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Valentine’s Day, White Day & The 13 Other Romantic Holidays In Korea
Did you know there are fifteen couples holidays in Korea? If you’re dating in Korea or get into a relationship with a Korean, you might just want to know when to get all romantic. Valentine’s Day is the day that people around the world know about, but there are plenty of other days on the calendars of Korean couples where they can profess their love, smooch it up, or just do something together. From the official celebrations to the unofficial Korean holidays, here’s when they are and what you should do if you want to celebrate in Korea… or just Korean style. Here are the unofficial (and some official) holidays…
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My Top Ten Adventures of 2014!
This year was full of new adventures for me and for my husband and not all of them included travel. I used to think traveling someplace new was all an adventure could be but, this year I learned that adventures can come in all shapes and sizes and experiences. 1. New Orleans, Louisiana: For our trip home this year we didn’t exactly go home. Instead of heading to my home state of Ohio, we headed to the Big Easy with my family to celebrate some big birthdays. We enjoyed the beautiful historic buildings and homes that lined the streets of the French Quarter and filled our bellies with the very filling…
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Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas From My Family to Yours Twas Christmas morning and all through the house were the sounds of laughter and glee from me, to our new baby and even my spouse. Of course we’d awoken a couple times in the night to cries from the little one but nothing would keep us from smiling bright. We’d invited some friends to join us for a drink and a meal and soon they’d be here to eat, sing and squeal. Ornaments were hung in the window with care and a little tree sat on the table just there. Our little babe was dressed anew, got a massage and a clean diaper too. We’d cooked the…
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A Look Back: Our Korean Wedding Ceremony
Three years ago at the end of October, my family from the States arrived to Seoul and we made our way down to Busan to prepare for my first wedding ceremony to my husband. Though it’s not our “official” anniversary because we chose our subsequent American wedding ceremony date in January, that doesn’t stop us from receiving a card yearly from my grandmother wishing us a “Happy Anniversary” in October. Every year about this time, the leaves begin to change colors and I am taken back to images of the colorful Hanbok that I wore for our ceremony surrounded by family and friends outside on a gorgeous day with blue…
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The Military Invasion of Jeju Island
Most people that head to Jeju Island, known as the peace island, go with the intention of seeing the beautiful scenery from waterfalls and green tea fields to black lava sand beaches and palm tree lined lanes. Honeymooners go for romance and tourists go for scenery. With the tallest mountain in the country being the biggest draw by far for everyone from the avid hiker to the average Joe just out to get a jaunt and see some views, it’s a wonder that there hasn’t been more done to protect the island from military invasion. Though protesters in the small town of Gangjeong, meaning “Village of Water”, on the southern…
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Saving Money the Multicultural Family Style in Korea
Banks are a fickle sort, aren’t they? After finishing up a two year savings CD in Korea, we were looking into another one and I heard through the multicultural family grapevine, over which much information is passed, that there were CDs especially available for us with higher interest rates. What? Did multicultural savings accounts in Korea exist two years ago too? They indeed had. Why hadn’t the bank teller mentioned this when it was clear that a multicultural family was sitting in front of her? Questions such as this and many more were answered on a recent trip to a branch of Kookmin Bank. Yes, this type of savings account…
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Rocking Out with a New Member!
Some if you might be thinking it’s about time, while others had no idea this was coming. The last three months have been a compilation of excitement, exhaustion and empathy with a being I haven’t even had the pleasure of meeting yet. The feelings of lethargy overtook me when I would usually be bounding out the door to somewhere or another. Luckily, there wasn’t morning sickness to speak of just some nausea at the smell of… well I’m still not sure what was causing it. My husband was on top of things with iron heavy seaweed soup to help me cope and boost my energy and our cats couldn’t keep away from…
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Bitter, Sweet, Seoul
If you have an hour to spare and I hope you do, this is what you should watch today. Culling together clips from over 11,000 videos submitted, directors Park Chan Wook and Park Chan Kyong, known together as PARKing CHANce, made this movie using 141 clips from Korean and international submissions to represent Seoul and I think they did an amazing job. It’s not just the pretty view of the city or even the pretty people of the city, it’s real life and real moments with black and white clips of historical moments in Korea from archives to today. There are the kind people we meet on the streets and…
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It’s Our Cotton Anniversary & Finding A Home In Korea
Today is our second wedding anniversary! Time really flies when you’re having fun. I hadn’t even realized the cotton anniversary was upon us until it was here. Has it really been two years? Yes, it has and this year we’re thankful for not only each other but also moving into a new place where we can cozy up on our couch in our pajamas together to call our home for the foreseeable future. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. These funds go to maintain the site. Thank you for your support.) Waking up in a place…
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My Top Ten Adventures of 2013!
2013 was a great year for traveling. Not only did I get to see some fantastic places in Korea, but I also enjoyed quite a few trips abroad. Here are the top 10 places, here and abroad, that I saw in 2013. What a year! 1. Fukuoka, Japan: We started off the year with a trip to Fukuoka, Japan in February. It seems as the end of winter nears we always start to get a little cabin fever, not that we live in a cabin, or that we completely hibernate all winter, but we just need to get away. I had been to Fukuoka before, as had my husband, but this…
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The Addresses They Are A Changin’ in Korea
Have you been getting letters in the mail in Korean and you can’t read anything except that you see your address is printed in the center or at the bottom with an arrow to another address? Have you been getting emails from your bank telling you to go online or to your nearest branch and update your address to the new system? You may have gotten an English letter from the immigration office some time back if they have your updated address on file, which they always should. Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t, or maybe you have and you didn’t realize it. The addresses are about to change big…
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Our Christmas Story In Korea
Twas the night before Christmas, and next to the tree the husband and cats were fast asleep awaiting the arrival of he. Who was the “he” that they waited for there? The postman of course, as Santa hasn’t found us since we were in daycare. The tree was done up with ornaments and lights, and the star was on top leaning slightly to the right. The handmade stockings were hung on the TV stand just there, and we were sure the cats would attack them with flare. The postman did not arrive as timely as we’d hoped, and as Christmas morning dawned, we could only cope. Our friends would be…
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My Korean Mother-In-Law’s First Visit
On my way home from work this afternoon, my husband called and told me his father would be coming to the city to go to a tax office and may possibly be staying the night at our house. Our house? Possibly? Of course, my husband is currently in a van on his way out of the city for a concert, so just me and his dad. This scenario reminded me of the one and only time his mother visited us just before we got married. There are a lot of stories about mother-in-law’s and when it comes to Korean mother-in-law’s, well, the stories aren’t usually that good. To be honest,…
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First Meeting: The Korean Women of the Family
Two weeks ago, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law both called to ask what I wanted for my birthday. I’m getting better at telling them what I need, because I’ve realized when left to their own devices they get me things that aren’t me at all either because what they’re giving me is what Korean family members usually give each other, or they just don’t know me all that well due to the obvious language differences. I’m still not sure which is the case, to be honest. I can explain things in Korean until I’m blue in the face, but when it comes to showing my personality, my real personality, it’s a…
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Memories of Our Wedding
I can’t believe one year has already gone by. It feels like this happened just yesterday. Oh the memories of that beautiful day with wonderful people, delicious food, joyous music and such happiness surrounding us all. A poem by Khalil Gibran, read at our ceremony and introduced to me by my grandmother when I was in high school. ~On Marriage~ You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance…
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A Korean in an American Wedding Ceremony
Back in October of 2011 when Jae-oo and I were first wed, we were in Busan, South Korea and had opted for a very traditional styled Korean wedding with hanboks and lots of bowing. I blogged about it at the time, as my blog is all about my adventures here in Korea, but neglected to blog about my American wedding ceremony some months later in Ohio. Blogging about something that seemed so normal and uninteresting culturally didn’t strike my fancy. Recently, however, Jae-oo and I celebrated our one year anniversary and talked about that American wedding ceremony, as that was the date we opted to go with for our anniversary. Many…