Korea | GRRRL TRAVELER

Pass the Paper: Experiencing Culture Shock in Korea

Filed under Just Show Me Pictures!, Korea by MyCrazyKimchi on April 26, 2010 at 4:32 pm {5 comments}

Photo of fellow EPIKer Amanda‘s ppt game

So you live in a new country, you’ve got a new job, you’re working out the variables of navigating new food, new work relationships, cultural and communication barriers… so why are you depressed? Welcome to culture shock.

Nothing you do can prepare you for what you think you will or won’t experience when you move abroad. As a traveler who thrives on experiencing cultural lifestyles, my experience of culture shock feels… surprising. I’ve lived in 4 different cities, I’ve often either traveled or lived (more…)

Being a Vegetarian in Korea (Part II): Weight-loss in Korea

Filed under Fear Factor Foods, Off-beat, Weird... Reality! by MyCrazyKimchi on March 25, 2010 at 4:32 pm {6 comments}

A Popular Snack in Korea: Cooked Silkworm Larvae

I’m not sure how weight-loss works with Koreans, but let me shed light on how it works with foreigners. During my orientation, two girls I knew claimed to drop pants sizes within their first week of arriving. Not possible, right? Not without some major medical operation… but feeling my pants hang off of my body last week at work, the word “belt” comes to mind.

1. The Traveler’s Diet

As a traveler, I always feel like there’s something in the food of a different country, that despite how fried, oily or creamy something is… you lose weight. I take great groans in keeping fit or at least “looking it”. In Thailand, I lived on street food and almost everything I ate had a level of “deep-fried guilt” to it (even the bugs!) Yet upon my return, I was pounds lighter ! How’s that possible? Many who travel to Asia claim the same experiences. I understand the stress of navigating a foreign place or the constant movement to get your sightseeing in. Maybe all of that burns calories… (more…)

Being a Vegetarian in Korea (Part I)

Filed under Survival Issues, Vegetarian Life by MyCrazyKimchi on March 25, 2010 at 4:25 pm {13 comments}

Updates: 1) Whether I got the Korean Crud or not, I don’t know but I did get a cold vs. a stomach virus and I think it had to do with 2) the onslaught of Yellow Dust season which i’ll be blogging soon, along with 3) the annual Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival and 4) buying a phone/plan when you don’t speak Korean.

: Having dinner with an old and dear college friend… & not knowing how to navigate my issues with non-vegetarian, mystery food. On the table: fish, egg, silkworm larvae, snails, mystery sushi.

So how hard is it for a fun-loving vegetarian travel gal to acclimate to Korea? I’ll tell you- friggin hard! …

**Being a Chaeshick-chu (aka ‘Vegetarian’) in Korea**

Chaeshickchu means vegetarian and I don’t want to be a whiny Chaeshickchu who complains about not being able to eat the food here. Korea does have food I can eat; my choices are just narrower and finding new veggie options to live my year by, when I have limited knowledge of the country foods, can feel rough. Well, more than rough…starving!

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The Secret to Using a Squat Toilet

Filed under Crazy Korea, Korea by MyCrazyKimchi on March 7, 2010 at 3:59 am {18 comments}

My “Mis”Adventures with the Squat toilet

So the fun just doesn’t stop… While I’m still sorting out my reaction to my new move, luck-draw number two just hit, when on my first day of school, I learned that every peeing portal in my school was a porcelain… hole in the ground. Yes my new workplace – Anil Elementary School in Dong-bu, Daegu- had seemingly no western toilets ! (see My First Day at a Korean Elementary School video) Expectations, hopes?… one ought never have them, even when it comes to assuming your work environments will have standard western conveniences; yet for me, there were obviously still some there…

: The infamous squat toilet in my school (basket for used wipes & flush handle)

Some of you already know of my mis-adventure with the squat toilet in Thailand… not good. I accidentally nailed my shoe and spent the rest of my trip spritzing it with hand sanitizer and paranoid, sniffing it to see if the smell was me or my shoe. It’s make me a bit of a timid (more…)

Learning Survival Korean (Part 1)

Filed under Just Show Me Pictures!, Korea by MyCrazyKimchi on February 6, 2010 at 4:43 pm {no comments}

Living Language Korean

Two weeks ago:

Vegetarian Mouth to Language
It’s hard to imagine that food and learning a foreign language can feel so intimately connected, but right now it does. To learn a word is to chew into it and digest it; and when you’re a vegetarian moving abroad to a foreign country like Korea, to eat you’ll eventually need to learn to read a restaurant menu, food ingredients or be able to ask the waitress about vegetarian options. If eating is important to you…

Which brings me to- learning survival phrases. Mastering survival phrases are great for a short-term travel band-aid and may even get you through the course of a year of living abroad. But I think- being able to read bus schedules, store/street signs and to communicate in a more modes, than mute, giggle, or grunt all help to create an easier road into expat life. Right now, my dangling carrot for focusing on Korean literally starts at food. (more…)

Should you take a Gap year: Teaching English in Korea (Part II)

Filed under GAP YEAR TRAVEL, How & why teach in Korea? by Christine Ka'aloa on January 18, 2010 at 5:00 am {12 comments}

How to spend your gap year abroad: gaining or losing a year. So it’s finally arrived- my work contract for South Korea! I’m booked to leave mid-February and this week I’ll be …