So I planned to leave my place at 4:30 PM, but ended up leaving around 4:50. It takes over an hour to get to Olympic Park where the concert would start at 7PM. Everything was going fine, I was at my second transfer and that is when things got a little hectic. It was already about 6:10, and the stupid line 5 makes a fork at one of the stops. No one tells you that you have to get off, and then get on again because this subway will go one of two ways. I used Seoul metro to figure out how to get to Olympic Park and it never mentioned this mini-transfer.

So I ended up having to backtrack a few stops, then wait for the next train going to way I need to go, which meant another 10 minutes of waiting. I realized I should use the restroom before the concert, but the line at Olympic Park station was sooooo long. Seriously, you never see men waiting to go. Why are we like this women? Lol...so I head to the stadium and decide to try Tou Les Jours, where thankfully the line was not too long. One lady decided to just use the men's bathroom. How I wished to do that.

I got to the entrance but then was told VIP tickets have to get some arm bracelet. The staffer was nice enough to walk me over to the booth and get it done for me. Then I got to skip the line and go to my section. It was already filled with people but I got a good standing spot in the corner. I was surprised by the number of foreigners and gypos in my section. A nice surprise. The concert started about 20 minutes late, but it definitely was worth every won. I couldn't take any videos or photos because security was on everyone about it. So I just enjoyed every minute of it.

My Random Thoughts On The Concert
-PSY is the man. Seriously he really knew how to get the crowd energy up. I loved his performances. He was so lively and everyone enjoyed it. He stole the show!!!

-G-dragon's semi afro puff thing cracked me up, but I kinda like it.

- Out of all the performances Gummy blew me away as usual because her voice/talent is just phenomenal. I love her!!!

-So I got pissed because Taeyang didn't perform any of his songs. No solo. WTF man.

-Then I got pissed because he was the only one who didn't come to our side so I never got a really close view of him.

-Gummy gave away an Ipad. I unfortunately was not the lucky winner.

-Minzy is so awesome. I loved her solo. She is talented, sexy, and full of charisma.

- TOP owned it. Even with his hair, the boy is so damn sexy. He was like 3 feet in front of me dancing around and my mind went blank.

-YG Family is full of talented artists. I like everyone from YG because they set themselves apart from the other entertainment groups. I might be biased but they really do find talented artists and talented people to help get them where they are.

-I'm so excited for all the comebacks, performances, and BIG SHOW 2011 to come.


-Se7en came to my section a few times and he kept doing this funny dance. IDK but it seemed to be an inside joke between him and PSY.

-At one point PSY took a water bottle and started spraying the crowd with water from his mouth.

-I saw Se7en, Gummy, Park Bom, Seungri, G-dragon, PSY, Daesung, T.O.P, Cl..pretty much everyone except for Taeyang up close. Haha everyone is so much shorter.

-Park Bom looked amazing in all her outfits, but jeez her dresses are really really short.

-Seungri has totally won me over. He's pretty adorable, and is a great MC. His skit was so funny.

-Se7en had this sparkly suit going on, and at one point he put on these jeweled roller sneakers and roller sneaker-ed(?)  around the stage. It was hilarious and cute.

- I loved how much fun they seemed to have with their performances.

-Oh. GD and TOP had on these huge fur jackets trying to be all gangster with the gold chains and old. All I could think of was Biggie Smalls when I saw that.

- I loved how they mixed up the performances. CL with GD. Gummy did her version of It hurts with 2NE1. Park Bom & Gummy did You & I together. I'd love for them to do a duet together. Gummy & Se7en performed together. Se7en & Big Bang..and so on.

-That was probably my favorite part besides the encore performances.

-I pretty much knew all the songs they sang, it surprised me how much of the lyrics I knew. People kept staring at me as I sang a long and danced with them.

-Lots of fireworks, confetti, and flames (so hot in there because of them). I could feel the heat because we were that close to the stage.

-My whole body hurt after, from looking back and forth from the stage to the screen. Standing and dancing for over three hours. Good times:)

-The stage setup was pretty good. They made it so they could travel around and I'm sure many people got to see them up close. No closeup of Taeyang for me.

-GD and TOP together is a great duo. I'm looking forward to their album.

-The energy in the crowd and the performances made it so much fun to be there. I'd definitely try and get VIP for Big Show. Crossing my fingers for that ticket!!!

-Can't really think of anything else. It was a fun time. I'm happy I got to experience that.
Looking forward to going to more concerts in the future.

- Loved every moment of it, so happy I went.

-YG Family=Daebak!!!


The concert was a little over three hours, but VIP sections had to wait to be let out. So I didn't get to the subway station till around 11:20 PM. I could only make it as far as Samseong before the train stopped and I had to find a taxi home along with all the other people. It took about an hour to get home so I got home around 1AM. All that time spent traveling but it was worth it.

Happy Friday lovely readers. I hope your Friday has been/goes splendidly.

This happy bubble I'm in hasn't popped yet despite the shennanigans my students and life throws my way. The sun is shining, life has been sweet to me, and despite coming down with a bit of a cold I feel good inside and out.

I haven't been really writing about my life these days, maybe because I've been living it. Life has been busy these past few weeks. I went to an apple festival, ziplining, hosted a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at my place, and tomorrow I'm going to the YG Family concert. I'm practically dancing inside and sometimes on the outside with excitement. I'm hoping I'll feel better, but no matter what I'll be singing and dancing my heart out to Se7en, Big Bang, Taeyang, Gummy, 2NE1, and PSY. I'm super happy I scored a VIP seat. I plan on getting as close as I can to the stage...okay Taeyang.

I'm looking forward to it, and the weather is supposed to be a bit warmer tomorrow. The concert is at Olympic Park Stadium, which is like an hour away from me. I'll be jamming to K-pop on the way there. After this weekend things will cool down. Lately life has been go, go, go, and I'm looking forward to a few weekends without any major plans. I need to figure out what to do for Christmas. I've never been huge on Christmas because it never goes my way. All I want to do is spend time with the people in my life, no presents, just their time, and do whatever, preferably in my comfy pajamas. I'm not really into the whole dress up and go out Christmas that my family tends to do. This will be my first Christmas away from home, so I want it to be a great one.

I'm going on a ski trip for New Years. I've never been skiiing, so this is a chance to do something new and celebrate 2011 with my friends. Looking forward to it. More than anything I am looking forward to being in the states for a few weeks and spending time with my lovely family and friends back home. I'm looking forward to eating my mama and grandma's delicious cooking, hanging out with my close friends, going to New York and Maryland with my sister, seeing all the babies everyone is having. I'm excited to eat, shop, and laugh a lot when I go home. I want to soak it all up, because everyday I have with them won't be enough. So I want to make the most of it, and pamper them all.

So life right now in bits and pieces...

I caught a glimpse of the first snow in Seoul. The cars outside were coated in it, but it was gone by morning. I'm dreading the real snow to come. Hopefully most of it will happen when I'm back in the states. This morning I was walking to school and this 4th grader was screaming my name until I finally noticed (was listening to music) just to say hello to me. IDK..but she seems to have taken a liking to me, and gets really excited everytime she sees me. We have a hard time communicating, but we manage. It makes me smile and feel all happy inside. As I walked into school, I saw a few of my students in a circle. Curious I walked over to see this adorable puppy jumping around playfully licking and biting students. No one knew who she belonged to, but she was tied up so I assumed she had a home to go to. I'm allergic to dog hair, but not all dog hair so I didn't have a problem with this dog or so I thought. Haha, later my nose was running and so stuffy. I'd like to have a dog one day. I've never had a pet. My mom doesn't like dogs or cats, or any animals. I firmly believe every kid deserves to grow up with a pet. I want a dog and a turtle one day. Need to find a dog with hair that doesn't send me into an allergy attack, or I should take shots for it. I've always wanted a Siberian Husky. That was so random.

Anyways, as Fridays go this was a pretty easy one. The kids are getting antsy these days so we changed their seats in hopes of them calming down. We'll see how that goes next week. I've got to start planning for winter camp, do my medical check for renewing, buy my plane tickets home, plan my trip home, blog about my recent trips, and upload all the photos and videos I have sitting on my hardrive. Hopefully I'll conquer the photos and videos on Sunday.

My family has been freaking out about North Korea. To the point that some of them have been pressuring me not renew, but I'm going to still renew. You won't ever be completely safe anywhere, and I'm not going to be pressured into leaving. I've tried to calm them down, and assure them that if things escalate to a point where my safety is compromised I'd get on the first plane home. I'm happy here, and I am looking forward to another year of adventures, discoveries, and growth.

Haha, I just feel like doing a happy dance. Life is good. I'm good. I hope you are good too.

Happy Friday everyone. Remember to laugh, smile, and breathe.

Be blessed,
~Lola O.~

One of my favorite songs by the great Nell...


Edit: I just read through this entry, so zippy. It's amazing how much your writing can reflect your current state.

 Last Friday, I went to my friend's place for a Game Night, I haven't done that since college but it was a really good time. I needed that. The laughter, the silliness, the people. It was a good end to a semi-exhausting week.

Then on Saturday I had a little freak out about my life, my future, and what the heck I'm doing about all of it. It all started when I read this...okay I've been having these thoughts ever since I decided I am for sure renewing for a second year in Seoul. After making that decision, I've been freaking out a lot about it, about being away for another year, about delaying grad school or whatever I'm going to do as a career. I always wanted to stay for 2 years, and I'm going to but I'm still freaked out. Dollop Of Solipsism was asking the same questions I've been asking myself about what comes next after Seoul. I have another year to think things over, figure out where I want to be, want to do, and so on. Sometimes I ask myself if I'm wasting time by staying another year. An honest question. I don't believe I am. I'm not ready to go to grad school, or to decide what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I don't want to live that kind of 9-5 life yet. Especially when I'm still figuring out what I want to do as far as work goes. I enjoy my life here. I want to travel some more. I'm happy with my life right now. So I ask myself if that's okay? If living like this is really okay? It's not that I need permission to live my life the way I want, but sometimes it feels...I feel like I do.

So I freaked out Saturday night, and I just told myself I'll go to sleep and deal with everything in the morning. I finally went to sleep after spending an hour or two looking into careers I'm interested in. After sleeping on things, I woke up without any new clarity just some peace of mind. I'm okay, and I won't be an utter failure or spend my life wandering and never making a difference, never having a purpose, never making my dreams/golas come true. I just have to give myself time to figure things out, and while I have this time to wander, explore, and discover I can look into things, talk to people, and come to a decision when I'm ready. I think I really need to have a conversation with my mom about all of this, but I don't want to do it over the phone. My mom's opinion really matters to me, and I feel like she isn't okay with my decisions and that makes me doubt myself. I know we won't always agree, but I need her to believe that I'm doing well, and to trust that I'm making the right decision for me, for my happiness and peace of mind. This is a face to face conversation that has to wait till my winter vacation. I really want to sit down and talk to her about everything, and have her blessing and support. For her to be okay with me staying another year, not going to law school, and just changing from the daughter she always knew. I spent the rest of the weekend in seclusion in my partment because I needed time to sort myself out, and just breathe.

People are always saying to me that I'm only 23, I have plenty of time. I don't agree or believe that. I don't want to waste time. I don't want to avoid things. I don't want to live carelessly. I know that I will have to apply to grad schools and so on during my second year, which freaks me out, but I'm going to cross that bridge after crossing the ones before it. I've never lived thinking I have endless amount of time to do whatever I want. Time ends for all of us, and before mine is up I want to know that I've used it to help people, to help our youth; to inspire, comfort, understand, and aid them. Which is why I'm thinking towards counseling specifically guidance couseling, but then I wonder does that really allow me to make a difference? Am I really going to be in a position to help students/youth? Ahhhh....so many things to consider. I know what I want to do, but not how to do it or go about it. My sister and I talked a bit about all of this the other day, and it was good to get it all out. The thing is my sister always supports me in whatever I do, so she is kind of biased as far as advice goes. I'm going to talk to a few other people and ask them what they think, but at the end of the day the determining factor is what I think, feel, want, and need to be happy and feel successful in my life.

Enough of that, this week has been a really fantastic week at school. We've made it a Halloween week for all the grades we teach. Nothing but fun, fun, fun for all the kids and they've been loving it. I've scared the crap out of them each class sneaking up on them and spooking them. Some kids even fell to the floor in fear. They've been trying to scare me but it hasn't worked yet. I'm just happy they are so happy and having a good time. We had students become mummies, did mummy tag, made trick or treat baskets, did halloween worksheets, watched videos/ songs, and gave out so much candy. Some students even wore costumes they made for extra candy. I'm not big on Halloween, but from a kid's perspective I think it's a great time for their imaginations to go wild and for them to be carefree, and of course eat loads of candy. I felt like a kid again this week, the laughter, freedom, and high of youth. We are planning to do a Christmas Week for the kids too.

The weather has been sooooo cold this week, and I hope it doesn't stay like this. I want my Fall to stay for awhile before Winter comes and makes me miserable. I haven't used the ondol in my apartment yet. I'm trying to hold out until it gets really cold, but I am tempted to start using it. Especially when my feet are freezing from the wood floors even with two pairs of socks on. Are you already using yours?

Today, I had two of my 5th grade classes canceled which is a nice break for me, but I feel bad that they will miss out on Halloween till next Tuesday. On my way to school this morning I was carrying a large bag filled with candy, and one of the teachers just drove past me, picked up another teacher, and went on her way to school. She knows me, and it's not like she doesn't see me walking, but everytime she always keeps going, and only stops for other teachers. It kind of grates on my nerves, especially today when I had so much candy to carry up the steep hill. I don't understand her, but yeah it bugs me that she will pick up a teacher walking 10 feet ahead of me, but never me. Whatever.

I'm really happy today because I got my VIP ticket to the YG Family Concert last night. You have to buy the ticket on Gmarket, and everything is in Korean, but I know enough to figure out how to purchase a ticket. The site went down for almost an hour after it opened at 8 because everyone including me was sitting at their computer trying to get a good VIP seat. It was worth it, because I've got a good seat to see Taeyang, 2NE1, Se7en, Gummy, PSY. and hopefully Big Bang will have some new songs by then. I'm so excited since I couldn't  go to Taeyang's Solar concert last month. I like all of YG's artists so this should be a really good time. Haha...I plan to go to as many concerts as I can while I'm in Seoul because once I leave my chances to see them perform live are slim to none. I have to wait till December 4th, but now I have an early Christmas present to look forward to:)!!!

This weekend, my friend is having a scary movie night tonight. I don't like scary movies, so my eyes will  probably be covered during the goreathon, but it will be a good time with friends. Besides that I don't know what the weekend will hold. I need to take care of a few things, maybe do some winter shopping, and try to go somewhere I've never been yet.


It's hard to live in the now, when you are so aware of the future. So I still have to figure out "what comes next" for me. For now, it's another year in Seoul. After that, it gets blurry...

Okay, if you have not seen this video you need to stop whatever you are doing and watch it.


Have a great weekend everyone!!!!
FYI Yeoungdongpo Costco has Pumpkin pie, and it is D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S....^____^

Be blessed,
~Lola O.~