We lived in Korea for 2.5 years, and made sure we set aside time to explore our surroundings. Korea is a little country, but packs a punch with festivals, landscapes, and historical places to visit. Sadly, we never made it to Jeju Island, which I'm sure would be on this list if we had gone! If you ever happen to be in the area, you'll have to be sure to visit a few of the 10 places I list below. Some of them are pretty touristy, where others are a bit off the beaten path. Cherry Blossom Festivals are held every Spring, usually in April. The cool thing is they're in a bunch of different areas of the country, but the most famous flower festivals are in: Jinju, Gyeongju, and Seoul. Not only will you feel like you're in a magical ... Read More
Final Words on Korea
Truth is, I was a mess our last few days in Korea. Between the stress of moving and final farewells to people I hold close to my heart, I was pretty much a sentimental sap that would cry at the smallest thing. Korea was good for us. It taught us how to live on our own, in an unfamiliar land, full of complete strangers who spoke a foreign language. It taught us to be flexible and when to roll with the punches as well as when to stand up for ourselves. It taught us to appreciate western civilizations that literally have the world at their fingertips. It taught us that traveling is a lot less scary than it needs to be, and I guess that’s why we are continuing on in our adventure across the world. I’ve learned people that live in ... Read More
Moving Overseas? How to Get You and Your Belongings to Your Destination Country
The following post is contributed (written by) by site supporters of Living Another Language, not me. :) Moving house can be pretty stressful, but it is significantly more so when relocating to a new place overseas! Moving to a different country can be very exciting due to being presented with a range of new experiences and opportunities, but it does take a fair bit of planning. This often means dealing with a few headaches, but it can be so worth it when you arrive at your new home with most things under control. In order to achieve this sense of relief, you will probably want to focus on the key points of getting both yourself and your belongings to the destination country. Here are a few handy tips that will help you to accomplish ... Read More
Why We’re Leaving Korea
As you may have read earlier this week, we're leaving Korea. This may come as somewhat of a shock for some of you- I don't blame you, it was rather sudden. Honestly the whole 'New Zealand' thing was planned out entirely within the space of 35 days, and we're still in shock that it's actually happening as well. I thought I'd take a little time to explain why we're leaving Korea. In January and February Derik and I took a two month trip back to the US and around Asia. After returning to Korea, things just weren't the same as what they had been the previous two years we'd lived there. Things seemed stale, tired, and altogether too normal than what they should be, especially since we were residing in a country completely different than our ... Read More
We’re Officially Announcing…
We've kept it in for weeks now. Some of you probably have known something was up, and maybe you've noticed we've been deleting certain messages on our Facebook walls. Well, there's a reason for that; we wanted to wait until the timing was right to tell everyone (aka make it 'public') It's harder to keep things quiet nowadays because of the whole social networking business, but I feel like we've actually done a pretty good job keeping this one to ourselves. You can only wait so long before the news starts getting leaked out of nowhere. That's why today we decided to let you in on our little secret. Living in Asia has been wonderful. We've met amazing people, seen spectacular things, and grown closer together as a married couple in ... Read More
Living Expenses in Korea
Now that Derik and I have lived here two and a half years, I feel we have a pretty good grasp on how to budget things financially, and aren't usually surprised by unforeseen living expenses in Korea To those considering moving to this fine country, those curious about certain info, or those already here, maybe this will be somewhat of a help to you! If these three types of people don't apply to you, then maybe you'll just want to read this just to know the info and surprise your friends someday. :) Believe it or not, Korea is actually a pretty expensive place to live. That is if you're paying for your own rent, utilities, food, transportation, technology and beyond. Some jobs provide housing, transportation, and phone services, ... Read More
The Negative Side to Travel
Derik and I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel. Sure we don't travel as much as a lot of other travel bloggers do, but we acknowledge and are thankful that we're able to do something not everyone can. We don't have children, we don't have possessions back home, unless the few containers at my mother in law's count. To be honest, those containers could just disappear and I'd only shed a FEW tears due to our wedding and engagement albums that I'd never see again. The clothes, kitchen supplies, jewelry, and various nicknacks we did keep mean nothing to me. I repeatedly have readers exclaim that they wish they could live our lives, and then go on to talk about how discontent and bored they are at home, and it really bothers ... Read More
Korean Commercials Pt. 3
I've been spending the last 30 minutes finding some of the Korean commercials on Youtube that have been circulating around these parts. I usually discover my favorites when we are sitting around in the local CGV theater waiting for our 'main feature' movie to start. I used to love previews back in the States, but here it's just a hodgepodge of weird Korean commercials, and maybe one English action movie preview. Oh well, it's given me plenty of material to share with you in yet another installment of Korean Commercials. If you're bored on a Sunday and want to waste a little time, you can also view the other two installments here and here. 6. Banana Milk: I tried it. Not as great as they make it out to be; especially if you're a grown ... Read More
Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Festival
The spring season comes like clockwork in Korea. So much so, you can basically plan to head over to a flower festival or two during the middle of April. This year was no exception, and as you have seen a post or two back, spring is most definitely here. Gyeongju is the traditional city of Korea. As soon as you arrive within the city limits you're surrounded by old brick walls, the trademark Asian slate roofing, ancient tombs, and flowers. Lots of flowers! We decided to head up to Gyeongju during their Cherry Blossom Festival to score some awesome food, and enjoy the spring activities. We rented bikes for the day at $7.00 a piece, and went for a long ride. Unfortunately since we were on our bikes all day I didn't spend much time ... Read More
