This blog moved

Hi Guys,

This blog officially moved to the WordPress platform.  Please make any change to your bookmarks and favorites. The new address is kosmikblog.wordpress.com . Visit anytime! ^^

Pic of the Day!

Found this at the supermarket today. anyone wants some? lol

Truc Art Exhibition

Hi Guys! :P

I have been EXTREMELY busy as always. Nevertheless I'm taking a moment to share about this exhibition I went to. It's not really "traditional" art however it was the most fun I had at an exhibition. The Truc art exhibition refers to super realism in which artists express two-dimensional objects in three-dimensional ways.

Exhibitions are comprised of art that falls mostly into five categories that focus on the reinterpretation of famous works of art, and coexistence with animals and nature. People can also enjoy taking part in art, famous movie scenes, and optical illusions through the displays. That's why it was so much fun, to actually be an integral part of art itself. ^^

Oh and I finally found a nice way to organize my pictures online. Thanks to www.snugmug.com. I`m still testing it but so far so good. So please go to this link to see my album from that exhibition and enjoy!

Truc Art Exhibition Gallery Link

Protests in North Korea

Last week we got report of the first public protest in North Korea against their communist dictatorship.


North Koreans are not stupid and do not think they haven't protested before, however this is a first since they kept their mouth shut and covered each other. Usually the pressure and fear of punishment from the state makes people tell on each other at some point.


According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing a North Korean source, demonstrations broke out on 14 February, two days before Kim Jong-il’s birthday, in the cities of Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon, not far from the border of China. The State Security Department (the all-powerful agency under Kim Jong-il’s direct control) investigated the incident but failed to identify the people who started the commotion when they met with a wall of silence.

“When such an incident took place in the past, people used to report their neighbours to the security forces, but now they're covering for each other," the source said.

Solidarity! Solidarity! ^^

                 

Why now?

Of course different factors are at play. Some evoke the wave of protest from the Mideast reaching as far as hermit North Korea.  Obviously, the country's worsening economic situation plays a crucial role. People are dying even more than before, famines everywhere. Furthermore others say North Koreans do not approve of the younger Kim and are trying to stop the succession. Korean sources told AsiaNews that this represents a crack in the prevailing mindset. The younger Kim is “feared by the population,” the source said. “He is viewed as bloodthirsty and mad".

 “Almost everyone thinks he was behind the military attacks against ROKS Cheonan and an island under South Korean control, which led to restrictions on humanitarian aid from the South.  This has further worsened standards of living in the North. North Koreans are ready to do just about anything to stop the succession.”

                                  

South Koreans Role
The South Koreans are trying to incite the anti-dictatorship protests.  Last Friday they sent leaflets explaining the situation and fight for democracy in Egypt and Libya to try to incite North Koreans to rebel against their government. The leaflets, as well as food and medicines, were dropped from the sky, tied to time-programmed balloons which could automatically release the items above the target areas in North Korea.


The defense ministry of South Korea declined to confirm about the recent move. They have a policy to not commenting any sensitive issue dealing with the North.

Analysts said that it would be difficult for North Koreans to emulate the anti-government protests in Egypt or Libya as their government have a tight control over communication and movement of the people.

Yesterday, North Korea threatened military actions over the South encouragements. They said they  will fire across a land border with South Korea if Seoul continues its anti-North psychological campaign.

"We officially notify that our army will stage a direct fire at the Rimjin Pavilion and other sources of the anti-DPRK psychological warfare to destroy them on the principle of self-defense, if such actions last despite our repeated warning."

The Rimjin Pavilion is an area in South Korea near the heavily armed Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) which separates the two Koreas.

Hopefully, North Koreans will be liberated one way or another.  I'm not quite sure it will be soon even if the recent events are helping. I just wish for their and our safety. When I refer to North Koreans I mean the common people not the leaders.  They can die.

Sources:

http://www.boncherry.com/blog/2011/02/24/north-korea-protest/

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=49154&t=North+Korea%3A+++First+public+protests+against+the+Kims%92+regime

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/02/24/2011022401282.html

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE71Q0EO20110227?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/First-public-protests-against-the-Kims%E2%80%99-regime-20861.html

Blogging Troubles

At last I got some free time to organize.


I finished backuping, formating, reinstalling, got myself a new sweet Tera-byte for future storage. Yay come here pictures, dramas, movies! I really needed space. 


Picasa,flickr and others..
Started some new posts that are coming along nice.  
The only problem is, and I thought that would be a breeze or a lot simpler that it is...I can't find a nice tool to help me organize picture and post them easily online, I mean most of the things out there advertise itself like the new revolution of photo tools but in reality they offer nothing. In the last few days I signed up for photobucket, flickr, imgur,travelpod,reading a lot online, finding widgets,pluggins...    


 Using Picasa sotfware similar to IPhoto for the mac I thought it would be find with me.  It provides the organization and tag (including geotag) that I need however after testing the Blog this tool for Blogger, a tool that help you post the picture directly to your blog only to find out it posts only 5 pictures per posts, what a useless way to supposedly connect two services both owned by Google. wait there is more...then I also realize that the picture posted on all my blog are hosted by Picasa and only give me 1gig of space which I almost ran of already. Great.  I tried to find other tools online but they either offer picture hosting or blogging, or organize them but not as a whole.  I really wonder why is it so complicated.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to post more than 5 pictures per post on her blog. Don't worry eventually I'll find something. In the meanwhile I'm still using Picasa which is the best for me right now and found a way using the tool to post on Facebook is a lot easier and I will create albums there and link to them, Facebook allows me to host unlimited pictures without having to check if I have enough space or not. If any of you guys know an alternative please contact me.




I'm leaving here some pictures on Facebook, feel free to comment on them here or on Facebook,leave me feedbacks.


Here are two day-trip we took while Jean my boyfriend was visiting me over the holidays.


Ski Day in Ganwon Province
We went to have a ski day in Ganwon-do or Ganwon province maybe 2 hours of bus outside Seoul.  it was a nice day trip, the weather was chilly but not that cold like it has been.  They say Korea is made of 80% of mountainous terrain and we just use this fact to our advantage :)  the view was splendid and we had fun even if we were feeling in a zoo being the only two foreigners in the whole resort lol.

Link to the SKI DAY Facebook album HERE




Romantic Namiseom Island
The second trip was to Namiseom Island, this very small hall-moon shaped island (462,809 square-meters) because of its shape Koreans always thought of this place as protected by gods and spirits.  It is the resting place of General Nami who led a great victory against the rebels in the 13th year of the 7th king of the Joseon Dynasty, King Sejo (reign 1455 ~ 1468). Namiseom Island is 63 km away from Seoul in the direction of Chuncheon, and is famous for its beautiful tree lined roads. The island is 30 minutes away from Chuncheon and an hour away from suburbs of Seoul. Since it is not far from Seoul, many couples and families come to visit. It was also the site of a popular drama and we can visit many famous scene places. In all even though there is the grave of a general it's a very romantic place to go :D


Namiseom Island pictures

Chuseok (Thanksgiving) in Busan

Hi Guys,

Sorry to say that I haven't heard any news of Porky yet.  Don't give up I'm sure he will send something soon. A lot happened since Porky's abduction: I finally finished this never-ending semester, all the exams, presentations, papers, projects and finally I could SLEEP!  a commodity I had longed for.  sorry I did not update this blog sooner, as soon as the semester was over I just needed to rest, take care of some noisy roommates and prepare for my boyfriend's arrival a few days later.  He left Montreal on Dec 24th and arrived here on Christmas night as the best present ever. ^^  but that's another post hehe... now I'm trying to get all those pictures I wanted to post but didn't.  so here a little from my trip in Busan at the Korean Thanksgiving called Chuseok.  I had 3 days off from school so I use that opportunity to visit my friends in Busan.

I'm currently updating my system and trying to use a new photo software so bare with me, I'm trying to put some order in all the thousands of pictures to eventually be able to sort them out and post them more easily. so check out my Busan album on picasa in the meanwhile. ^^

Chuseok in Busan Album


Also I have a lot of videos from this trip... I will try very soon to do a small montage and post it.

Breaking News: North Korea's intimidation may be on the breach of surrender due to a piglet negotiator!

News of a new negotiator landed in Pyongyang this afternoon. This new approach became a necessity after North Korea's artillery bombardment of a South Korean island last week that killed four people and led both sides to threaten war. We were informed earlier today that North Korea have been insistingly demanding for the piglet figure also known as "Porky" by many around the world.

When asked about the funny looking figure Isabelle Drolet, the Canadian exchange student at Korea University and Porky's caretaker mentioned that she was "in complete incomprehension to why North Korea would want to have this cute good-natured little guy".

Rumors came from the South Korean presidential house's sources that Beijing commented on the acting of Kim Jong-il as nothing but a "spoiled child" behavior. Recently more confirmations in the press argue that China is trying to distance itself from the North's acting.The Chinese shift comes at a crucial juncture a China has refused to condemn the North Korean action. But today Beijing appeared to bow to US pressure to help bring about a diplomatic solution, calling for "emergency consultations" and inviting a senior North Korean official to Beijing.

China is sharply critical of US pressure tactics towards North Korea and wants a resumption of the six-party nuclear disarmament talks. But the Guardian can reveal Beijing's frustration with Pyongyang has grown since its missile and nuclear tests last year, worries about the economic impact of regional instability, and fears that the death of the dictator, Kim Jong-il, could spark a succession struggle.

After last week attacks the North demanded for Porky without any explanation to why and with a menacing tone. North Korean officials openly stated that any delays would result in more casualties. The attack continued last Friday and Sunday as we all know. These actions are attributed to the lack of negotiation between the parties. Finally with regret and no other alternative, Miss Drolet and the South Korean government, sent Porky on the presidential plane.  

Miss Drolet mentioned before the authorities her fear of not seeing the pig again and the sadden thoughts towards her friend Sandra Powers Giasson who entrusted her with Porky's security before leaving Montreal.  Miss Powers Giasson, Porky 's owner, had given Porky to many friends travelling previously in order to fulfill Porky's dream to go around the world. Miss Drolet had gladly accepted her offer since the pig haven't been to Korea so far. 

- " I fear that if something happens to him [Porky] that she will never forgive me but at the same time I have the fate of peace in my hands, also Porky really wanted to take this opportunity to go into restricted North Korea" Isabelle Drolet when questioned earlier today in Gimpo airport.

Here some pictures taken during his adventures.

Guadeloupe

Ottawa

Switzerland

Sydney

 London

And his last picture taken in Korea

All South Korea's hope are now resting on the little furry pink creature to help prevent further animosity and the creation of a regional crisis. Hopefully nothing will happen to the little loving beast and he will realize his dream to take a picture in front of the famous unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in downtown Pyongyang.

Seoul life

Hi Guys!,

Here is just a small montage of some pictures I took of Seoul in the last few months. Enjoy!

if you have questions, comments, feel free to post something here :)

KoYon Games (part 2)

The after Ko-Yon Games was even crazier...

Near our University, Student gathered after the games to celebrate.  The atmosphere is getting crazy, everybody can feel it: Even with the pouring rain it will be a good good night (just like the song lol). Confusion reign amongst  foreign exchange students and freshman but we are not afraid, the feeling of brotherhood is in the air. the fact is : as long as we stay within our group we know we will have some fun and that seniors will take care of us. I never been part of any club, fraternity or else back home so I'm discovering this for the first time. what a wonderful feeling!

Our group heads toward the street in Anam where the celebrations are taking place.  Neighbors had already decorated the streets with different slogan congratulating both universities. We stop our indian chain 'a la queue-leu-leu briefly to hear our seniors explaining what the deal is.  This is when I learned that the alumni of  each university comes here after the games every year to "pay back" to the student community.  In sum,  the owners or old students of each university pays for the students.  So we have to go around and if the tenants of this establishment acknowledge Korea University then we all eat and drink on their tab.  What a wonderful idea we all realized haha.  so its like treat or treat Korean version, instead of wearing a costume we display our university true color red or blue, some tenants ask us to sing motto, other to dance or whatever their wishes we did and all night long bar hoping in the rain drinking and celebrating. Who ever won was not really important after all.  Comrades in drinking passing other teams our or not chanting, teasing each other, thanking god we are young and lucky, not thinking about the next morning hangover ... LOL

Drinking

More drinking...

More more drinking haha

Invaded streets of Anam.

Some Videos:

A little montage

My group singing

Sorry for the delay...I have a crazy schedule, I will try to post more stuff soon.

Iza

KoYon Games

Hi guys,

A few weeks ago I had a special encounter with Korean culture. I was told that on September 10 and 11th there was going to e the KoYon Games.  What is it exactly?  It's a sport competition in which my University Korea Univ and Yonsei Univ compete with in other in Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Rugby and Soccer. All the student were expected to go and cheer for KU and exchange students as well.  So they told us that we will have a meeting before to help us.  I thought it was going to be a short meeting were we would learn a few team songs but it was a lot more elaborated then that it was more like Cheering Boot Camp 2010 LOL.

 Actually like all foreigners I think I was really chocked by all this when it started.  We were looking at each other like:  WTH...should we run out of here?  and we just went : ehhh whatever... and shouted and danced like crazy even if we didn't understand any lyrics or what was actually going on... we couldn't tell if we were getting sworn into a cult, a sect or worse but we might as well have some fun so  ...we chanted, danced, shouted and jumped....

 They even gave us a book about ours players of the different teams with also a booklet containing the lyrics of the songs...in total 63!!!!

We ended up learning not only songs, chants, dances and we practice for like 4 and a half hours non-stop... it was worse than a aerobic class.  They had power-rangers look-alike to boost us (like cheerleaders) and confetti, flames thrower, smoke and all. and that was just practice.

the entrance of the "power rangers"  they really believe their shit lol

Sorry for my loud voice lol

That night I went home still wondering what exactly did happen!?

THEN... it was the real thing for 2 days!! I was sooo dead at night after the whole day cheering, almost not even having time to sit and eat. but after we went drinking until early morning and then back to the stadiums for so more cheering. We even chanted for an hour and a half BEFORE the game even started lol    also please note that the videos I post here are the one when it wasn't too "crazy" because at times I couldn't even record anything, everybody just grabbing me from all directions and jumping all around haha

  

KU invades the subway

 At the baseball game

More Yelling, this is Hélène from France

I was very surprised after the middle of the games, both clans started to mix in the bench, everybody reaction: NOTHING?  everybody having fun side by side. Yonsei university came on our side, they cheered our team , sang our songs, everybody holding to each other, red, blue  we're all students after all, brothers and sisters in the end... I was impressed.  its not in Canada that you would have seen that, especially not between Quebec-Montreal where the rivalry still exist.

We got a bus on the second day: look at the drapes, lights and everything... I wanted to go out after 20 mins lol. plus the toilet paper as tissu (that`s a korean classic) and it had a screen and a mic for karaoke i guess. Here Hakima is rehearsing :D

At the rugby

Banner says: A nation's dream, the world's hope: Korea University

 at the blue/ red division

 Some of the "power rangers"

Power dance!! lol

Some videos...

As you can witness nobody is really watching the games lol

Anyway  I really felt I was witnessing something particular that I won't see again probably.  During those 2  physically draining days, I had so much fun. I lost my voice but I made friends.


Next time I will talk about the after party of the KoYon Games.  It was as memorable...



For more information on KU-YU rivalry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KU-Yonsei_rivalry

Food~

Can't talk about Korea without talking about the delicious mostly spicy food ^^  so here a few pictures...

my first grocery trip

Noodle's aisle

Dr You cookies lol

one of my first real meal in Korea Chicken and Beer with Yujin

That place was so hard to find but so worth it, even with a local as guide we needed a map and asking around. one of the best  Kimchi Jigae I tasted :)

one of my favorite dish : JJim Dalk (spicy chicken)

 watermelon and cappuccino donuts 

a local sweet : hotteok ,yeast bread with some brown sugar melted inside, serve hot and fresh :)

Japanese food: Tonkatsu

Some street food, chicken...sooooo spicy !!!!!!!

Fresh melon juice!

A must: korean BBQ with Stephane visiting for a few days 

There is a hut above each table in the restaurant

Japanese Bento

opened

I had a nice time with my ex-roommate Yoobin  :)

mmmm Ramen!!!!

Yet another BBQ with Japanese friends visiting, meet Miho and Shino

 Coffe with friends...so cute guys hahaha

 This is BBQ Chicken... we cook it at the table and its spicy and delicious

 In school: gimbap and pineapple lassi for lunch so cheap and delicious

Are you hungry now?  I am haha