[Perspective]
Shut up and start enjoying yourself

Anna Desmarais

In keeping with the cheery note the new year has dawned on, I had originally planned to use this space to regale you with a list of things likely to make life even tougher in 2009. (In case you were wondering, said list included Korean politicians, a general lack of irony, and the whoopdee-doodle noises of variety shows.)

But then I met Anna Desmarais, known to those of you familiar with the Hongdae D.J. scene as Analog. Desmarais is the kind of person who doesn’t waste time griping about what’s wrong; she just concentrates on doing what she likes.

She originally arrived in Korea at the beginning of the 2000s and started working full time as a voice-over actor.

“The reason I specifically came to Korea was to ‘get in touch with my roots,’ so to speak; my mother’s originally from here and I had never met anyone from her side of the family,” she said, adding that it’s taken her much of the time she’s been here to pick up the language.

Initially, things were not that inspiring. “Coming to Korea eight years ago was a big letdown because there were hardly any clubs and they all seemed to play the same music,” said the scenester.

“I would normally travel outside of Korea to get my music fix. Since traveling to other countries to party got expensive, I decided to try to bring music from other countries here.”

Helping to engineer the music scene from the outside led her to her next step. “I finally decided that it was time to learn how to D.J. because I believe if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

At this point, I started prodding her with the usual “ain’t it tough to be a foreigner” questions, but Desmarais wasn’t having any of it.

“It still surprises me to hear foreigners who have been here for many years complain about being treated badly. Get over it, I say!”

And then came a very apt summation of expat life in Korea as it is today.

“You get to live somewhere where you will never be a part of their culture, no matter how hard you try and how much Korean blood you have, which means you eventually stop trying to fit in and forge your own path. You live your own life in the way you want to live it, which I think is the way to go.

“Of course, you must respect where you live and the culture you live in, but luckily you can choose which rules you have to follow and which rules you don’t. There’s a certain sense of freedom in that.”

Desmarais is currently the co-owner of the very cool Berlin lounge, which sits on the hill overlooking the entrance to Itaewon.

By Richard Scott-Ashe, Deputy Editor [richard@joongang.co.kr]