Big Bang Solo Stuff I Love

Big Bang is unique in that ALL of the members have solo stuff on the side, and most of it is pretty awesome. They're awesome separately, and AMAZING together. That's why they're perfect.

Other solo things I've mentioned in the other posts- Heartbreaker, Coup d'etat and Crooked- GD, and Ringa Linga by Taeyang.

Group stuff can be found here (with links to other solo things). These posts are just a sampling of the epicness that is Big Bang.


I'll wait while you fall in love.





Doom Dada by T.O.P from Big Bang. Try and rap as fast as him. Not possible. Also this vid is trippy.




Seungri with Gotta Talk to U. I don't listen to a lot of Seungri, but this one is pretty great. (couldn't find the vid with english subs)





G-Dragon being fly with "Crayon." As in, "Get yo cray on!"  I promise, you will not regret watching this video. I cannot even begin to explain it.




Couldn't find a video, but here's Wings by Daesung (Sarah's favorite in Big Bang, aka her 'bias.' My bias fluctuates between GD and TOP. Currently, it's TOP). Anywho, Daesung has pipes man.





GD and T.O.P, High High from their duet album. You'll never forget how to spell 'ghetto' or 'electro' if you listen to this song. It's a lot of rap, because GD usually does the high rap and TOP the low rap in their group.

Also I'm pretty sure GD got in trouble after this song because the government was like "Wow, that song sounds like you're talking about getting high..." and they drug tested him and he was positive for weed. I think he said one of his cigarettes from his backup dancers was laced with it or something...? Not sure, but he certainly didn't go to jail for it. He's too popular, even though smoking weed is super taboo here.






Not to leave Taeyang out of this post (check out Ringa Linga tho, it's one of my favorites right now), here he is in Wedding Dress






G Dragon with Who You?

Something tells me that GD is like a Taylor Swift or Adele in Kpop. He seems to be very inspired by breakups or tragedies (with Big Bang as well). He filmed this video with a bunch of his fans and I WAS HERE IN KOREA BUT THEY PROBABLY ONLY ANNOUNCED IT IN KOREAN UGH. Oh well. I still jam out to this song.





Taeyang- I Need A Girl- I've been listening to a little more Taeyang lately. I like his songs. I probably like this cause GD makes an appearance

Big Bang, 사랑해요

I've posted some other Big Bang related songs on this blog, and in honor of going to their concert, here are some more! The ones I've already mention are also some of my favorite Kpop songs in general, so check them out! (see heartbreaker/coup d'etat, Haru Haru, Fantastic Baby and Crooked, Ringa Linga). Big Bang is my favorite group, so a disproportionate amount of my favorites are sung by them, but those other posts have quite a mix of other groups.

I tried to get videos with English subtitles, so you can get what each song is about. Some have them, some don't.

I'm biased, but I think all of these songs are awesome and worth a listen to, even if Kpop music videos aren't your thing. Here's a sampling of some great Big Bang songs:

One my favorite Big Bang songs (let's be honest, I like about all of them), Monster (no vid with Eng subs, sorry)




Lies - I can only imagine how long it took them to record the skating part... This was in their American Boy Band phase





 Love Song. A great, more mellow song, this video is AWESOME, because it's one continuous shot. It's a really sad song, but also very beautiful.




Another mellow beauty, Blue



I need to figure out how I can be the white girl in these videos...



Somebody to Love. I think it's a given I will like any song with this name.




And don't worry, there's plenty more Kpop (Big Bang and beyond) where this came from!

Vacation week 2

Monday- bummed around, studied Korean, etc. 

Tuesday: Got my hair done. The vacuum moisturizer made another appearance. still bizarre.

 Then we went to a cafe that has sheep!

But we decided a dog cafe would be more fun!

he's only 1 year old... YIKES

this little one stayed with us for a while

the dogs were really into the baby

I fell in love

it liked Hyun Woo's coat

I went out to a meat buffet with my friends (DELICIOUS) and then we went and saw Frozen, which was really good on the big screen. Not my favorite disney movie, but it had some nice zingers and one liners.

couldn't resist this cute mask. The yellow dust
is coming.

Wednesday was Korean class as normal. I went grocery shopping in the morning (always an adventure) and met up with Sarah for coffee, then Hyun Woo and Lauren joined us for dinner. We are almost done with our textbook, so I guess I will see where class goes after.


Thursday we went out for food and makgeoli, a Korean alcohol, with my co teacher Young Ah. We ate and drank a lot and stayed out waaaay too late, but hey, that's what vacation is for!

she's the best! 

On Friday, PAYDAY, Sarah and I went shopping, but along the way I spotted this gem in Taco Bell

He's watching my newest kdrama obsession,
My Love From Another Star. 

Saturday was the long awaited, EPIC AND AMAZING BIG BANG CONCERT. AAAAAAAAAH

It was awesome, albeit a little stressful. Sarah and I went to pick up the tickets she won, and the guy asked us if we wanted standing or sitting. Now, we thought we were just getting sitting, so it threw us for a loop. We should have probably asked where the sitting was, but given the venue, they probably would have been the nosebleeds. The guy told us that if we could stand to stand for the concert, standing would be worth it. So standing we went.

Now, I'm short so that wasn't the greatest idea, especially with everyone waving their lightsticks (I get it, you wanna support them, but how about holding it as shoulder level so the people behind you can see??). But we actually ended up getting pretty amazing views of the crowd. G Dragon sang the end of his solo to our section, TOP rapped his solo right in front of us, Daesung sang to our section a lot, as did Seungri, and we got a great view of Taeyang for Ringa Linga.  Seats would have allowed us the overall view of the concert, but being able to see my favorite band, legitimately SEE them (I'm talking less than maybe 50 ft away, able to legit see their faces) was pretty amazing.

Next time, it's VVIP standing or seated (Big Bang fans are called VIPs so VVIPs are... very very important people...?). Not sure I could handle being in the middle of the crowd again, even if my views of their beautiful, talented faces were worth it. VVIPs get to go in first, guaranteeing a close to the front spot, or I'd go for second level sitting, assuming I can get tickets next time at all. Those boys could probably sell concerts out for a month straight in Seoul alone.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the concert!

Outside the venue, Olympic Park Stadium.
Seoul tries to reuse the complexes it built
for big events

Lightstick!

getting readyyy

They let us have photo time at the end!

SO CLOSE TO G DRAGON

and Taeyang. It was wild and fun

GD, TOP and Taeyang

Daesung

TOP. Dayum

Overall, even though I didn't know all of the songs and couldn't directly see for some of the time (I watched the big screens for closeups when they were out of my sight range), it was AWESOME and I cannot wait until they have another concert... that I can hopefully get tickets for!!

I spent sunday getting brunch with Sarah and Lauren, studying a little bit and helping Sarah shop for a purse. Then I headed home in the late afternoon to clean up my apartment a bit (it gets quite messy when I'm busy) and start packing. I am getting back to school blues, but it helps that I only have 3 days this week before Lunar New Year, which means a vacation to Jeju Island!!! I can't wait!!! Now I just have to hope the next few days back at school are kind to me. It's been a while since I've had to lesson plan and teach! Wish me luck!!!

1st week of vacation!!! Happy 5 months to me!!

In case you're not keeping track, Saturday marked my 5 month anniversary in Korea. Wow it does NOT feel like I've been here that long!!!

Yay!!! This was my first week of vacation and I spent it doing boring adult things like studying and going to the dentist.  Sarah was pretty sick this week, so I went over to her house to help her out a couple times. I didn't do much traveling because my friends still had camp, and it's no fun traveling alone! =

Also, side note, I went back to the dentist. Either he was playing me and the cavities were SUPER MINOR (though I had them confirmed at a different dentist) or I am truly my father's daughter, cause I got the fillings done with no novacaine. Which was scary at first, but I guess the dentist was pretty good cause it didn't hurt at all and didn't take long. I've amped up my dental hygiene routine so hopefully this doesn't happen again. 

I did still have a fun and fulfilling  first week of vacation. Here are some pictures!

New shirt (I don't normally post pics of everything
new that I buy, but I'm diggin this one)

 In Myeongdong, a major shopping center in Seoul, there is a tourism center where you can try on traditional Korean hanboks. The center is always crowded, but since I was on vacation, I went right when they opened, signed us up for a slot, and then spent 2 hours in Dunkin' Donuts studying Korean while waiting for my friends. It was totally worth the trip!

For reference, the type Sarah and I are wearing is a hanbok that would have been worn in the palace. Lauren is wearing a Giseng outfit, which is a korean entertainer, kinda like a geisha. 

SCANDALOUS 

 Sarah was sick all week, which was sad, cause Lauren and I went out to dinner with Young Ah, my crazy cool co teacher. We got delicious Korean bbq with soju, and then went to the Coffee Prince cafe, where we embarrassingly posed for photos.

Homeboy took our picture AND CUT OUT GONG YOO UGH

whatever. Still cute. Please note my new coat
cause it's preeeetty and Young Ah being AWESOME

On wednesday, all I did was study a bit and go to Korean class. Boring. Oh well.

Thursday, Lauren and I headed over to keep Sarah from going stir crazy and to bring her some mild foods (which, sadly, were still too much for her poor stomach :(  )

this doesn't look like much, but for $25, this is
enough food for about 2+ meals for 3 people
It includes ddeokbokki, kimbap, bibimbap (2)
mandu (2) soup, kimchi, sausages and
another 2 side dishes, and drinks

We watched Frozen, kpop videos, So Ji Sub movies and other things. I loved Frozen. HILARIOUS.

Friday was so exciting I had to look up what I did... study with Lauren and get coffee. Whoa crazy. Tho the Hotteok lady in hongdae is starting to recognize us, because we cannot control ourselves.

it's like a pancake filled with brown sugar, honey, and a couple
other things that make it DELICIOUS. Okay... now I'm seeing
where the teeth problems may have started...

Saturday I went with my neighbor Josh, to a meditation session, which was actually quite interesting and relaxing. Might look into it further. At night, I went out with friends to an "international socializing party" which of course turned into us being the only 5 white people and a bunch of Koreans. Always awkward, always a good time. 

Clearly I'm becoming a coffee addict (HOW DID I NOT KNOW THE DELICIOUSNESS OF CARAMEL MACCHIATOS which I am sure don't count as real coffee and are terrible for me and probably explain the cavities??) Whatever. Sarah was feeling well enough to venture out today (sunday), so we met up with our friend Janelle and hung out with a few friends. We realized that Janelle and I had never been to the Hello Kitty Cafe, and it had been a super long time since Sarah had been. So we headed over...

it's adorable

on the table

dessert boxes

adorable cakes

so cute!!!

sarah got chocolate and banana

our cute caramel waffles 

latte art

SO MUCH PINK. love it

The cafe was adorable and fun and relaxing. They were playing lots of music from K dramas and groups I recognized, and it was surprisingly reasonably priced (for Korean coffee that is... so it was reasonably priced for SUPER OVERPRICED COFFEE)

Since Sarah hadn't been out of her apartment since Monday when we went to Myeongdong, so we strolled around Hongdae for a bit and stopped in H&M cause they always have something amusing to look at. It did not disappoint.

that's a full set of star wars, pajamas maybe?

So, lots of local things planned for the next week of vacation, so hopefully next week will be a fun post as well. Some highlights of the next couple of weeks include Big Bang (OMGGGG), a trip to Jeju Island, and in less than 2 months, a trip to Daegu to see PHANTOM. 2014 is looking good.


LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!