Soccer time!

The weather got warmer lately, and the sun finally came out so Bill and I took the kids outside yesterday to play soccer.

We threw in 3 soccer balls so needless to say that they were completely exhausted after 40 minutes of running around.

Of course my team won ;) It was so nice to look at them, so careless and happy. So spontaneous yet focused on winning.

It was like nothing else mattered, and it reminded me of my childhood, when I used to run around and get excited whenever I was allowed to play outside. Recess was my greatest joy and gym class made me the happiest kid on earth! I couldn’t stay still and I had so much energy in me! (Of course it could’ve been all the chocolate and candy hehe)

And now i'm 24 and i'm quite sure the child I used to be would be ashamed of what i've become. Little Anne-Marie would have been thrilled to run outside and play silly games. Now, I’m just glad to watch a movie or just chill out. I’ve become so lazy… where has all my energy gone?

I’m leaving for Bali in 12 hours, that’s really exciting! Who knows, maybe I’ll reconnect with my inner child over there? One thing for sure, I’ll be swimming in the ocean all day long! And getting massaged! Patrick is meeting me there for a week; this is going to be great!

Salamat tinggal =D

Imagine

Sunset was breathtaking on Monday, and it was even more spectacular yesterday – a big ball of fire, slowly moving to later meet the moon in a solar eclipse. That's the view from my apartment.

For two nights in a row, I’ve been woken up by the glow of an almost perfectly shaped moon, and last night there it was, full moon in a starry sky. Be-au-ti-ful!

Sitting on the rooftop of my 10-storey apartment building, I couldn’t find the peace and silence such a spectacle deserves; the city, at all times noisy, stinky and busy, kept distracting my wandering thoughts.

Yet in the glaze of such beauty in the sky, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly sad for those who are so caught up in their robot life that they never even look up to admire the magnificence of what lays above us, some light-years away from earth.

I was disgusted with evil.

So the next day my students and I listened to John Lennon’s “Imagine” and discussed it for a while. It turns out the:

Imagine there are no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or
die for
And no religion too

Was way too unrealistic for them. Even the

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can

Didn’t make any sense for them in this materialistic world.

You see, my students are from Hallim and nearby areas, in the countryside, where Christian religion is deeply engrained. The thought that

There’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us
only sky

Was somehow grotesque… For them, there is a God, and good people go to heaven while bad ones go to hell. And Korea is a country – truth that should remain that way because their forefathers worked so hard to build it and make it theirs… how could they give it up for some strange “no boundaries/borders world”?

Maybe Lennon was right – a world with no possessions, no countries, nor religion might bring about some sort of world peace, a brotherhood of man. But according to my students, he was nothing but a dreamer.

Lunar new year

설날 (Seolnal or Chinese/Lunar New year) is a big deal in Korea. Most people take this occasion to return to their hometowns and worship their ancestors. People gather with relatives whom they haven’t seen for a while, make a pilgrimage to their ancestor’s grave, followed by a big dinner and lotsa calories. Food is very important on Seolnal.

Children love this holiday because they bow to their grandparents and, in return, get some money. The traditional food served for Seolnal is called “Dokguk” – some sort of rice cake soup.

While January 1st is the one and only New Year in Occident, it is barely celebrated over here. Even Christmas doesn’t really matter – we only got a day off for both holidays.

But Lunar New Year on the other hand is heavenly, as it lasts for 3 days. This year, it took place right before the weekend so we were blessed with 5 marvelous days of freedom!

It started on Tuesday night with Bill's birthday dinner at VIPS. Koreans don't usually eat a big fat steak with mashed potatoes... the meat is usually either cooked in a stew, or on a grill and wrapped in salad leaves (cute, I know). But VIPS offers big fat steaks and 12 of us tried it out - it was undercooked, incredibly expensive, but alright.

As most foreigners, I enjoyed a lot of partying in good company – we went out quite a lot, had dinners and of course we did some dancing! We hung out at Led Zepplin and Blue Agave, went out for some Macally, and even played darts at Bull’s. Saturday night was brutal since we all went home at 6am, right after a big egg muffin and endless blabbering at McDicks. That' Alicia and Jun.

But I did I discover some pretty good drinks, “White Russian” and “Don’t go home alone”. I also pretended to punch Brett, Kat was eating my shoe and Misha, the Russian kangaroo boxer (no kidding!) was showing off.

I’ve always said that the bar scene isn’t my thing, yet somehow when I find myself out there with a drink, the entertainment (and entertaining!) starts and it’s a lot of fun until the morning comes. But the next day… oh the next day! Still, when I’m old I’ll look back on those years and think I really had a freakin’ blast! Like that picture I took, where they all look like my gynecologists haha

I also slept like a baby – thanks to my neighbors who suddenly decided to move out (out of the blue eh!) – and I did quite a lot of hiking. Jeju is a volcanic island; Hallasan is the big volcano in the middle, and there are hundreds of “orums” (small mountains) over the island.

In desperate need for some alone time in nature, I bought crampons and hiked hallasan! It was wonderful, with tons of snow and the fresh smell of winter. I didn’t get to be quite alone though, as most Koreans do everything together.

I must have seen over 100 military guys doing their workout hike I guess, and countless families as well as couples. Each one of them would stare at me as I walked by, saying “hiiiii” with a big smile.

It was also a slow walk down because kids and adults were using plastic bags to slide downhill. I even saw a grandmother, soooo excited that she would always try to slide down every chance she got. Her husband was giving her a push with his stick and the daughter was running behind, so completely worried. Funny scene.

I hiked a few times this nice little orum about 15 minutes from our apartment building Doug once took me to. I like going there because it’s so perfect – it has two peaks, a great cliff by the ocean, and at night we can see the stars, the boat lights from the port, and the airplanes flying in and out of the island. It’s very peaceful.

Jeju is quite convenient – the main cities do not really have any snow, but drive 20 minutes towards the countryside and there it is!

I think I must have hibernated, just like a bear, and now I’m waking up and life is pretty nice. I can’t wait to see my students. And I can’t wait to go to Bali next week-end for 2 weeks!

The devil came on horseback

When I talked about volunteering for a year in Haiti, a country worn out by civil war, my Godfather, who has fought in the Algerian war, asked me two questions:

1. Why would you teaching them English help make any difference?
2. Does one really need to experience war in order to fully understand it?

I had my very own answer to the first one – being that speaking the language of the empowered might in turn help empower them.

But the second question left me puzzled. I could see in his eyes that the atrocities he had witnessed, the dead bodies, the cruelty of so-called humans, were too much of a memory to bear. He could probably still hear the shrill sounds and smell the filthy perfume of death. I knew he wish he hadn’t.

I thought maybe it is necessary to go through such a horrifying experience in order to realize its full extent. In order to be so shocked that one would fight heart and soul to put an end, and even prevent, ANY sort of armed conflict.

I thought world leaders would behave very differently should they actually have to fear for their lives, seeing the woman they love being raped by 10 soldiers. Seeing their 6-year-old son tortured in front of their eyes, helpless and hopeless.

Maybe it would. But what good would it do? And what kind of human being would need to go through such length when the sight of a photograph of a decapitated child should be enough? When the macabre account of an eyewitness should revolt any decent human being?

I still don’t understand why there is war. Of course I know about politics, thirst for power and territorial expansion. I know some cultures or religions have been repressed for so long that they now seek what they believe to be well-deserved retaliation. And I know the power of brainwashing mixed with strong drugs and alcohol…

I am aware of a demon that quietly sleeps in each and every one of us. I believe we have both good and evil in our soul. Most of us choose to be good and peaceful because it is the right thing to do. We are moral human beings. And we believe nothing can morally justify the death of anyone – not one person, not one child, and certainly not millions of them.

When I watched “The Devil Came on Horseback”, I was obviously stunned.

Former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle has what most journalists lack in Darfur: visual account. Because indeed one horrible picture is not enough; people need thousands of them. And even then, they soon forget.

Some people know more about Britney Spears’ breakdown than about the conflict in Myanmar that’s being going on for over 30 years and has killed thousands and thousands of people. And why wouldn’t they? All the media attention if focused on celebrities; you don’t see any paparazzi in a country at war. It’s much easier to numb our brain with stories we have no control over. Stories that leave us guilt-free.

Steidle exposes the situation and atrocities of an Arab run government systematically executing a plan to rid the province of its black African citizens. He shows pictures as well as footage. It’s true. It’s fact. People are being killed. Tortured. Decapitated. Raped.

The interesting and rather disgusting thing in the movie is how governments, the international community and even regular citizens react to Steidle’s account of what he’s seen.

There’s a never-ending debate as to whether the situation in Darfur should qualify as genocide or not. I understand that under the Geneva Convention, the international community has to intervene in case of genocide. But… does that mean nothing can be done even if thousands of lives are lost for no significant reason?

Who cares how we call it?

I remember a part in the movie where Steidle is speaking in front of an audience, showing pictures and describing what he’s seen. Then comes the question-answer portion of the conference where diplomats and even Sudanese QUESTION whether or not what Steidle is saying is true. They question whether it is genocide or not.

I was disgusted.

The conflict in Darfur is still going on as I am writing this. And when (if?) it ends, it will take years to rebuild a country devastated by war. And how can one ever forgive? Because forgetting is out of question.

At this very instant, I can see the city through my window, vibrant with night life. A city that never sleeps. And I wonder what can be done. We are all robots going about our business, lost in our personal drama. Isn’t that enough, even sometimes too much?

On a smaller scale, if two of my friends have a conflict, is it my place to interfere in their business? Maybe. They might be so lost in the heat of the moment that they forget any sense of morality and try to harm each other. They might need me to meditate.

On a larger scale, this is what the international community should be doing. Intervening. But:
1. Is it their responsibility?
2. Isn’t that too much of a burden?
3. Shouldn’t they let those countries resolve their own problems?

The dilemma here is so complicated that there is no right answer. Most countries at war were left with social division by their colonizers. Some are funded by powerful government who profit from internal division, from selling arms and hoping to gain control over a territory rich in natural resources. Hello hypocrisy.

But armed conflicts have been going on as long as there have been humans on earth. We would like to think that the world has evolved to a point where we are civil enough to talk rather than resorting to violence. That’s what they teach us in school. That’s what most of us do.

But war is on a totally different level.

And “the Devil Came on Horseback” simply is a reminder of how many people profit from it. Steidle was even saying how he got phone call of US officials ordering him to stop showing those pictures.

A friend of mine once asked me why people spend so much energy trying to make things right everywhere when there is so much to do at home, with the homeless, juvenile delinquency, child abuse and even domestic violence. Maybe she was right.. I don’t know.

But one thing I know, one thing everyone knows deep deep down, is that war isn’t right. I dream of a world at peace, but I doubt it will even happen. Call me pessimistic, call me a realist, war is too profitable to ever be defeated.

I guess all we can do is triumph over our own demons and try to make our immediate environment a peaceful place to live. And who knows, maybe microcosms of immediate peaceful environments will one day spread throughout the world. I certainly hope so.

My funny Valentine

Ah love! Along with happiness, love has been the never-ending quest as long as there have been humans. Well, that and territorial expansion I guess...

Koreans are all about love. In America, V-Day (Gosh it sounds like a STD...) is a one day thing where you show your love to the dear ones - be it your lover, your family or close friends.

But in Korea, "love day" has a gender. As it turns out, Valentine's Day occurs four times a year:

1. Pepero Day: big commercial scam during which everyone can get chocolate, just like Valentine's day back home. Usually that's when students give their teacher Peperos to show their love. Lotte is the company making everything in Korea (even hotels!), including Peperos - which are stick biscuits wrapped in chocolate. It's on November 11 (11/11), just like 4 Pepero sticks.

2. Valentine's Day: Only girls/women are allowed to give the boy/man they like or love some chocolate (or something significant). February 14th.

3. White Day: boys/men who got something on Valentine's Day give the girl/woman something in return. March 14th.

4. Black Day: those who did not get anything (men and women) celebrate this day by going to the restaurant and eating black noodles. While it sounds depressing, it's a good way to meet single people ("oh she's having black noodles...' ;) April 14th.

Being a true Canadian who wants to spread the love, I brought chocolates to work today. Oh and not anything; they're a perfect replica of Ferrero Rocher (see pic... don't they look the same!?) but they're called "Free Romance" hehe

Anyway, our staff is quite small so I told Miss. Lee, Bill and Mr. Lee to help themselves. Miss Lee was quite shocked. She looked at me and said "Actually, this is just for Bill and Mr. Lee. Only men receive chocolate on Valentine's Day!"

Miss Lee is in her early thrities, very liberal, she just spent 2 weeks in India by herself... if that kind of tradition is so deeply ingrained in her, don't try to argue!

My kids brought me all sorts of chocolate, which I shared with them (oh their eyes were wide open!! :) Usually students bring their teacher peperos on pepero day but white day works for me!!

So to everyone out there, 즐거운 발레타인되세오, Happy Valentine's Day!! Love love love, kiss kiss kiss!

Little Miss Sunshine

I'm still warm-hearted, eyes filled with tears coupled with stomach cramps from too much laughing after watching this great movie, "Little Miss Sunshine". No big Hollywood gun fireworks a la John Wayne. No stupid teenager or college movie. No predictable love story. None of this.

In fact, it was nice to see yet another inspired movie, and I quickly went online to find out which country it's from. France, I thought? Maybe Spain? But then with Greg Kinnear in it, it had to be American. And it is.

The casting is perfect and the balance between laughter, tears and life lessons makes the movie flow through your heart. Quite a few scenes are hilarious, and the ending is probably one of the most... well, I want to say honnest, I have seen in a long time.

"Little miss sunshine" is basically delivering the message that most people's lives are like a child beauty pageant; fake, inappropriately disturbing, and with a big fat spotlight on everything that doesn't really matter.

We take our lives and dress them up with our screwed-up, self-centered ideas of perfection, creating some sort of personal freak show.

But in reality, we ought to be real about our not so perfect lives, because, let's face it, problems are part of everybody's lives.

The conclusion "Little Miss sunshine" seems to be drawing is that instead of trying so hard to pretend and save face, instead of devoting all our energy trying to control every parcel of what others see of us, we should celebrate our troubled lives, without any emphasis on fixing the trouble. Just be ourselves. Go with the feeling. And be willing to laugh at ourselves.

Lovesick

Shine and I got together at a book café last Saturday afternoon. That girl is amazing: her mom wants her to get a teaching degree (very popular job in Korea) but Shine wants to work in tourism. Hence she’s got 3 majors (education, tourism and English) on top of a part-time job as a tutor and another job in the University’s English department. She’s now planning to join a gym – where she would have time to workout from 11pm-12am on weeknights. Hello social life?

As we were chatting over green tea and pastries, I noticed a Korean couple behind her – early twenties, both kind of cute. They were sitting next to each other on the sofa and he had his arm around her shoulders. He was in awe, completely into her.

She, on the other hand, was fixing her make-up, staring at her precious face in her purse mirror. And of course, her boyfriend was looking at her reflection, totally lost in admiration. She was acting as if she didn’t care.

When she was finally done, he whispered something in her ear. Like any normal Korean girl, she looked offended and gently pushed him away. They both laughed. He then started kissing her in the neck, and she kept drinking her strawberry smoothie, looking away and pretending he wasn’t there. He grabbed a straw and they both drank the smoothie together, looking in each other’s eyes.

That little performance went on for about 20 minutes – after which some sort of fight broke out between the two lovers. She was pushing him away (but not really) and he looked like a poor victim, so sorry and miserable. She let him have it for about 10 minutes, after which she pretended to leave. He grabbed her, she pushed him away. He left. She followed him.

They ended up coming back a few minutes later, him carrying her purse (most men carry their girlfriend’s purse here) and the whole love scene started again.

If you’re thinking this sounds like a bad movie, you’re totally right.

One could spend hours at cafes in Korea and just be entertained with the love scenes going on between young couples. It’s like a turn-on I guess – girls hit guys, insult them, and act all girlie, and the men are head over heels in love.

The typical scenario involves:
1. Cute couple behavior (i.e. sharing a smoothie and whispering into each other’s ear), the girl giggles covering her mouth with her hand (it’s an Asian thing)
2. The girl then ignores her man (i.e. purse mirror),
3. The guy looking for more attention (i.e. more kissing in the neck)
4. and the girl acting annoyed. She not really annoyed, she simply pretends to be, usually saying “hajima!” (don’t do it) as she pushes him away.
5. The man then apologizes, but the girl doesn’t let it go until she sees that the man gets upset and ready to leave.
6. Then she runs after him, he acts irritated and she begs for forgiveness.
7. Finally, they make up.

It’s quite amusing. Koreans love the drama. Any Korean soap opera will make you laugh your ass off… there’s sooooo much tragedy! And someone always ends up dying. Yet Korean housewives are crazy about those shows, passionately discussing the plot twist over coffee.

You can find tons of dramatic Korean music videos on youtube:
There’s one where the Korean guy gives his girlfriend his eyes… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rexUdNhPFVI
Another one where the guy dies to save his love…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRp-Bl_46HU

And here’s my personal favorite. The song originally lasts 4 minutes, but they’ve turned it into some sort of short film (as they do with most Korean songs) for more dramatic effect.

On a cultural note: notice the school uniform, the bowing, the teacher beating the student, etc.
Enjoy! :D

Who shot John F. Kennedy?

I remember writing a paper about John F. Kennedy back in high school. I described his life, his passionate struggles, his love affairs, and his death; Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy, and Jack Ruby shot Oswald. Weird, but simple.

But a few days ago I came across this video of JFK’s assassination and I thought I’d share. You can clearly see one of the bodyguards ordering the other bodyguards to withdraw from the presidential car a few seconds before the US President got shot. Why!?

I’m not going to get into conspiracy theories here because the debate would be endless and mainly speculative, but the video is a fact. And it creeps me out.