Eat Your Kimchi on iTunes

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We realize that there are a lot of people who are more interested in just watching our videos instead of reading what we have to say. We don't blame them. And so, to make something more accessible for our audience, we have made an Eatyourkimchi.com podcast, available for free through iTunes, or anywhere else you'd like to view it. You can subscribe to it so that - every time we update - your iTunes will automatically download the video. Hooray technology! Or, if you're not a fan of iTunes, but still want nothing but the videos, we made an iTunes independent video feed as well, just for you. Finally, if you're actually interested in reading what we have to say along with watching our videos (good for you!), then the full feeds are available (if you haven't noticed it by now) in the sidebar on the left. Click on the picture here to subscribe to our iTunes feed (or just click on it to see how cool it is for us to be on iTunes), or click here for our other Eat Your Kimchi Video Podcast.

Angelina Jolie in Bucheon

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If you're misled by the title of this post, then join the club. We walked past a bar here in Bucheon, and saw huge pictures of Angelina Jolie all over it. We were confused. Is this Angelina Jolie's bar? Does she endorse it? Has she even been here before? What...what's going on here? Is this just some kind of copyright infringement that we don't fully understand but as Westerners are afraid of nonetheless? This fear of copyright infringement doesn't really affect the storefronts of Bucheon, as there have been a surprising amount of stores that use images that they surely don't have the rights to. Take this picture below, for example:

This is our best rendition of a hair salon logo in Bucheon, the Pama salon ("Pama" being the Korean pronunciation for "Perm"). We didn't actually get a picture of it, because every time we go by it we're in a taxi and we're too slow to snap. Anyhow, the Pama hair salon, which simply replaces the "U" in the Puma logo with an A, is as blatant as it gets. What's worse about the Pama salon is that its logo is the exact same Puma silhouette from the authentic Puma logo, only this time it has an afro. No, we're not joking. If we ever see it again we'll post real pictures, but this one here is about 95% accurate. For now, though, we did capture some other bad logo/branding decisions on video, and all of these places are very close to each other in Bucheon. Anyhow, click on the picture above for the video, or click here to see our video about Weird Korean Store Signs. Other formats available in the sidebar, as always.

Middle School Christmas Jumble

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The exams are now finished at my school, and with the exams so are the textbooks finished. Yet, oddly, we still have to teach classes, even though no more marks are going to be input. The students already have their grades, and are still coming to class. So, to try to teach something relevant to the Christmas Season, since I can't teach anything relevant to the textbook, I adapted an idea I found elsewhere. This is a really simple but still fun handout for students. They are given the word "Christmas Tree" and have to rearrange some of the letters to answer 31 questions. For example, the first question is "Something you wear on your head." The answer is "hat," the letters of which are all in the word "Christmas Tree." Simple enough. It's available in both Mac and PC format, or just available flat out in our ESL Resources section. Give it a shot. Answer keys are included just in case you get stumped yourself.

Adopting a Dog in Korea

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We have been receiving a lot of emails lately through our Contact page asking us about living with a dog in Korea. We realize now that we should have done a better job handling this topic through our FAQ Section - as these questions are being frequently asked. And so, we've updated the Korea FAQ with a section on Having a Dog in Korea. Of course, we're not experts on this, so we can't answer all of the nitty-gritty questions, but we can relate our experiences at least. We cover the initial costs for Spudgy, the vet fees for his surgery, how much we spend on him monthly, how much work he requires, and traveling around with Spudgy, be it either on our vacation or just on the subway. If you're interested in adopting a dog in Korea, then this section should be useful to you. If you're really set on adopting a dog, then we've included links in the FAQ to the dog shelter we adopted Spudgy from, as well as some links to Korean Dog Commands (because, after all, how cool is it to speak to your dog in Korean? Take him back home and he'll for sure listen to nobody but you).

Other than that, we're going to use this post as an opportunity to post more Spudgy-related material, since we haven't been doing that nearly as much as we'd like. We finally posted a Photo Page for Spudgy, which we oddly haven't put up before.

How to Be the Coolest Teacher in Korea

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We've made a few How-To Survival Guides here at Eatyourkimchi.com already. We've shown you How to Use your Korean Rice-Cooker and your Korean Washing Machine, How to Get McDonalds Delivered to your House, and How to Drink Properly in Korea. Today, we have an all new How-To Guide. Today, you will learn how to be the Coolest Teacher/Person in Korea.

The vast majority of your students live and breathe on K-Pop music. Many times they'll make references to these songs, either through hand gestures, odd dances, or even odder ways of saying things. And so, to keep you in the loop, we've compiled the eight significant Korean Pop Culture References and explained how they might be used by your students and how you can use them too. Accompanying this list is our Video Guide to Coolness in Korea, available in different formats in the sidebar, or just by clicking the picture above.

And so, here is your list:

#8 - Jewelry's "One More Time"
Thanks to this video, whenever anyone in the class says "one more time," another student will sing out "One More Time" the way Jewelry sang it, and then try the super-complicated index-finger-over-the-head-and-behind-the-back touch. It takes practice to master this move. Spend 20 minutes in front of a mirror doing this and you'll guarantee yourself 10 more cool points amongst your students (and -100 cool points amongst your regular friends and family).

#7 - DBSK's "Mirotic"
This is a fairly new song, and students are just beginning to catch onto its massive popularity. Show your students that you're in the loop by referring to this song, either by mimicking the silly chin holding dance and parodying the awful rapping, or just sing out the chorus and pretend that you genuinely like the song. Not that it's my ringtone or anything...so what if it is!!! It's catchy!

#6 - Rain's "Rainism"
This is another fairly recent song compared to the other songs on our list. The chorus of the song doesn't make a lot of sense, but just suggesting that either you or anyone else - including Rain - will make it "Rainism" (what does that even mean?) will generate laughter from your class. There are two dance moves that are fairly popular from the music video as well, both of which are too complicated to explain. All that you need to know is that the first one can be used in many situations, while the second one needs to be used sparingly (and with great caution).

#5 - Uhm Jung Hwa's "D.I.S.C.O"
This song was massively popular at the end of summer, and still has a bit of resonance in today's Korean classroom, even if it is getting a bit stale. There's a dance that goes with the chorus but you can't find in the music video, as she did this dance live in concert. If your students ever ask you if you know any Korean music, you can tell them that you not only know Korean music but you even know Korean dances, and then break out into the disco dance.

#4 - Big Bang's "Lies" (aka) "I'm So Sorry But I Love You"
Your students aren't perfect, and when they make mistakes they'll apologize for them. However, don't take these apology sincerely; more often than not, these apologies are coupled with professions of love. So one student will throw something at another student. You'll scold the first student, and then hear him say "I'm so sorry...but I love you!" and the class will erupt into laughter. Beat them to the punch, and tell them that you love them after their apologies. You'll be super-cool.

#3 - Wondergirls' "Nobody"
Simply put, girls are walking around the school singing this song and dancing its dance. Know the dance. It's so simple that it can be explained (for once). After saying "I want nobody, nobody but you," point with your two index fingers while raising one knee. Then clap twice quickly. Point the same way again. Then clap once. And that's the dance! So simple, yet so contagious. You'll hear the song playing in the background of our Intro to Peppero Day video, and - if you're in Korea - you'll hear it just about everywhere else. Know the song and know the dance.

#2 - Wondergirls' "So Hot"
This was very useful in the summer. Somebody would complain that it's so hot, and then do another one of those Wondergirls' minimalistic dances. You can still use this dance today, because - if your school is anything like ours - then your classrooms are still sweltering hot in the winter. Complain about the heat and then do the weird Wondergirls face-fanning dance. You'll be like soooo last summer, but at least you'll prove that you know your K-pop music.

#1 - Lee Hyori's "U-Go Girl"
Oddly, the impact of this song has nothing to do with its chorus. In the middle of the song, Lee Hyori breaks out into a completely unrelated song, in which the only words are "OK!" Every time she says "OK!" she does the OK symbol with her fingers, and brings it right close to her face with a cute little smile. That's it. It sounds innocent enough, but it has proven to be unstoppably popular. You will hear the words "OK" far too much, and see smiling OK faces far too much as well. If you didn't understand why your students were constantly saying "OK!" in such an odd manner, now you now. Check out her newest single "Mr.Big" to REALLY be in the loop.

So, that's the list for now. We plan on keeping you up to date from now on with other K-Pop references, so don't be a stranger around here. So as not to miss a beat, make sure you subscribe to our page, either through the RSS link or the Email Newsletter to the left, here. Also, if you have at all found this useful, we'd greatly appreciate it if you'd do any of the things the yellow box below suggests, either Stumbling or Digging or Deliciousing our site. Thanks!

Korean Basketball: Incheon's Black Slammers

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A while ago, when we were walking around during Monsoon Season in Bucheon, we saw this awesome picture here and had to take a picture of it. We put it under our Engrish section, because it's just so highly inappropriate, with implications that are too sensitive for us to get into for our PG-13 blog. Anyhow, months have passed, and we finally went to a Black Slammers Korean Basketball Game. We went with Simon's co-teacher, who offered to take us, and was kind enough to pick us up at our apartment and drive us to the game. We were surprised, because the stadium was only ten minutes away from our place, and it was in Incheon. We didn't know that Incheon was so close to Bucheon, even though we've been living here for over six months!

We made a video of the whole event, from the tickets at the front door, to game highlights, to other interesting things that happened during the game. We were quite bored since Incheon was losing terribly for the first half of the game, but by the end of the game they came back to within two points. Anyhow, click on the picture above for our video on Incheon's Black Slammers, or check the sidebar for other video formats.

Bucheon's Sala Thai Restaurant

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Generally, we love eating here in Bucheon. We've reviewed Bucheon's Dubu House, Chicky Pub, and Don Day Restaurant, and have loved all three of them and - still - highly recommend them to everyone in the Bucheon area. There are some restaurants, though, that we need to warn you Bucheonites about: for the first time on eatyourkimchi.com, we're going to give a review/warning of a bad restaurant.

See, we were looking for some good non-Korean food; growing up in Canada, we have grown accustomed the many different foods of many different culture. We wanted to see how Korea's multicultural cuisine held up. Our first attempt at a non-Korean food restaurant (apart from burger joints, which are international) was at a Thai restaurant here in Bucheon: the Sala Thai Restaurant, on the top floor of the Hyundai Mall. We were excited when we first saw it, because it looked pretty decent on the outside. The menu had a decent selection of Thai food, including Pad Thai and coconut shrimp. The prices weren't all too friendly, but we were hankering for Thai food, so we bit the bullet and ordered. Boy, were we disappointed.

Taste: 1.5/5 - Simon wanted to give this place a 0. His food was awful. Martina's wasn't awful, but it wasn't good, so she gave her plate a 2.5 out of 5. Our shrimp appetizers were pretty bad, so they also got low grades. We can't give this place entirely a 0, because it's not revolting, but it's lack of flavor is overwhelming.
Side Dishes: 0/5 - There weren't any actual side dishes here, so we decided to count appetizers into the equation instead. The appetizers sucked; they were overpriced and untasty.
Bang for Your Buck: 0/5 - The appetizers cost 12,000 won. Our meals were 11,000 won each. Altogether, we spent 34,000 won on food that wasn't good at all. For 34,000 won we could eat five meals elsewhere (we've been eating at the dokbokki stands lately. We can both get stuffed for 6,000 won).

Overall, stay away from Sala Thai. We were really disappointed with this place. If you know of any good Thai food places here in Korea, PLEASE TELL US! We'll continue trying out new places and - hopefully - we'll be able to give a good recommendation of a non-Korean restaurant here in Bucheon soon. Anyhow, watch the full review of Bucheon's Sala Thai restaurant by clicking on the picture above, or just check our sidebar for different video formats.