Blogs from Bundang, Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Asia - page 6

America has its fair share of commercial holidays. I won't list them, but you can imagine which holidays were created simply to sell things, and which holidays over time have become extremely commercialized. Well, in Korea, there's a day called Pepero Day. Now Pepero is a candy treat of sorts. It means "thin, like a stick" and is simply a thin cylindrical cookie-stick dipped in chocolate. Most Holidays are commemorating some special date, or event. Now, why would there be a holiday celebrating candy? Does it have some historical or religious significance? Or is there simply no shame at all in being direct about the commercialism of the holiday? I'm going to go with the latter, because it turns out that Pepero is manufactured solely by Lotte which is a huge department store in Korea. They ... read more

So, I was walking in downtown Seoul among all the neon signs and Korean faces and all of a sudden I see a giant billboard of Hines Ward wearing a "KEB" Jersey - KEB is Korean Exchange Bank (see attached pic). Apparently after he won the Super Bowl MVP, Koreans found out his mom was Korean and now they love him. Anybody can represent Cambell's Chunky, but you're not the man until you're sponsored by KEB. Sick. Also, smoking is pretty popular among Korean men and all you have to do is stop by a stand on the street and buy a fresh pack of Cigalettes (see attached picture). Then you can go home and watch either of two channels strictly dedicated to video games. That's right. Sometimes I watch a bunch kids play Starcraft on ... read more

OK, I knew I always wanted to be a teacher during the holidays, but this was something else. First of all, it is safe to say I will have a hard time thinking kids back home are half as cute as a school full of Koreans dressed up as various idols from Western pop culture. Second of all, today is the day I learned just how fabulous my kids really are. They are, by far, the coolest kids in Korea....that is NOT a biased opinion. I swear. They were a RIOT! they always are, but totally, utterly priceless today. Really. I have been a waitress for so many years, and ALWAYS have to work Halloween for obvious reasons, so it was a real treat to be able to serve candy to the little trick or treating ... read more

Alright, so Korea is apparently very technologically advanced. I knew this coming here and expected plenty of Internet access, fancy cell phones, and pretty nice computers. Well, what I didn't expect was such an electronic apartment. First off, I don't have a key to my apartment. There is a key, the type that you stick in a door-knob turn and unlock things. But the guy that let me in, Sonnie (a manager of my school) kept that key. Okay, so they must have one of those electronic keys like at nice hotels where they program a card and you slide it in your door? That would make sense - Korea is a step ahead of the game and installed that type of electronic key system not just in hotels, but in apartments now. Nope, not even ... read more

Chusok is the name for Korea's version of Thanksgiving Holidays. This year we apparently lucked out as to what days the holiday fell on because we only had to work the Monday of the week!!! The Tuesday was National Foundation Day (October 3rd) - separate from Chusok, but nonetheless it was still a day off! Chusok day is actually the 6th, but the 5th and 7th are also holidays. The idea is to allow people enough time off work so that they can go back to their hometowns and spend time with family and also visit the grave sites of ancestors. As a result, most large cities become deserted and highways are rammed with carloads of families traveling to their hometown. During the Monday of this week all the kindergarten children came to school dressed ... read more