December 21st: Formalities and honorifics, from Korean Made Easy

by Chris | Dec 21, 2015 | Learning Korean, Life in Korea |

(This is an excerpt from my newest book, Korean Made Easy. More on that in a minute.) About formalities and honorifics Koreans have long followed a fairly strict social hierarchy. While not a religion, the Confucianism mindset still pervades the country today. When...

December 18th: Clothing, from Korean for Tourists

by Chris | Dec 18, 2015 | Life in Korea, South Korea |

(This is an excerpt from the newest book, Korean for Tourists. More about that in a minute.) Clothing Korea remains a trendy place to shop, and a fine place to pick up the high-end names (either the real thing or a very good fake). Do you have…? …있어요?...

December 8th: Yangnyeongsi Herb Market, from 3 Days of Weird Seoul

by Chris | Dec 8, 2015 | Life in Korea |

(This is an excerpt from my newest book, 3 days of Weird Seoul. More on that in a minute.)   Yangnyeongsi Herb Market and Museum Jegi-2-dong, Dongdaemun-gu (GPS: 37.577761, 127.037625) No, not that kind of herb. It’s the smell you’ll first notice – an...

Coming to Asia: the 10 immutable laws of traveling in Asia

by Chris | Jan 21, 2015 | Life, Life in Korea, Thailand, Tips | 2 comments

Having lived in South Korea from 2008 to March 2013 and Thailand from then until now, I’ve heard and read lots of advice: don’t drink the tap water (in most cases), be aware of your surroundings, don’t flash your expensive baubles, and so on....

Coming to Korea: saving money, being happy, and 8 other tips to getting started in Korea

by Chris | Jan 9, 2015 | Life in Korea | 1 comment

This post may come across as rather ironic, seeing as how I left Korea in March 2013, but the advice is still true. In no particular order: 1. Learn hangeul. The Korean alphabet, designed by King Sejong and/or his royal assistants, was designed centuries ago to be...

8 Questions You Probably Had About ‘The Interview’ But Were Too Afraid To Ask

by Chris | Dec 26, 2014 | Life in Korea, Opinion |

WARNING: Massive spoilers ahead – if you haven’t seen the movie and want to be surprised, go check out some beaches.  So ‘The Interview’ went live online on Christmas Day 2014 and in some movie theaters – even with all the hype about the...

On “The Shameful Reality of Tourism in Korea”

by Chris | Sep 19, 2014 | Life in Korea, Opinion, Seoul | 2 comments

Even a year and a half after leaving Korea, there’s a soft spot in my heart for the country. I wouldn’t say I miss it, but I still see plenty of friends from Korea on Facebook. It’s with that background that this story came out as a bit shocking, to...

The ultimate guide to HWP files – the mid-2014 edition

by Chris | May 21, 2014 | Life in Korea, Teaching | 2 comments

Few things are worse than a file you can’t open. Even though I’m no longer in Korea, I still come across the occasional HWP that needs to be opened or worked with. (For anyone coming across this post and wondering ‘what’s an HWP?’,...

Korean movies for people who don’t like international films – the darker side

by Chris | Feb 14, 2014 | Fun stuff, Life, Life in Korea, Reviews |

As mentioned in the first part, Netflix’s collection of international movies is quite amazing. Since you’re unlikely to fawn over foreign films in the break room (or hear much about them before watching a Western movie), I invite you to give some of these...

Korean movies for people who don’t like international films – the lighter side

by Chris | Feb 12, 2014 | Fun stuff, Life, Life in Korea, Reviews |

For those of you lucky enough to have Netflix, a plethora of movies awaits. You already knew that, but I’d bet the term ‘international film’ or ‘foreign film’ brings to mind some artsy fartsy movies that win awards and put you to sleep....