Red flag for S. Korean President

When former Korean President Roh Moo Hyun left office in February 2008, he was exceptionally unpopular and it is with great expectations that the Korean people elected current President Lee Myung Bak.

Former Seoul mayor and successful businessman as well as CEO, Lee Myung Bak won the December 2007 elections with 48.7% of the votes. Interestingly enough, he was at the time investigated for accusations related to fraud and “his” (sturdily debated) Korean now-defunct investment firm BBK.

Throughout his campaign, Lee emphasized the need for better cooperation with neighbor countries such as Japan, China and Russia.

As opposed to his predecessor Roh Moo Hyun, Lee implemented a tougher policy with North Korea. And unlike Roh – who had a rather dire relationship with the US – Lee turned out to be very pro-American.

He suggested that ALL teachers in public schools across Korea should learn English – be it a math, Korean, or even science teacher. He even hinted that Korean English teachers should be required to train in English-speaking countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.

Koreans are not very fond of that idea. Though they do already push their kids to learn English (sometimes way too hard, “for their own good”), they also understand that the survival of the Korean culture and language would be at stake should Lee’s plan succeed.

For that and the following reasons, Lee Myung Bak’s popularity took a dive in the past few months. When I mention him in class, students roll their eyes. When I discuss politics with the elderly, they immediately get critical of their President.

Though Koreans are a mix of Christians, Buddhists and Atheists, most Koreans think of themselves as fundamentally Buddhist (i.e. do no harm and love everything). The fact that Lee Myung Bak is Christian has led some to believe this might present a threat to Buddhism in Korea… (?)

Moreover, Koreans are very concerned with the currently fragile economy, and while Lee promised to address that issue during his political campaign, he still hasn’t shown satisfying results (well, numbers) to his people. One of his answers actually echoes US President’s discourse – that is, “people need to work harder.” Go tell a homeless that, or an unemployed mother supporting 3 kids, and see what they have to say (or spray!)
Not to mention that the price of gas has more than doubled over the past year... it is now 1 900won/litre. Massive protests (especially truck drivers) have been held all over Korea.

Lee has also ignored the agreements previously made by the North-South summit, preferring to pursue a hardline policy toward Kim Jong Il’s government. While Roh’s approach might have been wayyyy too soft and flexible, Lee’s is wayyy too strict. Most Koreans want a reunification, and considerable progress had been made under the former President’s reign. But with Lee’s hard-line policy, who knows what might even happen to the "sunshine policy"...
The import of US beef has also become an important issue - especially recently, since thousands of Koreans have held daily protests in Gwanghwamun. Most of them were peaceful (holding candles) but some have been quite violent as well. Koreans are protesting against an agreement with Washington to reopen South Korea to American beef, banned for most of the past 4 1/2 years over fears of mad cow disease.
Another hot issue is Lee's idea of building a canal that would go from Busan (Korea's main import/export harbour) all the way up to Seoul. He thinks it's a good alternative to carry commercial goods.
But most Koreans disagree. They think it will only cost them more money. Moreover, why build a canal when things are perfectly fine the way they are, using trucks, airplanes and trains? Plus, such a project would also greatly damage the environment.

Lee has mostly appointed very wealthy members in his cabinet, thus raising concern that his appointees will favor policies that protect the rich while failing to address the needs of the underprivileged.

Lee Myung Bak was elected by the Korean people because he is an example of what a little boy coming from a poor family can do. Him becoming a very successful businessman and politician certainly gave hope to the nation. Anyone can be a Lee Myung Bak!

But it seems like they didn’t expect him to bring his wealthy, strict and rather pro-American style into politics. Not that soon anyway. And now they’re not sure whether they like it or not.
refs: wikipedia, koreans, hani.co.kr, koreaherald.co.kr
pic: google images

Love my life

Yo llevo en el cuerpo un motor
Que nunca deja de rolar
Yo llevo en el alma un camino
Destinado a nunca llegar
- Manu Chao "Desaparecido"

A fortune teller in Seoul told me that it is my destiny to travel around forever and simply be free. It could have been a wild guess, but he might be right.

Ever since Patrice arrived almost two weeks ago, I have been rediscovering Korea and realized that the daily life of an “explorer” is indeed out of the ordinary.


Be it the unique and tasty food, jawbone massagers (intended to pull back face fat…), 90-degree bent hard-working Korean ajummas in the countryside, breath-taking beaches, mellow sunsets, Korean customs, Korean language (which I understand more and more), walking around naked in saunas, my adorable Korean students, my crazy lovely foreign friends, life here is just another layover in this magnificent world.



May was quite a busy month with Korean holidays such as Buddha’s birthday and Children’s Day, as well as Parents’ Day and Teacher’s Day, not to mention the Western Mother’s Day, my brother’s birthday, my godmother’s birthday, Danila and Chantale’s birthdays, and my very own birthday. Phew.

A lot of great celebrations, a bump on my head and bruises all over my body, a memorable beach party and oh-so much exhaustion. I flew to Seoul to spend a few days with Patrice and bring him with me to Jeju in a hurly-burly charter in which I feared for my life at least twice.

Tiny little birds I’ve seen, lilacs I’ve smelled and gorgeous green leaves are coming out. It’s summer, I’m in love and happy! It freaks me out to realize that yet another year has almost gone by and my head is filled with colors, tastes, music and great memories. And “Hello!!” of course ;)

Only 3 months left – during which my parents are visiting and I’m taking diving lessons. The beach is calling though the water is not warm enough yet, and I don’t know what’s next… India? California? Banff? Australia? How could I ever settle when the world is so wonderful and full of surprises?

Speaking of which… has anyone heard of Loveland? It’s a big park on Jeju island where one can find sex shops and observe giant sex statues for only 7$. Priceless I swear, especially since sex appears to be such a taboo in Korean culture… NOT at Loveland though! We saw Korean couples with kids and strollers posing in front of giant boobies.

Warning: rather explicit pictures...!
















They even had a parked car with inflatable dolls in it, a bra and some panties hanging off the rear mirror, the speaker playing sounds of a moaning woman while the car’s springs were going “couik couik” are the car was bouncing to the rhythm of a couple making love...

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