My best friend and lifelong travel partner Brenna recently offered me a chance to post as a guest blogger on her blog This Battered Suitcase. Her blog is a haven for travelers, wanderlusters, photo feinds and lovers of life.
My blog post features recommended spots to visit in Seoul "off the beaten path". You can read my article here.
the world is waiting
Monday, March 26, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
10 Best Souvenirs from Korea
Here expatkerri has gathered for you the ten oddest and most interesting gifts to give as souvenirs from South Korea. We guarantee all of these gifts will be good conversation starters.
1. CRAZY SOCKS - Ramyun noodles, swear words, K-pop stars, bunnies with fuzzy ears, drunk cartoons, poetry, soju bottles... the possibilities are nearly endless with these socks. Best of all they are available everywhere and are usually only 1000 won for a pair.
2. COUPLE PHONE CHARMS - For couples, nothing is more Korean than matching everything. You can go all out and buy matching couple t-shirts, but it's cheaper to buy your friends in relationships couple cell phone charms.
3. DRIED SQUID - A very popular snack during festivals and at the movies, the potent squid is usually sold with dipping sauce. You can buy it in most food marts for under 2000 won. Make sure you instruct your friends to bring the squid in their bags next time they go to the movies.
4. SCRUBBING CLOTHS - Since your friends aren't in Korea to experience the full extent of the Korean sauna, give them a little taste of it by giving them a scrubby cloth. The cloths are available everywhere and cost just 500 won. Make sure you instruct your friend to scrub their skin to the point where the dead skin comes off like eraser bits.
5. PACKAGED KIMCHI - "The World's Healthiest Food". The fried kimchi tastes best, and it's packaged so you can throw it in your bag without making all your luggage smell like fermented cabbage. Remember to say "kimchi" when having your photo taken too.
6. CRAZY ENGLISH T-SHIRTS - Anything goes when you're shopping for t-shirts in Korea. Browse among the mildly offensive to the completely indecipherable.
7. IPHONE BUNNY CASE - If there was an award for putting cuteness over all else including functionality, Korean girls would win first prize hands down. These absurd phone cases nearly double the width of the phone, conspicuously showing off the fact that your phone is cuter than everyone else's. Who wouldn't want to share that glory with their friends back home?
8. BB CREAM - For the women on your list, why not buy them a tube of "the Korean beauty secret". It is both a moisturizer and a liquid foundation, and as such it is supposed to save time in the morning. Plus it is meant to prevent wrinkles and help clear up breakouts. Win win!
9. ANIMAL HATS - Though they might look like they're made for children, motorcycle-riding delivery men also wear these ridiculous hats. I've never seen them in any other country.
10. METAL CHOPSTICKS - To my knowledge, Korea is the only country in all of Asia to use metal chopsticks. They're reusable, sterile, and hard to get used to at first. Buy some for your friends and have a contest using the chopsticks to pick up M&Ms.
All photos by expatkerri except "FU socks": used with permission from http://johannemiller.com/
1. CRAZY SOCKS - Ramyun noodles, swear words, K-pop stars, bunnies with fuzzy ears, drunk cartoons, poetry, soju bottles... the possibilities are nearly endless with these socks. Best of all they are available everywhere and are usually only 1000 won for a pair.
2. COUPLE PHONE CHARMS - For couples, nothing is more Korean than matching everything. You can go all out and buy matching couple t-shirts, but it's cheaper to buy your friends in relationships couple cell phone charms.
3. DRIED SQUID - A very popular snack during festivals and at the movies, the potent squid is usually sold with dipping sauce. You can buy it in most food marts for under 2000 won. Make sure you instruct your friends to bring the squid in their bags next time they go to the movies.
4. SCRUBBING CLOTHS - Since your friends aren't in Korea to experience the full extent of the Korean sauna, give them a little taste of it by giving them a scrubby cloth. The cloths are available everywhere and cost just 500 won. Make sure you instruct your friend to scrub their skin to the point where the dead skin comes off like eraser bits.
5. PACKAGED KIMCHI - "The World's Healthiest Food". The fried kimchi tastes best, and it's packaged so you can throw it in your bag without making all your luggage smell like fermented cabbage. Remember to say "kimchi" when having your photo taken too.
6. CRAZY ENGLISH T-SHIRTS - Anything goes when you're shopping for t-shirts in Korea. Browse among the mildly offensive to the completely indecipherable.
7. IPHONE BUNNY CASE - If there was an award for putting cuteness over all else including functionality, Korean girls would win first prize hands down. These absurd phone cases nearly double the width of the phone, conspicuously showing off the fact that your phone is cuter than everyone else's. Who wouldn't want to share that glory with their friends back home?
8. BB CREAM - For the women on your list, why not buy them a tube of "the Korean beauty secret". It is both a moisturizer and a liquid foundation, and as such it is supposed to save time in the morning. Plus it is meant to prevent wrinkles and help clear up breakouts. Win win!
9. ANIMAL HATS - Though they might look like they're made for children, motorcycle-riding delivery men also wear these ridiculous hats. I've never seen them in any other country.
10. METAL CHOPSTICKS - To my knowledge, Korea is the only country in all of Asia to use metal chopsticks. They're reusable, sterile, and hard to get used to at first. Buy some for your friends and have a contest using the chopsticks to pick up M&Ms.
All photos by expatkerri except "FU socks": used with permission from http://johannemiller.com/
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Going Viral
I recently posted this video to YouTube.
It went viral. We hit 1,000,000 views on Monday.
In honour of the milestone of my first video to hit a million views, Raines and I made a music video composed of remixes of the original Korean whines from the first video.
The song is available to download for free here (just click Download, then click OK)
It is a little dream of mine to have this song playing on millions of ipods worldwide, and for one of you to be stopped and asked what you're listening to.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
5 Things I Learned From my iPhone
I've never had a smart phone before. In this new world of wifi I'm what the French call "une imbécile". It's already becoming a welcome part of my life, as I find it either in my hand or on my desk next to me at all times since I bought it. I am using my real camera and my little mp3 player less now that I have them both in one. Here I share with you my humble observations from my recent arrival to smartphone-ville.
Everyone else already has a smart phone: Be it Twitter, Instagram, Viddy, 4Square, Path, KaKaoTalk, or others... nearly all my friends have already been living this life of constant communiation and pocket access for years. And the weirdest part of all is that my iPhone knows that those people are my friends, and it connects us instantly. iPhone, you so smart.
The ground is uneven: I am already guilty of holding my phone up to my face while walking. Sometimes when I do this I'm a bit less aware of walking and I stumble a bit. No injuries yet.
People with smart phones are prone to smart phone envy: I bought the iPhone 4S in March 2012, since it is the most recent and up-to-date iPhone now. My friends ask the following questions in order: "oh, is that the 4s?" "oh, so are you using 3G right now?" "can i take a photo with your 8 megapixel camera?" and after those three questions they examine their own phone and deem mine "better". I don't know since I have nothing to compare it to.
Podcasts exist for nearly everything: There's even a hugely popular podcast about how to podcast. With my podcast knowledge still in the nesting stage, I listen to Ricky Gervais, then I listen to Korean lessons, then NPR, all on my walk to work.
There really is an app for that: Just as google offers search results for any keyword, the App Store on iPhones offers results as well. In just a short search I found a virtual piano, multiple free fortune telling apps, a step-by-step knot tying app, and an app called "how Canadian are you eh?"
I can only hope I'll use this growing technological chia pet for intellectual prospects and deeper communications. Time for another round of Draw Something.
Everyone else already has a smart phone: Be it Twitter, Instagram, Viddy, 4Square, Path, KaKaoTalk, or others... nearly all my friends have already been living this life of constant communiation and pocket access for years. And the weirdest part of all is that my iPhone knows that those people are my friends, and it connects us instantly. iPhone, you so smart.
The ground is uneven: I am already guilty of holding my phone up to my face while walking. Sometimes when I do this I'm a bit less aware of walking and I stumble a bit. No injuries yet.
People with smart phones are prone to smart phone envy: I bought the iPhone 4S in March 2012, since it is the most recent and up-to-date iPhone now. My friends ask the following questions in order: "oh, is that the 4s?" "oh, so are you using 3G right now?" "can i take a photo with your 8 megapixel camera?" and after those three questions they examine their own phone and deem mine "better". I don't know since I have nothing to compare it to.
Podcasts exist for nearly everything: There's even a hugely popular podcast about how to podcast. With my podcast knowledge still in the nesting stage, I listen to Ricky Gervais, then I listen to Korean lessons, then NPR, all on my walk to work.
There really is an app for that: Just as google offers search results for any keyword, the App Store on iPhones offers results as well. In just a short search I found a virtual piano, multiple free fortune telling apps, a step-by-step knot tying app, and an app called "how Canadian are you eh?"
I can only hope I'll use this growing technological chia pet for intellectual prospects and deeper communications. Time for another round of Draw Something.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Feeling at Home
Throughout my travels, I've been faced with the question of where home is many times. It's clear to me now that Korea is indeed my home, and it has been for a while.
It is my base: where I work, where I relax, where I dine, where I laugh, where I love, where I live.
On my flight back after my recent travels, I wondered how many other non-Koreans on the plane consider Korea to be their home. It seems to me that nationality doesn't make a home, but rather it's a connection we feel with a place.
My connection with Korea seems quite natural to me now. I express myself comfortably using this language, and I even prefer the food here to what I grew up with. Sometimes it seems that part of me was always here, and it just took me moving here to find that part of myself. My friends here tell me my sense of humour is Korean, and sometimes they even say I'm Korean. It's such a big part of me now, this place.
Can any place become a home to us, if we are in the right mind and spirit to adapt to it?
This photo shows my temporary home away from home in Chiang Mai, Thailand, courtesy of old friends Boom & Ryan.
It is my base: where I work, where I relax, where I dine, where I laugh, where I love, where I live.
On my flight back after my recent travels, I wondered how many other non-Koreans on the plane consider Korea to be their home. It seems to me that nationality doesn't make a home, but rather it's a connection we feel with a place.
My connection with Korea seems quite natural to me now. I express myself comfortably using this language, and I even prefer the food here to what I grew up with. Sometimes it seems that part of me was always here, and it just took me moving here to find that part of myself. My friends here tell me my sense of humour is Korean, and sometimes they even say I'm Korean. It's such a big part of me now, this place.
Can any place become a home to us, if we are in the right mind and spirit to adapt to it?
This photo shows my temporary home away from home in Chiang Mai, Thailand, courtesy of old friends Boom & Ryan.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Languages of Angkor
It's my last day in Siem Reap, the last day of my 3-week journey through Northern Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
The Pre Rup temple of Angkor Wat was a magnet for tourists to sit and enjoy the sunset over the other temples. I loved hearing so many languages around me all at once... Japanese, German, French, Korean, Spanish... it was like a little section of the world had all come together to watch the sunset over Cambodia for just one evening together.
I couldn't stop thinking about the shared experience of sunset, among all our different grammars and lifestyles. What brought us all to this temple, on this day?
As sure as the sun dipping into the west for another night, we all scattered back to the different places we call home to share our memories of Angkor in our own words.
The Pre Rup temple of Angkor Wat was a magnet for tourists to sit and enjoy the sunset over the other temples. I loved hearing so many languages around me all at once... Japanese, German, French, Korean, Spanish... it was like a little section of the world had all come together to watch the sunset over Cambodia for just one evening together.
I couldn't stop thinking about the shared experience of sunset, among all our different grammars and lifestyles. What brought us all to this temple, on this day?
As sure as the sun dipping into the west for another night, we all scattered back to the different places we call home to share our memories of Angkor in our own words.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
How I Pay For Travels
One of my subscribers recently asked me a question:
"How do you get the money for all your trips???"
The simple answer is that I save my money.
But there is a more complex answer which involves the way I have chosen to live my life. I want to live a life full of travel, full of experience, full of exploration.
My mother has a small Mary Engelbreit drawing in the kitchen which reads "Bloom where you're planted". Even as a little kid I thought it was weird. Why would I want to stay in my hometown when the whole world is waiting?
In high school, I decided to work a part time job and save all my money in order to "backpack Europe" after university. I actually ended up working 3 part time jobs, (at Dairy Queen, a local stationery store, and a local hotel), and I saved almost all the money that I earned. By the time I graduated high school, I had saved quite a bit.
I also had part time jobs throughout university as well in order to keep saving for my proverbial Europe trip. Lucky enough to have parents who graciously paid for my tuition, the money I earned during university paid for my rent, textbooks, food, and the occasional flight home. I was still completely set on saving for my trip though, so I rarely went shopping, and went out for dinner only as a treat.
As graduation came closer and closer, so did the trip. I got scared, wondering if I could really backpack alone in Europe for a few months. I hesitated to book my ticket.
One fateful night, with graduation only weeks away, my first-year roommate came over for a celebratory dinner. We laughed, we remembered, we ate, and we drank. After a bottle of red wine and too much cheese to mention, she leaned in close and asked me "Kerri, what do you want?" I answered straight back: "I want to go to Europe." I booked a one-way flight to London England that night, under the influence of wine and my own desire.
Once I booked my ticket, everything started aligning. I became friends with Brenna, who was also planning a solo trip around Europe. We sat in coffee shops together with maps and guidebooks, trying to navigate a new world of train rides and dorm beds.
Those four months I spent traveling Europe alone will always be some of my most precious travel memories. I did it. And I did it all by myself - with my own money, at my own pace, with my own will.
In my final year of university, I had dreamed of living and working in South Korea, and made it a reality when I moved there in September 2006. I saved most of the money I earned there and spent it on trips through China and Vietnam.
After that job, I realized living in Asia and working as an English teacher would be the best way to make enough money to continuously explore the world. And that's truthfully what I've been doing ever since. 2012 marks my fourth year living and working in South Korea.
So, to answer the original question, it's not just trying to get money for trips. Rather, the need for travel is so deep within me, I can't help but put the money I earn towards plane tickets to new destinations. Where else would my money be as well spent?
You don't have to have the money to travel, you just need the will.
"How do you get the money for all your trips???"
The simple answer is that I save my money.
But there is a more complex answer which involves the way I have chosen to live my life. I want to live a life full of travel, full of experience, full of exploration.
My mother has a small Mary Engelbreit drawing in the kitchen which reads "Bloom where you're planted". Even as a little kid I thought it was weird. Why would I want to stay in my hometown when the whole world is waiting?
In high school, I decided to work a part time job and save all my money in order to "backpack Europe" after university. I actually ended up working 3 part time jobs, (at Dairy Queen, a local stationery store, and a local hotel), and I saved almost all the money that I earned. By the time I graduated high school, I had saved quite a bit.
I also had part time jobs throughout university as well in order to keep saving for my proverbial Europe trip. Lucky enough to have parents who graciously paid for my tuition, the money I earned during university paid for my rent, textbooks, food, and the occasional flight home. I was still completely set on saving for my trip though, so I rarely went shopping, and went out for dinner only as a treat.
As graduation came closer and closer, so did the trip. I got scared, wondering if I could really backpack alone in Europe for a few months. I hesitated to book my ticket.
One fateful night, with graduation only weeks away, my first-year roommate came over for a celebratory dinner. We laughed, we remembered, we ate, and we drank. After a bottle of red wine and too much cheese to mention, she leaned in close and asked me "Kerri, what do you want?" I answered straight back: "I want to go to Europe." I booked a one-way flight to London England that night, under the influence of wine and my own desire.
Once I booked my ticket, everything started aligning. I became friends with Brenna, who was also planning a solo trip around Europe. We sat in coffee shops together with maps and guidebooks, trying to navigate a new world of train rides and dorm beds.
Those four months I spent traveling Europe alone will always be some of my most precious travel memories. I did it. And I did it all by myself - with my own money, at my own pace, with my own will.
In my final year of university, I had dreamed of living and working in South Korea, and made it a reality when I moved there in September 2006. I saved most of the money I earned there and spent it on trips through China and Vietnam.
After that job, I realized living in Asia and working as an English teacher would be the best way to make enough money to continuously explore the world. And that's truthfully what I've been doing ever since. 2012 marks my fourth year living and working in South Korea.
So, to answer the original question, it's not just trying to get money for trips. Rather, the need for travel is so deep within me, I can't help but put the money I earn towards plane tickets to new destinations. Where else would my money be as well spent?
You don't have to have the money to travel, you just need the will.
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