KoreanClass101.com Blog

Here's another very interesting 간판(store signboard) I found in Seoul, Korea. If you have any interest at all about Japan, you've probably heard of Shinjuku, a major commercial center of Tokyo, Japan. And since Japan and Korea are physically so close, you can say that EVERYBODY in Korea has heard of the name "Shinjuku" or 신주쿠, as it's written in 한글(hangul). But this store cleverly used that fact in making a not-easy-to-forget store name. Before you look at the store name, please look at the pictures below. This is 쭈꾸미(jjukkumi), a kind of octopus, but a smaller kind. 쭈꾸미 is cooked many ways, but mostly with host pepper sauce (고추장) and it's made to be really spicy hot and chewy at the same time. Great taste, and allegedly very... Show more

My wife and I were recently driving through a typical suburban neighborhood when we saw a blond woman pushing a stroller down the sidewalk. My wife was captivated by her to the point that our conversation stopped. Before I could ask her what she was looking at, she said something like, "우와, 여기 미국 사람 있네." And then she laughed because she realized that obviously 미국 사람 should be here as this is 미국!  When we travelled to Korea last year we had a similar experience. We were at a museum and it was full of middle school and elementary school children visiting on a field trip. I think we were in 경주; that seems to be the place to go for extended school field trips. While my dad was enjoying saying hello to all of the students and his new found... Show more

If you really want your Korean learning to start with blazing speeds then you must arm yourself with the soon to be released KoreanClass101.com Box 1 CD Set. We've taken Beginner Season 1, Newbie Season 1, and Audio Blog Season 1 and packaged them all into one amazing CD. Eliminate the slow process of having to download all of the Audio MP3 Lessons, accompanying PDF Lesson Notes, Premium Dialog Tracks, and Premium Review Tracks, and instantly get your hands on practically everything we've released to date. In addition to all the Season 1 Lessons, the CD also includes bonus material, such as the complete "How to Read and Write Hangul" video series, exclusive lessons, outtakes, intros, and much more. Sign up for a new 12-Month Premium... Show more

We spent last weekend at Disneyland. Amazingly, my younger two children did not want to go. My youngest feels clastrophobic in the lines (I don't blame him.) and Alexia would rather hang out with the girls. So it turned out that I went to Disneyland with only Michael and my son. It actually made the park easier to navigate but that is another story. We stayed with some Korean friends while we were in L.A. They live quite close to Disneyland and would have been offended if we came all that way and didn't stay with them. (My sister lives down there too but she was probably relieved that she didn't have to entertain seven extra people!) They have a daughter, five, who didn't speak any English a year ago but now naturally switches between... Show more

It is spring in Korea, and summer is probably just a week or two away.  It makes me think about when I'm planning to leave.  My contract finishes at the end of August.  That's more than 4 months from now, but of course will come much faster than I expect. Anyway, it brings up an important issue regarding the orphanage.  Those kids are used to seeing me on a regular basis over the past two years, and soon enough, I won't be coming around at all.  So I am starting to think about how I can make my exit without causing a lot of trauma.  There isn't a lot of consistency in their lives, and the mere fact thay live at an orphanage means that some deal with abandonment issues, so it is no simple matter to extract myself from their lives and... Show more