Frustrations
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How fast can you lose a language?
In less than a week I’ll once more be jetting off to Seoul and I’m beyond excited. I’ve already spent two months away from my second home and I cannot wait to go back to all my favorite cafes, my favorite restaurants and, well, my favorite people! When I first arrived back in Denmark, I…
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Experiencing reverse culture shock and… Now what?
I’ve been back in Denmark for almost two weeks now, and I’m slowly, very slowly, starting to settle down here. While I’ve landed physically, I’m mentally still in Korea (who knows if that will ever change?), and I’ve been struggling more than expected in coping with returning to Denmark after two years in Korea. My…
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What I look forward to about leaving Korea
A week ago I booked my flight home, so now it’s official. I’m leaving Korea at the end of next month just 5 days shy of my second anniversary of living in Korea. Living in Korea for two years has been a crazy rollercoaster ride and so are my feelings about leaving. While I still…
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Well-intentioned(?) Korean racism
Disclaimer: This blog post is not intended as a criticism of Korean society, nor am I in any way implying that Koreans are racist in general. It’s merely a compilation of racially biased experiences that I have had while living in Korea. Having gone from being an ethnic majority in Denmark to definitely being a…
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Does being a native speaker make you unqualified to teach?
I’ve recently had several encounters where I’ve tried to teach some basic Danish to Koreans. (A fun video should be up on YouTube in a few weeks, and I’ll be sure to link to it when it’s up.) Usually, their pronunciation is scaringly accurate, but I find that when they ask me questions about Danish…
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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. Like I’ve mentioned before, good intentions are everything in Korean culture. Saying you’ll do something, meet someone, help someone, invite someone – all of these…
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Korea the impossible country
Prepare yourselves for a real Korea rant. I’ve now been living in Korea the impossible country for four months (seriously, where did the time go?!), and the more I feel that I’m getting under the skin of the Koreans and their culture, the more I often feel completely frustrated, confused, and quite often disappointed. I’ve previously…
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Shopping in Edae
I remember once reading in a teen magazine “one of the greatest things about being a girl is that you rarely get so depressed that new clothes, new shoes, or new makeup can’t cheer you up”. Since you all know from my twitter feed that I was less than happy about the events that unfolded…
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Struggling with my passion and love for Korean
A week ago I accepted the most anxiety provoking challenge so far in my Korean learning history. Kindly (and adamantly) prompted by koreanlearner I signed up for a Korean speaking contest to be held at the end of October. According to the contest guidelines my speech must be 3-5 minutes long and cover the topic “To me Korean…
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All or nothing?
This weekend I’ve been working hard on my listening skills through podcasts, Korean TED talks, and of course a few subtitle-free episodes of 여름향기 (currently have 4 episodes left). During all this listening I’ve made a strange discovery. It seems to me that I either understand everything (여름향기) or next to nothing (random Korean podcast on Korean culture from…
Sofie to Korea 