Korea is a country of four seasons. It has a gorgeous spring with so many different kinds of flowers in full bloom, including everyone’s favorite: cherry blossoms. It has a hot and humid summer that is at its best at the beginning and end of the season. It also has a short fall, during which the leaves turn into beautiful rustic colors all around the country. And finally, it has a winter that is cold and dry, and sometimes snowy as well.

And because winter in Korea does get cold, it’s important to know just how to get through it without freezing. Maybe even take a little enjoyment by finding ways to stay warm. Even if you come from a colder region, the difference in climate, and the way the buildings here are built and heated, just may come as a surprise to you. But if you read this post, you’ll absolutely be prepared to take on your next winter in Korea!

The "Intermediate Plateau" is something everyone will reach - everyone who continues learning Korean - whether they realize they've hit it or not. It's a plateau in your learning where improving starts to feel like it takes longer and longer. Often this results in people becoming demotivated to study Korean, stressing that they're doing the wrong things, or even giving up.

In previous videos I've talked about the plateau, but I wanted to make an episode discussing it in detail - when and why it happens, and what to do when it happens. Hopefully this will help anyone who's currently there and wondering what's wrong. You could be studying every day, using the best materials, and still get stuck in the plateau.

I met up with SpongeMind TV and MotivateKorean to talk about this.

Today’s lesson is definitely something you will want to learn as soon as you arrive in Korea! Even if you may not need to shower or bathe outside of your home or accommodation, you can be almost guarantee to need the toilet at any given time. In those instances, it is important to know how to say ‘bathroom’ in Korean, or ‘toilet’ in Korean, so that you can find out where you can do your business. So today we will learn how to say ‘bathroom’ in Korean!

I like making this ten-minute tomato soup recipe from the book, Grilled Cheese Kitchen, but it takes me much more than ten minutes to make. Probably three times as long, haha!

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp salted butter
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ½ tsp pimenton (smoked paprika)
• ½ tsp piment d’Espelette chile powder or cayenne pepper
• 3-¼ cups [780 ml] strained tomatoes
• 2-¼ cups [540 ml] chicken stock
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• Creme fraiche, sour cream, or plain Greek yogurt for garnish

Directions:

Tomorrow is Halloween, which is one of my favorite holidays, even though I hate the whole costume/party aspect of it. I enjoy the spookier stuff and have been indulging since the beginning of the month, which may have contributed to me being more paranoid than usual when something creepy happened about a week ago.

Just like every country has their own food and art culture, they also have distinct work environments. Korea is no different. In fact, it may just have one of the most peculiar work cultures in the world. If you wish to work in Korea in the future, or otherwise wish to understand and assimilate into the country, it’s quite important for you to be familiar with the different aspects of its work culture. To help you in the process, today we’ll give you a quick lesson on the Korean work culture.