As many of you know, this year long relocation was done rather on a quick decision and move process so Chris and I did not have time to learn Korean before we came. As a result it poses an interesting problem when it comes to performing the day to day tasks such as grocery shopping. Oh how we take for granted our ability to read packages when we purchase and under appreciate the value of a picture. In this case a picture says a thousand words one of which is a grateful shopper. As any ...

  The long awaited daily living article has arrived.  I know I promised cartoon characters and road signs.  But the requests have been made by the reading audience so the driving signs and characters will have to wait. Besides, Chris and I want to gather more pictures of goofy characters. As a first time apartment renter, my experience has been good so far.  Unlike in the US the neighbors are not really noisy except for the children practicing piano or violin or the sound...

 The celebration of Tet.  The Tet celebration has much of the hustle and bustle like that of Christmas in the states.  Overnight, photographic backdrops line the busy streets near temples and Pagodas alike.  Two stages for free concerts are set up in the city.  The one stage has the Vietnamese equivalent of Brittany Spears and Boy bands while the other stage has circus performers and martial arts demonstrations.  The martial arts demonstrations usually involve what ...

We have been living outside the US for almost six months now and we have fully settled into our lives as expats for the most part.  We have grown to except the unusual or the uncommon as part of our every day lives.  However, every now and then you have these moments that you just have to laugh about and say yep that's Korea. I was shopping at Homeplus the other day which is one of the big box stores kind of like a four story version of Meijers with a mall attached to it.  I wa...

Here are a collection of the mysteries we still haven't figured out living here in Korea .    Feel free to comment and perhaps you can help us understand it.     Maybe you can win a prize or something....   I can see it now:  1st place - 5kg of Kimchi,    2nd place - 10kg of Kimchi       Depends on how you feel about Kimchi, obviously.   Turning Headlights off at interse...

One of the questions we’ve gotten is the prices of stuff between the US and Korea .    Overall, it’s a mixed bag.    Some things are cheaper, some more expensive.     All in all, it kinda depends on what you’re looking for.     I’m converting all the prices to US dollars to make it easier on all the people playing the home game.    For those of you interested in the currency, the money is the Won, and last I saw it was abo...

Well, I'm sure all are aware now, but in case you missed the annoucement, we'll be coming back this Saturday.    The movers are coming tomorrow and they'll be taking our trusty computer with them.   So we might be out of touch until after the holiday, I dunno yet.      I've got a few old blogs written up but never had time to post.    Once we get settled in, you might continue to see a few more Korea observation articles. ...

The other day I was having lunch with several of my Korean friends.  As part of the conversation one of my Korean friends brought up the story of a Korean man who was heavily fined for hitting his child with a cane for miss behaving. o some up the article it is an acceptable practice in Korea to "cane" misbehaving children.   Hit them with a "love stick"  when they don't follow orders.  In the case of the article, the son had let his grades slip, skipping class, and was ...