an idea of where the stage was as well as enjoy the festival itself. I have to say this right now. Koreans are by far the nicest and most awesome cultural group I have ever met and been around. I am a very big girl and I am very self conscious about that. Not ONCE was I looked at like a horrible piece of shit or had comment made about my weight or anything. Everyone was so amazingly kind, friendly, warm and awesome. I used what very little Korean I knew, ate some amazing Korean food, bough some sweet stuff, drooled over hot Korean guys and sat and planned on how to kidnap the free range Korean children that were running around. Psy and I left around 6:30pm and went back to the hotel and then went to Super H Mart in Little Ferry. OMG This place is AMAZING! It's a grocery store as well as a bunch of little shops all in one. We stopped first at the liqueur store and promptly asked the guy to suggest a Soju for us. We FINALLY found Soju! we then went into the grocery store and found Kimchi pancakes, vegetarian pancakes, Korean hotdogs, snacks and drinks. While we were shopping Infinite's Paradise came on and we kinda spazed out. Once Rolly Poly came on Psy started doing the dance in the drink ile. I think U-Kiss came on too but I don't remember. We stopped near the bakery area and ended up buying 3 breads for like $20. We then went to the beauty counter and ended up getting sheet masks and once that was done we ventured into the other shops. There was a shoe store, home goods shop, an electronics place, a clothing store, Furniture shop, jewelry area, a thrift store that Psy went into because the cart would not fit a luggage place that also sold toys and such that we went into because they had these sets of 12 posters that were all B2st and 2ne1. The guy told us he had more inside and we were sucked in. They had file folders, stickers, memo pads, fans... so much stuff! And that was just the Kpop stuff. They also had SO much Hello Kitty stuff as well as other toys and such. In the book area, to give you an idea of how dated some of the stuff was, there was an Nsync book. Ironically I already had it, I think. I'm pretty sure I have it... anyway. They were super nice, it was a husband and wife that owned the place. We then headed back to the hotel took showers and then tried to sleep. I say try to sleep because I could not to save my life. I had that weird mix of excitement. It was like the feeling you get as a kid on Christmas eve, the day before your birthday and the feeling of panic and fear you get once you have to make a huge speech. I did not pass out until like 4am. We woke up at 6 and were out of the room by 6:30.
This is where the story splits really. You see, the day before the concert it was reveled that there was a VIP section that was like the first 20 rows then a stretch of open space and THEN general seats. Psy was posting from her cell trying to find VIP tickets for us but when she found someone that had the VIP tickets they only had one. I let Psy take it and chose to stick with my GA seat. around 11:30 am Psy went for a smoke and to grab me food before she went to meet up and get her VIP stuff. She had to take my phone because hers was dead by now and the girl had my phone number. Once Psy dropped off my food and headed out I'll admit I was kinda freaking out. Not because she was going to get a VIP ticket but because I had no way to get a hold of her and she had no way to get a hold of me if something went wrong.
I think I should also say this, it was 80 out that day. 80 FUCKING DEGREES! No clouds, no shade and a very light breeze. Not only were we both roasting but I swear to god my lips got sunburned as well as my forearms. I made friends with the 2 girls sitting next to me and when an announcement came over the speakers at 12pm, in KOREAN with no English translation, people started to flip out. We were herded from our seats and told to line up till 3pm when we would be let back in and our tickets checked. They even said it didn't matter how long we had been there so far or what time we got our current seats we needed to get our stuff and get out for "Heath Reasons". Dude sitting packed like sardines in 80* heat is no different than being in a line in 80* heat. But the 2 girls and I clung to each other and found one of the girl's mom who had gotten us a spot in the GA line close to the front and then even offered to buy us water and stuff and find out what was going on. We sat in this new line for like a half hour or so. In that time I somehow managed to order an Iced coffee in Korean. I mean, I said more than hello and thank you. I STILL have no idea how I managed to do that. Sometime after my coffee order another announcement was made to just go back in and sit and wait. The cyclone fence that was next to us got TRAMPLED down as people rushed back in. Needless to say that by the time we got back to our ORIGINAL seats they were taken by other people. The organization of this event was so far below sub par that people started to break apart the seats, they were tethered together with zip-ties, and sit where ever they could. We all sat together in the center area but we were kinda blocked by the sound booth area. So we sat there and then groups started to do sound check. We were all like 'O_O what the hell?' but then realized it was sound check so we counted this as a show before the show. People were standing on the chairs so they could see and then shit got real. When BEAST was doing their sound check, some people charged and tore down the fence that separated the GA section from the VIP area. They stopped the sound check and officials started saying that if we didn't stop and return to our seats and call the fuck down the show would be cancelled. If I was BEAST I would have probably shit my pants. I was standing on 2 seats praying to god that it would hold my weight and not break, I caught a slight glimpse of Dongwoon and then I couldn't see any of them but when I heard Dongwoon's voice I teared up and almost started to cry. God he sounds so amazing and beautiful. I don't think my heat baked mind could comprehend that he was somewhere in front of me and my ears were hearing him live and not on TV. Even the girls I was with were like "you looked like you were about to loose it and break down". I was about to break down and cry but I didn't and for that I'm kinda proud of myself.
So FINALLY they begin the show but it was like an hour and a half of speeches from just about everyone and their mom. and there were cops going up and down the walkway area next to us YELLING at all the people to sit down or be kicked out. I watched them yell and push some poor ajumma and ajeossi. But then it really began. I still can not believe I sat through Shinee and my ears didn't bleed. I still can't believe I was able to SEE BEAST preform. I LOOKED UPON THE FACE OF GODWOON! *swoons* I left after Kim TaeWoo did his set tho because I was just SO exhausted and wore out. I walked the food booths, grabbed some dinner and walked back to the hotel. I'll be honest I am still pissed at myself for missing 2PM, G.Na and Sistar but I had no idea how long it would take for me to actually WALK my fat happy tired and wore out ass back to the hotel let alone if I would really make it and not die. I made it back tho and took a shower then ate my dinner. My biggest fear when Psy and I got separated was that the VIP ticket would be a fake or her VIP seat would still be too far from the stage and she's get so pissed off that she's be all' Fuck this!' and go back to the hotel and not see the show. That didn't happen tho. But when she did go to get her ticket I gave her my camera and told her to take pics so she has to upload all of them and whatnot. But yea she came back to the hotel and after letting 2 girls make a call to find a ride home and giving them use of our bathroom, drinks and charging their cells we passed out. I would not trade my experience for anything in the world. I had a blast and met so many people that being in the GA area felt right to me. I'll upload all the stuff I bought another time tho because tbh this post has taken me about 3 hours to type up cus it's SO DAMNED LONG! and this is just going there and the Concert part. There is a WHOLE other part of when we spent 2-3 days with Psy's friend Barbra in Maryland. I'll post that part later today or something.
We left on Thursday thee 6th, 3 days before the show on Sunday. We didn't actually hit the road until about 4:30 pm. The rent a car place was supposed to pick us up at Noon but they didn't give him our apartment letter so he was knocking on Every apartment door and asking if they had rented a car. *head desk*. We got the car, came home and packed it up, gassed the car up, got snacks at Target and then headed off. The original plan was that I would drive so long as the sun was up and then Psy would drive at night. I turned this trip into a pure test of my own skills and ability's and drove ALL of it. Ohio was nice, boring but nice, and we stopped to eat dinner at Denny's in Mansfield, OH and then headed off again. We hit Akron, OH around 8pm I want to say and that was nerve wracking for me. It's a college town so of course it's busy and shit plus I was driving on the Interstate for the first REAL time in my entire life so yea, not a pleasant place. Took the Ohio turnpike into Pennsylvania and drove through the central mountains AT NIGHT. God I hated that part. It's pitch black out, I can't see much around me except the road itself and the tail lights of cars and it's now 12am on Friday morning. By now my head is killing me because I have no idea we are driving through mountains, I've been up since 8am the day before, and I'm still kinda freaking out with interstate driving. We take the Pennsylvania turnpike into Maryland and made it to Annapolis, MD around 3am. So let me paint this picture for ya, it's 3am Friday morning, I have been driving all day with a few stops here and there, I have a massive headache and all I want to do at that moment is pass out and sleep cus if I don't get any sleep we will never make it to New Jersey. I am in an area of the country that I have NEVER been too and it's been a few years since Psy had lived there so things have changed and........there is a boat show in town. Every hotel is booked up because of the boat show except for the kind desk lady at Country Inn who gave me a room at a discounted rate because I walked back in crying and asking where I could find a room seeing as I have no idea how to navigate the area. 4am we pass out and by 2 pm we are feed and back on the road. Drove out of Maryland and into Delaware when just as you think 'hey Delaware isn't so bad it's a nice lil state' I was hit with this sight
That is the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Your thinking 'big deal it's a bridge' but I looked at Psy and said "We don't have to go over that do we?" but yes, we did in fact need to go over it. I have a weird fear of heights you see as well as bridges. I can fly in a plane and be ok but when my grandmother took me to the top of the St .Louis Arch I refused to look out any of the windows and sat in the middle of the observation deck crying. I can drive over most bridges and be ok but huge, massive foreboding bridges like this one.. I'm not ok. So I get in the center lane and just focus on the car in front of me. I remember breathing really heavy and deep and gripping the steering wheel so hard that just as we hit the apex of the bridge I got kinda light headed and could hear my heart beating in my ears. I ended up taking a wrong tun after we got off the bridge and having to put the car in park on the side of an on ramp and trying to calm myself down and stop shaking. I have to say that I REALLY really really hate that fucking bridge. Psy made things all better by putting on FT Island's Sunshine Girl for me and then we drove on into New Jersey. If anyone ever tells you New Jersey doesn't smell weird you have my permission to punch them and call them a dirty liar. New Jersey does in fact smell weird. But not a good weird, it's a stinky smelly bad weird. We got into Ridgefield Park around 7pm after running into MASSIVE stop go traffic on the NJ turnpike. The hotel we stayed at was SUPER nice. It was the Hilton Garden Inn and we really were like minuets away from the park. This is where the fun starts. I go to car and grab the drinks we had as well as the snacks and I see 3 charter buses that were not there before. I go back to the room and tell Psy and we begin our hunt for Idols. There was much seeking around and tell tale signs that there were in fact idols in the hotel because we say many Korean guys walking around with TONS of bags of snacks and such. We both looked at each other and went "that's Idol shopping" not to mention the group of Korean guys that sat near the elevators and did not move at all until we sat outside because we were convinced that they didn't want us to see what floor they were going too. Turns out they were going to the 2nd floor, the same floor we were on. To this day we have no idea what idols were there, if they were.
Saturday we drove to the park because Psy was meeting up with a friend of hers and we wanted to get an idea of where the stage was as well as enjoy the festival itself. I have to say this right now. Koreans are by far the nicest and most awesome cultural group I have ever met and been around. I am a very big girl and I am very self conscious about that. Not ONCE was I looked at like a horrible piece of shit or had comment made about my weight or anything. Everyone was so amazingly kind, friendly, warm and awesome. I used what very little Korean I knew, ate some amazing Korean food, bough some sweet stuff, drooled over hot Korean guys and sat and planned on how to kidnap the free range Korean children that were running around. Psy and I left around 6:30pm and went back to the hotel and then went to Super H Mart in Little Ferry. OMG This place is AMAZING! It's a grocery store as well as a bunch of little shops all in one. We stopped first at the liqueur store and promptly asked the guy to suggest a Soju for us. We FINALLY found Soju! we then went into the grocery store and found Kimchi pancakes, vegetarian pancakes, Korean hotdogs, snacks and drinks. While we were shopping Infinite's Paradise came on and we kinda spazed out. Once Rolly Poly came on Psy started doing the dance in the drink ile. I think U-Kiss came on too but I don't remember. We stopped near the bakery area and ended up buying 3 breads for like $20. We then went to the beauty counter and ended up getting sheet masks and once that was done we ventured into the other shops. There was a shoe store, home goods shop, an electronics place, a clothing store, Furniture shop, jewelry area, a thrift store that Psy went into because the cart would not fit a luggage place that also sold toys and such that we went into because they had these sets of 12 posters that were all B2st and 2ne1. The guy told us he had more inside and we were sucked in. They had file folders, stickers, memo pads, fans... so much stuff! And that was just the Kpop stuff. They also had SO much Hello Kitty stuff as well as other toys and such. In the book area, to give you an idea of how dated some of the stuff was, there was an Nsync book. Ironically I already had it, I think. I'm pretty sure I have it... anyway. They were super nice, it was a husband and wife that owned the place. We then headed back to the hotel took showers and then tried to sleep. I say try to sleep because I could not to save my life. I had that weird mix of excitement. It was like the feeling you get as a kid on Christmas eve, the day before your birthday and the feeling of panic and fear you get once you have to make a huge speech. I did not pass out until like 4am. We woke up at 6 and were out of the room by 6:30.
This is where the story splits really. You see, the day before the concert it was reveled that there was a VIP section that was like the first 20 rows then a stretch of open space and THEN general seats. Psy was posting from her cell trying to find VIP tickets for us but when she found someone that had the VIP tickets they only had one. I let Psy take it and chose to stick with my GA seat. around 11:30 am Psy went for a smoke and to grab me food before she went to meet up and get her VIP stuff. She had to take my phone because hers was dead by now and the girl had my phone number. Once Psy dropped off my food and headed out I'll admit I was kinda freaking out. Not because she was going to get a VIP ticket but because I had no way to get a hold of her and she had no way to get a hold of me if something went wrong.
I think I should also say this, it was 80 out that day. 80 FUCKING DEGREES! No clouds, no shade and a very light breeze. Not only were we both roasting but I swear to god my lips got sunburned as well as my forearms. I made friends with the 2 girls sitting next to me and when an announcement came over the speakers at 12pm, in KOREAN with no English translation, people started to flip out. We were herded from our seats and told to line up till 3pm when we would be let back in and our tickets checked. They even said it didn't matter how long we had been there so far or what time we got our current seats we needed to get our stuff and get out for "Heath Reasons". Dude sitting packed like sardines in 80* heat is no different than being in a line in 80* heat. But the 2 girls and I clung to each other and found one of the girl's mom who had gotten us a spot in the GA line close to the front and then even offered to buy us water and stuff and find out what was going on. We sat in this new line for like a half hour or so. In that time I somehow managed to order an Iced coffee in Korean. I mean, I said more than hello and thank you. I STILL have no idea how I managed to do that. Sometime after my coffee order another announcement was made to just go back in and sit and wait. The cyclone fence that was next to us got TRAMPLED down as people rushed back in. Needless to say that by the time we got back to our ORIGINAL seats they were taken by other people. The organization of this event was so far below sub par that people started to break apart the seats, they were tethered together with zip-ties, and sit where ever they could. We all sat together in the center area but we were kinda blocked by the sound booth area. So we sat there and then groups started to do sound check. We were all like 'O_O what the hell?' but then realized it was sound check so we counted this as a show before the show. People were standing on the chairs so they could see and then shit got real. When BEAST was doing their sound check, some people charged and tore down the fence that separated the GA section from the VIP area. They stopped the sound check and officials started saying that if we didn't stop and return to our seats and call the fuck down the show would be cancelled. If I was BEAST I would have probably shit my pants. I was standing on 2 seats praying to god that it would hold my weight and not break, I caught a slight glimpse of Dongwoon and then I couldn't see any of them but when I heard Dongwoon's voice I teared up and almost started to cry. God he sounds so amazing and beautiful. I don't think my heat baked mind could comprehend that he was somewhere in front of me and my ears were hearing him live and not on TV. Even the girls I was with were like "you looked like you were about to loose it and break down". I was about to break down and cry but I didn't and for that I'm kinda proud of myself.
So FINALLY they begin the show but it was like an hour and a half of speeches from just about everyone and their mom. and there were cops going up and down the walkway area next to us YELLING at all the people to sit down or be kicked out. I watched them yell and push some poor ajumma and ajeossi. But then it really began. I still can not believe I sat through Shinee and my ears didn't bleed. I still can't believe I was able to SEE BEAST preform. I LOOKED UPON THE FACE OF GODWOON! *swoons* I left after Kim TaeWoo did his set tho because I was just SO exhausted and wore out. I walked the food booths, grabbed some dinner and walked back to the hotel. I'll be honest I am still pissed at myself for missing 2PM, G.Na and Sistar but I had no idea how long it would take for me to actually WALK my fat happy tired and wore out ass back to the hotel let alone if I would really make it and not die. I made it back tho and took a shower then ate my dinner. My biggest fear when Psy and I got separated was that the VIP ticket would be a fake or her VIP seat would still be too far from the stage and she's get so pissed off that she's be all' Fuck this!' and go back to the hotel and not see the show. That didn't happen tho. But when she did go to get her ticket I gave her my camera and told her to take pics so she has to upload all of them and whatnot. But yea she came back to the hotel and after letting 2 girls make a call to find a ride home and giving them use of our bathroom, drinks and charging their cells we passed out. I would not trade my experience for anything in the world. I had a blast and met so many people that being in the GA area felt right to me. I'll upload all the stuff I bought another time tho because tbh this post has taken me about 3 hours to type up cus it's SO DAMNED LONG! and this is just going there and the Concert part. There is a WHOLE other part of when we spent 2-3 days with Psy's friend Barbra in Maryland. I'll post that part later today or something.