How to Book a KTX Train in Korea (Foreigner Guide)
A regular at my restaurant, an exchange student, once told me she’d spent five hours on a bus …
Seoul Subway Guide for Foreigners (T-money & Transfers)
One of my part-timers, a student from Vietnam, once got hit with penalty fares for weeks without rea…
How to Use Kakao Taxi in Korea (Foreigner Guide)
Late one night, a couple of regulars from abroad left my restaurant, stood on the curb, and waved th…
What Is ‘Ssum’ (썸)? Korea’s Pre-Dating Stage Explained
A while back, a coworker of mine spent weeks firmly insisting she wasn’t dating anyone — she w…
Korean Reaction Words: How to React Beyond ‘Ne’
If you’ve ever wondered why Korean variety shows feel so electric, a big part of the answer is…
What ‘Geunyang’ (그냥) Really Means in Korean
There’s a moment in almost every Korean drama where a character is asked what’s wrong, l…
Asking Someone’s Age in Korea: Why It’s Not Rude
If you’ve watched even a few Korean variety shows, you’ve probably seen it: two people m…
Korean Texting Slang: What ㅋㅋ, ㅎㅎ, and ㅇㅇ Mean
An acquaintance of mine who teaches Korean online once told me that the single question her foreign …
How Koreans Say ‘No’ Without Saying No (Nunchi Guide)
My friend Elena once asked a Korean coworker three separate times to join a weekend trip, growing mo…