1. Schedule your time. One of the most important factors in keeping your motivation up is developing it into a habit. Whether it be 20 minutes or 3 hours, schedule time to study every day and stick to it. Regular exposure solidifies what you learn and keeps you progressing. To make sure you stick to your routine, a great idea is to build a schedule for your day and decide that every day/Monday/weekend, you study from 6pm to 8pm. Just remember that 30 minutes a day, every day, is better than a binge 8-hour study session at the end of the week (though it’s obviously better than nothing). 2. Learn a word a day with our great Word of the Day learning tool. Trying to learn everything at once and getting overwhelmed by the sheer number... Show more

Bowing out. Sorry dear readers to make you wait an entire week to find out that I'm shucking you. I feel that it's my time to bow out with whatever dignity is left over from all my self-depreciating posts about my adventures in Korea. I have had a wonderful time writing here and hope that it has inspired others to write about their own experiences and opinions. My decision to part ways for time being is not in any way tied to any animosity or ill-will whatsoever. I've simply written all that I need to write for the time being. I've learned a lot about myself and of Korea during my time here. Your comments and viewpoints have helped me understand more about what makes me tick: Korea. For those still wanting to follow what I'm up... Show more

Western food in Korea. Part Two of Two. As we looked at last week, pickles are plentiful and Italian food is an embarrassment. Did I already apologize on behalf of Korea? 이탈리아, 죄송합니다. But this week we're looking at the good stuff. We're looking at what Korea does right.* Depending on how adventurous you are. One thing that comes to mind when I think of Western food done right..dare I say it? better than Americans do it is fried chicken. In the states, I'm a fan of spicy chicken tenders. Strips of boneless chicken meat fried and coated with red pepper flakes. Take one of them bad boys and dip it into a cup of warm creamy gravy and you have yourself not only a dangerously meal but you are now suspect to heart failure. But... Show more

Western food in Korea. Part One of Two. Why sweet baby Jesus are there pickles served with everything here? It's so unnecessary. For some reason, Korea feels the need to supply Western food with a heaping side of pickles with every meal. I still can't tell if it is for the benefit if foreigners who have this supposed insatiable appetite for salted cucumbers or if it's for Koreans who want an alternative to 김치 during their meal. Either way, it's peculiar. In addition to the green spectacle served with pizza, spaghetti and other Italian mutations, there exists gut-wrenching excuses for Western food in this land. Granted, fast food and convenience store food is awful no matter which country you live in, but this... Show more

Engrish. What a funny thing you have done to the English language, South Korea. You make me laugh. Daily. Hourly. Minute...ly. But don't get me wrong. I'm not making fun of Korea in the sense that I think my foreign language skills are better. Not sure if you've noticed recently, but my Korean isn't that great. I'm still translating kid books. So yeah, it's fun to laugh at but plenty of my friends get to laugh at my expense daily. Having said that, Engrish is funny. Some of my favorites: "Don't you tired?", "That test made me hard", and "You will be a stress". Classic. You can't make up comedy like that. Just a cursory google search will yield some awesome results. There is no shortage of goofy Engrish here. What other native... Show more