annyeong chingu!

Finally! My maiden post for this blog site. 

So this addiction of mine actually started in 2014. Before, I used to watch koreanovelas in TV and you guessed it right, dubbed in tagalog. I enjoyed watching the different dramas like, My Girl, Only You, Personal Taste, Memories of Bali, Full House, Jumong, Stairway to Heaven, Winter Sonata, Coffee Prince, and so on. The only drama that I didn't miss a single episode was Lovers in Paris. The chemistry of Vivian and Carlo, the comedy and romance got me hooked. But that was just a passing thing then. I just watch what's available in TV. Never did I try to search for other dramas or looked-up the actors names. 

Lovers in Paris
Cast: Kim Jung Eun (Kang Tae Young), Park Shin Yang (Han Ki Joo)

When it comes to k-pop, I only know one idol group and that is 2ne1. The honest reason why I know them is of course because of our "pambansang krung-krung", Sandara Park. Heard a few of their songs in passing and that's it. In short, it didn't totally pulled me into it the korean world yet.

2ne1
Dara, Minzy, CL and Bom

2014 came, I saw this folder named series in a computer somewhere, opened it and saw more folders in it. Opened one folder named The Heirs and saw 20 video files, played the first file for 10 minutes and decided to copy everything inside the series folder namely, The Heirs, Fated to Love You and Angel Eyes.

The Heirs
Cast left to right: Kim Woo Bin (Choi Young Do), Jeon Soo Jin (Kang Ye Sol), Park Shin Hye (Cha Eun Sang), Kang Ha Neul (Lee Hyo Shin), Lee Min Ho (Kim Tan), Kang Min Hyuk (Yoon Chan Young), Park Hyung Sik (Jo Myung So), Krystal Jung (Lee Bo Na), Kim Ji Won (Rachel Yoo)

One Sunday came and since it was my rest day/lazy day of the week, I took my ipad out and browse through the files recently added in it and saw the videos. I chose to watch The Heirs it has 20 episodes with an hour duration per episode. It was the first time for me to watch a full korean series in subtitles. At first my eyes can't catch-up reading everything. I would rewind the scene until I read everything. It was 9am when I started to watch and finished the whole series in one go with just a few bathroom breaks and a few minutes to spare in getting my lunch and dinner. It was almost 6am when the 20th and final episode ended. I rushed to prepare for work with no sleep at all. Lol. 

Angel Eyes

Cast: Lee Sang Yoon (Park Dong Joo/Dylan Park), Ku Hye Sun (Yoon Soo Wan)

The following days I decided to watch Angel Eyes and said to myself that I would watch one episode per night. Oh well, that night I finished five episodes with eyes all puffed from crying since the first episode. All 16 episodes of this pure drama series was done in three days and i fell in love with its OST so I downloaded the songs and listened to them everyday. Next on the list was Fated Love You, this also made me cry buckets of tears at the same time laughed hard to their slapstick comedy.

Fated to love You
Cast: Jang Hyuk (Lee Gun), Jang Na Ra (Kim Mi Young/Ellie Young)

You might ask, then what? Believe it or not, I watched those series again and again and again. I cried, laughed and fell in love in all the same scenes until I don't have to read each and every word in the subs. But still this didn't made me look for other dramas to watch. It was like for me they're enough and I didn't expect or imagine any drama more beautiful than them. 

Then one fine day, when I was scanning through the same computer, that series folder appeared again. Was tempted to open it and hesitated for a bit but eventually gave in to the little voice telling me to double click the folder. There I saw Boys Over Flowers and My Love from the Star and the same cycle happened. I restrained myself from opening that computer again after that. Lol. 

Boys Over Flowers
Cast left to right: Kim Joon (Song Woo Bin), Kim Bum (So Yi Jung), Lee Min Ho (Gu Jun Pyo),
Ku Hye Sun (Guem Jan di), Kim Hyung Joon (Yoon Ji Hoo)

My Love from the Star
Cast from Left to right: Shin Sung Rok (Lee Jae Kyung), Park Hae Jin (Lee Hee Kyung),
Jun Ji Hyun (Cheon Sung Yi), Kim Soo Hyun (Do Min Joon), Yoo In Na (Yoo Se Mi),
Ahn Jae Hyun (Cheon Yoon Jae)

January of 2016 I resigned from my work to rest. I started watching those same series again to kill time. Then I saw this Descendants of the Sun clip on facebook. I immediately looked for a copy and I got episodes 1-10. As expected, I was hooked and finished it in one seating. Since it was an on-going drama, only two episodes per week were released. I panicked searching for the next episodes every wednesday and thursday which was their airing schedule that time. I saw raw copies on youtube, watched it without subs and just assumed to understand what they were saying. Lol. 

Descendants of the Sun
Cast: Song Joong Ki (Captain Yoo Si Jin a.k.a Big Boss), Song Hye Kyo (Doctor Kang Mo Yeon)

The wait was agonizing, it was torture. I can't bear to wait a week. I fell in love with Song Joong Ki. I mean come on, who didn't?! I googled him, learned that he was fresh from his mandatory military duties, saw his other dramas and movies, downloaded them and the rest is history. Lol.

Song Joong Ki was like a black hole that swallowed me whole into the K-drama world and I don't regret it even a single bit. 

P.S. After the DOTS incident I promised myself not to watch any on-going dramas. I don't want to wait. I only watch the drama I like when it is completed. 

P.P.S. Comment down your k-drama experience below and follow my blog for more k-world snippets.