Anniversary Post: Super Junior in Hawaii!

I had thought about what to write for my one year anniversary post. (I can't believe it's already been one year of blogging!) And I was going to do it on another review of an episode of We Got Married Global, or FT Island, or even CNBlue.

And then lo and behold...the princes of SM flew into town! Hawaii ELFs and local K-Pop fans were treated to a taste of what fans around the world have been experiencing when idol group, Super Junior arrived in Hawaii on July 9th.

If you haven't heard of Super Junior, and you like K-Pop, I have to say where have you been? With their debut in 2005, this 8-12 member group, have gained popularity over the years with songs such as "Sorry Sorry", "Mr. Simple" and most recently, "Sexy, Free and Single". Gracing covers of magazines and appearing on TV shows and dramas, these men have kept busy.

Members such as Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Siwon and Donghae arrived in Hawaii as early as July 9th for a photo shoot. Members Ryeowook, Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun arrived later in the week.

Donghae (Credit smjthanks.com and sup3rjunior.wordpress.com)

Siwon and Donghae getting ready to leave for Hawaii (Credit shijalee and sup3rjunior.wordpress.com)

Ryeowook on his phone waiting to leave Incheon. (Credit PaMongMi and sup3rjunior.wordpress.com

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Apparently rumors were circulating around the ELFs here in Hawaii. And they were already waiting at the airport for their arrival. I, on the other hand, was tipped off by Siwon's tweet of a sun setting behind a hotel building. Soon after, Donghae uploaded a video to YouTube of he and some of the members walking around Waikiki near the International Marketplace. When I saw Donghae's video, my heart literally stopped. I can only imagine what my friend felt like when I showed her the video since she's more of a fan than I am. =)

View of a sunset in Honolulu from the beach outside of the Moana Surfrider. (Source: Siwon Choi's Twitter)

You can see Diamond Head in the background when they are on the beach! (Credit SM Town and Lee Donghae.)

We immediately took to the internet to figure out where they were staying. Yes, we had a lot of time on our hands. Well, actually no, we just made time, haha. And found out they were staying at the Moana Surfrider. This was later confirmed when Siwon had tweeted a photo of a double espresso from the Honolulu Coffee Company in that hotel. Yes, I am a coffee drinker and I remember little details of coffee shops. Go ahead, call me weird. =D

See the coffee shop name in the background? (Credit Siwon Choi's Twitter)

My friend and I unfortunately were not able to go to hang out at the hotel during the majority of their stay. Work interfered. LOL. But we did have a couple of sightings.

My personal account was at the Korean Festival on July 13th. It was nearly dusk and I was wandering around talking with my friends when I believe I had seen Ryeowook. (I didn't know it at the time, my friend "confirmed" it for me.) He was dressed in a gray cotton hoodie, shorts and carried a bag. Most of his head and body was covered up by the hoodie. But being local, you can pretty much pick out the ones that aren't. With his nearly white hair peeking out from under the hood, his super fair complexion made even paler with makeup, eyeliner around his eyes and a lost expression on his face, you could tell he wasn't from around here. I had thought at the time, "who would be dressed in a long sleeved hoodie when it's 90 degrees out?". When I saw photos of him later I wanted to slap myself! I was really surprised at how petite he was. I had thought all Super Junior members were tall, until my friend told me he was the shortest out of all of them. Unluckily for me, I didn't think to take my phone out to take a picture. And now I really hate myself for it. Sigh. =(....

I had tried to see if I could run into them on Sunday while cruising at the hotel, but no such luck. All of the members, with the exception of Eunhyuk, left on Monday, July 15th. My friend and I were finally able to go together on Tuesday, July 16th, to hopefully get a glimpse of Eunhyuk (her favorite). We were hanging out at the hotel late that afternoon with a couple of other fans when we saw their silver SUV pull into the driveway. To my friend's delight, Eunhyuk appeared out of the passenger side. He had just come from surfing, and he and his companions walked past us into the hotel lobby and up to their room. She was able to get a quick snapshot, but not a very clear one since someone had gotten in the way. Darn luck. Why can't people just stay still? Nevertheless, she was happy to even have gotten close to him. =) Hey, living in Hawaii, we hardly get these opportunities, so we take whatever we can get. My friend was so excited, she proclaimed she wanted to meet her other bias, Song Seung Heon, next year. At least one bias per year. Lol.

Other fans were much luckier. Some got autographs, others got a few photos of or with the members and the very lucky ones got hugs and handshakes. Some fans even caught some offguard!

Donghae, Sungmin and Kangin (?) relaxing on the beach (Credit sunggay_ and sup3rjunior.wordpress.com)

After this photo was posted on the internet, Sungmin blogged on Naver:

"i am a man that can surf now too! kkk
uwoo i know how to ride the waves like this
it`s a new discovery…
but this time`s concept (baby belly?) was revealed embarassingly in the end…
well i was excited~k
you should have told me if you were going to take a picture,.. i could have put strength in my stomache..ㅠㅠ
really no consideration for me~~

but there are people who like this kind of belly~it`s okay! I`m okay~ okay… sigh
i`m going to try snorkeling and kayaking~~~~with clothes on kkkk"

Later:

"Kk….. you make me unable to rest comfortably no matter where I go….
I should just exercise….
I will do exercises of fury!!k
Sigh… I was too off-guard…
In this world,…. there are too many delicious food…ㅠㅠ
I’m sad~"

Ryeowook ventured out to the North Shore to try some garlic shrimp!

"Shrimp truck is delicious ^^ in Hawaii" (Source Ryeowook's Twitter)

It was hard to pin the guys down together. They split apart for most of their stay. Some went surfing, some went sightseeing, some even went skateboarding.

Surf's up! Check out my shaka! (Credit Joseph Libby Photography)

If you want to see more photos and videos of their stay, go to this fan page here. The fans following them were pretty good about keeping tabs on them the whole stay.

At a skate park. Looks like one of them got really sunburned! Ouch! (Credit MimiKim12 and sup3rjunior.wordpress.com)

Eunhyuk and Ryeowook skateboarding in what appears to be Hawaii Kai. (Credit MimiKim12 and sup3rjunior.wordpress.com)

"surfing is great sport. good night all :^)" (Source Siwon Choi's Twitter)

Siwon woke up one morning and tweeted this selca saying his face looked swollen. Really?

Donghae looks surprised! (Credit geraldine_b and b_lyniee)

During their stay, Siwon didn't realize how confusing our island is, I think. See his video here.

Siwon and Shindong leaving Honolulu (Source Siwon Choi's Twitter)

Donghae back in Korea. Did he wear the same shirt going to and coming back from Hawaii? Lol, silly. (Credit dear_tiny and sup3rjunior.wordpress.com)

With the help of social media networks, fellow K-Pop fans and ELF's spread the news and bonded over the experience. And this is one experience that will definitely not be forgotten.

If one of the Super Junior members read this blog, I'll be very honored. I hope they enjoyed their stay on our island and they will return very soon! Please! Very soon! A week is too short!

And with that, I'll leave you with their version of hula. Credit SM Town and Eunhyuk's Twitter.