Abundance Featured: Karori to Korea

What I love about the Kblogosphere is that you can find any sorts of people living in Korea sharing their personal experience and be reminded of how great life is here. One such fun blog to read is "Karori to Korea", where you can see posts on recently eaten food and adventures that this couple goes on.

I asked, Karori to Korea, a few mind powering questions and got some lovely responses. This ExpatAbundance feature is proud to present Karori to Korea and hopes you become interested in their site, just as I have.

The Q & A:

1. The Tri-force Question: How long have you been in Korea? What's your job? Where are you from?

They have been in Korea for 9 months now. She works at two elementary schools, "used to be three and one of them had 12 students." He works at two middle schools. They are both from Wellington, New Zealand (or he is actually). She has lived there for six years but she's from Northland originally. (I suppose this is very important towards other Kiwi's.)

2. What does your blog title, "Karori to Korea" mean?

Karori is the suburb they lived in back when they were in Wellington. Quote: "...we're suckers for alliteration."

3. Name the number one most loved item in your fridge.

His most loved item is jalapeños "mmmm" and her's is Greek yogurt which was made via some powder sent from home. (Never heard of this before but does sound interesting.)

4. Is there a particular Korean food you crave now and then?

Because the temperature is getting hotter these days she is craving mul naeng myun, "love the sour/sweet broth and the chewy noodles on a stinking hot day!" He is craving bibimbop because, "his school teases him by only serving it occasionally."

5. When you feel homesick what do you do to fight the blues?

He calls his family on Skype and cooks Indian food. They live in a small town of Buan,  Jeollabukdo which doesn't have much foreign fare to offer besides the usual chicken places, so she bakes to relieve this craving. They've got a fancy toaster oven which was worth every ship-won. However, despite living in a small town they actually are surrounded by many New Zealanders whom get together and share good times.

6. What tourist attraction in Korea brought you the most pleasure / least?

 She loves the weird stuff you can find in the Insadong / Jongno / Anguk area like a Chicken Museum and Ice Gallery. Also enjoyed are the great tea houses there, especially at the bottom of Ssamziegil. He got the most pleasure from the Haesingdang Park in Gangwon-do. As for the least favorite, he was not pleased with having to go back to Naesosa in Buan for EPIK training. "It's okay as temples go, but really, once was enough." Her least favorite place was the Nonsan Strawberry Festival where she discovered it to be a "giant mudpit" but lacking in strawberries. "Best thing about it was seeing a woman in a couples' outfit rocking a 6 inch heel on one foot and a moon boot on the other, traipsing around in the slop. "

7. Do you ever wear mismatched socks?

They both do and he wishes that people would stop staring at his feet and worrying about the "trivial stuff" in life and rather care about, "ramyeon with cheese and parks full of penis statues." However, he is usually disappointed when it comes to this. Personally, I know how cheap and cute socks can be in Korea, so it is no surprise to hear how much she spends on them. "Since we arrived, Anna has spent about 250K on socks and should go to rehab for addiction as she has a serious problem."

 As you can see they can be a barrel-of-laughs and many posts on their blog make you smile too. Why not go over and give them a warm hello. I know if I am every passing through their neck of the woods I would love to grab a cup of tea and catch up on good times.

Abundance Featured: Biz & Steve

Another great blog to put up as featured here on ExpatAbundance. These two, Biz and Steve, have been exploring Seoul and Korea for some time now. They've got a great collection of posts to check out and also provide quality photos and commentary.

I decided to make sure the author of the blog I feature had a chance to say something and give themselves a shout out. So the following is what I received from email interactions.

Blog purpose:

The blog started solely to keep family and friends updated on our lives. We needed a quick and easy way to reach a lot of people at once with minimal effort.  It has since morphed into an online scrapbook of sorts, something we can look at in a few years and reminisce. I look back at our earliest entries and marvel at how much has changed in our lives.  I've also noticed a lot of misinformation online regarding expat life in Korea. We do attempt to add our experience to the general hubbub of opinion out there and hopefully people find helpful info on our blog. If we fail in that department, at least our parents can still live vicariously through us.

Survey Says:

1.    How did you find yourself (yourselves) in Korea?  We found ourselves very hot, sweaty and jetlagged:) Actually the decision was made pretty quickly with very little thought involved. I graduated in June and it didn't look like I would be able to find a teaching position in the United States. Korea was advertising pretty aggressively and we both knew people who had taught English in Korea before. I think it took a total of two weeks for us to decide we wanted to go. 

2.     What moment gave you the most culture shock? Our first genuine culture shock moment (which has diminished since being here) was our dorm-room orientation experience. We knew we would not be able to room together, but had no idea we wouldn’t even be allowed in each other’s buildings.

3.     What type of kimbop is your favorite? I don’t like kimbop but Steve is a big fan. He learned the hard way which colors at the local GS25 contained what. He stays away from orange and red (beef and spam) and tries to go for the blue (tuna) or veggie option.

4.     Out of Lotte Mart, Emart, Homeplus and Kim's Club, which one is your favorite? They all have their good qualities so it may have to come down to advertising jingles. E-Mart's is far superior.

5.     Name one thing in your house that is getting the most use (least use). Most use: Ondol heating (since December). Least use: Our Korean-English dictionaries. We're bad expats.

6.     If you could give any piece of advice to future expats what would it be? "Don't Panic" (as made popular by Douglas Adams)

7. Most happiest moment in Korea? Is it wrong to say our first paychecks? Also we had a really great time at the FC Seoul soccer final.

There you have it folks! Honest to goodness stuff for you take home. I suggest checking out their blog and finding your own pieces of treasures on their site. I for one look forward to reading their posts, which by the way are listed as "OurAdventures" in the Expat Life link bar to your left.

Featured KBlogger: Coco in Korea

First off, welcome to my new blog where you can find a list of expats in Korea and also ones who write about specific genres. This blog is a sister to my other one; ForeignerJoy, and is meant to highlight my favorite Kbloggers out there.

I am going to do that today by featuring the KBlogger: Coco in Korea as my first test run.

Coco's blog supplies us with great stories about her life in Korea and what she finds interesting and new.

About Coco In Korea: (her words)

Welcome to  ’Coco In Korea’, my blog about living and teaching English in South Korea. I also blog about my travels around Asia. The purpose of this blog is to offer my insight and views on South Korea; provide anyone interested in traveling/exploring South Korea information on what to do, who to contact, etc; and to keep my friends and family back home informed on what is occurring in my life.

Recent Posts I Like:

1. Pay In Korea: Coco talks about her paycheck and where the money goes. Great information for newbies and people looking to budget their money.
2. Worst News Ever: She finds an article in the Korean news that alarms. I'm pretty sure she's not the first one out there to get peeved by Korea media and how they portray foreigners. She definitely hits the nail on the head with this observation.
3. Cranberry Sauce: Missing home is a prime element of expat life, especially when you miss the food. She highlights here a certain product she is craving. What is better is that she brought some in for her students and taught them some great cultural information.

I recommend you get to know Coco in Korea through her blog and give her a nice, "Hello!".