pump me up!

If you work out, you know that good music can make or break your workout. Personally, I’m always on the lookout for new songs to keep my feet moving. Here are some of my favs when I’m in the mood for a K-pop-a-licious workout.

Warm-up

Big Bang – Love song. It starts off slow but I find it’s a good song to ease me into cardio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKZEmLvYVF0

Verbal Jint – Perfect Day. This song makes me so happy! Listening to it in the mornings gets my day started on the right track.

Cardio

Jo Kwon- I’m da one. Jo Kwon is so quirky and upbeat he makes me want to dance, but I’ll settle for the treadmill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWgH0DsD0pQ

Tasty – You know me. I cannot say how much I love this song. Or, more accurately, the twins’ dancing. They’ll never be able to teach me how to dance if I’m huffing and puffing. Cardio UP!

Teen Top – Supa Luv. This song has a great beat and the rhythm is perfect for jogging. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQFnQAaCZc

Sistar – So cool. I mostly just added this song because I noticed I had no female singers on this list. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj3q0ZChgFE

U-kiss – Te Amo. I do cardio so that when I finally meet U-Kiss I can chase Eli down singing this song. Motivation! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxumtpLkyl4

Super Junior – Super Girl. LeeTeuk from SJ has enlisted in the Korean Army *sigh*. I figure when he gets out we’d better be in equally as good shape.

Weights

Younique – Maxstep. This is actually a brand new song so I haven’t been listening to it for long. The group is made up of members from several different groups (including my second favourite member of SJ!). So far it definitely gets me pumped up!

BAP – No Mercy. Someday, I want to be as tough as BAP “,) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hzz4mGyehw

2NE1 – I am the Best. After the gajillionth time hearing it, the bratatata’s still get me goin’! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_lSP8Vc3o

G-Dragon – One of a Kind. So me and G-D are homies and we like to do badass things together. Like pump iron.

Cool-down

BoA – One dream. An inspirational song. I need inspiration to do abs and stretching after a hard workout!

Big Bang – Ego. A nice winding-down song that doesn’t put me to sleep.  Plus, beginning and ending my workout with Big Bang makes me a happy girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oj33ZnAlQ

This is not the full playlist, obviously but I thought I’d share some gems with you :)! Please send more pump-up music my way too!

the boy-band break-down.

After watching k-pop obsessively for the past year of my life, I have come to understand that there is a definite formula for making up a Korean boy band. Ok, it didn’t take me a year to realize this, but it’s taken a year for me to run out of things to write about. Ok, I haven’t actually run out of things to write about… I just felt like spending hours browsing pictures of hot k-poppers ok!?

So here it is… I have cracked the code and now any group of 5 to 17 guys can rise to stardom as long as they have these key components.

It helps if he looks slightly elf-ish.

who apparently likes to wear white!

It’s difficult to tell just from pictures but if you watch the videos it’s true! They CAN’T look sad… ever!

… until right now.

Watch out… spudgy’s gonna getcha!

So there are your basic members. Of course if you only have 5 members there’s definitely room for expansion. You could use a few guys who wear too much eye-liner and you want to get at least 2 more colours of the rainbow in their hairstyles.

Once the group is formed your job is pretty simple… just follow these two easy steps:

like… C’MON!

and…

That’s all there is to it!! There may be a bit of singing and dancing and warding off screaming fangirls while you’re at it but you get the idea.

😀

For Spudgy references go to eatyourkimchi.com… especially here! 

thinking about boys… who does that!?

So recently I’ve been posting about my personal behaviours and preferences that have changed over the past year, but there are a lot of cultural differences that I haven’t talked about… specifically to do with the male species.

Thus, I have taken upon the arduous task of stalking hot Korean men analyzing the Korean male psyche in order to better understand our cultural differences. “,)

I don’t want to sound like I’m stereotyping Canadian men and Korean men into two categories. Everyone is a unique individual after all, and there are so many Korean-Canadians that it’s impossible to segregate them by origin. However, the following observations are based on behaviours that I have rarely witnessed in Canada and witness ALL THE TIME here in Korea.

1. Man-love. One thing I didn’t realize when I came to Korea is how much Korean men are into each other. I don’t mean they’re gay, and I made the mistake of assuming that several times, they’re just very comfortable holding each others’ hands or having their arms around each other. It occurs more often after several drinks, but it just seems to be a part of the culture. Even my students love to hold hands, sit on each others’ laps and kiss on occasion.

…no joke.

2. Fashion. Korean men seem to be extremely fashion-conscious. And the fashion choices they make are very different from Canadians. For example, bowties and thick-framed glasses are not just for hipsters. Also, over the course of this year I have seen more men wearing white pants than I have seen ever. Basically they all look like models and it’s intimidating because they’re all so much better dressed than I am.

Just your average guy…

3. Murses and Purses. One thing that I noticed when I first got here that was very foreign to me is Korean men’s willingness to carry their girlfriend’s purses. You will see man after man with a beautiful handbag at their sides and it’s not always their girlfriend’s… Korean men tend to carry murses (man purses) that can be similar in style to women’s purses. In Canada most men would only carry my purse if it came with a sign that says “I’m not gay!” So naturally I was very curious when a guy offered to carry mine. When I asked why he just shrugged and said “it looked heavy”.

4. Couple attire. Couple culture is HUGE in Korea. There are couple cafes, couple key rings, couple everything and the most apparent and wide-spread is couple clothing. Basically many couples will wear a matching piece of clothing to tell the world that they’re dating. If they’re really into couple clothes, they will dress head-to-toe in matching outfits. I have seen matching shoes, winter jackets, bunny-ear-headbands, bathing suits, mittens, glasses, you name it! This is definitely a behaviour that I have never ever witnessed in Canada.

Couple shirts done right!

5. Dancing. Oh my… where to begin. Koreans. Know. How. To. Dance. Seriously, my friends and I go to clubs every weekend just to watch them dance. They love to shuffle and I’d say 90% of guys are amazing at it. We have gone to a few music festivals as well and we always remark on how guys (and girls) just LOVE to party. They don’t need tons of booze or other drugs, they are just so into the music and love spending time with their buddies (see #1) that they just have a blast.

<3<3<3 big bang big bang big bang…. oh yeah… cool dancing!

6. Slender is sexy. Body-types in general are slightly more slender in Korea and the ideal is much more slender than what we are used to in North America. Being curvy doesn’t appear to be the ideal for women and for men being big and buff isn’t as revered as it is back home. Many famous men that Korean women go CRAZY for are actually very very slender and quite feminine (in my eyes). The one place that I have seen really really buff Korean men is at Hamilton Hotel pool! It is a whoooole other side of Korea at that place! Also the gyms are a good place to spot some muscles ;)!

girlie or hot? or both?

7. Family ties. Korea in general is very family-oriented. Usually people live with their parents until they get married and grandparents quite often will live with the family. Korean men seem to take this for granted and won’t hesitate to tell you that they spent the weekend making kimchi with their grandmother. It’s adorable, but a bit intimidating when you want to start a relationship with someone. Especially because many (not all!) Korean families want their sons to marry Korean women only.

8. Considerateness. I have often remarked on how chivalrous Korean men are. The dating culture here is reminiscent of the 50’s in Canada… the men pay for everything, open doors, and are generally very romantic. They seem to want to take care of their girlfriends, and they’ll do this in small gestures like getting their gfs snacks during their ‘time of the month’ or doing some impromptu reflexology. Not being used to this, I find these little considerations really sweet but unnecessary, whereas Korean women demand expect this kind of behaviour from their boyfriends.

Overall, Korean men are more fashion-forward, sweet and – let’s face it – feminine than Canadian men and when one first arrives in Korea there can be a lot of misconceptions about them if you don’t know the culture. Again, I’m not saying that all Korean men are flower boys or that all Canadian guys are burly bush lads or stoner snowboarders, I’m just telling it like I see.

Daesung from BB… just for fun! ^^

Please comment to add more ‘observations’ ;)!