The Korean mindset and locus of control
I’ve often heard Koreans say some version of “되면 하는 거고 말면 말고”, which directly translated means “if things work out we do so and so, and if things don’t […]
Comedy in Korea
It’s nothing new that humor, comedy and what is generally considered funny is quite different from one culture to the next. Naturally, you’d then expect the Korean sense of humor […]
Korean buzzwords: Gapjil
Korean media have been reporting heavily on gapjil (갑질) over the past few weeks. The word is a fairly newly coined term consisting of the word 갑 (甲) literally meaning the […]
Writing emails in Korean – A quick guide
Several of you have requested that I do a blog post on writing emails in Korean. So, naturally, I’m happy to accommodate your kind request. I write emails in Korean […]
The Korean gender war
While the eyes of the world may be on Korea for an entirely different war, the current internal situation on the peninsula is boiling. It’s the guys against the girls […]
Korean soldiers
When you live in South Korea you can sometimes feel like you live on an army base. There are soldiers everywhere and although I never felt unsafe living on the […]
Teaching ethics in Korea
This week I attended several workshops on teaching methods and teaching ethics here at Sogang University. We’re still in the middle of the winter break, which is always unusually long […]
Saju – Korean fortune telling
Yesterday I tried visiting a saju cafe for the first time in my life. Before I delve into my experience, let me just briefly explain what saju means. Saju, in Korean 사주 […]
The Korean national anthem
Wow, it apparently took me almost two weeks of 2018 before I finally got around to updating my blog. Happy (very belated) new year. I also just realized that I […]
Cultural fatigue?
I just ordered a pizza online. No biggie, I do that at least once a month. Only this time, I wanted to try out a new place and ended up […]
Random things I’ve noticed while living in Korea, part 2
A year ago, I wrote my first random things post, and since I notice small Korean quirks every week, I figured it was time for the second installment. The big […]
A Korean promise
As I continue to learn about this incredible and often completely impossible country, one thing seems to always hold. It’s so hard to make a Korean stick to a promise. […]
My perfect weekend in Seoul
With my husband away on a trip to Japan, and my best Korean friends busy with midterms, entry exams and dating (they each know who they are), I had the […]
Gender roles, sexism, and feminism in Korea
Yesterday, I went to the teacher’s lounge for a cup of coffee, when I met one of my older male colleagues. He asked me how I had spent my Chuseok […]
The ordeal of young Koreans
Whenever I tell people here in Korea how I got my job at Sogang, most people have a hard time believing my story. I sent an unsolicited application with all […]
Work hard!
I just went to the faculty lounge to get a cup of coffee, when I ran into the cleaning lady who was sweeping the floor. While waiting for my coffee […]
Sofie to Korea 