Archive for the ‘ Koreans ’ Category
Oh, how we love talking about our experiences with local Koreans. Whether they are holding our hands walking around a lake, cleaning our apartments or trying to shoot us with their guns, it’s fair to say most of our encounters have been friendly and pleasant. Then, there is this. Thank you to my colleague and friend Vanessa for [ READ MORE ]
OK, firstly, allow me to apologise for the lack of recent posts on this website. I guess the main excuse on my part is that this weekend was spent at the infamous Boryeong Mud Festival on Korea’s west coast. I will certainly post some photos and a little bit of commentary, either today or tomorrow. [ READ MORE ]
His Korean name, 김주일 (Kim Ju-Il), is on the back of his pristine white KIA Tigers baseball jersey. He has white baseball pants, a shiny whistle, his hair is shaved short and a microphone is never far from his hands. Dancing in close proximity are the four beautiful cheerleaders. Meet V11. ‘V’ stands for Victory, and 11 is the number [ READ MORE ]
The Korean War began 60 years ago to the day yesterday and has never formally ended. The legacy of these two divided family members has painful foundations, but living in the South, one couldn’t feel less connected to this tension. This is true from both a foreign and Korean perspective. The North, despite the DMZ being [ READ MORE ]
South Korea’s World Cup adventure will begin six days from today when the Republic take on EURO 2004 Champions Greece in Port Elizabeth. Korea’s form, since qualifying from a group containing their Northern neighbours, has been patchy at best, despite an impressive 2-0 win in Japan. They concluded their preparations with narrow defeats to Belarus [ READ MORE ]
If somebody told you Korea had a successful transsexual pop singer and actress would you be surprised? Introducing Harisu (or Ha Ri Soo), the stage name for the woman (and former man) Kyung-Eun Lee. After a talent agency discovered her singing at a nightclub in Japan, Harisu (it is a play on “hot issue” — say [ READ MORE ]
After the old woman cleaning my apartment, the man who held my hand around the reservoir, and the children shouting in the park, I figured Stu and I had exhausted the topic of writing briefly about encounters with local Koreans here in Gwangju. That was until a young boy, no older than ten and with absolutely [ READ MORE ]
While I am far from the flag-waving type, I must say it: these days I’m pleased to be Canadian. This is primarily because I’m in Korea. I get it all the time from the locals in varying degrees: when they see a foreigner like me they often say, “Are you American?”, or “Ah, look an [ READ MORE ]
I don’t have much to say because this is more of a bizarre random experience than anything else, and until Stuart and I start bringing a camera with us everywhere, we might be restricted to minor entries like this. We have often lamented the number of times we have seen something particularly interesting, and worthy [ READ MORE ]
I have been living here for nearly seven months, and whilst I can hardly call myself an expert on all things South Korea, I have managed to detect most of the insanely likable characteristics about the average man and woman on the street. I’m not sure what constitutes ‘average’ exactly, but perhaps it is the [ READ MORE ]