Today is March 1st. I have the day off in honor of the Korean Independence Movement back in 1919. On this day, independence fighters announced Korea’s declaration of independence from Japanese colonialism. There were many demonstrations around the country. In response, Japanese police and military forces killed and injured thousands of unarmed protesters.

I am [...]

Today is the Lunar New Year or as most people know it- the Chinese New Year. Here in Korea we call it the Lunar New Year NOT the Chinese New Year! 2005 is the year of the Rooster.

The Chinese calendar harmonizes both the Lunar cycle and the Solar year by incorporating astronomical observations [...]

A co-worker of mine bought the Chicken Soup for the Soul book in Seoul this week. I used a story from it for my early morning adult class.

One of my students asked me what the title meant. I explained how we eat chicken soup when we are sick back home, so this book is [...]

I think the Korean language is very unique. It sounds completely different then Japanese, Chinese, Thai and every other Asian language. Before coming here I didn’t realize that. I assumed they sounded pretty similar.

We watched a Thai movie on TV a few weeks ago. We were flipping through channels and saw a Thai boxing [...]

This country is confusing. The climate is somewhere between Tulsa and Minneapolis… I guess mid-Missouri. So, you’d think that after so many years of freezing winters and hot summers they’d try to figure out some sort of central air or a heating unit… possibly even a hot water heater. I understand its much cheaper this [...]

I just learned “Joe” from Linkin Park is Korean-American. Good to know.

Thanks for the comments everyone- I was starting to feel like no one was reading. Good thing I didn’t start dissing everyone back home.

Ginga- we haven’t visited North Korea because it is communist and our countries hate each other. [...]