Yesterday I got in touch with a former co-teacher at the hagwon (private academy) I most recently worked at in Seoul. I was curious about how my students were doing and how things were going at the school. The kindergartners had just finished their end-of-the-year production in which classes perform plays and dances for their …
It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote a piece featuring some of the themed cafes of Seoul. It turned out to be a popular post, so I’ve decided to write my first follow-up entry highlighting some other quirky cafes I’ve visited since then. Travel has always been a passion of mine, so I was …
Disclaimer: Before I write this, I should note that I rarely write about my personal life but I thought this was a story worth mentioning. Some parts of it are quite comical, as many meet-the-parents stories are, but please know that I am in no way offending or belittling the mentioned aspects of Korean culture. …
Of my 25 birthdays, three of them stick out in my memory. My 16th: celebrated with an extravagant coming-of-age party with about 20 other girls from my class, it was a day that marked the beginning of freedom and the chance to finally drive without a parent in the car. My 18th: I officially became …
These days, I’ve had a hard time putting down Peter Hessler’s Oracle Bones, a book that explores the recent rapid changes of China’s politics, economy, and culture. I just finished a chapter which investigates the Chinese government’s lack of effort to preserve traditional architecture, especially that of the hutong, water alleyways bordered by courtyard homes. …
There’s a Korean expression that describes the latest cold snap: 꽃샘추위 or “Kkotsaemchuwi” literally meaning “the cold is jealous of the spring flowers.” Whenever the weather starts to get relatively pleasant here, there’s always a few cold snaps before spring can get the chance to really to set in. Despite winter’s jealousy issues, I’ve been …
I had been putting it off for a while, so when I saw March’s visit advertised on the Korea4Expats website, I knew I couldn’t put it off anymore. With my time left in Korea getting shorter, I knew that it would be ignorant of me not to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to visit …
Over the past few weekends, I’ve done a lot of fun things here in Seoul with great friends. These range from a fun night of cosmic bowling to a girl’s night bar hopping in Itaewon to seeing my idol, Taylor Swift, in concert. I’m not sure why, but although I’ve been doing such things, I’ve …
In life, there are some things that simply cannot be expressed in words. Thankfully, today’s technology gives us the resources to go beyond using simple prose to communicate. Skype, for instance, allows real-time video messaging with friends and loved ones at the click of a button from anywhere in the world. Such an invention has …
I don’t consider myself a high maintenance kind of girl when it comes to most things, but if there is one thing that makes me cringe, it is the seemingly medieval plumbing fixture known to the Westerner as the squatty potty. These waste receptacles are not unique to Korea and can be found all over …