Today (16 August) is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, known as Chilseok (칠석) in Korean. It's one of the traditional holidays that isn't as popular now as it once was, though it's still known well enough for Google to create doodles for the day. Chilseok is something I've written about before on my blog, so if you need a refresher about ( Read more... )

Yesterday (edit: 15 August) was both V-J Day marking the conclusion of World War Two and Gwangbokjeol (광복절; 'Restoration of Light' Day) in Korea, a public holiday commemorating Korea regaining independence in 1945 after 35 years of Japanese rule. With the day falling on the weekend this year I didn't hear any of my students mention the event, ( Read more... )

Today marks the start sambok in Korea, often translated into English as 'the dog days of summer'. This is a topic that I wrote about in detail last year, so if you're interested in learning about the occasion I would suggest checking out this entry for more information. One thing that I found interesting about sambok this year is that no one at ( Read more... )

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the North Korean men's national team following their performance at the 2010 World Cup. More specifically, I have seen comments popping up on blogs and social media sites concerning how the North Korean players will either be executed or sent to a gulag upon their return to Pyongyang. While I ( Read more... )

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Yesterday (25 June) marked the 60th anniversary of the 6·25 War in Korea, more commonly known as the Korean War in English-speaking countries. This is a subject that I had wanted to write about on Thursday night before World Cup Fatigue took its toll, so please excuse the tardiness of this update.


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There has been a lot of talk here recently about the match between Argentina and Korea. During dinner last night some of my coworkers asked me who I thought would win and my guess was that the game would end in a draw, which seemed to surprise everyone. The following class period saw one of my students - a boy in his first year of middle school ( Read more... )

While waiting for my first class to start today I joined a conversation between two women at work concerning the World Cup. Or, more accurately, about Jong Tae-Se (정대세 / 鄭大世). For those of you who aren't familiar with Jong Tae-Se - which will likely be most people reading this blog post - he was born in Nagoya, Japan to Zainichi Korean parents ( Read more... )

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Saturday (12 June, 2010) not only marked the date of Korea's first match in the 2010 World Cup but also the transition between the fourth and fifth months of the East Asian lunisolar calendar (태음력 in Korea, 太陰曆 in Chinese characters). While the fifth solar month is packed full of special days covering a variety of occasions the same cannot be said ( Read more... )