World Cup 2010: North Korea v South Korea

Both North Korea and South Korea have both qualified for the football World Cup 2010, which takes place in South Africa next summer. December 3rd 2009 though is when the World Cup draw takes place, a date when we will find out who will be in each group in the finals in South Africa.


Will North and South Korea be drawn together? What an incredible game it would in an actual World Cup finals. They have met before and in fact played each other in qualifying having been in the same group. Playing though in the actual finals raises the importance even more and the competitive edge will be even stronger.


Having lived in South Korea for years though, I have found that there is a mutual respect between the teams if anything under the though exteriors, a lot of respect and many South Koreans will quite openly admit that their one big wish in life is to see a unified Korea again. Maybe football is just the beginning?

More about football in Korea.

Korean girls v British girls

I have been living in Seoul, South Korea for 2 years teaching English and a surprising but common question I often get asked by the male students and businessmen are - what are the differences between Korean and English/British girls? And do I like Korean girls.

Well, I like girls no matter from what country as I am sure you all agree that beauty comes in many styles, shapes, colours, sizes and looks. There are certainly a lot of differences between Korean girls and British girls though if I am allowed to generalise (which is how culture is defined).

Korean girls

- Often very slim (sometimes too slim and sometimes nice slim)

-Brought up much more traditionally and often look after the home and cooking (especially on the holiday weekends for large family gatherings - and especially so if your husband is the eldest son).
- Kind and sweet.

- Can turn into Adjumas (scary old women) when they are older.

British Girls

- Not so slim but more to cuddle.

- More liberated and open minded, but more aggresive and want a lot more independance.

- Cost a lot more to feed them LOL :)

Nightlife in Seoul, South Korea (Part 2)

Nightlife and things to do in the evenings in Seoul also can take the form of relaxation. In Japn you have Onsen and in Korea, Koreans love what is known locally jjimjilbang's.

A jjimjilbang is basically a sauna and relaxation centre and there are a lot of these venues in Seoul. They are not always easy to find and if you are a non-Korean speaker or reader and do not have a Korean friend showing you where to go, you will probably never ever spot the jjimjilbang in Seoul.

The brillian thing about jjimjilbang and galbijim are that they have excellent facilities. Accordign to the specific galbijim you go in, the facilities might include a:

• sauna area
• sleeping and relaxation area
• computer/internet area
• place to buy food and drinks.

If you are a non-Korean then you might find people watching you because they are not so used to foreigners in the jjimjilbang and galbijim. Do not be put off though. They are great places ro relax!

Nightlife in Seoul, South Korea (Part 1)

The nightlife in Seoul, South Korea is certainly a little different from what one might be used to in countries such as the UK, USA or Australia for example. With emphasis on singing for example, things are very different.

Singing rooms (known as Norebongs in Korea) are very popular with Koreans and they are rooms which you use just for your own small group of friends or work colleagues. After a few drinks in bar or a meal in a restaurant, heading to a singing room is very common.

A lot of Seoul nightlife, as well as based on singing, is based around food. People often spend all evening in restaurants and other eating establishments and a lot of alcohol is often included. Friends of mine recently sent freight to China and then headed to Seoul and they were within a few hours dragged into a singing room. It's unavoidable almost in Seoul.

More about nightlife and drinking in Korea in the next blog. If you are looking for vacation rentals in Korea by the way, Holiday-Velvet.com I have heard are considering expanding into Seoul.

Seoul and South Korea Events, jobs, news and workshops

Many of you have been asking recently if you can contribute to this blog with your Seoul events, Seoul news, workshops, classes and jobs etc. The answer is yes. We would love to receive your posts and we will add them for free on this Seoul, South Korea dedicated blog.

Just send us your information to:
paul at seoulkoreaasia.com
and we will add your Seoul events, news etc within 48 hrs.

Books on Seoul, South Korea

Just a quick blog to remind you that the book 'Living in Seul, South Korea' if available as an eBook and for sale very cheaply via www.seoulkoreaasia.com

Do not also forget that if you ar looking for information on Teaching English in Seoul, South Korea then there is a lot of info on SeoulKoreaAsia.

Teaching in Seoul, South Korea

Teaching in Seoul, South Korea can be rewarding froma cultural point of view, financial worthwhile if you get into a reasonable school and Korea and other parts of Asia are excellent for travelling and experiening. If you are open-minded and courteous, you will almost definately have a positive and enjoyable experience while living in Seoul and you will find that most Korean people you meet are very friendly, at least that was my experience.

There are several resources for trying to find a TEFL job in South Korea:

• You can about Teaching experiences in Seoul, South Korea
• Type of schools and documentation needed to teach in Korea
• Teaching languages such as Italian & Spanish in Seoul, South Korea.
• You can also find teaching jobs in Korea direct from the ESL cafe.

What city or town to teach in, in Korea, really depends on what you are looking for. If you want to live where there is plenty goign on and lots of opportunities and chances to meet other Westerners, then Seoul is perfect. If you really want to experience the Korean culture then maybe places such as Daejeon, Yongtong (Suwon), Ansan or Ilsan, might suit you.

Seoul, South Korea Travel and News Update

Seoul , South Korea News Updates:

Korean in space: It has been an interesting week here in South Korea with many people extremely proud to see Yi So Yeon go into space as the first South Korean to take this trip. Interestingly also the KFRI (The Korea Food Research Institute) have been working over the last few years in preparation for this moment, i.e. to send tradition Korean foods into space, including Kimchi.

This week the book 'Living in Seoul: A Westerner's Perspective' has also gone into eBook format and is now on sale at £2.99 and is purchasable via PayPal.

Flights to Korea: British Airways have soem good flight prices at this time and are worth checking. Lufthansa tend to be one fo the most consistently good airliens to Korea, flying through Germany.

Do not forget the 2008 Mud Festival in Boryeong in Korea.

Boryeong's Mud Festival - July 2008

If you have are travelling to South Korea this summer, one event you really should make an attempt to visit is the annual Boryeong's Mud Festival. The mud festival is a quite unusual festival and I myself enjoyed visiting the festival in 2004.

There are many attractions including various mud baths, mud massages and other mud opportunities for the visitor. Taking place on Daecheon Beach in South Korea, this festival has gained popularity in many ways because the mud from Boryeong is said to have very natural ingredients which include various minerals and which are thought to be excellent for ones skin.

You can visit the official Boryeong's Mud Festival site and also read up about South Korean festivals.

Seoul International Marathon 2008

Sunday March 18th at 8am signifies the start of the 2008 Seoul International Marathon so now is the time to start thinking about applying and also designing a training plan.

The marathon has continued to gain in popularity over the last few years and in the 2008 event, more than thirty thousand runners are expected to participate. The run takes racers through downtown Seoul and aroudn the city for approx. 26 miles.

You can visit the official Seoul International Marathon website for deatiled information. The run will finish in Barcelona's Olympic Stadium in Jamsil and the marathon and interestingly, each runner will be given a pedometer to record the distance run to stop cheating. Further details can also be found on the Seoul Marathon page on Seoulkoreaasia.

Football (or soccer for Americans) in South Korea

The 2002 Football World Cup which was jointly held in South Korea and Japan, gave the sport a huge lift in Seoul and the rest of South Korea. Up until 2002, football was semi popular, with the domestic K-League already in progress. The 2002 World Cup though generated huge interest in football and this momentum has continued since.

The interest in football in Korea has now increased even more with a few of the major Korean corporations beginning to sponsor English Premiership teams. Samsung now sponsor Chelsea Football Club (who are London based) and also with Korean players such as Park Ji-sung playing for teams such as Manchester United.

Baseball still seems to be more popular and basketball is also very popular in Korea. Want to learn more about football in Korea.
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Italian version of Seoul Korea site

It is exciting news to be able to announce that the Italian version of seoulkoreaasia.com is now ready and live at seoulkoreaasia.com/italy/index.html

Many Italians who do go to Italy and Koreans who go to Italy, are very often involved with the trade and industry (see the Commercio e Affari page on the site) and these trades often involve:

• Italian marble
• Fashion
• Music (i.e. opera singing and training)
• Food

The Seoul, Korea site in Italian covers aspect area of Korean culture, travel, business and industry which the English version of the site covers.

New Seoul Korea website

One of the newest and most informative websites about South Korea is now live and there for you to view. The site www.seoulkoreaasia.com is a site designed by Paul Symonds, an Englishman who lived in Seoul as a teacher of business English, for 2 years.

As the author of 'Living in Seoul, South Korea: A Westerners Experience', Paul has created this in-depth site, a site which is continuing to build and develop.

The newest pages on the site include:

• Books about South Korea - some of the favourite books on Seoul and Korea
• Living in Seoul, Korea - the book by Paul published for free on the site
• Attractions in Seoul - Valeria's favourite tourist attractions in Seoul.

10 best things about Seoul, Korea

For fun, I thought on this blog I'd list my 10 favourite things about Seoul, so here goes!

1. Dak Galbi.
2. The palaces.
3. Brilliant public transportation (taxis are plentiful and real cheap and subway system excellent.
4. Everland.
5. Lots of bars and restaurants.
6. Easy access to an Intetrnationsl airport.
7. Shops open most hours of the day.
8. More Dak galbi!
9. Korean people are very friendly.
10. ..and another plate of Dak galbi

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If you need a freight company by the way, to send stock to or Korea, the Bristol Freight company are worth trying.

Flights to South Korea and Seoul

A new website and webpage have been put online and there is lots of information about flights to and from Seoul, South Korea. There is information on airlines including Korean Air and Asiana and some useful tips. Just got to http://www.seoulkoreaasia.com/flights.htm

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Korean and foreign men (15th March 2007)

Whatever country you go to in the world, women can often be seen dragging men around the shops. What amazes me most though is that women, who otherwise may have no energy to do things, suddenly find the power to walk all day long, from shop to shop, without a second thought - inspired by the love of shopping. I guess it is similar in that women generally do not have the passion for sport that men have. Getting dragged around a shopping mall by my wife, looking for shoes is not my idea of fun, although I guess I say that because I am a guy.
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A new website all about everything to do with Seoul and South Korea has gone live on seoulkoreaasia.com

Korean and the West (26th Feb. 07)

Sometimes Korea is no different from Western countries. Whichever country I go to, one situation is always the same and I have never understood it. I guess some things in life just have to be accepted. Picture the situation. You are in a supermarket and a woman is in front of you, with her groceries being scanned through at the checkout. She stands there. She could get her purse out and have the money ready to pay. She could (if someone else is not doing it) grab a plastic bag and start bagging her own groceries. What will she do? Nothing!

She will stand and watch the assistant scanning the goods through or she will stand and look into space, thinking about something that only she knows about. Once the groceries have been scanned through, she will then fumble around in her purse for half a minute, looking for coins to pay the exact amount. Watch a man going through and he will almost certainly have his money ready in his hand to pay. He will pay with bank notes and use all the coins at one time and he will bag his groceries as they are being scanned through. My thought is that many women love shopping so much, that they will do anything to delay leaving the shop. They want to hang around and take in the atmosphere. Men usually want to get home and catch the sport (or Star Crafts in the case of many Korean men).
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Parking in Seoul, Korea

One thing I experienced in Korea which impressed me a lot in terms of logic, is that when there are not enough parking places, people sometimes block other cars in and leave their mobile phone number on the other car’s dashboard. When the people you blocked in arrive back at their car, they call you and you shift your car. When I saw this idea, I was impressed by the system – a system that solves a problem in a crammed city like Seoul. I am not sure if this is a popular idea or even if it is still happening, but when I saw it I liked the idea. In terms of utilising space in a crammed city such as Seoul, I was also very impressed with the way in which you can park your car. There are car-parks in the middle of the sky rises which have one small entrance and inside, there is a rotating lift which moves your car up to a parking space, kind of like a big wheel which lifts cars. Another example of using space is with the way in which golf driving ranges can be built and exist in the middle of office blocks. This also surprised me.

South Korean culture. The illogical in the West.

Having mentioned the U.S. convenience chain store 7-Eleven (which is now becoming popular in many other countries including in Korea) there are a few questions that I used to wonder about. Why is it called Seven Eleven? The name 7-Eleven was created because the stores were initially open from 7am until 11pm, when they first opened in 1927. The thing is, these days 7-Elevens are always open twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. For this reason, one wonders why 7-Elevens still need to have locks on the doors, if they are always open. Equally baffling things I have found while travelling is why there are no English muffins in England, no French fries in France (they are called frittas there), no Outback Steakhouses in Australia and why there are no Danish muffins in Denmark. Not everything in the West is logically either! Talking about logic and the West, a fellow teacher recently returned to Melbourne, Australia and it took him over a month to get an Internet connection sorted out at home - In Korea it took him only one day: he is now back in Korea!

(Part 3) More subtle cultural differences in Seoul, Korea

Another subtle cultural difference that I have found in every country I have been to, is the way in which things work at the checkout section in supermarkets and it can be confusing. In England, you will usually be handed the plastic bags you need and then you bag the goods yourself. This system is good for keeping the line moving because both you and the checkout operator are working to get you through the checkout.

In some Korean supermarkets, you bag your things yourself, like in the UK. In other supermarkets though there is always someone bagging your items for you, such as in the large supermarket in Shinsaegae, Seoul Bus Terminal. The problem is that, for some reason, the staff bagging the groceries always put everything in too few a bags, to the extent that the bags are likely to break under the pressure. Go to a ‘Seven Eleven’ convenience store and the same thing can happen. Without exception, they always use one bag, regardless of how many things you buy. Maybe it was just that I was very unlucky? I realise that maybe you have to ask if you want another bag because you have to pay for it, but on one visit I bought five bottles of 1.5 litre water, one can of Cass Beer, two tins of tuna and four yoghurts. The shop assistant still spent a while forcing everything in the one bag, to the extent that I could not actually carry it in one hand and if I had, there is no doubt at all that the bag would have broken. It seemed at times as though logic was maybe being ignored to meet with company rules. In other situations Koreans provide services which sometimes are so simple yet brilliant; ideas that sometimes make me question Western logic.
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