안녕하세요. 현우예요. I am back in my hometown for 추석 (Chuseok) and as it's expected each year, the trip back home isn't always very easy, with all the people moving all together. But I made it back home safely. The bus ride took the time it usually takes - about 4 hours, and I arrived home at 4:00 am after taking a taxi from the bus terminal to my parents' house. The bus fare from Seoul to Korea was around 22,000 won, and the taxi fare was around 6,000 won. The bus stopped at a service station for 15 minutes so that people can use the bathroom or get something to eat or drink. And here's a video to show you what a 고속도로(express way) 휴게소(service station) looks like at night. :) 재미있게 보세요 ^^

This picture also happens to have been taken in 신촌, and 신촌 is not only a major entertainment district but also a neighborhood that are surrounded by four universities (연세대학교, 홍익대학교, 이화여자대학교, 서강대학교). And if you go near a univeristy in Korea on a weekend, you can easily see something like this. What do you think it is? Why would somebody do this? Where does it lead to? These *marker* lines are usually used for guiding people from the 지하철역(subway station) or from 캠퍼스 안(inside the school campus) so that they can easily find the right 술집(bar) or 모임 장소(meeting point) for a reunion. :) While it's funny when you think about all the work that has to go into making this long long line (one line is usually 400m ~ 500m long or even... Show more

I was walking in 신촌(Shinchon) the other day and saw this big picture on the wall of a 갈비(kalbi) restaurant. I am usually trying to introduce interesting store names and signs but this week, I wanted to share this picture with you. I hope you'll enjoy this nice picture of a traditional market/festival scene of Korea (until about 100 years ago) hung on a very modern building. In the middle of this photo is the picture. In front of this building there's a 관광 버스(tour bus) waiting for its passengers. Reading from the menu that's written on the windows, this place sell 돼지 갈비, 소갈비, 냉면, and etc. :-) all of which I like very much! And if you look more closely at the picture, you can see what kind of clothes "normal" or... Show more

I had a really long weekend recently and decided to take a short personal vacation. I headed off to 강원도 a province on the north-eastern edge of Korea. It is famous for the mountains and beaches, but I was just looking to get out of 서울. All of my long-distance travel within Korea has been by train or car, so I decided to take busses this time around. I boght a ticket for 강릉 and settled in what turned out to be a 4hr drive. It should have taken around 2~3 hours, but I guess everyone else had the same idea! I was hoping to speak as little English as possible on this trip, and since I was travelling alone, I stood a pretty good chance to getting to do just that. When I got to 강릉 the first thing I did was find a PC방. When travelling in Korea,... Show more

This is a very common question that I get from my non-Korean friends. "What's 곰탕? Is there really 곰 in there?" And as you know, 곰 means "bear", the animal. :-) So imagine - a bear soup ... hehe. But in fact it has nothing to do with bears(곰) although it's 곰 + 탕(soup). If you look at the sign in the picture above, it says 닭곰탕 too. So it must have something to do with 닭(chicken) and 곰(bear) together in a soup? :-) The truth is, 곰 is actually a noun coming from the verb "고다". And 고다 means to boil something to a pulp or let the flavor come out of something by boiling in water (usually with various spices added) for many hours. So, 곰 is not the animal 'bear' but a nominalization of 고다, therefore the act of 고다. So 곰탕 is a soup... Show more