In the process, I was reminded of the
incident back in fifth grade. I was in Korea then, and I remember an idol
group called H.O.T. They were, at least to the elementary eyes of mine, one of
the biggest sensations of the time. In any case, I distantly remember how the
group was taking a break from media. Whatever the reason, they were not participating
in any regular events at the time. There was, however, one big concert called
the Dream Concert where all kinds of idols and celebrities came to perform. It
was to be held in Jamshil Stadium, and there was rumor that H.O.T. was going to
be there. Three girls from my class asked three boys, including me, to join
them in their journey to see the concert. I used the word “journey” because Jamshil
was on the other side of Seoul as to where we were. For six fifth graders to
get on the subway and travel on for more than an hour in the evening was
probably not the best idea. The girl I really liked was not part of the three,
so I was hesitant to go, but the other two must have had some interest in teh girls, as they
pressured me into going with them.
None of us knew the order of the performance, so we had planned to leave as soon as we
got to see H.O.T. As any stories unravel, we sat through the entire concert, way past our intended time of leave. The idol group, being the most
popular, performed at the very end. Near the end of their song, we
rushed out. We thought we had gotten out early, but the exit was already packed
with a mass crowd. It had not really mattered anyways, because the subway was
already closed for the night.
There we were with pocket change,
enough to buy us subway tickets, but none more. The rest of the kids decided to
make phone calls to their parents, while I thought it was stupid of them. I
figured we should do our best to save our money to at least get somewhere close
to home by getting on a taxi. Another kid decided he was hungry, and started buying
street snacks. I am not sure if I was just that much more mature or my friend
was really hungry,
but I was just getting frustrated by their lack of awareness of the situation.
In retrospect, I must admit I did overreact to the situation. Simply because we got home pretty easily. As my friend was eating food, some
other kids must have told the vendor about our misfortune for the sake of whining. The lady, however, was nice enough to get a taxi to have all six of
us ride. She also paid the driver for us, so we got home safe and
sound, though just late.
As for me, my personal stupidity did
not end there. Instead of heading home, I went to my friend’s house to sleep over.
I had promised my friend about that, and I even got permission for it. Unfortunately,
I did not have the common sense in communication, and had complete neglected calling my parents. After a short while at my friend's house, the friend’s mother passed on the phone to me, and I was told
to come home immediately. I had no idea I was in trouble as my mother told me
to simply go to bed as I arrived home. Later, I found out my father had been beyond
the point of anger. It was the first time I did not get punished for being
stupid. It certainly had its effects as well, since I remember it so well. The
irony of all this was that we were so far behind in the stadium that all we could see of the concert were
the stage lights.
PS: For all of you that are
interested, thanks to modern technology, I was able to find some clips from the
concert. Enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nItSua7uWSo
No comments:
Post a Comment