The One With Aldacron

If you are an expat in Korea with a foreign driver’s license and a resident ID, it’s a piece of cake to get a Korean license. Just a quick physical exam and a written test. That’s it. That’s what I learned today. After 18 years in the country, I finally decided to go for it. [...]

Geoblocking, the act of restricting web content or services based on a visitor’s location (as determined by his IP address), is a practice I have come to loathe. Being American, I am naturally drawn to web sites which serve content for American visitors. Being that I live in Korea, I am often prohibited from seeing [...]

I had intended to post about this last week when I first saw it, but I put it off and then it slipped my mind. This is a fun little insight into what it’s like spending Christmas in Japan. Some of it applies to Korea, too. Like Col. Sanders in the Santa suit at KFC. [...]

One of the things about being an expat that can really get you down is not being able to easily acquire the things you take for granted in your native land. For expats in Korea, if you have access to one of the many US military installations, or know someone who does, that goes a [...]

Aside from family, the thing I miss the most from home is food. There are plenty of western food chains here in Korea: Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Popeye’s, Outback, Bennigans, TGIF, and Sizzler to name a few. Others have opened for a time and eventually gone out of business: Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Ponderosa and [...]

A couple of months ago I posted about a dilemma most expats eventually face. I promised more posts about expat issues. The topic of this post is not what I had in mind, but it’s a great one to revive the expat series as it’s very relevant. As I write this, it is 2 am [...]

Through my job and my not-as-active-as-before social life, I have met people from many backgrounds here in Korea: U.S. soldiers; English teachers from Europe, North America, and Down Under; models milking their entertainment visas for as much as they can; business people from diverse industries; different types of tourists, such as weekend travelers, backpackers, and [...]

Once upon a time, foreigners were not allowed to purchase mobile phones (or ‘handphones’ as they are known here) in Korea without hassle. Each telco handled it differently. I’ve heard several horror stories. One woman said she was required to put up a deposit of $100 and get a Korean citizen to sponsor her. Many [...]