KoreanClass101.com Blog

We do a lot of shopping at the local Korean grocery store. It isn't that local--about 40 minutes away--but whenever we are in the neighborhood we stock up on the essentials, namely, 라면, 초코파이, 김, 된장/고추장, and 김치. We typically buy our 김치 rather than make it more out of convenience than anything. My wife does make good 김치 but finding the time to get it all done is the hardest part, so we buy. Usually the 김치 is pretty good, not great, and the flavor changes according to the season. The flavors can change according to what part of the 배추 leaf is used as well. This last bottle of 김치 was not my wife's favorite. She likes the yellow leafy 배추 but that bottle of 김치had green leaves. She said it was not as flavorful and it went sour in a bad way.... Show more

Friday has come around again, and that usually means a story about the orphan children I work with. However, today I want to take the opportunity to tell you about something I got to do last weekend. There are a lot of foreigners in Korea. Many are English teachers. But there are also lots of migrant workers and students from all over the world. When Koreans meet a foreigner who can speak Korean, even something as elementary as 안녕하세요?, they are really impressed. Part of the reason in that the westerners who stick out the most here don't often bother to learn a lot of Korean. If you come to Korea, and start a conversation with a taxi driver, a shop clerk, or a waitress, you are bound to get complimented with "와! 우리말 되게 잘 하시네요!"... Show more

Hi everyone. Back with another Korean 간판(signboard). This is not "funny" but very interesting. I live just across the street from my university so it's very convenient whenever I receive a last-minute phone call to cancel an appointment and also when I want to meet someone around school. One day, a friend of mine from Australia called me and asked, "Do you want to have lunch together?" So I said, "Yes, where shall we meet? Where do you want to go?" So she said that she wanted to go to "김네" but I had never heard of such place near my university so I asked her back, "김네? (wondering what it could mean) Where is it? I don't think I know the place." She sounded surprised that I didn't know this place because it was... Show more

In last week's entry, I mentioned briefly how Korean artists, at least those of the pop music scene, often branch out into acting and other such activities between - or even during - albums. This week, I thought I would expand on that. Something that I always found interesting to note about many artists in the pop music scene is that they aren't just singers, but entertainers. Many of them at least dabble in acting, while many others have an acting career that seems to be as much a priority as their singing career. Their extra activities don't stop there; some of the most popular artists can be seen on variety shows week after week, and many also take up positions as radio show hosts and music program MCs, or even have their own TV... Show more

We spent yesterday travelling to San Francisco to pick up a Korean boy who will be staying with us for the next four months. He is 11 years old (양력으로). To me this seems very young to be away from home for that length of time, especially to be staying with relative strangers. However, as I understand it, this practice is fairly common in Korea. While we are not doing a business, the "home stay" market is quite large. We had two home stay children a couple of years ago with limited success. What I mean by that is that the parents sent their children here to America with the hope that their children's English speaking ability would improve and thus increase their educational opportunities in the future. Most of these programs, as far as I... Show more