Planting Day~

It was a topsy turvy week at school with open classes messing up my schedule and everyone and their mother coming down with a cold (myself included) but I had some great stuff to look forward to this week. 

Teacher's Day was on Sunday, so I actually got a few cards Monday as a late gift. It was cute~

Tried a Puss in Boots face mask. Clearly my greatest look.

Some days, you have 'fruit soup' for lunch and are hungry like 20 minutes after lunch.

seriously, it was like watered down fruit cocktail for lunch.

Ces and I tried the new S'mores frappuccino at
starbucks, only to discover it had coffee in it and
therefore was inedible for Cesca. I enjoyed it haha

Summer is coming so it's time to make my feets all pretty

Almost everyone in my office was sick this week and had open classes,which was kind of crazy. By the end of the week, I too had a tickle in my throat and felt blah on Friday, so Cesca came over and we just relaxed while she did my nails. I suck at painting my nails, but I wanted to try a design I saw on the interwebs, so she did it for me. It turned out so cute!

It's apparently called a pond manicure

On Saturday, my most anticipated event happened. A while ago, I joined the fanclub for Park Hyo Shin, who I discovered last year when I went to see Phantom. He's super famous to Koreans, but not as well known internationally or to foreigners in Korea. 

I happened upon him only because he was in a musical I semi begrudgingly decided to see (cause it wasn't MY Phantom of the Opera). I'd vaguely heard his name before, and probably his songs, but I didn't connect the dots till after the show. His performance was so good I looked him up. Lo and behold he's like one of the most famous voices in Korea. After a few listens, he quickly topped my list of favorite singers EVER in any language, cause his voice is just that awesome. 

Because American groups don't really have official fan clubs like Koreans do, I joined to see what is what. Seriously, I think the only fan club I was ever in was the Beanie Baby one when that was the craze in the 90s. Anyway. It's not like a suuuper active fan club, but once in a while, a nice event like this comes along. 

May was super busy, so I was worried the times would clash, but thankfully, the event I was hoping for, a fan meeting, just happened to be on my free weekend. 

It seems a little dorky and strange for me to go, and I've only been to one before (Lee Joon with Cesca, which was a pretty casual and spur of the moment thing). Thankfully, I could hang out with Helen and Cesca before this one, and then I braved it by myself. I wish Cesca could have come, but the tickets were mostly for fan club members... Maybe next time or for a concert we can go together~

As far as fan meetings go, this one seemed pretty big... Bigger than I had realized, actually. The venue is often a concert venue (Ces and I saw Super Junior here almost 2 years ago) and they had people seated all the way up on the 3rd floor. It was hard to visualize how many people that actually was until I was there in person. 

Because he's a singer, it was a little like a mini concert. He sang a few songs, chatted a bunch with the MC (a famous comedian), played a few games with the fans (which side could sing his song the loudest and a photo reaction game), and a few guests visited, 2 actors who are pretty famous in Korea. Then he sang some more. 

It was fun and exciting to finally see him sing and speak live. His voice is as incredible as it would seem, and he pretty seamlessly switches and can launch into his ballads at the drop of a hat. It's crazy.

the photographer's view from the stage

I guess, honestly, it was both extreeeemely awesome and also just a little teeny tiny bit disappointed? 

The exciting part was that he's working on a new album, so he sang some of the melodies and choruses from a few of his new songs that he's working on, which was amazing to hear. Honestly, anything he sings will be popular so he doesn't have to worry. But yeah, I heard em first, which is pretty much amazing, right???

AND he sang my favorite song, Wildflower, and it was breathtakingly perfect live. PERFECT. Sigh. 

Just listen to iiiiiit. He sang it live for this MV~~ It sounds amazing when he sings it live. Chills. I teared up. It's self composed, so that makes it extra specially awesome. Can't stop talking about how much I love this song.

My slight disappointment comes from paying for VIP seating when really there was nothing VIP about it, except that I was on the first floor.  I did hear one other girl on the way out lamenting that she paid for VIP needlessly, so I'm not the only one who thought like this momentarily. The price difference was pretty minimal though, so I figured, go big or go home, right?

you can see my head about 4 rows up from the right in the center section.

Did you spot me?

 In fact, during one part he had left for an outfit change and ended up coming out and walking around on the 2nd floor. Many of those people ended up getting a closer view than I did, even though my tickets were technically better seats... So I know I'm being greedy, but I can't help but be a little disappointed, even if it only happened for that one song. The venue was so big so being personal was of course impossible, but... alas... I've never been to one this big so I didn't know what to expect. I got myself too excited, I guess.

Other than that slight hiccup of over expectation (that was probably only me, other more experienced fans probably knew what was what with the layout and whole fan meeting thing..), it was a great evening. That voice, man. No wonder his nickname is God Hyo Shin. 

Was I closer to him that I possibly ever will be at another time in my life? Well, yes, a resounding yes, so that's a big something. Tickets to his stuff are notoriously hard to get (thankfully, I had an easier time on the less trafficked English site) and these were sold out pretty quick as well. 

 I am and should be more thankful that I even got to go to this fanmeet and hear him live, so I AM super happy I was able to go.Like it still doesn't feel real or like it actually happened. I don't know if there will be a concert before I leave, or a new CD, so I'm so happy this chance happened to work out on a day I could go and have a good time. I can't wait to tell my co workers and kind of brag about it.

In Korean fashion, it started late and ran way past the runtime, not that I minded. There were lots of fun anecdotes and videos, plus hearing him sing live was amaaaaazing, so I'm glad I braved the fear and went. I'm a little sad my foreignness didn't get noticed haha but that's ok. Maybe next time keke.

I'm still kind of in shock that I even got to go... Waaaaaah so happy~

Much later than scheduled, we all left,
wishing it was longer. 

Can't wait to hear his new music!

 I headed to Cesca's for the evening, and we got ready for dance class. We have to get ready for our music video, which is proving as annoying as ever because of miscommunications, but we put it aside to learn the new AOA dance, Good Luck. I really love this song. Super catchy! The dance is fun but harder than it looks!

I have the day off tomorrow, but I have a few errands to run that hopefully won't be too annoying! 

Here's to a short week. We have to practice a lot for dance, so I'm sure it will be tiring. Hope it's worth it... We will find out Saturday!

Let's be Happy Together~