Three years ago, I signed a jeonse (전세, “key money”) lease on my apartment in Seongnam for 410 million won — roughly $300,000. I handed that entire amount to my landlord. Not as a down payment. Not as a purchase. Just to rent the place. Today, that same apartment’s jeonse deposit has climbed to 570 … Read more
Last month, I was sitting in a car at Everland’s Safari World when my daughter completely lost it — in the best possible way. A giraffe had wandered right up to the vehicle, close enough to see its eyelashes, and she grabbed my arm and screamed so hard I thought she’d burst something. She’s seven … Read more
It’s a Saturday afternoon and my seven-year-old daughter is on her knees beside a shallow plastic pool, scooping up little magnetic fish with a toy rod. Every fish she catches gets swapped for a coin at the counter. With those coins she feeds an arcade claw machine, loses, feeds it again, wins a gummy snack … Read more
Short version: Korean offices call people by title, not first name — and almost every title takes the suffix -nim (님). Here is the whole set you are likely to hear, including the ones from K-dramas and webtoons. What you say Korean Literally Who they actually are Where you’ll hear it hoejang-nim 회장님 chairman Chairman … Read more
When I was in elementary school, I watched a movie called Hackers. You know, the 1995 one with Angelina Jolie and rollerblading through New York. I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. Then I watched Live Free or Die Hard and decided — yeah, I want to be that person. The one … Read more
A friend from the U.S. once asked me, completely serious: “Do you eat Korean BBQ, like, every day?” I laughed so hard I almost choked on my instant ramen. Look — Korean BBQ is amazing. I love it. But eating it every day would be like an American having Thanksgiving dinner on a Tuesday morning. … Read more
It’s 7:30pm on a Thursday, sometime around 2012. I’ve just walked out of the office after another long day — not because the work required it, but because leaving before your boss was still one of those unwritten rules nobody questioned. My team leader is already on the phone with the restaurant. “Samgyeopsal place, the … Read more
7:00 AM. The alarm goes off. I know I should get up. I don’t. I hit snooze for ten more minutes. The second alarm hits at 7:10, and now there’s no negotiating — I have to move. My wife and daughter are still asleep. They don’t need to be up until 8:00. My daughter’s 7, … Read more