[Cloud USA] “Annyeong haseyo…!” we said softly (hello and goodbye with honorifics, 안녕하세요, be at peace) as we clutched our purchases and walked out of the beauty shop, and later the restaurant, and still later the H-Mart.
“Annyeong hase—yo?” people responded, smiled widely at us, and looked quite bewildered. A few of them even waved as we left their premises.
An amazing day indeed, one that Terri and I won’t soon forget. Mind you, we didn’t use any Korean without first carefully observing how Koreans in our immediate vicinity spoke to each other. (We are just learning the language. I’m pretty sure Rain speaks English a LOT better than we speak Korean.) But I suppose I should start at the beginning, yes?
≈
WHERE THE HECK WAS RAIN IN ATLANTA? Where could we buy him? What areas were the best for Rain merchandise? Important questions indeed, and as of that moment, dear friends, our only success in buying Rain in our own suburb was Terri’s NINJA ASSASSIN on Blu-Ray from Target, on its release date back in March. Music stores in our county have no Rain albums. *sigh* All right then—what about other suburbs? Excursion time!
Starting where the Korean population was highest seemed the smart thing to do, so early on the afternoon of July 21 we headed two suburbs over and into Gwinnett County. We couldn’t have picked a better day—clear and sunny, with light traffic, which meant we wouldn’t have to play Demolition Derby just to get where we were going. After 25 minutes travel time by highway, we exited onto a main thoroughfare (Pleasant Hill Road) and headed north.
We were soon in the midst of signs composed of Hangeul and English even before reaching and driving past the Korea Times and MBC studio offices.
The first stop we made was at an American music store that had NINJA ASSASSIN posters in its windows. The clerk on duty knew Rain all right, but had no DVDS or CDS. The store also had every movie poster known to man, but no NINJA and no CYBORG. We left, dejected.
SECOND STOP: KYOBO BOOKS. This full-fledged Korean bookstore had a great ambiance, and books for miles. It was here that we struck gold and found the Vol. 5 Rainism album and TVXQ/DBSK’s Mirotic (in Japan, the group is known as Tohoshinki… good heavens, three names). Haha! Paydirt! We stunned the clerk a bit by asking about the books on K-drama IRIS and other goodies that he had in stock. I’m sure it’s not every day that a Caucasian southern belle and an African American Georgia peach leave his store spouting gahm-sa-hamnida in a chorus. (thank you, 감사합니다, also gomapseumnida, 고맙습니다)
On down the thoroughfare, we found an extensive shopping plaza with lots of side stores dominated by a Super H-Mart. (Up to that point, I had only seen H-Marts advertised on KBS World, never a real one, so I was stoked! Silly, I know.) We searched for Nature Republic in a really pretty skincare shop and failed to find any, though there was VONIN and O HUI for Men, two of Rain’s past endorsers. A beauty shop a few doors down had a large collection of K- and J-Pop, and we struck gold again by finding Vol. 4 Rain’s World and Epik High’s Remixing The Human Soul: Epik High X Planet Shiver (which is their Greatest Hits re-mixed and re-mastered by MapTheSoul). *happy, happy dance* Terri searched like hell for some ChungLim, but no go.
The clerks in both places were as curious about us as we were about them. We had a blast swapping stories and getting our hands exfoliated for free. And they looked really surprised and happy to exchange annyeong haseyos with us when we left. It’s almost as if our Korean communities don’t expect anyone else to love and appreciate their beautiful culture. But we do.
≈
NEXT STOP: CHUNG DAM. One of skincare ladies suggested this restaurant for dinner. We were starving by that time (and Terri had been planning all along to get me Korean barbecue that day as a belated birthday gift, the sneak!), so off we went. The atmosphere and decor inside Chung Dam was like stepping into traditional Asia—soothing and wonderful. We had our own private alcove complete with shoji screens, a coffered ceiling, and a window-mounted LCD TV showing the SBS channel. Ha.
As soon as our feast of bulgogi (barbecue beef), pork tenderloin (spicy!), a gazillion side dishes and soju made it to the table, we grabbed our chopsticks (we had no idea how to use them but learned pretty quickly as we were not going to embarrass ourselves by asking for a fork) and dug in. Oh-em-gee, Clouds… talk about being in heaven. We’ve got some great food here in the Southern U.S., but the food at Chung Dam was a special kind of delicious. Seaweed soup, cucumber in mayonnaise sauce, potatoes and apple, something that looked like shark’s fin (but couldn’t have been because that is really expensive) and veggies on top of veggies… Aigoo! Neither of us thought we’d like kimchi, but this kimchi was yummy. And the rice was perfect.
(Ready, set.. go! Dig in, Terri, while Stephe is snapping up pics…)
(Going, going… gone.)
(Checking out some SBS news during the meal.)
It was our understanding, from K-dramas, that only wusses sipped soju. So, bolstered by the fact that we had ordered the weakest kind, we tossed the stuff down our throats in one gulp as if we were Korean buddies at a Seoul karaoke bar at 2 am. Terri loved the smooth, delicious flavor. But once the soju started burning its way down my gullet oh say, five seconds later, I found myself coughing and lying half on the table while she laughed at me. What a pal. 😀
LAST STOP: SUPER H-MART. If you’ve been in a Super WalMart, then you’re halfway there. This was a massive place divided into the usual sections, clothing, grocery, housewares, et cetera, and very well laid out… just throw in products and labels native to Asia, lots of Hangeul and kimchi and you’ve got it. One of the most fascinating places inside the store was the CD/DVD section, where vast selections of K-dramas, K-movies, and K-Pop are neatly presented (every single label is in Hangeul, however, so thank heavens for pictures and H-Mart clerks). I even saw K-hunk Jang Dong-Gun’s “Morning, Mr. President” on the shelf. Terri came thisclose to getting her hands on FULL HOUSE, but their only copy had just sold. (Yes, we cried like babies.)
The moments that about tickled me to death in the H-Mart were: 1) Watching a Gag Concert with my favorite comedienne BongSun on the big screen TV while searching K-Pop CDs, 2) Terri’s conversation with a clerk in which she stated quite firmly, “I’m pretty sure I’m yeoja (woman), not namja (man)”, and 3) when a little old Asian man gaped in disbelief and couldn’t take his eyes off of us as we perused the kimchi section. If I had grabbed one of those humongous tubs for purchase, I dare say he might have had a coronary on the spot. Poor thing.
Of course, we took a Korea Daily newspaper and a Georgia Asian Times for information for our Korean Culture in Atlanta page, on the way out… and our H-Mart experience was done for the day.
*NOTE: We scoped out two cool-looking Korean karaoke bars for future Cloud USA fan meets in Atlanta. One of them was called Sound of Music. And where were we finally able to pick up the NINJA ASSASSIN DVD that Terri presented to me as a belated birthday gift (bless her heart)? At a Gwinnett County WalMart. Oh well… that was better than not finding it at all, right?
≈
All in all, Terri and I were pretty happy campers at the end of the day, not to mention still as full as two ticks on a dog (some bulgogi and tenderloin from earlier made it home with us). And we had a pretty decent stash to add to the Back To The Basic albums and FILMAX and Cosmo mags (Rain covers) that are already in our overseas collection. Our next excursion will more than likely find us a bit westward of where we were… in Duluth, along Buford Highway with its tasty Korean coffee shops and bakeries.
And we’ll take videographer Jim with us. (He’s a tad miffed at missing out on Trip #1.)
So stay tuned! Until next time…
— Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com ^@@^
http://www.cloudusa.org
Posted in Bi Rain, Cloud USA, Korean Culture, Korean Entertainment, Korean pop, Rain Adventures, Rain stuff, Rain Topics, usa cloud
Tags: Cloud commentary, Cloud USA original article, Jung Ji Hoon, Korean Culture, Korean pop, need to know, Ninja Assassin DVD, rain bi, Rain's World, Rainism
Cloud USA 
Cloud USA goes on the hunt… for Rain.
•August 6, 2010 • 17 Comments[Cloud USA] “Annyeong haseyo…!” we said softly (hello and goodbye with honorifics, 안녕하세요, be at peace) as we clutched our purchases and walked out of the beauty shop, and later the restaurant, and still later the H-Mart.
“Annyeong hase—yo?” people responded, smiled widely at us, and looked quite bewildered. A few of them even waved as we left their premises.
An amazing day indeed, one that Terri and I won’t soon forget. Mind you, we didn’t use any Korean without first carefully observing how Koreans in our immediate vicinity spoke to each other. (We are just learning the language. I’m pretty sure Rain speaks English a LOT better than we speak Korean.) But I suppose I should start at the beginning, yes?
≈
WHERE THE HECK WAS RAIN IN ATLANTA? Where could we buy him? What areas were the best for Rain merchandise? Important questions indeed, and as of that moment, dear friends, our only success in buying Rain in our own suburb was Terri’s NINJA ASSASSIN on Blu-Ray from Target, on its release date back in March. Music stores in our county have no Rain albums. *sigh* All right then—what about other suburbs? Excursion time!
Starting where the Korean population was highest seemed the smart thing to do, so early on the afternoon of July 21 we headed two suburbs over and into Gwinnett County. We couldn’t have picked a better day—clear and sunny, with light traffic, which meant we wouldn’t have to play Demolition Derby just to get where we were going. After 25 minutes travel time by highway, we exited onto a main thoroughfare (Pleasant Hill Road) and headed north.
We were soon in the midst of signs composed of Hangeul and English even before reaching and driving past the Korea Times and MBC studio offices.
The first stop we made was at an American music store that had NINJA ASSASSIN posters in its windows. The clerk on duty knew Rain all right, but had no DVDS or CDS. The store also had every movie poster known to man, but no NINJA and no CYBORG. We left, dejected.
SECOND STOP: KYOBO BOOKS. This full-fledged Korean bookstore had a great ambiance, and books for miles. It was here that we struck gold and found the Vol. 5 Rainism album and TVXQ/DBSK’s Mirotic (in Japan, the group is known as Tohoshinki… good heavens, three names). Haha! Paydirt! We stunned the clerk a bit by asking about the books on K-drama IRIS and other goodies that he had in stock. I’m sure it’s not every day that a Caucasian southern belle and an African American Georgia peach leave his store spouting gahm-sa-hamnida in a chorus. (thank you, 감사합니다, also gomapseumnida, 고맙습니다)
On down the thoroughfare, we found an extensive shopping plaza with lots of side stores dominated by a Super H-Mart. (Up to that point, I had only seen H-Marts advertised on KBS World, never a real one, so I was stoked! Silly, I know.) We searched for Nature Republic in a really pretty skincare shop and failed to find any, though there was VONIN and O HUI for Men, two of Rain’s past endorsers. A beauty shop a few doors down had a large collection of K- and J-Pop, and we struck gold again by finding Vol. 4 Rain’s World and Epik High’s Remixing The Human Soul: Epik High X Planet Shiver (which is their Greatest Hits re-mixed and re-mastered by MapTheSoul). *happy, happy dance* Terri searched like hell for some ChungLim, but no go.
The clerks in both places were as curious about us as we were about them. We had a blast swapping stories and getting our hands exfoliated for free. And they looked really surprised and happy to exchange annyeong haseyos with us when we left. It’s almost as if our Korean communities don’t expect anyone else to love and appreciate their beautiful culture. But we do.
≈
NEXT STOP: CHUNG DAM. One of skincare ladies suggested this restaurant for dinner. We were starving by that time (and Terri had been planning all along to get me Korean barbecue that day as a belated birthday gift, the sneak!), so off we went. The atmosphere and decor inside Chung Dam was like stepping into traditional Asia—soothing and wonderful. We had our own private alcove complete with shoji screens, a coffered ceiling, and a window-mounted LCD TV showing the SBS channel. Ha.
As soon as our feast of bulgogi (barbecue beef), pork tenderloin (spicy!), a gazillion side dishes and soju made it to the table, we grabbed our chopsticks (we had no idea how to use them but learned pretty quickly as we were not going to embarrass ourselves by asking for a fork) and dug in. Oh-em-gee, Clouds… talk about being in heaven. We’ve got some great food here in the Southern U.S., but the food at Chung Dam was a special kind of delicious. Seaweed soup, cucumber in mayonnaise sauce, potatoes and apple, something that looked like shark’s fin (but couldn’t have been because that is really expensive) and veggies on top of veggies… Aigoo! Neither of us thought we’d like kimchi, but this kimchi was yummy. And the rice was perfect.
(Ready, set.. go! Dig in, Terri, while Stephe is snapping up pics…)
(Going, going… gone.)
(Checking out some SBS news during the meal.)
It was our understanding, from K-dramas, that only wusses sipped soju. So, bolstered by the fact that we had ordered the weakest kind, we tossed the stuff down our throats in one gulp as if we were Korean buddies at a Seoul karaoke bar at 2 am. Terri loved the smooth, delicious flavor. But once the soju started burning its way down my gullet oh say, five seconds later, I found myself coughing and lying half on the table while she laughed at me. What a pal. 😀
LAST STOP: SUPER H-MART. If you’ve been in a Super WalMart, then you’re halfway there. This was a massive place divided into the usual sections, clothing, grocery, housewares, et cetera, and very well laid out… just throw in products and labels native to Asia, lots of Hangeul and kimchi and you’ve got it. One of the most fascinating places inside the store was the CD/DVD section, where vast selections of K-dramas, K-movies, and K-Pop are neatly presented (every single label is in Hangeul, however, so thank heavens for pictures and H-Mart clerks). I even saw K-hunk Jang Dong-Gun’s “Morning, Mr. President” on the shelf. Terri came thisclose to getting her hands on FULL HOUSE, but their only copy had just sold. (Yes, we cried like babies.)
The moments that about tickled me to death in the H-Mart were: 1) Watching a Gag Concert with my favorite comedienne BongSun on the big screen TV while searching K-Pop CDs, 2) Terri’s conversation with a clerk in which she stated quite firmly, “I’m pretty sure I’m yeoja (woman), not namja (man)”, and 3) when a little old Asian man gaped in disbelief and couldn’t take his eyes off of us as we perused the kimchi section. If I had grabbed one of those humongous tubs for purchase, I dare say he might have had a coronary on the spot. Poor thing.
Of course, we took a Korea Daily newspaper and a Georgia Asian Times for information for our Korean Culture in Atlanta page, on the way out… and our H-Mart experience was done for the day.
*NOTE: We scoped out two cool-looking Korean karaoke bars for future Cloud USA fan meets in Atlanta. One of them was called Sound of Music. And where were we finally able to pick up the NINJA ASSASSIN DVD that Terri presented to me as a belated birthday gift (bless her heart)? At a Gwinnett County WalMart. Oh well… that was better than not finding it at all, right?
≈
All in all, Terri and I were pretty happy campers at the end of the day, not to mention still as full as two ticks on a dog (some bulgogi and tenderloin from earlier made it home with us). And we had a pretty decent stash to add to the Back To The Basic albums and FILMAX and Cosmo mags (Rain covers) that are already in our overseas collection. Our next excursion will more than likely find us a bit westward of where we were… in Duluth, along Buford Highway with its tasty Korean coffee shops and bakeries.
And we’ll take videographer Jim with us. (He’s a tad miffed at missing out on Trip #1.)
So stay tuned! Until next time…
— Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com ^@@^
http://www.cloudusa.org
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Posted in Bi Rain, Cloud USA, Korean Culture, Korean Entertainment, Korean pop, Rain Adventures, Rain stuff, Rain Topics, usa cloud
Tags: Cloud commentary, Cloud USA original article, Jung Ji Hoon, Korean Culture, Korean pop, need to know, Ninja Assassin DVD, rain bi, Rain's World, Rainism