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Continue reading →: Making 깍두기, Korean Radish KimchiYou know it’s 김장 (kimjang) season, the time when kimchi is made in large batches to last throughout the winter, when you see the following outside every market: For a cooking exercise with our kindergarten students, we made 깍두기 (Kkakdugi), radish kimchi. Obviously they can’t use real knives, so their…
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Continue reading →: Café Review: Café Ookii, aka Godzilla CaféInstagram knows that I like cafés, and one day it recommended a Godzilla-themed café that I instantly put on my to-visit list. Surprisingly, I happened to be in the area the very next day and made Mary trek out to visit it after we visited the Trick Eye Museum (underwhelming,…
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Continue reading →: Nari Park: Second Trip (양주나리공원)
My friend and I visited Nari Park again this year. You can read last year’s post here.
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Continue reading →: Café Review: Soyosan Top Bakery
My friend Nora and I trekked out to Dongducheon to visit Soyosan Top Bakery, a pretty large coffeehouse and bakery in the same key as Geronimo Coffeehouse that I reviewed here. There were a few art exhibits in the café itself, as well as a jewelry shop. (And, according to…
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Continue reading →: Summer Vacation 2021: Jeju IslandMy co-teacher Mary and I went for a quick trip to Jeju Island for summer vacation (which was only three working-days off). Jeju, for those of you who don’t know, is a Korean island located to the southwest of the mainland and is a popular resort island. Because of travel…
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Continue reading →: A High-Schooler, Delivery Driver, and Hagwon Teacher Walk into a Vaccination Center…
On Saturday, the director picked up the foreign teachers at my hagwon and drove us to the vaccination center, which seemed like some sort of general meeting area that had been cordoned off into different sections for the vaccination process. The vaccine roll-out did not go smoothly as planned, as…
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Continue reading →: Café Review: DAWSt Coffee
Korea has a lot of cafés. They are literally on every corner, and seem to be popping up even in the midst of a pandemic. That’s the case for DAWSt Coffee, which opened in December of 2020. This was actually the second café of the day, and the one I…
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Continue reading →: Café Review: Geronimo CoffeehouseGeronimo Coffeehouse in Yangju (Gyeonggi-do) is an absolute must-visit. They took what looks like an old warehouse and transformed it into a massive, two-floor coffeehouse with a full menu, lots of flowers, and a lot of charm. What makes it an unique experience is that some of the seating in…
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Continue reading →: Café Review: Greem Café, aka Cartoon CaféPlease note: as of February 2024, the Yeonnam Greem location is no longer in business. There are still locations in Jeju, Pohang, and Gangneung. My friend Nora took Mary and I on a super exciting trip for my birthday back in January. Up first was a stop at Greem Café,…
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Continue reading →: What Happens When a Student Tests Positive for Covid
Back in March, myself and the other foreign teachers at my hagwon had to submit to a Covid test mandated by the government. Not too long afterwards, the government withdrew their order to test all foreigners and decided to test only those “foreign workers at high-risk workplaces, such as those…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: “If I Had Your Face,” Frances Cha
“I would live your life so much better than you, if I had your face.” Nestled in the beginning of this debut novel is the line from which the title was drawn, and it asks some impossible questions from its characters. The first time I started reading this, I couldn’t…
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Continue reading →: Café Review: Coffee ClassWhere does a barista go for good coffee? Well, technically I go to Starbucks by my work most mornings and get a grande iced blonde roast latte with an extra shot (whew!) unless there’s an interesting seasonal drink. It’s not my fault, really: café culture here tends to start at…
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Continue reading →: Nari Park 양주나리공원Back in October (my gosh, has it been that long??), my friend Ola and I visited Nari Park in Yangju (양주나리공원). It’s a little off the beaten path (don’t plan on being able to pop into any cafes or restaurants in the area) but absolutely worth it for the amazing…
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Continue reading →: School LunchWhile explaining a lesson that involved the story of two students running for class president, one only having a motto and the other having actual policies, I asked my students to think of policies that they would want to implement in their schools. I gave the example of free lunch.…
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Continue reading →: Coronavirus in Korea, Part Two
I am obviously not an expert on Covid-19 (and neither are you) but thought I’d give some more information on how Korea continues to handle the novel Coronavirus. The first wave of the deadly virus hit the southeastern city of Daegu first, in February. The outbreak was linked to a…
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Continue reading →: Café Review: Ob-La-Di
Tucked away in a building just off a side street in Uijeongbu is Ob-La-Di café. My friend Nora and I had no idea what we were in store for when we popped in one Saturday, and were excited to find out that not only does the café serve coffee but…
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Continue reading →: Taking a Cat to Korea: Merlin’s Story
When I noticed that the director, putting my bags into his car, was a little careless in tossing my backpack on top of the purple pet carrier that Merlin was hiding in, I realized something was off. As it turned out, the director was never informed that I would be…
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Continue reading →: Café Review: Orange Elephant
UPDATE: As of sometime in 2022, Orange Elephant has been closed. Situated north of the downtown cluster of Uijeongbu cafés (of which there are enough to caffeinate a modestly-sized writing group), and next to a beautiful park, is the Orange Elephant café. When my friend and I visited, there were…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982”, Cho Nam-Joo
“That’s what I am: gum someone spat out.” In 2019, the film “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” swept Korean cinemas to mixed reviews. Not surprisingly, this tale of an ordinary woman in her 30s polarized audiences among gender lines: the women loved it, and the men hated it. But why? I…
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Continue reading →: Night Shots of UijeongbuI left my apartment for the first time in three days to go to the McDonald’s that’s a five minute walk away. I took these shots along the way. And yes, there are that many convenience shops within such a small radius.
Welcome to Koffee & Kpop, adventures of an errant American barista living in South Korea.
Koffee & Kpop 