Politeness levels. 반말, 존댓말, 높임말. Essentially, this is the socially appropriate form of language that is used depending on the situation. Think "Please" and "Thank you" times a million. But if you think about it, we have this concept in English - just not as heightened. I feel that Spanish has a little more in common with Korean politeness levels. For that matter, dozens of other languages have this concept, right? Either way, it's not an easy concept to transfer. In all honesty, this was probably the most difficult transition for me when first actually speaking Korean. But like all things, I like to make a game out of it. Let's pick one of my favorite genres, the RTS. In Company of Heroes, if you want to decimate a wondering group... Show more

Korean blind dating. Awful. Painful. Haven't quite figured it out yet. I'm going out on a limb here to present my lack of confidence personal experience on the subject. I hope you'll forgive me for being frank. 소개팅 is just about as comfortable as a root canal. It's a standard game - single guy and single girl meet up in a safe, well-populated environment in hopes of finding a relationship. But it wouldn't be Korea without a twist. Let's talk about the third wheel. This person is a mutual friend that hooks the two people up. Perhaps this person might meet both people together at a cafe - and all three might sit down for a cup of coffee. The friend will try to stimulate conversation and sort of acts as a temporary match-maker. If... Show more

김치. Delicious. Bold. Distinct. (see also: Smelly. Spicy. Scary) It's true, not everyone likes kimchi. Then again, not everyone likes soju. Or chocolate for that matter. If you detest kimchi, I weep for you. Moving on. Yes, I'm being biased. Of course I am. I frakin love kimchi. It's comfort food. It goes with any dish. It smells good. It's dynamic. It's essential. What was my life before kimchi? We don't speak of that time... My history with kimchi is a sad one. We got off on the wrong foot - kimchi and I. See, when I got in trouble as a small boy, my father used to say to me, "You're in deep kimchi now, mister". Well, it didn't take much for me to put two and two together to assume that kimchi was something bad (in this case, a... Show more

화이트데이. I'm not entirely comfortable with the name of this holiday. I mean, I'm probably absolutely looking too far into the name of White Day as something bad, but I digress. Actually, in a different ranting vein, seems that all the holidays on the 14th of each month are kind of like Love Day. White day is another one of these holidays seemingly made by the chocolate companies in order to entice people to buy sweets and candies. On this particular demi-holiday, men give chocolate sweets to their girlfriends to let them know nothing has changed and you're still just as cute as you were the day we met although now that i think about it you don't try as much anymore, you make me feel bad for hanging out with my drinking buddies, and... Show more

삼일 운동 (만세운동). Two days ago was a very important holiday for Korea. Like most nations, many historically important holidays mark a day that symbolizes a particular feeling or thought. In Texas, we have the Battle of the Alamo. This was a tragic military loss in every sense of the word during the Texas Revolution. Yes, a failure - the well-trained Mexican army outnumbered the beleaguered defenders 10 to 1. In fact, Mexican Army General Santa Anna even gave the defenders a chance to surrender. If you know Texas, then you can guess which finger the defenders raised in response. Essentially, the Mexican army ended up slaughtering just about everyone inside. However, this seemingly foolish decision to fight the organized Mexican army ended... Show more