Kimchibytes

Are You a Runaway Or Just Brave?

It pains me to admit that it still surprises me just how many foreigners I come across in South Korea who are exposed to one of three stereotypes about why we’re here. The pigeonholing usually comes from well-meaning friends and family still in their home country. They are either asked what they are running away from, put on a pedestal of bravery that they could never muster up, or that they’ve consumed too much K-pop and K-dramas and have culturally lost their mind. Why does this happen?

What To Do If You Can’t Access Your Money While Traveling

It’s happened, one of your worst travel nightmares. You’re preparing to buy a new trinket or pay for the meal you’ve just finished and your bank card is declined. You’re confident you have money in the account but for the life of you, that debit card or credit card isn’t working now. Or, you’ve been…

The Last Living Heir of the Joseon Dynasty

On a recent lazy weekend, I came across some figurative living history that blew my mind: there is a living royal from the Joseon Dynasty in Korea. Within the city of Jeonju, a man lives as the last piece in Korea to its last and longest-ruling imperial family. And it gets better: the historical bloodline…

What I Learned Traveling Overseas for the First Time

Note: This guest post is not an endorsement of any travel or airfare websites or services. I’m a simple guy, not really on social media or things like that much, but I wanted to share what I learned. I’m from the midwest, a small town in Ohio actually. I didn’t travel much before coming to…

A day in the cabin of a Korean artist

It is Independence Day in South Korea. This is a red day for many public school teachers. Yes, we have a day to ourselves. Many of my colleagues and I intended on having a hike in our local town. Since it was a midweek break, we did not have any intentions of travelling far. We…

The Thing About Vanity

It’s different here. Nor is this a jab at the choices that people are capable of making out of their own free will. It’s an acknowledgment that some norms aren’t norms for everyone. I mean, duh, but when faced with the reality of it, there’s still an Aha! Moment.

Silla

A time-traveling-trek took place this past weekend for myself and two friends. Fresh off of payday and ready to spend our hard earned won (within reason), we planned a day trip from Daegu to Gyeongju to see remnants of the Silla Dynasty. Known as the smallest of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, Silla lacked in…

Drop my Gmarket at the door, PLEASE.

I hate ordering things online. With the exception of a pizza or computer crap from Amazon while in the States, I’m not cut out for it. I prefer to frustrate myself with physically getting up, traveling to a store, finding out that they don’t have what I want in my size/color or the store’s all…

오랜만이다. (It has been long.)

Oh my gosh, it’s been a LONG TIME since a posting has been on the blog! No need to worry, all is fine (…better…not as bad as it was?!?), we’re not abandoning you! There’s much to get caught up on, like the weird types of people you’ll meet who’ve been here “too long” or the…

“Loner Culture”

I came across an article on CNN about something on the rise in South Korea: loner culture. As a certification student at Yonsei University, I’ve come across the topic in my cultural studies course, but I didn’t think that the article would seem so… peculiar… to me. “Culture” is an interesting word. A formal definition…