Skype Family’s 2nd Anniversary is coming up and it is largely a byproduct of the Hallyu Wave! But what is the Hallyu Wave? Written as 한류 in Korean, it is also known as the Korean Wave in English. The term was first coined in the late 1990s and refers to the phenomenon of Chinese fascination for Korean TV dramas and Korean hip-hop. It began in 1997 when Chinese media and the national China Central Television Station (CCTV) aired the Korean drama What is Love? during the prime time slot. The drama received the 2nd highest ratings in Chinese TV history. Since then to now, the Hallyu Wave has helped shaped Korean popular culture. The Hallyu Wave no longer refers to just the Chinese fascination for Korean TV dramas and popular culture, but the phenomenon that is sweeping the globe. Skype Family is a product of the growing K-pop community (artists and fandoms), a large aspect of Korean popular culture and thus the Hallyu Wave. 

It all started in late March/early April of 2009. Actually, I would take it back to even sometime in 2002. I watched my first ever Korean TV drama, Glass Slippers (2002), with my family and it was Vietnamese dubbed. It was quite different from the usual Hong Kong and Chinese dramas that I have watched since my infant years, very melodramatic. Of course, I didn’t understand what “melodrama” meant at the time but somehow, Glass Slippers pulled me in. In that year and the following year, I continued my newly found drama addiction by watching Autumn in my Heart (2000), Winter Sonata (2002), and Stairway to Heaven (2003). I wasn’t only a fan of the dramas but also of the OSTs (Original Soundtracks). I have always had a side of me inclined to music (even though I’m not some music genius) and the ballads played in these melodramas pulled me in even more. I continued through my adolescence watching many many East Asian TV dramas (mostly from China, Hong Kong, Korea and a little bit from Japan and Taiwan).

As mentioned earlier, 2009 marked another significant change in my life. I had watched Hong Gil Dong (2008) sometime in mid/late 2008 and Beethoven Virus (2008) in December of 2008. Like always, I absolutely loved the OST in these two dramas. One day in late March of 2009, my friend from high school messaged me on MSN. We were just talking. I don’t even remember what we were talking about but I clearly remember asking him who the girl in his picture is (the profile picture I guess?). He was like “OMG! You don’t know?! She’s the girl who sang a song for the OST in Hong Gil Dong and another song for the OST in Beethoven Virus!” I was in awe. I found out that this girl, named Taeyeon, sang the “theme” song for both dramas. I absolutely loved the songs and had to find out more about this girl.

Searching on Google and YouTube, I found out that she is in fact not a solo artist but actually a member of the Korean 9-member girl group Girls’ Generation (소녀시대/SNSD). I listened to their songs and liked them but it wasn’t like love at first sight. After all, the music genre/style that I preferred is ballad. There is a limit to how much/how long I can listen to their songs so I began to look into any dramas or variety shows that the members of SNSD could have participated in. At the beginning of April, I found variety shows subbed by Soshified that featured only and all the members of SNSD – MNET Girls Go To School (GGTS), MTV Girls’ Generation, and MNET Factory Girl. I watched all three variety shows in the span of one week. It wasn’t simply my infatuation with Taeyeon and Girls’ Generation but also the girls’ personalities that I witnessed through these shows. They simply captivated my attention and pulled me into the fandom.

Of course, I wasn’t satisfied with the few subbed videos available on YouTube so I decided to join the largest international fanforum for SNSD, Soshified. The Internet and virtual community are an interesting concept. I wasn’t simply a lurking member of Soshified but got active in the shoutbox and forum. It was probably the shoutbox that made me stay and become an active member of the forum. Unlike most other forums, Soshified’s shoutbox was always buzzling with people no matter what time of day it is (most largely due to the international appeal of the forum). I talked to people and we built a virtual bond across the inter web. However, our conversation wasn’t limited to the shoutbox. We migrated our conversation to Skype as a few of us felt some commonality between us more than just being a fan of SNSD. And thus, Skype Family was formed on April 14th, 2009 with An, Cami, Diana, Mari, Nelson, Peter, and myself. One nice fact was that we all lived in the same time zone – PST/PDT/GMT-8, whatever you like to call it! We would talk on end, via Skype call, about SNSD and basically anything (life, school, etc.) that comes up. Those long phone calls certainly built up our bonds and relationship with each other. We have been talking and still talking in that same Skype chat for almost the past two years. Our second anniversary is coming up in less than two weeks! And… we finally get to have a reunion with all of us, in person, at this year’s Korean Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in LA on April 30th. It took us two years to finally get to meet all of us at once.

Of course, don’t be alarm that we may all be strangers! I’ve known Diana and Mari since the beginning of my college career through FBLA-PBL. We’ve become close friends with Cami who lives in the same county as me. We would have our SoCal meetups quite frequently or even just hang out just for the fun of it! As for An, Diana and I met her in November of 2009 when we went up to Berkeley for a PBL conference, again in September of 2010 when An came down for the SM Town Concert in LA, and again in January of 2011 for a SNSD fan meetup in LA. I met Nelson for the first time in July of 2010 when my family and I took a road trip from Southern California to Vancouver, Canada and we passed through Washington where Nelson lives! Us SoCal kids all met Nelson again when he came down to SoCal for the SM Town Concert & SNSD fan meetup. As for Peter, that panda who hides from us! Only An has seen him =( He hides away in NorCal but we finally all get to see him at the end of this month!

So that’s the story of my Skype Family and our 2nd anniversary! Because of the Hallyu Wave, I have made many awesome and lasting friendships. This phenomenon should not be undermined! It’s interesting to see how a global phenomenon is affecting my very own life right now.

Happy 2nd Anniversary Skype Family! <3