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...
Inevitably in anyone's life (especially if you have allergies) one gets sick. Unfortunately for me this occurs right around the time our friends were in town. It started with the sore throat and lots of lovely colored phlegm but progressed into an ear infection which made me miserable the entire time our friends were here. After two weeks of putting off going to the doctor due to fear of what a medical experience would be like in a foreign country I bit the bullet and went to a...
Hello all - It's been a while since we posted. We have been busy. We were lucky enough to have two friends from the States come and visit within the past two weeks. It's nice to see people from home. Well let's see what's new for the Wood adventures - In mid October, Chris went to Europe on business for ten days. I will let him tell you stories about that. Prior to leaving we received our absentee ballots so we could perform our civic duty and vo...
Have you ever heard of the movie Six Degrees of Separation? The concept is that you are no more than six people from anyone in the world. I am beginning to wonder how true that might be after this past trip to JeJu. There are a few things that occur when you live in a foreign country where people look totally different from you. The first is that because your appearance is so different you become a spot of fascination for the people of that country especially in areas ...
Our new Motto " It's Korea, Why Not?" Hello all! So we are back from our six day vacation on the lovely island of Jeju. Chris is grateful that this week is only a one day work week because we ran around so much for the six days. I am going to divide our island get away into two blogs for the sake of the the amount we have to cover and the craziness involved in our trip. During this trip the Germans and ourselves developed a new motto that all Foreign...
Sorry if we've been a bit deliquent on mail and such. As you can shortly see, we've been a bit busy..... Two weeks ago, we went back up to Seoul . The Seoul Hilton was having a big Oktoberfest party, and Bosch being a German company sprung for the expats to join. The party was Saturday night, so we headed up via the train earlyish Saturday. The funny thing about the train is ...
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...
One of the things in Korea that is really popular is the idea of the combo meal. Combo anything really. Buy something get something free or at a discount. The only difference is that instead of calling them combos, they are usually called "sets". That's cool. You order your burger set, you get the drink and potatoes as well. Easy, right? This can apply at other restaurants as well, wh...
One of the things in Korea that is really popular is the idea of the combo meal. Combo anything really. Buy something get something free or at a discount. The only difference is that instead of calling them combos, they are usually called "sets". That's cool. You order your burger set, you get the drink and potatoes as well. Easy, right? This can apply at other restaurants as well, wh...
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...
Watching the Olympics in Korea is different experience. Here are some of the pros and cons that I see: Pro: You get to see lots of sports that never make it on American TV. Archery, Table Tennis, Badminton, Handball, Field Hockey, Water Polo, Shooting (Skeet, trap and target) and lots of Judo are all very cool. Some of these sports I didn’t even know existed in the Olympics. Synchronized Diving,...
This will be an odd article for most but I am going to write it anyways. The Korean public restroom. The public restroom can be a fascinating perspective into a culture. You can get a glimpse into the standards of cleanliness and the social standards of openness. Even western influence shows up in the bathrooms. As is inevitable with any country there are always things that give you the "OH! That's how they do that. o.k. I can go with the flow." For all you hover girls o...
This will be an odd article for most but I am going to write it anyways. The Korean public restroom. The public restroom can be a fascinating perspective into a culture. You can get a glimpse into the standards of cleanliness and the social standards of openness. Even western influence shows up in the bathrooms. As is inevitable with any country there are always things that give you the "OH! That's how they do that. o.k. I can go with the flow." For all you hover girls o...
I guess I’ve got to do something about that. Anyway, this came from a nifty little site that you can make your own map of the world or the US states. I know I can’t keep up with my brother on the states. That’s why I’ve got to establish a lead on countries before he starts to collect those as well. Link Thanks to chiprj for the link. " " " "