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 …
Global warming and climate change are issues that we hear about everyday. It seems that we are constantly bombarded with suggestions on how to change our lifestyles so that we can help the environment by decreasing our carbon footprint. Al Gore has no doubt instilled fear into all of our minds, what with predictions of …
Seeing as Korea is an Asian country, most might assume that its people’s drink of choice would be tea. That may have been true in the past, but in the late 1800s, King Gojong was introduced to coffee by the Russians and was quick to start importing the stuff into Korea. Since then, its people …
Updated: 25 January 2012 You’re tired of your day job. Or, you’ve just graduated and can’t seem to land a job due to the economy. Maybe you just want to see other parts of the world. So… what to do? Teach English! Teaching English abroad can be an excellent way to experience a different culture …
It’s holiday time across the world and people everywhere are celebrating. Including Korea. It’s my second holiday season in Seoul and I’m once again finding ways to incorporate traditions which I’ve grown up with into the practices and customs here. I’m not alone, either. In fact, the expat group here in Seoul is quite tight-knit …
Six sumo wrestling tournaments are held in Japan every year and only three of those are in Tokyo. Seeing as I was in Tokyo when one of them was being held, I decided that it would be wrong of me to pass up a once in a lifetime chance to experience this quintessential Japanese tradition. …
Despite the nation’s rapidly changing society and uber-modern facade, tradition still remains to be an important thread in the intricately weaved fabric that is Japan. It is noticed in the food, in the clothing, in the sports, and in the very movement of its people. Yet, tradition makes its strongest presence in Japan’s most familiar, …
Tokyo wouldn’t be the same without its legendary skyline of flashing signs of neon and seemingly indecipherable characters, at least to us Westerners. Yet, in a city where uniform electronics shops, yakitori vendors, and kareoke rooms adorn every street block, sits a neighborhood bursting with character and personality, unique in every meaning of the word. …
Japan. We’re all at least a bit acquainted with the Land of the Rising Sun, whether it be through our familiarity of WWII, fighting samurais, sushi, or flashing neon. Whatever images are conjured up in our minds does not dispute the fact that Japan is a nation of rich history, culture, mystery, and beauty. So, …
McLeod Ganj is a suburb of Dharamsala, a market town in northern India, situated in the beautiful Himalayan Mountains. It’s most well known for being the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile and the residence of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. Not only is it shrouded with natural beauty, but it is veiled with a …