Real Life Korean Politics Posted by Ginny on Dec 18, 2008
Today was a drama filled day in the South Korean legislature. Picture this: a man in a suit blocks the doorway to the parliamentary meeting room, another man gets a sledgehammer to pry the door open, a security officer uses a fire extinguisher to stop the man with a sledgehammer. No, it’s not what you’re…
Korean Pronouns Posted by Ginny on Dec 15, 2008
Learning Korean pronouns can be difficult and confusing, even for an intermediate level student. For today’s post, we’ll get to the bottom of understanding Korean pronouns and when they’re used. First off, let’s start off with the singular first person pronoun on the formal level. To say “I” or “me” in Korean you would use juh (저). …
Insam (인삼) Posted by Ginny on Dec 14, 2008
As the cold season rolls around, I’m finding that I’m no longer immune to catching a cold. I guess I’m getting older! Of course I’ve been taking some cold medicine but this cold has been really persistent. Maybe I’ll switch back to some traditional Korean medicine. In Korea, insam (인삼) or ginseng is a popular…
Proverb of the Day Posted by Ginny on Dec 13, 2008
This is the second post on Korean proverbs in a recurring series of Korean proverbs. Hope no one is dying of joy! In Korean, we have what are four Chinese character based proverbs or words of wisdom called sa-ja-song-oh (사자성어). These four lettered proverbs can be downright strange when they’re translated literally. Let me show…
Bulguksa (불국사) Posted by Ginny on Dec 12, 2008
I haven’t really touched upon Korean architecture, but I’m going to start by talking about a cool site that every tourist should go see. There are loads of temples in Korea, that’s for sure! However, there aren’t many temples as beautiful as bulguksa (불국사). Bulguksa (불국사) is considered a national treasure by the South Korean…
Kut (굿) Posted by Ginny on Dec 11, 2008
I have a really bad cold today and have been taking some medicane, but I still feel terrible. I wish there was a magic solution to help me get better… Which gets me thinking…has anyone ever heard of kut (굿) before? What is kut (굿)? Kut (굿) is a ritual performed by a mudang (무당)…
kimbap (깁밥) Posted by Ginny on Dec 10, 2008
I had some kimbap (김밥) for lunch today and decided to write a post about it. What is kimbap (김밥)? Kimbap (김밥) is rice, some vegetables and meat wrapped in seaweed. Kim (깁) means seaweed and bap (밥) means rice. Kimbap (김밥) is really easy to make. You can pretty much put whatever you want…