Category: Korean Countryside (Page 5 of 10)

Living with inlaws

2015/02/06 / Nic / 6 Comments

There are a few reasons why we are living with Hugh’s parents. One reason is that they are getting older and Hugh probably won’t ever have this type of time with them again, so making the most of it. Another reason is that it is of course cheaper for us to live with them. Hugh could go get a job and work hard and we could have a nice apartment and car, but he wouldn’t be able to do any blogging or edit videos or have much time for me. So we are making those sacrifices so we can get the website and business ideas off the ground, as well as cherishing our time together. We would pretty much have to stop YouTube if he was to get a normal Korean job.

Mostly it’s fine living with his parents. They let us do our own thing, but of course it is hard to have privacy. Not only that, but his parents are an older generation and in the countryside. They never show any affection for each other in front of others, so Hugh can be self conscious about even a quick peck if his parents are around – which is most of the time!

Noisy Morning

2015/02/05 / Nic / 5 Comments

The past 2 morning have been so noisy! We go to bed really late so we need that sleep in the morning but sometimes it’s so interrupted. Announcements in the village are done over loudspeakers and it drives me crazy. In the drama ‘Modern Farmer’ they get the village announcements on their phones and someone said “Oh no one uses the loudspeakers anymore in the countryside!” No… they still do it here! There were several announcements yesterday in the morning and also this morning. Not only the announcements this morning but a big fertilizer truck came with bags of fertilizer that villagers needed to come collect. Because our house is near the village community centre and our window faces it, our sleep was severely interrupted by hours of a thudding sound of fertilizer being unloaded.

We only had a few hours sleep and then had 2 TV producers/writers come from Seoul to meet with us because they want to film us next week. I didn’t expect to be filmed today, but they did a bit and I had to draw this comic while being filmed. It’s hard to draw when people are watching, so sorry this comic isn’t that good today (and it’s late).

Anyway, hoping to get more sleep tonight!

GROWING STRAWBERRIES IN KOREA

2015/01/04 / Nic / 2 Comments

And that’s how strawberries are grown in Korea! To actually grow really sweet strawberries, there are some certain things to do, that not all strawberry growers do. That’s why some strawberries are sweeter than others. Secrets!

FUN THINGS TO DO IN THE KOREAN COUNTRYSIDE IN WINTER

2014/12/31 / Nic / 9 Comments

Hopefully people realise that was a very sarcastic video… haha. The funny thing is, all those shots of me messing around while waiting for a car to go by are real. No cars came for quite a while so I really was occupying myself while waiting for a car.

We wanted to show how boring it can be out here – even though we love it and get to experience things that city people don’t. I was also mimicking the way foreigners are sometimes used in advertising in Korea. I hope you enjoyed the awkwardness!

We show some actual stuff to do in the countryside in the newest vlog here:

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Pheasant

2014/12/03 / Nic / 18 Comments

So many of our conversations seem to go like this. I will marvel at the beauty of an animal, while he is just thinking about how it tastes.

Yesterday’s vlog:

Changing for the Countryside

2014/11/17 / Nic / 18 Comments

Our life is a bit strange now because we can go to Seoul for a weekend and hang out with very cool people and have some amazing experiences and then we come back to the countryside and literally back to a rural village full of old people.

While it’s not like we dress up a lot in Seoul, something as simple as a spiky earring can be worn in Seoul but Mr Gwon is not comfortable wearing it around his friends out in the countryside. Especially friends he grew up with. Right away they make comments on it and tell him it’s stupid. People wear completely different clothes out here and can be more judgmental if it doesn’t fit in with what they think is good. Being a huge city, Seoul is a place where people can really experiment with fashion, but it’s pretty different in other areas of Korea.

The funniest aspect of this is that Mr Gwon’s countryside friends will try to dictate to him what is fashionable at the moment. One friend told him that his haircut is out of fashion now and that is was fashionable 2 years ago. Never mind that many people, including celebrities, have this type of haircut right now or that it’s about what suits the face more than what is considered cool, these friends seem to want to force everyone else to dress like them.

Have you had experiences like this? Have you moved away and when you’ve come back to your hometown people want to criticise what you are wearing and how you look?

Ask Korean Guys – Pros and Cons of Korean Countryside

2014/10/11 / Nic / 3 Comments

Hugh and Daniel talk about just a few pros and cons about living in the Korean countryside. Daniel is a Seoul boy so has only recently experienced countryside living.