Remember the movie My Dinner with Andre? Me, neither, but I thought it was a catchy title to plagiarize for this post.
I had the good fortune to meet a real life writer who is as hooked on Kdramas as Judy and I are, and I want to tell you how this all happened.
Many months ago this intriguing title, “Crash Landing on Me: A Surprise Passion for Korean Drama,” came up on my Google feed. Naturally, I devoured it. Barbara's take on why Kdramas are so popular and poignant resonated with me to such a degree I had to try to find her and email her. I guess you could say I stalked her but in a nice way, not in a bad way. Honest.
Barbara had published her article on NextAvenue, a digital publication produced by her local PBS station, and lucky for me that station was the Twin Cities PBS in Minnesotta. I was planning on spending several weeks in Minneapolis awaiting the birth of my daughter’s first baby, and I was hoping to connect with Barbara and talk non-stop about Kdramas.
And that’s exactly what we did! We had three meals together; two at Korean restaurants, and, yes, we even used those impossible, skinny, metal chopsticks that are featured in all the Kdramas. Did we know what to order? In a word, aniyo or 아니요. (That’s “no” in Korean. I think. Judy, who is currently hitting the books at Pima Community College can correct me if this is wrong. *you're not wrong ~ Judy) To be safe, we ordered Attorney Woo’s go to meal of Gimbap. Then we just winged it. Let’s just say here that we’re wimps when it comes to spice so the kimchi was a bit much for us.
Barbara gave me some great suggestions for Kdramas. Signal is the one I’m currently watching which unfortunately is leaving Netflix the end of September. She follows several Reddit groups that focus on Kdramas, so she was a fountain of information about all things Korean. It was so nice meeting a complete stranger who had so much in common with me from her interest in the above to many, many more things. Everyone who is reading this post, do yourself a favor and read her article on Next Avenue. You’ll be happy you did it! Here's the link to Barbara's article: https://www.nextavenue.org/crash-landing-on-me-passion-for-korean-drama/
Barbara was also the person who tipped us off about the Stanford Conference on The Future of Hallyu which Pat & I attended. We owe her big time!
It was so much fun reading this write-up of our lunch(es), Pat! Thank you for posting this. It was like reliving our Kdrama gab and foodfest! I'm glad joonchild is here, too. If you think I'm a fountain of information on all things Korean, joonchild is moreso! I'm so glad you stalked me, Pat (lol.) After a year and a half of raving about kdramas to the glazed eyes of my irl friends and family, it's a delight to chat with likeminded souls!
Thanks for sharing Barbara’s article. I wholeheartedly agree with all the reasons she loves KDramas. The dramas warm my heart and they bring me so much happiness. The stories are masterfully put together with the background music, plot lines and beautiful scenery. I’m so glad I stumbled on them through the CLOY gateway. What a world I’ve discovered since then.
Joonchild, we’re so happy you’re following us! Your 300 dramas puts you in the lead. We will try to catch up! Please share some of your favorite shows. We’d love to know what they are. And we’re equal opportunity app watchers, so don’t restrict your choices to Netflix!
Joonchild, we're happy to have you following us! And this clearly shows the power of social media; you connected with Barbara who connected you with us. This Gmama finds it pretty incredible. My journey has been opposite of yours. Enjoyed Kdramas and that lead me to BTS and some of the other Korean musicians. Lucky for me I have Pat so we can talk non-stop about this stuff!
I was one of the people who responded to Barbara's request for over-50 yo Kdrama lovers on the Kdrama subreddit. I second the recommendation for the article on NextAvenue, it's a great read! She also let me know about this site, which I have been really enjoying!
I've been watching Kdramas since 2019, led there by my passion for BTS, who I discovered when I took my daughter to their Love Yourself concert in 2018. I've watched about 300 dramas so far, and my fascination continues. It's been rewarding to read your blog posts and get at least 1 minute of fangirling with others who love Kdramas. I don't know anyone irl who shares my enthusiasm, so the idea of…