You just never know when luck is on your side. Of course, it's not advisable to rely on good luck all the time because effort still matters more, but when you're lucky, you're lucky.
So, I was very lucky to be chosen as one of the special pass winners for K-Festival Malaysia 2014, held at Pavilion mall, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The pass that I won allowed me to participate in an autograph session by HAHA (Real name Ha Dong Hun; Korean reggae singer; SBS 'Running Man' variety show cast member) as one of the activities during K-Festival.
How did I sign up for the special pass' lucky draw, you may ask? Simple. Korea Plaza KL, governed by Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Malaysia, promoted about the lucky draw on its social media sites (website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). I saw the promotional post on Facebook and decided to sign up since the steps were very simple. First, applicants should be Kaki Korea Club members (*Member registration can easily be done at visitkorea.com.my for free.*). Second, we needed to submit our basic information (contact details) and answer a trivia question about HAHA. Third, applicants needed to submit the online form and wishfully wait for the result announcement. I went through my days as normal and frankly, I wasn't expecting much from the lucky draw that I almost forgot about it. One evening, as I was having my dinner break at work place's cafeteria, I checked my e-mail inbox like I always do. When I opened the e-mail message sent by KTO KL (which I initially thought was a promotional message about any of its events), my next expression was literally O.O ... I then had my dinner gleefully and went back to my work area. I hesitantly asked my Line Manager if I could get a day off on the particular fanmeet day. Thankfully, I could! From that moment onward, I was looking forward to the day I would meet HAHA.
August 8th came around and I was more than ready to meet HAHA at K-Festival. The day before, a Korean lady from KTO KL called me to inform about special passes' collection. So, I made my way to Pavilion mall, KL via public transportation and a little bit of walking. Along the way, I couldn't help but to smirk or giggle on my own whenever I thought about meeting HAHA 오빠 and getting his autograph in person (!!!). Once I reached Pavilion, I went straight to Centre Court area of the mall, where K-Festival was held. I got my special pass (in the form of a red tag, placed on my wrist by the crew member) and a goodie bag from KTO KL, containing KLiK magazines, "Imagine your Korea" t-shirt, Dove shampoo samples, Sunsilk shampoo samples, and "Imagine your Korea" hand fan. I was then led to the special zone area, where I sat with other K-culture fans. I briefly talked to a few of the girls at the special zone and we ended up getting each others' contact numbers to enable us to stay in touch and discuss everything K-culture-related. ^^
All audience members were entertained by a Kayarang (traditional Korean musical instrument) performance, played by 예쁜 Korean twin sisters. They even performed 'Negaraku', Malaysia's national anthem, and the whole audience stood up during the anthem's performance and sang along. It created such a heartwarming atmosphere. After the Kayarang performance, MC Cody Lim took the stage to chat and interact with the audience. The newly appointed ambassador of Kaki Korea Club was announced - Baki Zainal, TV host and Korean culture fan. Baki went on stage and joined Cody in chatting with the audience. After that, we were entertained by Painters Hero, a 4-member group of male artistes (painters) who impressively created pieces of arts while dancing on stage.
A press conference session was carried out right before the opening ceremony of K-Festival Malaysia 2014. Representatives who delivered their brief speeches were all amazed at the big crowd that K-Festival managed to attract even from the first day of the 3-day event. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was carried out and K-Festival was then officiated.
After that, it was the moment that all K-culture and 'Running Man' fans anticipatively waited for from the beginning of the day - the appearance of HAHA! HAHA went on stage and the crowd went insane (*I did too.*). HAHA, along with his interpreter and crew members, was surprised to see so many fans at the venue. I can recall how HAHA exclaimed "Waaah~" when he first appeared from back stage. He even took out his handphone to capture the moment in a video. A talk session with HAHA was carried out with Baki as the MC. HAHA even gave away some gifts to the audience by throwing out the (non-dangerous) items towards the audience's direction. The audience was so excited and bold that HAHA had to momentarily go back stage to cool down and wipe off his sweats from all the excitement. ㅋㅋㅋ
Soon after that, the autograph session took place. As one of the lucky winners of the special passes, I excitedly and nervously waited for my turn to get HAHA's autograph on the stage. When it was my turn, I handed out my "Imagine your Korea" hand fan for HAHA to sign on. As he took my fan, I greeted him with "오빠, 안녕!" (Oppa, hello!). He looked up, smiled (so freakin' cutely!!), and cheerfully replied "안녕~!" (Hello~!). He then wrote down my name and signed the fan. When he was done, he initiated a high-5 while exclaiming "Okay~". I happily responded to his high-5. I wanted a little more interaction, so I said out "하그.." (Hug..). He immediately said "Okay!" and stood up for a while to give me a hug. I was smiling ear-to-ear the whole time. God, thank you for allowing such a special occurrence in my life! The official photographer, who had been snapping photos of the session from the end of the table on stage, signalled me to look at the camera, so I did (with my I-am-on-Cloud-9 expression that probably looked silly). I went down the stage, still smiling (*My poor facial muscles~*) and briefly met the new friends I made before making my way to the station to go back. When I reached home, I still smiled like a fool, thinking of how wonderful the whole experience was.
Thank you very much, KTO KL and other co-organisers and sponsors!
Looking forward to more events like this one in the future..
잘하다.. 감사드리다.. 사랑하다..
So, I was very lucky to be chosen as one of the special pass winners for K-Festival Malaysia 2014, held at Pavilion mall, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The pass that I won allowed me to participate in an autograph session by HAHA (Real name Ha Dong Hun; Korean reggae singer; SBS 'Running Man' variety show cast member) as one of the activities during K-Festival.
How did I sign up for the special pass' lucky draw, you may ask? Simple. Korea Plaza KL, governed by Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Malaysia, promoted about the lucky draw on its social media sites (website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). I saw the promotional post on Facebook and decided to sign up since the steps were very simple. First, applicants should be Kaki Korea Club members (*Member registration can easily be done at visitkorea.com.my for free.*). Second, we needed to submit our basic information (contact details) and answer a trivia question about HAHA. Third, applicants needed to submit the online form and wishfully wait for the result announcement. I went through my days as normal and frankly, I wasn't expecting much from the lucky draw that I almost forgot about it. One evening, as I was having my dinner break at work place's cafeteria, I checked my e-mail inbox like I always do. When I opened the e-mail message sent by KTO KL (which I initially thought was a promotional message about any of its events), my next expression was literally O.O ... I then had my dinner gleefully and went back to my work area. I hesitantly asked my Line Manager if I could get a day off on the particular fanmeet day. Thankfully, I could! From that moment onward, I was looking forward to the day I would meet HAHA.
August 8th came around and I was more than ready to meet HAHA at K-Festival. The day before, a Korean lady from KTO KL called me to inform about special passes' collection. So, I made my way to Pavilion mall, KL via public transportation and a little bit of walking. Along the way, I couldn't help but to smirk or giggle on my own whenever I thought about meeting HAHA 오빠 and getting his autograph in person (!!!). Once I reached Pavilion, I went straight to Centre Court area of the mall, where K-Festival was held. I got my special pass (in the form of a red tag, placed on my wrist by the crew member) and a goodie bag from KTO KL, containing KLiK magazines, "Imagine your Korea" t-shirt, Dove shampoo samples, Sunsilk shampoo samples, and "Imagine your Korea" hand fan. I was then led to the special zone area, where I sat with other K-culture fans. I briefly talked to a few of the girls at the special zone and we ended up getting each others' contact numbers to enable us to stay in touch and discuss everything K-culture-related. ^^
All audience members were entertained by a Kayarang (traditional Korean musical instrument) performance, played by 예쁜 Korean twin sisters. They even performed 'Negaraku', Malaysia's national anthem, and the whole audience stood up during the anthem's performance and sang along. It created such a heartwarming atmosphere. After the Kayarang performance, MC Cody Lim took the stage to chat and interact with the audience. The newly appointed ambassador of Kaki Korea Club was announced - Baki Zainal, TV host and Korean culture fan. Baki went on stage and joined Cody in chatting with the audience. After that, we were entertained by Painters Hero, a 4-member group of male artistes (painters) who impressively created pieces of arts while dancing on stage.
A press conference session was carried out right before the opening ceremony of K-Festival Malaysia 2014. Representatives who delivered their brief speeches were all amazed at the big crowd that K-Festival managed to attract even from the first day of the 3-day event. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was carried out and K-Festival was then officiated.
After that, it was the moment that all K-culture and 'Running Man' fans anticipatively waited for from the beginning of the day - the appearance of HAHA! HAHA went on stage and the crowd went insane (*I did too.*). HAHA, along with his interpreter and crew members, was surprised to see so many fans at the venue. I can recall how HAHA exclaimed "Waaah~" when he first appeared from back stage. He even took out his handphone to capture the moment in a video. A talk session with HAHA was carried out with Baki as the MC. HAHA even gave away some gifts to the audience by throwing out the (non-dangerous) items towards the audience's direction. The audience was so excited and bold that HAHA had to momentarily go back stage to cool down and wipe off his sweats from all the excitement. ㅋㅋㅋ
Soon after that, the autograph session took place. As one of the lucky winners of the special passes, I excitedly and nervously waited for my turn to get HAHA's autograph on the stage. When it was my turn, I handed out my "Imagine your Korea" hand fan for HAHA to sign on. As he took my fan, I greeted him with "오빠, 안녕!" (Oppa, hello!). He looked up, smiled (so freakin' cutely!!), and cheerfully replied "안녕~!" (Hello~!). He then wrote down my name and signed the fan. When he was done, he initiated a high-5 while exclaiming "Okay~". I happily responded to his high-5. I wanted a little more interaction, so I said out "하그.." (Hug..). He immediately said "Okay!" and stood up for a while to give me a hug. I was smiling ear-to-ear the whole time. God, thank you for allowing such a special occurrence in my life! The official photographer, who had been snapping photos of the session from the end of the table on stage, signalled me to look at the camera, so I did (with my I-am-on-Cloud-9 expression that probably looked silly). I went down the stage, still smiling (*My poor facial muscles~*) and briefly met the new friends I made before making my way to the station to go back. When I reached home, I still smiled like a fool, thinking of how wonderful the whole experience was.
Thank you very much, KTO KL and other co-organisers and sponsors!
Looking forward to more events like this one in the future..
잘하다.. 감사드리다.. 사랑하다..
posted from Bloggeroid
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