Last weekend I headed out toward Jeongseon. Jeongseon is in the northeast part of south Korea and is a bit difficult to get to. But, being difficult to get to can be a good thing (i.e., no tourists; no nothing). Jeongseon used to be known for its coal mining, but those mines ran dry (is [...]
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Last year I had the unique opportunity to visit Changdeok Palace at night (it’s very rarely open at night and even then only open to a handful of psychotic fans rushing to get on the sign up page… see those posts here & here). Well, I finally went during the day. It was still amazing. [...]
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I’ve been bad about blogging. I’ve been really involved with my photography, and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to justify blogging about it given that I am on Flickr and Facebook. I suppose I could write about all the things I’ve learned, but that would probably only interest one person. If I were blogging, I [...]
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I’ve left my blog to ruin as of late. It’s because of photography. I’ve become obsessed. It’s only been a few months since I bought my first DSLR camera, but I’m in love. (I have a longer blog post to write about hobbies, but that will have to wait.) Right now, I’m spending all of [...]
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I’m a little late to the game on this one, but when my coworker (here’s his blog) showed me this I couldn’t stop laughing. I couldn’t stop laughing because I see and experience this on an almost daily basis. The sounds they make, their faces, their hand movements. It’s very cute and it reminds me [...]
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If you haven’t been following the Disunion series at nytimes.com, you should be. It is the best thing I’ve read in a long time. Disunion is a serialized set of articles starting with the election of 1860 and following through on an almost daily basis of what happened 150 years ago in the lead up [...]
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I spent my Korean New Year with a Korean family. While it was wholly interesting to see the customs and rituals, the best part was being able to be with a big family enjoying a big holiday. It reminded me of how much I miss my own. Korean New Year, or Seolnal (설날), is probably [...]
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This isn’t that big of a deal, but one of my photos just made it into Groove Magazine. I’m pretty excited because this is a big first for me. :) I’ve been pretty active with the Seoul Photo Club over the last few months and I submitted my photo for the February issue highlighting Korean [...]
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Of all the things to do in Korea, my favorite is quickly becoming doing ANYTHING where there are NOT lots of people. Last year I got to see Changdeokgung Palace (first trip & second trip) in a small group. I also visited Hahoe Village on eve of one of the biggest holidays so no one [...]
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Byeongsan Seowon is a Confucian school in Andong, Korea, first established in 1613 during Korea’s Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). Even though I lived in Andong for a year, I never made it out there because it is almost impossible to reach unless you have a car. It is just a few kilometers away from the UNESCO [...]
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I was supposed to be vacationing on my favorite island in sunny (and hot) Philippines… instead I’m stuck in Korea (thank you Confucius) in 10°F weather going to empty beach towns. I’ve always been drawn to the places that were once the center of attention, but are now… disregarded. I’ll never forget my parents taking [...]
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Seoul is colder than it has been in 10 years. The rest of country is worse. Yesterday, it was -17.8°C (-0.4°F)… but with high winds the “feels like” temperature was -22°C (-7.6°F). My windows are frozen on the inside. So, mom and dad, please stop complaining when it dips into the 30s back home! Here [...]
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It’s been incredibly cold this year in Korea. And while I generally prefer cold weather to hot, I don’t like biting cold, which is what it has been for the last several weeks. It snowed some this week and a couple of my friends were nice enough allow me to take some photos. You can [...]
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Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson is an excellent book for those interested in learning more about the basics of photography… and especially those who have an expensive DSLR camera lying around but can only use it in Auto mode. I have been trying to learn more about photography, and in that process I picked up [...]
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March 15, 1960: Election Day in Korea. In Masan, over one thousand protesters gathered as it became increasingly clear that the election for President and Vice President was rigged. The military opened fire, blacked out the city, and called for US Marines to help damper the protest. On April 11, the body of a high [...]
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Yesterday I wrote about the top 10 posts of 2010. To be honest, they weren’t my favorites. I liked a few of them… and some of them I was amazed got read at all. So, here are 5 of my favorite posts that I think should be in the top 10. I loved these posts. [...]
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With my blog, I am obsessed with the data and stats about the visitors. I check it multiple times a day. I try to look at each post and figure out from the data what worked for one and didn’t work for another. I love knowing that this December I got 724% more visitors and [...]
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For Christmas I went down to Masan, which is a fishing town on the far southern side of the Korean peninsula. I spent a good deal of time walking around the fish market. All of the ”shop” owners kept laughing at me wondering why I was taking pictures of their dead fish… But everyone [...]
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A few weeks ago I posted about my happiness chart and how I grade myself each week on certain categories. They are fairly basic things… being healthy, reading, sleeping, being social, etc. I’ve been thinking about adding some new categories, particularly about close friends and family. Right now, I only have one category that involves [...]
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As a child (and adult) my favorite cereal was (is) Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Therefore, I do not need to explain why Starbuck’s-like coffee shops in Korea are inherently better than Starbuck’s-like coffee shops in America (see photo above). That is all.
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