Gehlee Dangca recalls challenges of training in South Korea

Former UNIS member and Pinoy Big Brother Collab 3.0 housemate Gehlee shared the challenges she faced while training in South Korea as part of the now-disbanded K-pop group, particularly the difficulty of staying connected with her family.

During a recent PBB livestream, Gehlee recalled how she would stay awake until 3 a.m. just to talk to her mother, even when she had to wake up as early as 6 a.m. for training.

“There were times when our call time would be at 6 in the morning, but I would stay up until 3. I would lock myself in the closet and talk to her on the phone. There was a rule that it wasn’t allowed,” Gehlee recalled.

Adding to the difficulty, phone calls were limited to just 10 minutes because the trainees were expected to attend Korean language lessons.

“They wanted me to learn Korean, so phone calls were limited to 10 minutes, which I thought wasn’t fair. At first, I had to ask permission to call my mom. It was really weird. I hated it,” she said.

However, the restrictions gradually eased as the trainees became more familiar with Korean culture.

“They got a lot looser when they saw that we had become more used to the culture there. Things went back to normal,” she explained.

Gehlee later admitted that overcoming the language barrier also made it easier for her to communicate her feelings.

“What really helped was learning the language and getting used to it. Because then I could explain how I felt,” she said.