Korean work life
-
Korea’s sampo generation
When living in Korea, you often hear particularly younger people talk about Korea as Hell Joseon, (Joseon being the old name for Korea). Hell Joseon symbolizes the inhumane competition and pressure that many young people are facing during their school years and when searching for a job. Aside from describing the difficulties in getting employment…
-
A day in my Korean campus life
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” is an important line that we’ve all been taught by John Lennon. My recent blog posts were all about the more extraordinary events in my life here in Korea, but let’s not forget that in the end, our lives consist mostly of the small everyday things…
-
My biggest Korean challenge yet
This week I embarked on my biggest Korean challenge yet. A few months ago, the Danish embassy reached out to me with a request. They told me that a delegation of Danish politicians from the employment committee together with the minister of employment would visit South Korea for one week in early March, and that…
-
My Gyeongju getaway and semester start at Sogang
Since last weekend was the last weekend before the new semester, I spontaneously suggested to my husband that we go to Gyeongju in the south-eastern part of the country for a weekend getaway. Well, if you can really call finally getting your lazy butt out of the greater Seoul area after 7 months of living…
-
What makes you happy?
This may seem like a mundane question, but how often do you really think deeply about this? As we go about our lives, it happens much too often that we fail to pause and really think about what truly makes us happy. In the end, finding out which things make you happy and putting in…
-
Could you speak up, please? Korean speech levels
This post is motivated by some questions I’ve received here on the blog. How exactly does age and social status determine how people speak to each other in Korean? Since this is a quite technical matter, I’ll try to make it as simple as possible using my own experiences from different situations and interactions here…
-
A trip to Suwon
Having been busy with work in Seoul over the past couple of months, I rarely had the chance to get out of the city. This changed last week, when I went to Suwon for the very first time. Part of my husband’s job while we’re here in Korea is to develop exchange programs between his…
-
Busy but happy in Seoul
This week is by far the busiest week I have experienced since moving to Seoul. One of my friends from Denmark is visiting this week, and that has been an excellent excuse to tour the city. She’s actually here on business, but nonetheless we’ve managed to spend two days together. I greatly enjoy sightseeing in Seoul,…
-
Adapting to life in Seoul
I’ve almost been here six weeks now, and I’m happy to report that I’m adapting to life here more easily than I had imagined. Seoul definitely feels like home in a strange way, I can’t quite explain. While I’m doing the same kind of job as I did back home, I still feel that my everyday…
-
Class is in session
This morning I taught my very first class at Sogang University. I’ve been looking forward to this day for quite some time, and I’ve been preparing for ages. Usually, when I’m teaching a new class I’m always a bit nervous, but somehow today was different. I felt oddly at home in the tiny Korean classroom, and all…
Sofie to Korea 