Korean Day Parade 2011

It's not popularly known, but I am a big fan of Korean dramas (k-dramas).  Basically they're Korean soap operas or telenovelas.  Any given show will run from 16-100+ episodes depending on whether it's a weekly or daily drama.  They fall into several genres including rom-com (my personal fave and very popular for obvious reasons), slice-of-life, historical, action, etc.  Like any Western show, some are wonderful and some are terrible, with a bunch falling somewhere in the middle.  What I like about them is...  It's a little hard to explain.  I like the lack of graphic sex and violence (in rom-coms at least...your historicals can go there with the violence), I like the fast pace. I like the immense library of already completed shows!  And I can't neglect to mention the parade of hot guys.

What?  I'm just being honest!  I'll watch a show where I don't find the guys particularly hot (sorry, fellow beaners, but I don't think Wookie's cute and you know how I feel about Lee Min Ho), but it doesn't hurt.  At all.

*cough*

Needless to say all my k-drama watching means I now also have an interest in Korean culture.  I know a handful of Korean words, I have added Seoul to the list of places I want to visit (Paris, you're still first!), and I've written k-drama inspired fanfiction. But anyone who knows me well knows that my fannishness is wide instead of deep.  In other words, although I'm seriously tempted it's unlikely that I'll learn Korean.  :-/

But still, yay Korea!

So imagine my joy and surprise when I came up from the subway last Saturday on my way to meet a friend only to run smack dab into the Korean Day Parade!  I swear I didn't jump and down and squeal, but that's probably only because I was surrounded by strangers.  Seriously, I got off about 2 stops early because, well, I was early.  I had no expectation of catching the KDay Parade.  My tv's been out for two weeks, I didn't pay much attention to the news...it was totally God's surprise gift to me.  And what a delightful gift!

First of all, it was just full of pretty.  The traditional dress, the couple of floats I was able to see (I was on my way to meet someone after all), the street fair I wasn't able to actually visit...all very cool.  As a matter of fact, I ran into people going to the Polish Day Parade on Sunday and was kinda sad that I couldn't take pictures of it, too. 

Anywho, I promised my Dramabeans unnies, oppas and dongsaeng that I would post the pictures and videos that I did take.  In deference to those of us without hi-speed, or who think I'm totally nutters (you're in pretty good company ;), the pictures are all under the break.

I thought these guys were sponsoring the parade, but I think they were just doing some self-promotion.

They were getting ready to see/present themselves to the guys standing in front of the black awnings in the background.  Yeah, I know, they're very hard to see.

Mmm, I think they were with the ppl from above.

This is the street fair happening directly across the street from where I was standing.  Because the parade ppl were waiting to move forward, I had a clear-ish shot of the fair beyond.

These ahjummas were sooo cute in their hanboks and sneakers.  Two more of them below.

 

The hanboks in this float were also lovely, but I don't think I got very good pictures of them :(

See, this one doesn't quite get her.

I absolutely didn't get good pictures of these kids, who looked so adorable in their kiddie hanboks.  I ran into them again once I finally left the parade and started walking to my ultimate destination.

These guys are representing their Korean student clubs/unions at various local colleges.  They were followed by an amazing, and amazingly huge, traditional Korean...marching band for lack of a better word!  I've got little 10s clips around here somewhere.

Just a small section of the "band" passing through.  It consisted of a variety of percussion instruments, mostly.  There may have been something stringed in there, but I don't remember now. :-/

Methinks I'll upload the videos, which are all pretty brief, in a second post.