Miss Anna

Everyone has an alter ego, but how far you take it, how real it is, certainly depends on who you are. Some of us are one, predictable, entity, while others are internally hosting both Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

Imaginary friends like my brother’s buddy Gilles go away as we get older, but alter egos can follow us for the rest of our life. Lately I’ve come to wonder whether it’s a healthy pattern... or something resembling a mental disorder.

My alter ego is the real deal. More so ever since I’ve been living in Korea. Her name is Miss Anna and she is a superstar! For the sake of the argument, let’s take a look both personalities.

The real me is Anne-Marie, but my alter ego is Miss Anna. Through no fault of my own, I inherited this nickname because Koreans cannot pronounce my name correctly and the way my boss says “Aaaaaann” (sounds like “aaaaaand”) is extremely annoying. It’s just easier for everyone to call me Anna.

The real me is a sociology/polisci bachelor, but Miss Anna has been teaching English for 3 years now.

The real me speaks French. Yes, I’m francophone. But my alter ego speaks, thinks and even dreams in English 24/7.

The real me is average-looking for Western standards, but Miss Anna is a hot babe for Korean men and a role model for Korean kids. Nothing Miss Anna does goes unnoticed, and like a superstar she’s being photographed and stared at every single day.

The real me eats bananas and goat cheese, stuffs on big fat juicy steaks with mashed potatoes (salt and butter mmm) and starts the day with muesli/fruit/yoghurt, but my alter ego never eats breakfast and is constantly craving fermented spicy cabbage (kimchi) and rice. Nothing but kimchi and rice. And seaweed soup.

The real me doesn’t drive at all, except maybe a bicycle, but Miss Anna is a road warrior, driving for an hour to work every single day. Miss Anna is even learning to drive manual.

The real me is lazy as a cow on the beach, but my alter ego is freaking out of the house 12 hours a day, “working” 9-6 and trying to repress road rage for almost 2 hours a day.

The real me is awkward with kids cauz they look so fragile, I’m afraid I might… break them! But Miss Anna is a super teacher, a loving and caring one who gets hugged, massaged (Korean custom…), followed around, praised and even kissed all the time.

And the list goes on.

I know Miss Anna is probably a more mature Anne-Marie, but I like referring to her as my alter ego because she’s so much cooler than Anne-Marie! Hell, she’s living in Korea, traveling the world, she has tons of friends (and is a party animal…), she’s rock climbing, meditating, learning knitting and parading naked in saunas, she’s even gonna be a certified diver and she’s getting pretty good at the guitar!

But Anne-Marie is nothing like that in Canada. She has no career, and 3 years of living overseas have somehow estranged her from most of her friends and family. I guess Miss Anna is the price Anne-Marie is paying for to be a citizen of the world ;)

Maybe we should take the sidewalk?

Spring has set innumerable smiles on my lips and I haven’t felt this happy in a long time. This is a picture i took at Hallim harbor, one day I was checking out the sunset.

The sun is shining, the wind is cool, the earth is awakening, the trees smell fantastic, the birds are singing, flowers are blooming, life is good! Even when it rains, there's a sweet perfume in the air and it makes me blissful.

I actually witnessed quite a few sunsets lately and… what a spectacle! I also try to stop by the horse field on my way home every nite cauz they’re so darn beautiful. Moreover, my friends and I have been cruising around the island and uncovered some hidden paradises and beaches. Stuck in my city life, I had forgotten all about the joys of the countryside.




Sasha and I rode our motorbikes down south yesterday, which was awesome just like that road trip with Lisa last week-end.




While sitting on the beach eating strawberries, we caught the high tide and the "hot-tub-like" in front of us turned into tiny waterwfalls!
We also hung out with the cows and enjoyed some quiet countryside peace, calm and silence. It's funny how you find Korean traditional graves right in the middle of a field. Good fertilizer?

The Cherry Blossom festival was quite nice, but I truly enjoyed the “off-spot” spectacle all over the island. Cherry Blossoms don’t smell anything at all, but they are beautiful as hell and their petals fly all around, just like some cute little snowstorm in winter. Very romantic too.

Danila, Alicia and Kyle got their hand waxed for only 5 bucks, which was totally cool. The whole area surrounding the stadium was quite festive and we spent the afternoon there, completely hungover and happy. I even won a tiny stuffed animal for my skills at arcade shooting (not something to be proud of, I know)






Meanwhile a horrible smell was floating on the streets, some apparently "delicious" Korean snack that repulses most foreigners to their very heart. I don’t know what it’s called, but eeeew!


A few of us were lucky enough to get free tickets to the “Nanta” premiere on Jeju island – a popular Korea show back in Seoul that revolves around making mind-blowing music with kitchen stuff. I was quickly told to turn off my camera, but you should check out the footage of one of their show posted on youtube. Mind-BLOWING.



I believe I've mentionned this before - when a Korean restaurant, show, or whatever, opens, friends send those big flower things with their name on it as a sign of support. The more flowers you get, the more friends you have - hence the more people should trust your product.

We then headed to Troy’s BBQ – he has this great place in the countryside, looks like a palace (check out the hall!) and I felt incredibly heartbroken by the sight of this gorgeous Labrador being stuck in a cage all day. It’s certainly not waiting to become the meat in some “energizing” Korean dog soup; it’s just there for no apparent reason. Why have a dog if you’re going to leave it in a cage all day? Troy takes it for a run once in a while, but the owner really doesn’t give a shit. And that’s sad.







Heading back to Shin-Jeju, we caught this great Korean band playing at Led Zepplin, very mellow music, kinda reminded me of Radiohead. And the bass player is a chick!



A week ago was Laurie’s bday celebration– loads of fun and partying until sunrise, actually 8am!! It was a crazy night (except when Sasha massaged my feet... that was just nice! :) especially that bit at the noreabang (karaoke)...







The night before we had gone out to GP for a few drinks and came across this drunken man completely passed out on a sidewalk. We tried waking him up but he didn’t move. Funny thing is that he wasn’t dressed like a hobo at all – which once again demonstrates how any, ANY, Korean man (except like one of two in the entire country) will get freaking wasted any chance he gets. Sometimes it’s work pressure, or peer pressure, but in this case the man was all alone. No friends in sight. Anyway, it blows my mind.

Any day of the week, in any restaurant, you can expect to find Korean men in work suit being pissed at like 8pm. We've seen it all... the red face drunk-dialing, staggering all over, yelling "i love you" to foreigners, trying to light up a cigarette from the wrong end, even sleeping on the table!


My motorbike finally got fixed and I’m quite relieved. Koreans drive according to their very own "standards"– which is safe as long as everyone does it, but with my bike stalling every 5 sec… I was a hazard! More so than cars parked on sidewalks, buses changing 2 lanes at a time, taxi drivers cutting you off and motorbikes driving on the sidewalk.

Which reminds of something funny my friend said as we were waiting for a red light. He turned to me and said “maybe we should take the sidewalk” and we did and avoided traffic. People would have killed us back home, but here it wasn’t a big deal, especially since we were driving carefully – as opposed to those countless delivery dude almost running over the elderly every single minute of the day!

And the "maybe" part of his question is so Korean! Koreans always say "mmmm, maybe you can have a seat?", "mmmm maybe we can stop here", etc. which is their way of being respectful. But even when they have the plane ticket to go to, say, Tokyo, even when they're flying off the next day, they'll be saying "mmmm, maybe I go to Tokyo tomorrow" hahaha

On my way to work I saw seaweed being dried on the side of the road. I thought it was cute until I realized how much pollution (car exhaust!) must be going into that seaweed, not to mention the pee and spit already laid on the concrete. So much for health standards.


Another week, only 4 months and a half left here, it’s crazy how time flies. I’m turning 25 in less than a month and that’s freaking me out. Gonna keep going to meditation and keep trying that rock climbing thing because I refuse not to be able to pull my own weight after living a quarter of a century on this planet!

Oh yeah, and I got Kyle this wicked "good bush, bad Bush" t-shirt in Bali, check it out hahaha

Shortage of Hellos

Did you know that William Shakespeare used over 884 647 words altogether (works included), whereas an average contemporary person knows between 12 000 – 20 000 words? I wonder what happened to our brain.

Yet when a Korean sees a foreigner, the only English word that they seem to know is “Hello” It’s not their fault; it’s their brain. It’s their mom who told them to say “Hello” every time they see a weiguk (foreigner). It's a reflex.

But here’s the problem: I’m all out of “hello”s. It’s nothing personal really. The word just won’t come out anymore. I’m physically traumatized. I can’t say it anymore. My brain won’t let me.

I’d be glad to say “good morning”, “yes it is a beautiful day” or just smile. But even my beautiful smile is not enough. They need to hear me say "Hello"

I'm a tall girl with blond curly hair so of course I’m an easy target. And here are a few (real life) scenarios that might be why I’m all out of “hellos”:

• Having a chat with my co-worker outside, some girls yelled “Hellooooo” to us. I smiled at them and kept talking with Bill. Unsatisfied, the girls yelled even louder “Helllllllooooo”. I thought they were rude so I ignored them (after all, I did smile at them even thought they interrupted us). That’s when they screamed their lungs out “HELLOOOOO”
  
• Driving my scooter near City Hall, my curly hair was coming out of my helmet and some kids walking the opposite way noticed. They shouted “Hello, hello, hello” 3 times, as if what…? They expected me to stop the scooter and go talk to them? Maybe wave and get into a traffic accident?
  
• Going to the supermarket, I keep my helmet on to ensure some privacy. Stupid idea, I know. Some little girl spotted me from afar and ran to the dairy section where I was just to say “Hello!!” Of course people turned around as soon as they heard the magic word and I saw parents telling their kids “go say hello to the weiguk”. Within a second, I was bombarded with “Helloooooo” Meanwhile, the parents were looking at my basket, trying to figure out what people like me eat, and they rushed to the cheese section to get the same.
  
• On a raining day, at night, I’m walking with my hood on. I’m even wearing glasses and they’re so thick (I’m practically blind) that you can’t see my eyes. I’m looking down anyway. My hair is tied up, hidden under my hood, no visible sign that I’m a foreigner. Well guess what. A bunch of youngsters turn to me as soon as they hear me come and say “Hello!!”
  It’s night. It’s dark. How do they do it!?
  
• I’m in the countryside, speaking on the phone with my friend when this little boy comes up to me. He sees that I’m clearly having a conversation, but he doesn’t care. He stands in front of me and says “Hello, how are you, I’m good, my name is hae jeong, nice to meet you, bye” – as if all those words were in fact one very long word. Without even waiting for an answer he leaves.
  
• That’s a daily one: I’m in my office, the window is next to my computer and I’m doing class prep. I swear: every single one of my students will come by, look inside, open the window and shout “helloooo”.
  
• Sitting on the bus, completely lost in my thoughts and listening to my music, a group of teenagers get in and of course spot me right away! What do they say? “Helloooooooo” loud enough to interrupt my quiet reverie.
  
• Aaaah my favorite: eating at the school cafeteria. Bill and I are like aliens. Koreans of all age look at our tray, wondering if we eat like them. If there’s a lot of kimchi, they laugh. If there’s not enough rice, they laugh. Everything we do is laughable. Then the bell rings and the students rush in. 50 girls yelling “Helloooooo”
  
• Walking by the Middle School, there’s a gym class going on outside. Korean teachers are very strict and the kids must behave in class. Except when weiguks walk by. Jump ropes are put down and countless “Helloooo”s are being yelled. Sometimes the teacher will point his golf club and tell them to shut it, but most of the time he doesn’t.
  
• Having a nice dinner out with friends, i barely have time to swallow my rice when a kid comes up to me and stares. then, he either leaves without a word, or says "Hellooo" before turning around.

And the list goes on. I probably say “Hello” and “Hi” at least 100 times a day. I just physically can’t do it anymore. But if I ignore them, they chase me. Or they scream, which is even worse. If I reply, they laugh, covering their mouth while giggling.

In theory, they are cute. They are really cute. Man, how many times have I said that people back home can be really anti-social?

But the thing is, I don’t think Koreans do it to be social. It’s like a dare game. And it’s freakin’ annoying.

What annoys me the most is that it seems like “Hello” is the only English word they know. We spend so much energy teaching them how to converse in English, and all they can say is “Helloooo”, and run away?

I think I like it better when ajummas satisfy their cultural curiosity by slapping my butt. It's totally inappropriate, but at least it's funny.

When I go back to Quebec next summer, I will try the following:
- I’ll slap a Japanese woman’s ass
- I’ll blatantly stare at a Korean child
- I’ll scream “Ni hao” to every Chinese person I see until they reply. Then, I’ll burst into laughter.

This is going to be fun.

Comfort women

The name itself is degrading. Comfort women. Who gets the comfort? The soldier gets comfort from raping women.


But when you see those women, old and wrinkled, gray hair and teary eyes, reminding you of your grandmother, you just can’t stand it. It’s heartbreaking and sickening.

Comfort women were used as sexual slaves by the Japanese army during the Second World War. They were mainly from Korea and China (and other territories under Japanese occupation), and they were forced into prostitution. Numbers vary, but it is estimated that there were between 10 000 and 200 000 of them.

Some young women were kidnapped and directly taken to brothels, while others were offered some tempting work at a (fictive) factory, later to be forced into sexual slavery.

Aside from being raped by countless soldiers, day after day, those young women were also victims of torture, beatings and other physical abuse.

The Japanese government, in the hope that it would improve the morale and effectiveness of the soldiers, sponsored the brothels. Yes, forcing young women into sex does give a man enough strength to kill other men. It was like an orgy of good deeds eh! Seriously. You’ve got to be kidding me.

The testimonies found online are devastating – from young women being systematically beaten and raped day and night, to girls not old enough to be menstruated yet being kidnapped and raped into the so-called “comfort stations”

These young women are now elderly. Most of them live in some kind of shelter for Comfort Women and they’ve basically lost their life to this tragic experience. They are poor, hurten and helpless. They live together and try to forget, but they can’t. They can only forgive.

Only to forgive such a horrible experience, one needs an apology. And that’s what’s unbelievable: over 60 years later, the Japanese government still hasn’t apologized.

Worse: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe actually said (!!)"The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion."

Shinzo is basically saying that these Chinese and Korean women flew to Japan during wartime and prostituted themselves. That they agreed to have sex over and over and over and over, night and day, out of consent.
Did I mention many of them got pregnant too? Just like the Rwandan genocide (and oh so many others), a child, a beautiful being that should bring joy to this world, is nothing but a daily reminder of excruciating pain and sorrow. Bravo.


I just can’t imagine how these women, over 80 years old now, must feel. Hopeless. Helpless. What the hell is that matter with the world? It’s such a cruel and cold place.

From BBC News (and more on youtube.com):


Ref:
http://www.comfort-women.org/
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women
www.vday.org/contents/vcampaigns/spotlight/comfortwomen
Pics: google images