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Warning: pretty longggg read.
First off, I'm just a lowly kpop fan from the tiny island of Guam. Most people assume that we're an uncivilized bunch (goddamn you Destination Truth), but that really is far, far from the truth. We have cars, buildings, hell even an accredited college, but most importantly, we have the internet. With that, its opened our eyes to the rest of the world, with an emphasis on Korea. Since Guam is so close to Korea itself, we even get a considerable amount of tourists coming and going. Every once in a while celebrities are among those, and even though hotels or tourist agencies try their hardest to hide them, you really can't stop news like this due to the internet, and the fact that this island is so small that everyone knows each other.
In 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting Kara. A Korean friend of mine called me up one day and told me that she saw them doing a photoshoot at a tourist hotspot. I couldn't believe it--THE girl group that got me into kpop was actually here on island. I rounded up a bunch of my friends and we searched everywhere for them. Guam is VERY small (only 32 miles long and 4-12 miles wide) so there were only so many places they could go. Through our network of people, we found them at their hotel. This is embarrassing to admit, but I could not hold my excitement when I found them. It was so bad that the girls actually got scared and the managers had to surround them. All of my friends hated me for that. At that point they seemed unapproachable, but I redeemed myself though by going down to the pool area where they were having dinner and apologizing to them straight up. I asked them to take a picture with me, but the managers wouldnt allow it. I didn't go home empty-handed, though, as all 5 girls told me in unison "I'M SORRY
" That alone is forever burned in my mind.
Kara on Guam
Fast forward to 2011. SNSD is now my favorite girl group. My kpop friends and I have downloaded every live performance on youtube and even have lengthy discussions on how each of them differ (Tiffany winked at 2:34; Jessica smiled at 1:23; Taeyeon sounds so good singing 'tokyo seoul london new york'). One day at work, I get a call from my friend saying "TIM! SNSD IS ON ISLAND FOR A PHOTOSHOOOT. WE'RE ALL GONNA GO FIND THEM." WTF. My all time favorite girl group on island? And I'm stuck at work while my friends meet them? Hell no. At this point I start feigning stomach pains and taking frequent bathroom breaks. I tell my boss that I have massive diarrhea and that I can't focus at work. She lets me off early and I drive like a madman to meet up with my friends. I suddenly remember what happened with Kara and told myself to keep my composure if I found SNSD. I also remember that the managers probably wouldnt let me take any pictures, but they wouldnt refuse autographs right? The only thing I had in my car worth signing was my Alienware M11x laptop.
Did you see that wink at 3:03?
I met up with my friends in Tumon, the tourist hotspot of Guam. There we speculated all possible locations. The first place we checked was Pacific Islands Club, the hotel that Kara stayed at. We asked around but none of the workers saw SNSD. I then called a friend of mine who worked in another hotel and asked if she knew where they were staying. She didnt, but told me that she would ask around. A few minutes later she called back saying that they were staying at a hotel 30 minutes away from where we were. On Guam 30 minutes is a VERY long drive, but we toughed it out and drove all the way there. The hotel though was on a giant resort, so even if SNSD were there at the time we wouldnt know where to start. After half an hour of looking we went on to the next location: a night market.
We get there, and we see a bus full of asians. Our hopes start going up and we look all around. Tons of Koreans, but no SNSD It was already getting late in the night, and we were just about to give up. Just when we were about to go home, a friend calls us and says that he just met SNSD at Kmart.
..Kmart
We sprinted to our cars and broke god knows how many speed laws to get to this stupid store. We parked at Kmart and head toward the entrance. A couple of friends go inside, but I noticed this beautiful pale looking girl right next to a white van. Could it be? OMFG IT WAS.
JESSICA.
I walk up to her and ask, "Hi are you Jessica?"
"Yes I am
""I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm a huge fan. Can you sign my laptop for me?"
"Sure
"My friends all gathered around her at this point. I gave her a white-out pen to sign my laptop with, but she couldn't get it to work. She wasn't squeezing it hard enough, but you don't exactly tell SNSD's Jessica to "squeeze harder." She then does something that just shoots her up to the top of my favorite list:
"Oh, its not working. Let me use my marker"
If it was me, I would have just said, "Oh well, it doesnt work sorry." But she was such an angel.
Success!
During this whole time, my friends were eyeing the van behind her. The sides were heavily tinted, but the windshield wasnt. Through there we saw Tiffany, Seohyun, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sunny, and Sooyoung. While Jessica was signing all of our things, Yoona and Taeyeon ran past all of us to get into the van. No wonder Jessica was waiting outside.
One of my friends had absolutely no shame. Jessica was his favorite member and he couldnt help but say things like, "I love you--you're my inspiration." The best thing though was:
"You, me tonight, I dont know when or how, but it could happen. Just sayin'"
Too funny.
I know all this sounds super stalker-ish, but c'mon. SNSD was within a 20 mile radius of us--would you really do nothing about that? I know most of you on this forum would do something:) It's just so amazingly surreal meeting these girls since we've only ever seen them on our computers. They're a lot shorter than you would think though (I towered over Jessica. I swear, the manager looked like he was gonna tackle me as I was walking toward her).
That night, we blasted SNSD on our way home. We fulfilled a goal, and Jessica helped do it. She was so down to earth and approachable, and according to our friend that called us, the rest of the members were as well. I'm just saying, if you ever have the chance to meet them GO FOR IT. Don't scare them though! Seriously, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Fans would lineup for hours to meet these girls--we met them at a frickin kmart.
Me and my friends. I'm on the far right.
Spoils of war
Edited by timfox, 21 November 2012 - 03:04 AM.
