Ahn Jae-wook’s ‘Forever Summer Camp 2007’ Ended in Great Success
Ahn Jae-wook’s ‘Forever Summer Camp 2007’ Ended in Great Success
Ahn Jae-wook Goes to a Summer Camp with 400 Fans of his Official Fan Club
‘Forever’
Ahn Jae-wook Provides a Place for a Cultural Exchange with His Fans
from All Over the World.
Ahn Jae-wook, referred to as the ‘Shining Knight of Asia’, led the ‘Forever Summer Camp 2007’ with great success. The camp was held in Yangpyung Mirinae Camp for 3 days (August 10~12, 2007). He spent all three days camping with the 400 fans that are official members of his fan club entitled ‘Forever’. They were all from different countries including Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, the United States of America and Canada.
The ‘Forever Summer Camp 2007’, which marked its 11th anniversary this year, is an event where Ahn Jae-wook shares his time camping with his fans from the fan club ‘Forever’. During the camp session, he spent time doing exactly the same as what his fans were doing such as doing morning exercises, distributing food to people and making an outdoor campfire. He was always with his fans during the camp session.
[First meeting] Group Demonstrations
[Day 1: Evening] Cultural Exchange through an ‘Entertainment Contest’
[Day 2: Morning] ‘Fun Sports Meeting’
[Day 2: Afternoon] Water Pool Game
[Day 2: Evening] Korean Cultural Experience – Gochujang Samgyubsal
[Highlight] Mini Concert and Candle Lighting Ceremony at the Summer Camp
[Closing] Good-bye Summer Camp!
[First meeting] Group Demonstrations
Only for this camp, Ahn Jae-wook’s 400 fans gathered at the campsite in Yangpyung near Seoul. Foreign fans flew from Mexico and various Asian countries a day to a week before the camp opened. Korean local fans came to Yangpyung early in the morning of the opening day.
For the first camp event was called ‘Group Demonstrations’, all the participants were divided into a total of 6 teams. Each team was expected to work together during the camp period and demonstrate their affiliated team’s title, slogan and rhythmic movements during the ‘Team Demonstration’ event. This first event proved to be a place for a cultural exchange in which different nationalities and languages really didn’t matter so much.
Group 1 “Best Star”
Group 2 “Jaewook-holic”
Group 3 “Cynical Team 3”
Group 4 “Pretty & Cute Team”
Group 5 “Impossible Combination”
Group 6 “Fantastic Couple”
Feelings of awkwardness or unfamiliarity among the fans instantly went away when everybody started to work in teams for a group demonstration. The participants did their best to introduce their team to their star Ahn Jae-wook and other teams. Moved by their passion and eagerness devoted to the group demonstrations, the chairman Ahn Jae-wook selected two best demonstrating excellence teams. And then everybody enjoyed dinner in a friendly atmosphere.
[Day 1: Evening] Cultural Exchange through an ‘Entertainment Contest’
An entertainment contest, which fans not only from Korea, Japan and China but also from various other countries participated in, promoted an exchange of cultures to understand each other better.
First of all, a Hong Kong group presented a play in which a lonely lady sat in a cafe and stared blankly at other lovers. During the play Ahn Jae-wook, out of pure mischief, appeared on the stage and played the lonely lady’s role. Although other scenes were supposed to continue, the players hurriedly finished the play, probably because they were embarrassed and at the same time greatly relieved by the unexpected appearance of Ahn Jae-wook. This hasty finish of the play made the audience laugh.
A Chinese group, the second performers, presented a dance routine with music that Ahn Jae-wook sang at a ‘Japanese Tour Concert’ last June. Their dance was called ‘CD dance’ and performed other short dance routines. They certainly made a great effort to re-act this concert. Another Japanese team as well re-acted Ahn Jae-wook’s Concert in Japan. They, dressed up in stage costumes of Japanese group ‘The Checker’, sang one song from the hit entitled ‘Oh, My Julia’ that Ahn Jae-wook sang at a concert in Japan. At the same time, they re-acted dances cutely designed for the song. The exciting atmosphere rose to the climax when Ahn Jae-wook appeared on the stage again, got dressed in costume that the Japanese fans prepared for him and danced freely in front of the audience.
Then, as a nice ice- breaker, everyone participated in a limbo contest. Each group selected a representative with much flexibility. Ahn Jae-wook insisted to raise the degree of difficulty in the limbo game. Being confident that he would win the game, Ahn Jae-wook lowered the starting height of the limbo and pretentiously warmed up before the game. But, the moment the game started, he complained that his lower back ached and then gave up on the game. In particular, a fan from group 6 was given special attention by the audience because she showed comic gestures each time it was her turn in the limbo game, making everybody laugh. Ahn Jae-wook thanked her for her showmanship boosting the fun atmosphere, and gave her a souvenir.
The fourth participating group was from Japan. They presented a ‘magic show’ in which they transformed a flower into a bouquet of flowers. Then they called Ahn Jae-wook up on the stage and dressed him in a magic costume similar to those they wore and gave him a magical wand. It was intended to make him do magic. Ahn Jae-wook made cute gestures with the wand, which reminded the audience of the ‘Fairy Princess Minky Momo (known as ‘Yosulgongju Minky’ in Korea)’s transformation act.
The fifth participating group was from Malaysia. They sang some of Malaysia’s traditional songs and played tambourines. They also sang some Chinese songs, so some Chinese fans sang together with them. As the finale, they sang Ahn Jae-wook’s famous song ‘Friends’ in Chinese. Ahn Jae-wook appeared again on the stage and sang the song with his Malaysian fans.
The sixth participating group was made up of two Mexican fans that flew all the way from Mexico only to join the camp. They read out loud a long letter that included their travel story. Their flight story to Korea for 48 consecutive hours and the story of other Mexican fans that love Ahn Jae-wook from far away in Mexico made a truly touching moment.
The seventh participating Japanese group presented a French dance called cancan. Six Japanese women in cancan costumes danced enthusiastically. During the dancing performance, Ahn Jae-wook ran up to the stage and imitated their cancan dance, adding an excitement to the performance. As the finale of the show, the six Japanese women standing closely around Ahn Jae-wook set off some fireworks.
The eighth participating group was from Korea. They presented ‘Nanta’, the famous Korean drumming performance. The Korean group has learned Nanta from the actual Nanta players before joining the camp. They brought their own drums for the show, showing how much enthusiasm they had for their performance. The exciting rhythm and their playing won over the audience with a huge applause.
All the Japanese groups presented the last performance of this grand entertainment contest. They sang Ahn Jae-wook’s song ‘As If Owning the World’ in fluent Korean and then played a mass game with various flowers and luminous rods.
[Day 2: Morning] ‘Fun Sports Meeting’
For some people, they worried that capricious weather might ruin the second day of camp, the morning of the second day began to grow light with the shrill chirrup of cicadas. All the planned events were not cancelled due to the capricious weather. The famous luck of ‘Lucky Guy’ Ahn Jae-wook, whose annual summer camps for the past 11 years never rained on the second day of camp, certainly turned out well again.
The first sports game was a game where you popped a balloon. Two members from each team held a balloon and tried to pop it as quickly as possible. When some fans were in need of help, Ahn Jae-wook ran to them and helped them pop a balloon by tightly hugging them. Some other fans, out of much excitement of being hugged by Ahn Jae-wook, pretended they couldn’t pop their balloon. It made the audience laugh harder.
The third sport was the game in which players stand on a block of ice as long as possible. Ahn Jae-wook was with a team of two Japanese fans. Because the two fans stood on the ice block for substantially longer time than expected, Ahn Jae-wook also tried hard to endure standing on the ice block but could only for initially 5 minutes. For the time he stood on the ice block, Ahn Jae-wook made a funny agonizing look on his face. Unfortunately, the winning team was not his.
Next, participants played a gamed called ‘moving mudfish’. Some had never seen mudfish before. Everybody was excited when they were moving the wriggling mudfish along to win the relay race. However, Ahn Jae-wook, possibly because of the aftermath of the previous ice game, did not participate in this game. Instead, he just sat in the audience smiling and watched his fans playing the game.
The next game was called a ‘mind’ game where a number of people fit all in one inner tube and rowed to a half-way point, where they had to row back to the starting line. Ahn Jae-wook, full of mischief, led the team as the head of his tube and completed the race.
The last game of Fun Sports Meeting was a relay race. This time, even the camp staff members joined the game. Ahn Jae-wook, full of competitive spirit, ran like an arrow, supposedly because the race was a men-only competition. He was so focused on the race that he even slipped and fell on the lawn. It was all the more fun when his face was all covered with wheat flour because he tried to fine some candy buried in a flour tray.
[Day 2: Afternoon] Water Pool Game
The first-comer for the next event ‘Water Pool Game’ was Ahn Jae-wook himself whose face was deeply tanned by the sun during the previous day of ‘Fun Sports Meeting’. He came to the swimming pool even before the Water Game started and played on the water slide having a mischievous face.
In the game where people rode on a tube and rowed to a half-way mark and turned around, Ahn Jae-wook, full of energy, helped his fans by pushing behind the tube or rowing in front. When his fans were falling behind but successfully won in a previous game, he promised to kiss the winner(s) if they successfully crossed a tube bridge. The moment he announced this, many fans amazingly succeeded in crossing the tube bridge. Eventually, two lucky fans received a kiss from Ahn Jae-wook, which made them look unbelievably happy.
Playing tug of war on the tube was entirely in the hands of Ahn Jae-wook, whose playful teasing never seemed to cease. He made everybody slip and fall into the water, whether it was a woman or his manager.
[Day 2: Evening] Korean Cultural Experience – Gochujang Samgyubsal
On the second day, capricious weather never seemed to stop the show from going on. There was a ‘Fun Sports Meeting’ in the morning and a ‘Water Pool Game’ in the afternoon. Luckily enough, the sun was shining down all through the course of the day. Then the highlight of the evening arrived with an event called ‘Outdoor Samgyubsal Party’. The place of the event was held at a spacious outdoor garden, equipped with a tent in case of bad weather. The dinner menu was Samgyubsal (boned pork ribs) marinated in Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste), Ahn Jae-wook’s highly recommended dish.
For foreign fans that sat around the Samgyubsal barbecue but did not know what to do, Ahn Jae-wook taught them how to barbecue Samgyubsal with his own hands. Meanwhile, a few foreign fans that had participated in this past summer camp several times, professionally cooked Samgyubsal on the fire barbecue. It looked really fascinating that foreign people were cooking Korean food in such an expertise way.
Foreign fans kept saying, “It’s really spicy but yummy!” Ahn Jae-wook went around foreign fans to make a Samgyubsal wrap for them and even to put it in their mouths. He also changed the barbecue coals when needed. Because of such a friendly attitude, people almost forgot that Ahn Jae-wook was a world-famous star.
When the sun was about to set, all the pork prepared for the party was gone. People wondered who on the earth ate this huge amount of Samgyubsal. They moved to the main playground, with their backs to the extinguishing charcoal fire. Everybody, emitting a dreadful smell of Samgyubsal, waited for the mini concert to start.
[Highlight] Mini Concert and Candle Lighting Ceremony at the Summer Camp
It was in the cool evening when the hot sun went away and a fresh breeze replaced the heat that the mini concert finally started. This concert was entitled a ‘mini concert’ but it had as much passion as any other big concert.
y the time the concert started, Ahn Jae-wook must have been deadly tired from the all-day-long outdoor activities. His face was so deeply sunburned that even the new lines on his forehead could be seen at a distance. Nonetheless, he gave a powerful performance, empowered by strong encouragement from the fans all over the world. He looked extremely happy to hear his fans cheering wildly.
In particular, the fireworks lighting up the evening sky and the flowers all a bloom made the fans feel like they were in seventh heaven. They cried in chorus that the concert was indeed one of the best highlights at camp. Indeed, they looked so happy.
A candle lighting ceremony followed shortly after. This ceremony started with a burning flame igniting the decorated fire that spelled out ‘FOREVER’. Then Ahn Jae-wook lit the candle of his fan next to him, and that fan lit the next person’s, and it continued until Ahn Jae-wook’s candle was finally lit. In the middle of the candle lighting ceremony, Ahn Jae-wook expressed his deepest appreciation to his fans. The fans felt deeply moved, and some of his fans even cried. It was somber but touching occasion for everybody.
As the candle lighting ceremony came to an end, the fans helped the staff members clear away the stage and the campfire place. They all felt a great pity that the camp was coming to an end.
[Closing] Good-bye Summer Camp!
The visiting performance started in a relatively calm atmosphere, supposedly because many could not sleep well the other night out of a pity that the camp was coming to an end. Playing Gilnolyi (means ‘street play’), a Samulnolyi-pae (a group of performers who play Korea’s traditional musical instruments) appeared on the stage. When they explained what Samulnolyi was and demonstrated it for the audience, playing it enthusiastically, the fans cheered wildly. And then a few volunteers from the audience joined the performers on stage to try to play Korean drums such as Jing, Kkwaenggari, Janggu and Buk, to the Korean rhythm. They seemed deeply interested in Korean culture.
And then came time for the ‘Only Postcards Are Accepted’ portion of the evening.
During this time, Ahn Jae-wook himself read out loud the contents of the postcards his fans wrote the other day. He again showed his own sense of humor and great ability to talk.
Finally it was time to say good-bye. Ahn Jae-wook took a photo with his fans in remembrance of this summer camp. Then he got on every bus that his fans were riding to say good-bye. It was the grand finale of the ‘Forever Summer Camp 2007’.
This year’s camp was all the more special because Ahn Jae-wook’s fans were able to participate from all around the world including Mexico, the United States of America and Canada, as well as fans from Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Especially the fans from Mexico, who flew for 48 hours to participated in the camp, proved that Ahn Jae-wook was popular not only in Asia but also around the world.
At the moment Ahn Jae-wook, together with Cha Tae-hyun, is running a KBS FM radio program called ‘Ahn Jae-wook and Cha Tae-hyun’s Mr. Radio’ which has been recognized as the #1 program by listeners in a recent rating. In addition, this coming September, Ahn Jae-wook will be shooting a Korean soap opera entitled ‘I Love You’ whose original story was written by a famous Korean cartoonist Heo Young-man. Ahn Jae-wook will be starring as the hero ‘Seok Cheol-soo’ who is a cartoon composition writer in the drama. Other Korean stars including Seo Ji-hyae and Hwan-hi will be also starring in the drama. Ahn Jae-wook is expected to be more active than ever this year.
I THINK EVERYONE NEVER FORGET HAS JOINED JAE WOOK SUMMER CAMP ~ FUN IN IT..haha...
go ~ go~ go ~
WISHING EVERYONE HAVE FUN IN THE COMING SUMMER CAMP TOO ~
FIGHTING!~
