Tag: asia
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Thailand Day Two: Markets and Pubs
This is the second post in my series of Thailand vacation posts. If you missed it, the first one is here. Nicole and I ate a quick breakfast in the room; danishes from the 7-11 on the corner. Then, we stopped at the street side café for more delicious soup. It was quickly becoming a staple…
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Thailand Day One: The Adventure Begins
In Korea they celebrate two new years’: Solar New Year, the traditional western New Year, and Lunar New Year, an exciting double New Year you get to celebrate if you live and/or work in East Asia. For Lunar New Year, Nicole and I had two days off: Thursday and Friday. We both additionally took off…
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Snowboarding in Korea
This weekend, Nicole and I went snowboarding in Muju, South Korea. It’s about two hours away from Gwangju by bus. Nicole found a coupon online to rent gear, get a bus to the mountain, get a lift pass, and lessons all for about $100. I asked one of my Korean coworkers, Lizzy, to help me…
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10 Things I’ve learned about Korea Part I
1. Koreans Love Soju and they drink it like water I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out to dinner with Nicole or various friends in Korea and at the next table sat a group of older Korean men getting sauced on Soju. I’ve had the drink, I don’t mind the drink, but…
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New Years in Gwangju, South Korea
I feel like every year I skid over the finish line of the last year battered and bruised but eager for more. That statement was never more true than this year. Nicole and I found ourselves at First Alleyway, a foreigner bar downtown exhausted and worn out. Nicole couldn’t walk and I couldn’t talk, but…
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Birthday Weekend in Seoul: Good Beers
The month is November. Nicole and I are running ragged from too much work and not enough fun. Our bodies are ravaged by illness and runny noses, but hark! What is that in the distance? It’s December! The last month of the year and an oasis of vacations in an otherwise bleak desert of work weeks.…
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Pepero Day Korean Valentine’s Day: A Guide
Hey everyone, November 11th is upon us and, as I’m sure you’re all aware, it’s the day before my mom’s birthday. HI MOM! It’s also a very special day in Korea; it’s Pepero Day. Pepero Day is like Korean Valentine’s Day, not to be confused with Valentine’s Day in Korea which is also a holiday (2/14). I…
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Halloween in Korea: Costumes and Mummies
Halloween is a whole different beast here in Korea. It seems to have spread to Korea through word of mouth and some sort of long-distance, cross-cultural game of “Telephone.” Some ideas came through and other ones clearly got lost in translation. In short, not many people dress up and there isn’t a lot of candy…
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Gwangju Kimchi Festival
I haven’t posted in a while. Sorry about that everyone. After Japan, Nicole and I took a weekend off to just relax and recoup. We were worn out from Japan travels and ready for a break, but after a weekend off, Nicole and I were itching for something fun to do. Luckily the Gwangju Kimchi…