Yesterday, I attended the 20th
Filipino-Korean Cultural Festival at the Aliw Theater, CCP, Pasay City with my
ahjumma, Gilda. It was a free event to everybody who loves anything about
Korea, ‘though getting an admission ticket (passes) requires you to be a “tough
one.” Lol. After five straight late-late-nights of “puyatan,” I finally won my
ticket on a Friday afternoon (Gah.) via Arirang Town Ph. At least it is a pair
of passes, so I can carry another friend for a company. I decided to bring with
me my ahjumma who’s just a few steps away from our house. Likewise, she’s a
“Hangukeu Aein.”
The event will begin at 2pm, but the
ticket distribution will start at 10am to 1pm as the Arirang admin posted on
their wall. I told Aunt Gilda that we should leave our house as early as 10am
so that we can reach our destination by 12nn. By then we can still have a
chance for a more comfortable seats we could have. But sadly as it is, she came
at 11am. So at around 1:15pm we’re still at Vito Cruz, waiting for other passengers
to fill the seats of our shuttle going to CCP Complex.
When we reach the
venue, there were several commotions on both sides of the entrance - FC and
other groups who’s in-charge of tickets distribution. A younger-aged man, who’s
wearing purple shirt with “20th Fil-Kor Cultural Festival” print at
the back, told the crowd that the PKCI (including other FC) winners must
proceed to the right side and the Arirang winners to the left. Not knowing
where the left is (haha…), I asked/told him I am a winner of Arirang Town. So
he guides us to the Arirang direction. Upon reaching the said booth, we
followed the queue to get our entrance passes. We were instructed to bring ID
when claiming our passes, so I did. But when I reach the ticketing staff, she
just asks my name, and then ask for my companion, I logged in on their book,
then that’s it, I got our catalogue/ticket. They didn’t require ID.
So we proceed to the
entrance. They gave us bottled water upon entering the lobby. I was hoping the
following staffs will give us a more solid food such as biscuits, or any
pastries that will compliment the water they gave… ahahah! But that’s it! Water
is all that they can offer! (Don’t ask
for more, Misty, remember it’s a free event!). Ok… Anyway, food and drinks
are not allowed inside, as you can see on the walls of the theater. Maybe they
gave us water to aid us with our squee-ing later on. Lol.
You have to climb a
few stairs to reach the entrance of the theater itself. Between the stairs-break,
there’s that ulzzang Korean greeter that welcomes you to the event. My ahjumma
companion wants to answer the greetings with “gomawo” if only she didn’t
forget. So she just replies it with a smile. Haha…
Upon entering the
theater, the ELFs are already squee-ing since the SuJu’s MV is playing on the
screen. Gosh, I wish I was one of them. We found the right seat for us.
Unfortunately, that “right seat” is reserved for VIPs (judges and special
guests) only. Ahahah… Most of the “good seats” are already occupied so we
proceeded on the upper section. Then we found along the pathway on the center.
It’s not the best seat but not a bad one, ‘twas just in the mediocre middle.
The video on the screen continued on playing MVs of different kpop groups, and
the fans continued to squee as well.
The program started
with singing the national anthem of the two countries. Then, the two emcees
(Kim Hyun Sun and Jojo Alejar) proceed to the introductions and announcements
on the event. Welcome remarks and messages were stated by the chairman of the
events, UKCA president, and other representatives from different trades of two
countries before the contest begin. There were 15 grand finalists who performed
on the event. Koreans finalists perform Filipino songs and dances and Filipino
finalists perform Korean songs and dances. Group performances got the most
squee from the crowd ‘coz they do parodized the kpop groups. In the end, the
“Heat Group” which consists of female dancers bagged the grand prize. Two of
the invited guests are JM de Guzman and Julie Anne San Jose which made the
audience scream and go wild. The event ended with awarding of plaque of
appreciation and raffle draws.
Comments:
Overall, the event was
good. Yeah, since it was free, I won’t be nitpicky about it. But I want to
comment on the announcement of winners part. I guess it was because of
communication barriers that the two emcees/hosts can’t understand each other. On
the presentation of the winners, Jojo A. obviously doesn’t understand who the
winners are. The Korean host, I don’t know, but I think she has a world of her
own (or maybe I was wrong ‘coz I don’t understand what she says). She doesn’t
clearly stated who wins, I think she just call the group to come to the front.
We, the audience just know it ‘coz they go with them, and they’re giving the awards
to them. Just my two-cents. :D
