Nuga Nuga Jal Hana

Once again we appeared on "Nuga Nuga Jal Hana", the Korean kids' song program.  This time around, it was celebrities and their families.  Our family fit into the 'special celebrity' category (e.g. not really a celebrity but interesting enough to be on the show).  I've been waiting to post this entry because I wanted Jack to clarify the names of the celebrities--all of whom I know by face, but not by name--but need to get this posted so what the heck.  Above, Dahin poses with one of Korea's famous senior celebrities.  She was incredibly nice and talked with us a lot.  She appeared on the show with her two grandchildren.

Above, the super-nice celebrity grandma with her two grandchildren--both who grew up in Thailand and attended international schools there.  The granddaughter is going to be a freshman at my university this coming spring.  The panel of judges (below) included a cutie who is part of a vocal group, Kim Inhye ( a voice professor at my college!), and a well-known comedian who was, truly, super funny.

Above, the KBS studio orchestra does a great job of accompanying the performing families.  Below, the comedian takes his turn at singing. It was very cute.

Then, our turn.  We sung "Flying a Kite,"  not to be confused with the kite song from Mary Poppins.  The Korean title is "Yeon nalligi" and it has a bit of a gugak (traditional music) feel.  It was a lot of fun to sing.  Dahin was so great.  Her experiences this fall auditioning for "Annie" and joining the Rainbow choir have obviously taught her a lot.  She was so poised and was even coaching me and Jack on how to move and pronounce the lyrics.   That, and she was incredibly smiley and outgoing--her stage manners have improved a lot.

Below, all of us gather onstage.  Included in the lineup was a well-known actor and his daughter, a yudo competitor who made a name for herself at the '88 Olympics, a broadcaster, an actor well-known for his work in historical dramas (as a general), a doctor and her twin daughters (who were total brats--I am sorry, but they were), and the celebrity grandma and her two grandkids.

Everyone got prizes,  We received the "Do re mi" prize for song performance.  I guess everyone got prizes because, when you invited people who are celebrities you kind of have to do that.  There were two top winners. Second place was the actor and his daughter--they got a violin and announced that they were going to donate it.  First place was the bratty twins and their mom.  They got a cello.

Here we are with the "General" team.  It was fun to hang out with people, like the "General", who I've seen on tv.  It was surreal.  Our team name was "Gugak Sarang," or "Loving Traditional Music" (or something like that).  The show airs on New Year's Eve at 4:30 pm on KBS.

Thanks to our nieces Jeongeun (above) and Mieun (below) were got plenty of pictures of the performance.

Here's our performance.  As you can see, Dahin really was the best.  I don't know why I kept swinging around and Jack was as stiff as a corpse.  Still, we did great for our family singing debut.  Enjoy!