SendMeToKorea.com

[Video] Walk With Me in 서촌 (Seochon)

2012-01-26T10:16:00.000+09:00

Most of my previous Walk With Me videos were about places commonly visited by tourists, but this time, I went to 서촌 thanks to the kind introduction of Mr. Robert Fouser, a place I hadn't really known about in Seoul.

Please enjoy the video, and if you want to know more about this neighborhood, please check out the following links as well.
(1) http://blog.korea.net/?p=2313
(2) http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=814505
(3) http://www.koreabrand.net/en/know/know_view.do?CATE_CD=0009&SEQ=2719

Thank you for visiting!

Things I like and don't like about the Lunar New Year in Korea

2012-01-26T01:08:00.002+09:00

Many Asian countries celebrate the lunar new year and Korea is one of them. Growing up, I never really appreciated or understood why this kind of "traditional holidays" had to be "celebrated". As a child, of course, I loved being able to eat a lot of delicious food, but years went by, I quickly got used to the same kinds of dishes being prepared for these traditional holidays every year and nothing was so "special" any more. Well, except for one thing - the 세뱃돈! 세뱃돈 is the money you get from older people (usually as a child/teenager/student) after you give them a big bow wishing them a happy and healthy year in the morning of the Lunar New Year's Day.

I didn't really mind "being there" as a member of the family as the celebration takes place each year, but after I entered a university in Seoul, going back to (or more precisely, having to go back to) my hometown city of Gwangju became a pain. (Want proof? Watch this video I made right after I got off a 17-hour-long bus ride from Seoul to Gwangju.)

But I have gotten used to that, too, over the past few years. Moreover, I would always be too busy to visit my parents as often as I'd like to, and I knew for a fact that had it not been for these "obligatory" occasions, I would be visiting my parents even less frequently. So I recently started appreciating these traditional holidays a little bit more. After all, there are only just three major occasions for me each year so far where I have to be in Gwangju to join my parents - the Lunar New Year's Day, Chuseok, and my grandfather's memorial ceremony - and I could live with that. That's not a pain for me anymore. I'm actually quite happy to see my parent and see how happy they are to see me again.

So now there seems to be just one thing left that I don't like about these traditional holidays. It's the food again. Do I not like those dishes in the picture above? Oh, yes I do! I ate all of the dishes above myself during my visit to my parents' place a few days ago. What I don't like is the fact that my mother has to prepare all those things. Of course my wife will help and my sisters will help, but still, I see too much work going into this one-time event and too many boxes of presents/fruits/snacks/dried fish being exchanged (and sometimes reused) between relatives, too much of which always ends up being "left-over". And I know a lot of Korean mothers/housewives ache all over from the extra work they do during these holidays.

When it is my turn to host these traditional events as the oldest member of the family, will I do as much work as my parents do to prepare such rituals? Probably not. Will I even host these? I'm not even sure. Would anybody be truly sad if my mother didn't prepare any food at all for the ritual and just prepared a very nice meal for the family? I don't think so. No one outside the family visits our house during the ceremony. It's just the seven of us. As long as we don't mind, no one does. Will a day come when everybody in the family agrees and says "You know what, this year, let's not do too much work for the ritual. Let's do it but simplify it. And let's spend some more time having fun and relaxing."? I am pretty sure. But when will it be? 3 years later? 5 years later? 10 years later? I don't know. I love my country's traditions and cultures, but I believe these "formal rituals" don't really matter as much as how much you care for your family.

I think I'm a little more grown up now compared to a few years ago, so I don't get to leave Gwangju after celebrating the New Year's with a bitter feeling about how little I appreciated the event, but this year, on my way back to Seoul I was thinking, "Was all that (preparation/formality) really necessary?" I'm still not sure. :) Just sharing thoughts with you all. Thanks for reading!

Early Christmas Decorations in Myeongdong

2011-11-20T22:39:00.001+09:00

Christmas is over a month away but some areas of Seoul have already been decorated for Christmas. We were out shopping and saw some really pretty things : ) I'd like to share two photos and a video with you. Thanks for stopping by!

Autumn

2011-11-03T09:56:00.000+09:00

Summer is my favorite season of the year, but one thing I do love about Autumn is the beautiful colors you see everywhere! I took some photos of the trees and leaves in Yonsei Univeristy yesterday to share with you all. Enjoy! And thanks for stopping by!

More photos

Charlycheer Bungee Jumping in Korea

2011-09-04T08:06:00.003+09:00

Have you ever done Bungee Jumping before? I have and I loved it! I can't wait to do it again. Here's a very cool video by the awesome Charly (youtube.com/charlycheer) about her experience doing bungee jumping in Korea. Find out how it went by watching the video!

If you can't see the video below, click here.

Go visit Charlycheer's YouTube channel to subscribe for more videos from her!

[Q&A] How much does watching a movie cost in Korea?

2011-08-28T13:01:00.000+09:00

Got a Korean Question? Ask Hyunwoo!

lagarista asked on Twitter:

@ever4one how much does an average movie ticket cost?

Answer:

Generally, watching a movie for an adult costs 8,000 won on average. 3D or 4D movies cost more (usually around 13,000 won) and if you go watch the first movie of the day (early in the morning), you only pay about 5,000 won. If you have certain credit cards that give you additional discounts, you can watch them at an even lower cost, too.

Learn Korean from Hyunwoo: TalkToMeInKorean.com

[Q&A] Are western movies in Korea subtitled or dubbed?

2011-08-28T12:51:00.000+09:00

Got a Korean question? Ask Hyunwoo!

BritChick89 asked on Twitter:

@ever4one Hello :) Just wondering ~ when western films are released in Korea, are they dubbed in Korean or subtitled?

Answer:

In movie theaters, most movies are just subtitled in Korean and the audio in the original language is used. But for some animation movies of which the main target audience is children, voice-over is used very often. When a movie is aired on national television, however, you can often find the movies having voice-over audio instead of having subtitles. I guess this is because people who watch those movies mainly on TV at home are generally older or much younger than the average movie-goer.

Learn Korean from Hyunwoo: TalkToMeInKorean.com

[Video] Heavy Rain and Flooding in Korea

2011-07-27T10:47:00.000+09:00

It's raining heavily in Korea now. Many parts of Seoul have been flooded. T.T

Image Source: http://yfrog.com/z/h79pvetj

Image Source: http://yfrog.com/z/h27p1jbj

[Photos] Rainy Days (장마) in Korea

2011-07-26T21:40:00.002+09:00

Every summer, the rainy season comes around here in Korea, too. I am still not very accustomed to calling it the "rainy season" because as I was growing up, I never felt like the rainy days lasted for more than a week or so. So whenever I heard the English term "rainy season" being used by someone when talking about other countries, I never really "agreed" that Korea has a rainy season, mainly because it was too short to be called a "season". In Korean it's called "장마 [jang-ma]" and it is usually translated as the "rainy season" but I always thought it was more appropriate to call 장마 ... maybe... a rainy period, or a few days of continued rain.

Anyhow, every year the 장마 period seems to get longer than the previous year and I'm not very excited about it. I don't particularly enjoy walking in the rain or watching the rain fall or anything, so whenever it starts raining, I can't wait for it to stop.

One good thing about rain, though, is that it gives me opportunites to take pictures of the same things and the same places yet have very different photos. Here are a few of the pictures I took on my phone earlier today as I was walking to Hongdae from my office.

Thanks for visiting again! See you again soon!

Sunny day in Hongdae after the rain | Seoul, Korea

2011-07-26T08:51:00.000+09:00

A photo of a relatively quiete section of Hongdae (a popular cafe/restaurant/shopping district for young people in Seoul, Korea) in July. It was sunny during the day but people were all carrying umbrellas because it had rained earlier that day.

Sky, Bus and Han River | Seoul, Korea

2011-07-26T06:35:00.002+09:00

Sky, originally uploaded by Hyunwoo Sun.

I don't remember exactly where I was going when I took this photo, but whenever I get to cross the Han River in a taxi, I feel like taking photos of what I see. I thought the blue sky and the red bus looked nice together.

[Photo] Rain, taxi, people, Sinchon

2011-07-09T00:19:00.000+09:00

Rain, taxi, people, Sinchon

Taken with an iPhone 4

Dog Café | Bau House | Seoul, Korea

2011-06-30T03:46:00.000+09:00

Do you like pet dogs? A couple of weeks ago I went to this dog cafe called "Bau House" for an interview article with the NEH Magazine.

I don't think this cafe has an official website, but you can search with "bau house seoul" and easily find directions or maps for this place. It's pretty complicated to explain in just text :D

It is located between the subway stations Sangsu amd Hongdae (Hong-ik University).

If you like dogs, going there once in a while will be a lot of fun! If you have a dog, you can bring yours along to the cafe, too, so that the dog can "hang out" with some other dogs there.

Han River after rain

2011-06-29T12:50:00.000+09:00

A quick photo I took of the Han River after the rain yesterday.

Old man carrying paper trash

2011-06-18T06:11:00.002+09:00

An old man carrying a cart full of used paper and paper trash that he has collect since early morning (I took this picture around 9:30 AM) to go sell this at a paper trash collection place. There are (sadly) many old people working in the street like this in Seoul. : (

Snacks in Korean convenience stores | Everyday Korean Stuff

2011-06-18T00:04:00.000+09:00

I used to eat a lot of these when I was a kid, but not so much any more. Many of these are actually copied products from Japan, but there are quite a lot of unique snacks invented by Korean people, too.

Pork cutlet FAIL

2011-06-10T23:03:00.000+09:00

A short video of the quick (but not very delicious) supper I had with my colleagues today.I don't really recommend going to this restaurant, but I hope you can just take note about prices and what you get for those menu names for when you visit Seoul and go to one of these restaurants.

The 함박 스테이크 (hamberg steak) that I had was 8,000 won, and 돈가스 (pork cutlet) was 7,000 won.

View on mobile devices: http://youtu.be/vdavaxQoQ6E

Toy dog in subway

2011-06-10T22:56:00.000+09:00

It is illegal to sell anything in the subway trains in Korea, but there are still some people trying to sell things to the passengers (although not many of them actually succeed in their attempts). I personally hate seeing illegal vendors in the subway and having to put up with the noise they make, but today I saw this guy selling this cute little toy dog in the subway, and I thought the toy was so cute, so I filmed it walking around. :D

View the video on mobile devices: http://youtu.be/k68id3OmEXE

Photos of KTX-II

2011-05-22T09:37:00.000+09:00

The new KTX trains (called KTX Sancheon) have been running for about a year now but I hadn't had a chance to ride one until a couple of weeks ago. While I was on the train, I took some photos for you. Take a look around this new KTX train and read more about it on Wikipedia.

Cheonggyecheon - a guided video tour by Qiranger

2011-05-22T09:12:00.004+09:00

Cheonggyecheon is so well-known now that I don't even have to introduce what it is, but you MUST check out this video since it is one of the most comprehensive and well-made videos about the stream in the center of Northern Seoul. Check it out and be sure to subscribe to Qiranger's YouTube channel for more videos as well.

Watch on mobile devices: http://youtu.be/-UPtWFb1q6I

Hidden Temple in Seoul: Wongudan

2011-05-21T07:08:00.002+09:00

Well, it is not really HIDDEN but it's almost hidden since not a lot of people still don't know about it even though it is right in the center of Seoul and standing right next to the Westin Chosun hotel. Check out Qiranger's video about Wongudan for the full story.

Watch the video on mobile devices: http://youtu.be/HaI43uYsnZQ

Be sure to check out Qiranger's YouTube channel as well.

Brazilian Music Party in Seoul (May 28, 2011)

2011-05-20T23:41:00.000+09:00

Interested in Brazilian music?

Check out P-Bro Sound's Facebook page for more info and to stay updated!

Green Barley Field in Gochang, Korea

2011-05-19T17:36:00.003+09:00

A photo that my sister sent me on her phone (basically to just make me jealous) of the Green Barley Field in Gochang, Korea. There is an annual festival that takes place there. It is over now, but be sure to check out this link to read more about this event!

Some Photos from Jeju Island

2011-05-19T07:07:00.001+09:00

Some photos from Jeju Island by the TalkToMeInKorean Staff.

See more pictures from Jeju here.

"I Love Asia" collab video by Jeff Martinez

2011-05-19T00:03:00.000+09:00

Another awesome video by Jeff Martinez! This one is a collaboration video lead by Jeff and it features many of the most awesome YouTubers in Asia!

[Watch the video on mobile devices: http://youtu.be/C70UBeQZtwg]

People in this video:

Shanghai Jerry http://www.tripfilms.com/users/Shanghaijerry
DurkeeinKorea http://www.youtube.com/user/durkeeinkorea
Edtomorrow http://www.youtube.com/user/edtomorrow
Qiranger http://www.youtube.com/user/qiranger
Charlycheer http://www.youtube.com/user/charlycheer
Mparquee http://www.youtube.com/user/MParquee
Abombs1 http://www.youtube.com/user/ABombs1
Jiffmartin http://www.youtube.com/user/jiffmartin
Stephenworldwide http://www.youtube.com/user/stephenworldwide