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Driving Through Seoul at Night

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Since we got our new camera, we feel artsy-fartsy every once in a while, like you can see in our Ajosshis video a little while back. Today's another one of those days that we feel artsy. We were inspired by the scene in Lost in Translation when Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson are driving through Tokyo at night, and you see the city through their eyes. So we made a Korea version of it. Martina and I took the taxi home from Seoul, and - hell - Seoul's so beautiful at night that we had to get it on film. So here it is, our little Homage to Taxi Drivers and Lost in Translation. Hope you like it!

For the original post on Driving Through Seoul check out our Life in Korea blog

Why I Love Teaching

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Believe it or not, but we love teaching. Love it. Teaching English in Korea isn't just a job for us. It's our careers, and it's something we're really passionate about. But it's hard to explain to people why we like teaching so much, especially since teaching can be such a challenging job. So, Simon decided a year ago or so to start collecting clips of why he loves teaching in Korea so much. He'd walk around the hallways with the camera and get the students just being themselves. Now, finally, we've finally put together the clips into a video, and we hope it conveys how fun the students are and why we like teaching so much. Really, interacting with our students is the best part of our jobs, and it's what makes teaching so enjoyable. Sounds sappy, we know, but this video's really special to us, and we hope you enjoy it. So click here to see Why I Love Teaching. And, if you're a teacher as well, we hope you can relate.

R16 Korea 2010 World B-Boy Championships

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This past weekend were the R16 Korea 2010 World B-Boy Championships, and we were given press passes to go. Huzzah! We were almost right on stage as they were breakdancing! So we were able to get some really good footage of the action, and we put together a video of the Crew Battles. Crews from Germany, Spain, Puerto Rico, France, Phillipines, China, Vietnam, and - of course - Korea, all came to battle it out for the title. In the end, the two remaining crews were France's Phase T and Korea's JinJo Crew, and Korea came out on top! France put on one hell of a show, though. Also, we're not sure if any of you know this, but Simon actually breakdances as well, so he put on a bit of a show for the video. You'll be amazed! So check out our video on Korean Breakdancing! If you were at the event, let us know! Supposedly Jay Park was there as well, but we didn't see him.

Korean Convenience Store Patio Dining

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It's summer now in Korea, and with the warm weather comes patio fun! Just about every restaurant puts tables and chairs outside so that more people can eat, and oftentimes there are more people sitting outside than in. We wanted to do a video about this patio dining culture, but rather than go to an expensive bar or restaurant, we decided to dine at our local convenience store. Some have simple plastic chairs and tables, while others - like our favorite one here - boast wooden patios and umbrellas. Convenience stores in Korea sell everything, if you haven't seen from our Convenience Store Raid Series a while ago, so no matter how specific your taste, or what you're in the mood for, they’ve got it! So, this time, we raided our favourite convenience store to make the best booze and snack combos, all based on your personality type! Well, kindof...

The pairings are as follows:
The Macho: Beer and Dried Squid
The Classic: Soju and Shin Ramen
The Chic: Sogopple Cocktail (Soju + Mango + Apple Soda) and Fruit Mentos:
The Connoisseur: BokBunJa (Raspberry Wine) & Cheese Strings
The Martina: Sogurt Cocktail (Soju + Yogurt + Chilsung Lemon/Lime Cider) and Sun Chips
The Simon: Sogrape Cocktail (Soju + Grapefruit Juice) and Sour Cream Pringles

So check out our Korean Convenience Store Patio Dining video, and let us know if there's anything we've missed, any preferences that you have at the convenience stores!

Eatyourkimchi on Arirang TV!

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A while ago we mentioned that we were going to be on Arirang TV. Remember that? We posted pictures on Twitter and wrote about it on our Facebook Fan page as well. You probably thought we were lying, didn't you? Well we weren't! The videos are finally finished and airing tomorrow (Monday June 28th, 2010) on Arirang TV!

The first TV show is called "Quilt Your Korean Map" and it explores green tea and traditional Korean rice alcohol, makgoli. If you're watching Arirang Korea, it will be on at 9:00PM, and if you're watching Arirang Worldwide it will be on at 8:30PM.

The second one is a part of the "Today's Blog" series, and it's just a mini-TV show that features bloggers living in Korea. We don't know when it will be aired, but they gave it to us so we could put it up on our website! Yay! So check it out our Arirang TV Promo video here! We hope you enjoy the shows, they were really fun to film. If any of you do happen to see us on TV, please let us know! We haven't actually seen the final version of "Quilt Your Korean Map" yet, so we'd love to hear what you think about it.

Korean World Cup Soccer Fever

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We've never watched the Fifa World Cup like this before. Koreans cheering for their soccer team is a new level of wonderful insanity that we've never experienced, and the support that South Korean fans have for their players is incredible. If you remember, a while ago we made a video of two Korean local teams, Suwon vs Seoul and they had an incredible cheering section, but it is nothing compared to what we've seen for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. In this case, millions of people, young and old, leave their homes to watch the games in public so they can sing and cheer together.

Don't like soccer? That doesn't matter, you'll enjoy yourself by happily cheering while eating delicious yangnyam chicken (양념치킨) and drinking cold beer! And it's not just cheering and singing, they wear red shirts, put on glowing devil horns (which is why they call themselves, the Red Devils) and paint their faces red. While you're watching the game with South Korean fans, you'll hear the chants of "Dae-han-min-guk" (which roughly translates to "Republic of Korea"). What we love most about this World Cup fever, is that if we - even though we're not Korean - wear red shirts and horns and scream just as loud, we're greeted so warmly by everyone.

It's amazing, absolutely amazing, and we're so lucky to be a part of it now. Anyhow, we can't say enough about it, so we made a video for it instead, so click here to see Korean World Cup Soccer Fever video.

Oh, and I know some of you may say, "You should have gone to Seoul City Hall to watch the game", but we tried and it was impossible. We left right after work and got to Seoul City Hall at 6PM, two and a half hours before the game started, and it was already insanely packed. It was so hot (33 degrees Celsius + humidity + body heat) that we almost fainted...seriously. Nonetheless, we got some footage of the crowd in this video as well. One last thing: there's also an official song and dance for Red Devil fans called "The Shouts of Reds" by Big Bang featuring famous ice skater Kim Yuna. Martina does the dance in this video as well, so learn it for the next match against Nigeria. Korea FIGHTING!

Two Year Anniversary in Korea!

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We have just re-signed our contracts to stay at our schools for another year! Assah! We're staying at our schools in Bucheon for a third year, which means at least one more year of Eat Your Kimchi videos! To celebrate, kinda sorta, we made a video of us being silly on camera. It's actually more like a compilation of all the bloopers that we couldn't put on film, snippets of video projects that we are working on but haven't posted yet, and the stuff of our everyday lives that we just film ourselves doing because we're just always being silly. So click the picture above for our Two Year Anniversary Video! Thanks to all who have watched and continue to watch our movies :D

Spring Time in Korea

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People often hear about Korea's four distinct seasons. Right now, we're in the middle of Spring, and it's absolutely beautiful. Last year we made a video about Bucheon's Cherry Blossoms, but that only captured a bit of Spring. This year we want to show off a bit more of it. So we went over to our favorite park, Bucheon Jung Ang Park, took Spudgy out with us, and just recorded as much as we could. The trees have their leaves back, the flowers are now in full-bloom, people are heading outside more, and random dance battles are occurring in the parks. So check out our video on Spring Time in Korea!

K-League Korean Soccer

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We were contacted by the Suwon Bluewings Fan Club to make a video about Korean Soccer, and we were open to the idea. After all, we made a video about Korean Basketball before, so we should try to branch out to the other sports as well; we thought it would be interesting, and that we'd leave after the game thinking that it was alright. Talk about an understatement! We never expected how freaking intense it would be! Holy crap! These fans do not mess around! We could barely focus on the game, because we were too overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the fans cheering and singing and drumming. Yes, drumming. For the whole game we didn't see a single person sitting, as they were all singing and shouting from start to finish. If you've never been to a Korean Soccer Game before, check out our K-League Korean Soccer video, and then head to a soccer game yourself!

Korean Subway Sellers

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Every once in a while we get on a subway that isn't packed. Really! It's empty enough for us to sit! Amazing! Anyhow, during those rare moments, we occasionally see what you're about to see: Korean men going from cart to cart selling stuff, like superglue and stain removers and Christmas carols. We always found this to be cool, and finally we have it on camera. Unfortunately, our Korean isn't all too fluent, so the subtitles we put for this video are probably going to be a little bit off. At least we tried! We're trying to keep up with all of those people on YouTube Korea who have a boatload of subscribers interested in Korean Subs. So, click on the picture above to check out our Korean Movie Subs and be blown away by our awesome subbing skills!

Seoul Food Taste Tour

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We love Korean food. Love it! We can't emphasize that enough. It's one of our favorite aspects of living in Korea: being able to eat Korean food everyday. Recently, we were given the opportunity to go on a Korean Food Taste Tour, organized by Daniel Gray of Seoul Eats. And, you know, we feel like we should be getting more involved with events like this; they're great ways of getting foreigners in touch with one another, and it's a fun way of trying out new stuff. We've been here for two years almost, and a lot of the food we tried on this tour was new to us. Altogether, it was a great experience, and we recommend it to all who plan on visiting or staying in Korea. So check out our video of the Korean Food Taste Tour, and then Sign Up for one yourself.

Seoul International Pillow Fight Day

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Saturday, April 3rd 2010 is International Pillow Fight Day. A pillow fight! With hundreds of people! Fighting all over the world! On the same day! You'd be out of your mind to not go! So of course, we went. We filmed the madness which began at promptly 6:00pm. There were people wearing animal costumes, scooter helmets, and even a green spandex body suit!

Martina took a hit for the team and got trampled on while filming, and if you look closely, you can see Simon madly beating people with a big, white, fluffy, pillow. So click the picture above for the Craziest Pillow Fight Ever! If you video taped the pillow fight in your country, please share it on our YouTube page as well!

Ajosshis in the Park

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If you couldn't tell from our last video on Korean Foot Massages, we just bought a new camera, a Canon 550d (also known as a T2i). Woohoo! Anyhow, we were feeling artsy-fartsy with this new camera of ours, so we decided to make a video of something we've always found awesome: old Korean guys playing chess games in the park. They're cold, but they bundle up and gather round to play games that we don't know the rules to (or even the names of!). What we find most interesting is how so many people gather round to watch them play; there are more spectators than players. We decided to be among the spectators. So click on the picture here to watch Ajosshis in the Park. If any of you know anything about these games, please let us know. We think it's like chess, with kings and queens and pawns, but the pieces are different. The game in black and white we haven't a clue about.

Korean Foot Massages

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For one of our anniversaries back in Canada, we went for a couple's massage. It was wonderful, luxurious, and expensive, but relaxing. Last year for White Day, Simon planned to have another couple's massage as a part of his secret. The massage was just as expensive and luxurious, but not wonderful or relaxing at all. It was painful: purely, miserably painful. We thought that perhaps the place we went to was a bad one, so we went to another in hopes of finding a massage that we'll like, only this time we went for a foot massage. How did it go? Was it any different? Well, check out our video on Korean Foot Massages and you'll find out. If any of you have had similar experiences, or know of a massage place in Korea that gives great massages that won't hurt like hell, please let us know. And we're talking about family friendly massages here, so don't get cute!

Another Korean Middle School Lesson

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Now that March is around the new school year has started, and with it has come a lot of new English Conversation Teachers. Hopefully you've seen our ESL Resources already so you can have an idea of what it's like to teach in Korea. The videos we made from our classes, though, make it seem as if the lessons require huge amounts of prep time. This isn't always the case. So what we've done is uploaded another lesson plan, only this time it's really easy to prepare. In fact, it should take you probably ten minutes to prepare this lesson, and it will have your students speaking in and listening to English for the entire class. Check the new video of Simon Teaching in a Korean Middle School, and if you like it, download it in either Mac or PC format. If you do decide to use it, please let us know how it works!

Korean Custom Made Fashion

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Simon's sick of shopping for clothes in Korea. They never fit, EVER! Korea's got a great sense of fashion, but none of it fits him. To buy clothes, he'd wait until he went back to Canada over the summer and filled his suitcase there, but not anymore. We've discovered something much better. If you're a big guy and need to get some good looking, professional attire, something you can wear to school as a teacher and looked damned snazzy, then should your shirts made proper, and all for a really reasonable price. For the full run down on getting your shirts custom made, click on the picture above to learn How to Dress Like a Pro in Korea. By the way, the place Simon gets his shirts done is Dainty in Garosu-Gil. Here's their business card, and here are directions to their store. Also, if you know of any other tailors that you swear by, please let us know!

Giocat Cat Café

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Next to Bucheon, we really love the Hongdae area. It's got so many cool places that we'd have to make a new blog dedicated to it. Today, we want to introduce you to Giocat in Hongdae, which is a cat café. Yes. It is a café full of cats. You order a drink, and then you can play with all of the cats you want. It's just a matter of if they want to play with you. Anyhow, we've got a video on this awesome place, so click on the picture above to check out Giocat Cat Cafe. If you're interested in going, click here for Directions to Giocat. Finally, since we're in a silly mood, we have another silly pet video, only this one is of Spudgy Sounding Like a Monkey. Check it out!

How to Dance K-Pop Style 2009

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Last year, we brought you our most popular video to date, How to Dance K-Pop Style, 2008. In that video, we showed you all of the dance moves that our students couldn't stop doing in our classes. A year has passed since then, and now those moves aren't going to be useful to you in your classes. Well, you could try doing them, but you'll surely get a lot of groans. So, now that 2009 is over with, we have a whole new list of songs and moves that you need to know. So click on the picture above for our latest installation, How to Dance K-Pop Style, 2009.

Super Crazy Korean Snow Day!

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Two days ago, Korea saw it's heaviest snowfall since something like forever. It was magical! Snow doesn't usually fall heavily here in Korea. Last Winter, snow would fall occasionally, but would melt away a couple of hours later. On January 4th, 2010, though, something close to 26 cm of snow smothered Seoul. Anyhow, the whole point of this backstory is to tell you that this snow day was AWESOME! Spudgy loved it, probably because he never saw snow like this before. We went out to the park to tape Spudgy hopping around in the snow, and happened to get a lot more than just Spudgy acting silly. It was a wonderful day, and we have it on tape, so click the picture above to see our video of Korea's Super Crazy Snow Day!