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Seodaemun Prison History Museum: A Complete Visitor’s Guide
There are numerous museums in the capital city of Seoul in Korea with some devoted to the arts, history, and science, but there are also museums devoted to the numerous wars that have befallen the country. Whether you’re a tourist or someone coming to live in Korea for even a short amount of time, you’ll hear about the wars and if you want to learn more about what happened in Korea, there are a few great places to check out. Seodaemun Prison History Museum (서대문형무소역사관) is a former colonial-era prison turned museum in Seoul’s Independence Park, where Korean independence activists were imprisoned, tortured, and executed under Japanese rule. This park…
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The Flower That Doesn’t Wilt: I’m The Evidence
This month at Seodaemun Prison in Seoul there is an added exhibition titled The Flower That Doesn’t Wilt: I’m the Evidence. The exhibit is a collection of comics by 14 different artists that depicts different aspects of the lives of the comfort women from the past, the present and into the future and it is powerful. Learn more about the halmoni and the history of comfort women during the Korean War in Korea. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.) The artists did not hold back with…
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7 Places to Understand the Korean War (Not Just the DMZ)
Most people who spend any real time in Korea, visiting or living here, eventually run into references to war, usually the Korean War, sometimes WWII, sometimes one of the many conflicts with Japan. Signs at historic sites mention buildings burnt down during a Japanese invasion before being rebuilt. Political tension between North and South Korea is a constant, quiet reminder that the Korean War never officially ended. The short version: the Korean War ran from June 1950 to July 1953, when North Korea invaded the South. UN forces, led largely by the US, fought alongside South Korea; China backed the North. It ended not with a peace treaty but with…
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Couples In Korea & Money: Can We Open a Joint Account?
After we were married, we headed to the bank with the purpose of opening up a joint account in Korea. As newlyweds we didn’t really know what we were doing, but I was sure if we were married, we should have a bank account with both of our names on it. That would make it truly official, right? If anything, I thought, this would be important in case of an emergency or accident so that either one of us would have access to enough money if we needed it. Little did I know how silly it was to think opening a joint account in Korea would be so easy. (This…
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Korean Husband Allowance: How Married Couples Split Money in Korea
“How much allowance will you give your husband after you get married?” Allowance? Husband? Why were these two words in one sentence, I wondered. When you get married in Korea, you might get asked some interesting questions about who controls the money in your relationship and if you’re the wife, you may be asked if you give your husband an allowance. This was news to me after I married my Korean husband and just had to learn more. Who handles the money in the relationship in Korea? (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost…
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Pia Watching In a Small Hall
In a somewhat small concert hall set down very close to the bridge heading south over the Han River near Hapjeong Station, mostly girls, and a few guys they’d drug along, filed down the staircase to the hall to find their numbered seats to see Pia. Pia had already played here in 아르떼홀 both Friday and Saturday night and were rounding out the weekend with one last concert. The fans found their seats and it was clear this was a show for those hoping to get some pictures of one of their favorite Korean bands and not a show for their die-hard moshing fans that attend shows in bigger places…
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Why Korean Mother-in-laws Are The Best
Korean mother-in-laws are by far the best mother-in-laws to have. Okay, my title is misleading and the first sentence may or may not be entirely true and that picture is NOT of my mother-in-law. I only have experience with one mother-in-law, from here on out MIL, in particular and she just happens to be Korean because I just happened to fall in love with a man who is Korean, but she is pretty great. Korean mother-in-law’s get a pretty bad wrap in Korean dramas so I wanted to share some positive attributes that my own has shown me. The tales of evil or mean MILs seem to abound, but where…
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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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Chueotang: Korean Loach Soup and Why Koreans Love It
There have been a few times in Korea when I was glad I wasn’t told what I was eating until after I’d finished. Chueotang (추어탕), also written chuotang, was one of those times. Usually the issue with Korean food is just the translation. Who wants to hear they’re eating a cow’s third stomach? The translations are never as appetizing as the dishes themselves. With chueotang, it’s not even the translation. It’s just the name of the fish. Called mud fish stew or loach fish soup in English, chueotang looks like mud and arrives at the table that same muddy brown color. And yet it’s one of my favorite Korean soups.…
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Visit A Temple in Taebaek: Mandeoksa
While I tend to save temple visiting to spring in Korea due to how beautiful they are with the lanterns hung in celebration of Buddha’s birthday, I don’t just pass them by if I have the time and it’s not spring. While we were in Taebaek for the beautiful Taebaek Snow Festival, I spotted a temple nearby. Since we were spending the day in the area, we decided to stop into Mandeoksa (만덕사). The golden statues at the entrance were beckoning and we couldn’t say no. Wondering what to see in Taebaek? Or want to do more when you head to the area for winter fun? Maybe a temple stop…
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Tteokguk: The Korean New Year Soup That Makes You a Year Older
Happy Seollal, or Lunar New Year! 새해복 많이 받으세요. It is the Lunar New Year in Korea and people around the country will be eating tteokguk. If you’ve learned Korean or are learning Korean, this is a great time to learn a little saying that relates to tteokguk. Tteokguk is a rice cake soup that is a must eat this holiday in Korea and it also relates to your age… you’ll see. You probably didn’t know the tteokguk on the table meant more than just filling your belly: (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. Thank you…
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The Taebaek Snow Festival: Snowy Fun In Korea
The Taebaek Snow Festival (태백산 눈축제) is one of the most popular winter festivals in South Korea. Every winter in Korea, this quiet mountainside town becomes home to snow and ice sculptures, winter sports, traditional and not so traditional cultural performances and more. Located in the picturesque Taebaek Mountain range, the area often sees some of the heaviest and most reliable snowfall in Korea. If you’re looking for where to find snow in Korea, the Taebaek Mountains are the ideal destination with abundant snowfall and breathtaking scenery. Taebaek will be cold, crisp, and full of beautiful and playful scenery. Here’s what to expect: (This post contains affiliate links, which means…
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The Korean Karaoke: What To Expect In The Noraebang
A visit to Seoul is not complete without a Korean karaoke experience. Unlike the west where you find karaoke bars and you’ll be singing to a room of strangers, in Korea, karaoke, or noraebang is a much more intimate experience. Step into a private room with your friends, family, or go solo and sing all of your favorite songs. Korean karaoke has been a thing for decades and now it’s becoming a global trend. Find out why. From here on forward, we’ll be using the Korean term for karaoke rooms, noraebang. Learn more: (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you…
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Korean Cooking: A Pickled Ginger Side Dish for the Table
A couple weeks ago I really had a craving for ginger. I love love love ginger, or gari, with sushi and decided I’d make my own pickled ginger side dish for our table. It may not be a normal Korean side dish, but our table has become quite the place for fusion meals. Pasta isn’t complete without some fermented garlic between bites and eggs and hash browns in the morning are pleasantly accompanied by kimchi. I think ginger on the table will be just the thing with fish or chicken or just as a palette cleanser at the end of a meal. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I…
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We’re In The Korea Times Today
Today an article titled “Is dating harder for expat women?” was published in the Korea Times which featured a picture of me and my husband as well as some choice quotes from an over the phone interview I had with the author Kim Young-jin a few months back. The questions centered on why there is much more news about expat men dating Korean women than there is about expat women dating Korean men and how the expat women that have dated Korean men find them. I have to admit that I found the questions awkward because I don’t look at Jae-oo as a Korean man that I’ve married but I…
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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…
