I love the markets in Korea. Markets in America = Wal-Mart (unless you want to argue about a three person farmer’s market that might come once a week). In Korea, markets are intense with people selling all kinds of foods… vegetables, beef, pig heads, dogs, etc. This is Garak Market in the South of Seoul. [...]
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If you’ve known me longer than 5 minutes, then you’ve most likely been forced to look at one of my many spreadsheets. I put everything in spreadsheets: from simple things like bills and weight loss to more complex equations like which city to move to and what camera to buy. When I read GRETCHEN! Rubin’s [...]
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I love T-ara. Their first album had more good songs than most Kpop groups or American pop singers put out in 3 years (see Like the First Time, I Go Crazy Because of You, I’m Really Hurt, Bo Peep Bo Peep, Apple is A, and TTL)… even my Mom likes to break down with the [...]
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Overall grade: 95 Acting: 4/5 Directing: 5/5 Writing: 5/5 Filming: 5/5 I finally got around to seeing The Housemaid (2010). Before talking about the movie, I must encourage everyone to watch the first 5 minutes. It is one of the best dissections of Korean night life I’ve ever seen. As for the movie, it was [...]
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I finally got around to seeing The Housemaid (2010). Before talking about the movie, I have to encourage people to watch the first 5 minutes. It is one of the best dissections of Korean night life I’ve ever seen. It has almost everything: singing rooms, fish restaurants, barbecue coals, ahjummas doing back-breaking work, ahjummas speed [...]
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A few days ago I was with some friends while a TV was on in the background. Midway through some Christian telling me how Howard Zinn couldn’t possibly be a Christian (I assume due to his anti-war, anti-poverty, and anti-slavery positions), I was given the opportunity to completely tune the guy out (allowing him, the [...]
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By chance (i.e., human error) I was able to go back to the moonlight tour of Changdeokgoong (Changdeok Palace) with a couple of friends. Changdeokgoong was one of the main palaces of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). It was completed in 1412, and while only 30% of the original palace remains, it is still a sight [...]
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Bruce Cumings’ The Korean War: A History (July 2010) is worth a read if you’re looking for a quick (288 pages) primer. The Korean War (1950-1953) is often referred to as the Forgotten War… and for good reason. There’s not much good to come out of it on the American side (we lost, we helped [...]
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31 is my favorite number. And 31 is the birthday I’ve been waiting for for years. Last year I wrote how excited I was to turn 30, and that was true… I couldn’t wait to be liberated from the terrible twenties. But the big one for me is 31. This last year has been very [...]
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I love helping people with technology decisions. Rather, I love spewing my opinions onto anyone who mentions anything remotely related to a technology decision. This being said, I cannot believe I haven’t mentioned my camera until now. When I got back from the Philippines last Spring, I was so upset because I had to get [...]
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I have been rather busy lately. I started studying Korean at a private academy (or hagwon), which has taken all of my money and all of my time. But, I’m really enjoying it. I am thinking of buying a new camera and I can’t decide on the Canon 60D or the Nikon d7000. The Nikon [...]
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When I first moved to Korea over a year ago, I did not understand all the cuteness. Now, after succumbing to Oh! and Balloons (quite possibly the cutest thing ever) and countless other cute things, I think it’s time I fully embraced my love of Korean cuteness. I love Girls Generation‘s new video, Hoot. It bothered [...]
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I went to Nami Island this weekend with two friends (who write the very funny and frank blog, Shotgun Korea). I love the Fall. It is my favorite season, and so happy that I get to see beautiful places like this. The only drawback was that out of the 5,488 people there, I was evidently [...]
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Cousin Emily suggested I read Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project ($15 @ Barnes & Noble). It is a book about the author’s one year project to make herself happier. As GRETCHEN! says (she’s so high-strung I can only think of her in ALLCAPS and exclamation points), sometimes we aren’t happy doing the things that [...]
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I went to Buseoksa (or Buseok Temple)… it was incredible. It is one of the most beautiful temples I’ve seen in Korea (along with Naksansa and Donghwasa) sitting in the beautiful mountains of the Northern Gyeongsang province. The history of the temple is quite impressive. It was originally built in 676 AD during the Silla Dynasty [...]
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I had the rare opportunity to visit Changdeok Palace at night. The Palace is normally closed at night as it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has limited electricity. It was one of the best things I’ve done since moving to Korea. It was incredible. They only allowed 100 people in this tour, and [...]
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It’s no secret that I’m afraid of other Westerners (i.e., white people) in Korea. I don’t like being around them, and I try to avoid them most of the time. I know I’m missing out on a lot of potentially great friendships, but I’ve had some bad experiences… The two hours before my Korean language class, [...]
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After my plans of going to the countryside were thwarted by thousands of festival-goers, I quickly went online to find the nearest cultural landmark to my house (one great thing about Korea is that you’re almost never more than a few minutes away from a National Treasure, temple, or cultural asset). So, I went to [...]
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I have never known what MSG was. I knew through osmosis that it was supposed to be really bad for you, and I just assumed that the trial lawyers had taken care of the “problem.” I never imagined that it would be sold in the grocery store by my house and I never imagined that [...]
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Can’t Nobody is my new favorite Kpop song. I got the 2NE1 CD a few weeks ago (along with a poster and school folder!), but am just now really listening to it. I love it… it’s fun, it’s catchy… and it’s much more interesting than most girl groups in Korea.
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