This is one of my younger classes — 제우스 (translated Jeuseu, which means “Zeus”). Last Friday we played a few games and and I brought in some dduk filled with bean paste (dduk is a kind of dumpling made with rice flour). They really liked it and were quite cute about it. What confused me [...]
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When I moved to Korea, one thing that stood out for me was the fact that there were a very large number of lingerie/underwear stores. There are more small businesses everywhere given that they don’t purchase everything at Wal-Mart and Target… but there are A LOT of lingerie shops ranging from the simple to the [...]
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I went hiking this weekend. Well, hiking is not a good word to use… it was more like a long walk. However, the lack of hills and strenuous terrain did not stop everyone else from donning their Gore-Tex jump suits and trekking poles. I also love the, quite large, amount of pink and red jackets
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For my entire life, I’ve longed to be the most popular kid in school. It’s a position I have coveted since age 3. At first I took the academic track to popularity. Unfortunately, around the age of 18 I realized that making good grades does not make one popular. But today, I made it! Cousin [...]
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When you live in Korea, you become completely inundated with Kpop. This basically means that in any given month there will be several popular songs that you hear ALL THE TIME! I know we think this happens in America when pop groups gain fleeting popularity, but please understand, IT IN NO WAY COMPARES TO KOREA. [...]
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This weekend I went to the Andong Folk Village, which is a collection of homes, cultural assets, and historical artifacts from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) and the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Most of these buildings were moved to its current location when the Andong Dam was built in 1976 so that they would not be submerged. [...]
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My new favorite thing in life are the doors that you don’t have to hold for people. WHY has this invention not made it to anywhere I ever lived until now?!? I hate those awkward moments when you have to stop, hold the door, pretend you like doing it, and then make eye contact! Is [...]
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When I was about to leave Andong Folk Village, there was a nice little cultural center with more information. Outside, they had speakers disguised as swans playing music… they were playing Beyonce. And not just any Beyonce, it was Crazy in Love… quite possibly the most ghetto-fabulous song/video ever. I couldn’t help but laugh… and [...]
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My new favorite thing in life are bedazzled ties. I see them everywhere. In fact, it took some a bit of searching for me to find a tie that was not bedazzled. Of course, I think I only love them because I know I could never wear them (they don’t go with plaid). Here’s the [...]
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I half expected it to be like Colonial Williamsburg, but that was far from the case. Apart from being a lot older, the village has never been invaded, so the houses are in their original structures. And, unlike Williamsburg there aren’t any historical actors with fake accents pretending to churn butter… in fact, you really can’t go in to any of the houses because people still live there. According to their website, 176 families live in Hahoe Village.
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My new least favorite thing in life are the stairs behind my apartment that have a hand rail wrapped in barbed wire. Some of you may know that as a singular statistic, I fall down stairs way more than any normal person should. So whenever I walk down stairs I’m gripping that rail Britney on [...]
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Several folks asked about the slippers, so I thought I’d get a Korean to explain. Woon-ji was wonderful enough to stop by this morning and give a quick explanation of slipper use (in between packing for school and getting her visa… nothing big… ). I had hoped that there was an ancient story involving a [...]
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Upon arriving in Korea I came across a lot of new stuff… but my favorite BY FAR are the elevators with the buttons that you can press and then un-press. Don’t be jealous the next time you accidentally push the wrong button and everyone starts judging you (because they do judge). Of course, I realize [...]
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I’ve finished my first week in Andong, Korea (well, work week), and things are moving along well. I’ll skip the boring stuff, but work went well, and I got my papers through immigration. The bestest news is that I moved into my apartment after a week at the Hotel 9, which seems to specialize in [...]
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