Kyaaaa!

in case you didn't know, "kya" is the japanese onomatopoeia for a scream sound.

it all started with the New York Korea Festival on October 9th. i mean, a free concert with Beast, TVXQ, 2PM, 4minute, Sistar, G.na, Shinee, and Kim Tae Woo? when was there gonna be a chance to see all these kpop acts in one venue short of flying to Seoul or LA? of course i was going. BarkBark was even more excited to go since she's a teeny bopper x1000 (she's also 15 yrs old, so she's entitled to be, whereas i have no excuse). she stood in line at the HMart in Ridgefield from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 pm (2PM!!) in order to get the limited quantity tickets. now that is devoted (i, on the other hand, was in Boston).

on the day of the concert, which didn't start until 6:00 p.m., B2 was clamoring for us to leave at 8:00 a.m. so we could secure good seats. yeah...that wasn't happening. i may be a teeny bopper fan, but i'm not that crazy. in order to appease B2, we headed out at 11:00 a.m. so we could get there at noon. i knew we were in trouble when i couldn't find parking in any of the available lots. 

arriving at the park just confirmed how redonkey kong the whole situation was. all the available seats in the front had been filled and people had apparently been there since 6:00 a.m., with some people alleging that they slept there overnight (which i doubt, but you never know with crazy kpop fans). so we resigned ourselves to sitting in the back, saved ourselves some seats with our stuff, and began meandering the many booths and snack vendors. 

poor planning on the part of the organizers, along with extremely hot temperatures that day, resulted in a public announcement around 2:00 pm (2PM again! ok, i'll stop now...) that everyone was to vacate their seats due to a public health hazard of having people sit in the sun without water or moving for an extended period of time. which resulted in a bunch of seats near the front row opening up. and with poor organization and a lack of security, we found ourselves with seats 4 rows from the front (the front  of the free non-VIP section, which means we were still half a mile away from the actual stage). yes, it was probably slightly despicable, but all's fair in the battle of kpop concerts.

we baked in the sun for a few more hours before the kpop acts began their dress rehearsals. it was sheer pandemonium. people began climbing on chairs to see better, arms with cameras shot up into the air, and fangirls screamed in pitches only dogs should be able to hear. it initially started with girl groups 4minute and Sistar, but then complete chaos broke out when Beast came out on stage. all of a sudden a huge throng of fangirls rushed the makeshift fence, knocked it over, and dashed towards the VIP and stage section.

of course, i went along with it, but only for B2's sake. 

so by a fortuitous turn of events, B2 and i found ourselves in the coveted VIP section, albeit as stowaways. let me tell you, being covert and sneaky is all in good fun, but it's definitely nerve-wracking! we spent a nervous yet joyful 40 minutes in the VIP section, watching Shinee, TVXQ, and Beast while simultaneously dodging the cranky volunteer ushers on a mission to eject all non-VIP members.  if you watch the videos i posted, i had serious shaky cam hand. i don't know if it was cause i was so teenybopper excited or nervous about being busted and ejected by the overstressed volunteer bouncers.

we did eventually get ejected and went back to our non-VIP seats and enjoyed the rest of the concert. when you think about it, it was pretty surreal to watch all these kpop acts in the States and really says a lot about how far the hallyu trend is traveling.