My World Café – insights & experiences from my travels, café visits and daily life.
Business & Career Mentor, Photographer, Aviator
Yes, for advanced education and executive programs, EWHA Women's University accepts males too. I'm taking level 1 Korean and I'm with three young folks from Taiwan, two from Japan, one from Texas (she's also American :-), and one Italian. Two guys, six ladies. Lessons are quite un-Canadian Rules are strict and enforced: Put your cellphone… Continue reading My Korean Language Course at EWHA Women’s University – highly recommended
Finding a café in Korea that is open before 9:00 am is very difficult. Café Gabie is open 24/7! Maybe that's no coincidence, being so close to Hongik University, Korea's leading university for creative professions. Wikipedia writes: "...widely regarded as the best architecture and art school in rivalry with Seoul National University." Creative types often… Continue reading Café Gabie in Hongdae – a unique space for good coffee, company and work
My Home away from Home I will be in Seoul for five months and my micro-apartment is not conducive to work or networking 🙂 Within five minutes I'm at Honghap Valley Co-working Space. It's in Hongdae, which is the heart of Korean indie music and has four universities nearby. I've already met cool people here:… Continue reading A cool Co-working Space in Seoul
Cafés open late in the morning in Korea - people's rhythms are just different. So I found Jass Café that was open early on Sunday. The Barista there is very cool - not only is her English excellent (she doesn't believe me OMG), but we had a very inspiring conversation. And THEN she pointed me… Continue reading The Famous Lamb in Hongdae – a café in its own class! Korean kindness abounds.
The contrast between being a pedestrian in Whitehorse, Yukon, and Seoul couldn’t be more crass. Simply put - save yourself by not thinking you can walk across a pedestrian crossing unharmed in Korea. Driving in Korea is congested, Korean drivers have limited patience. There is an agressiveness that's somewhere between French and German driving. So… Continue reading Korean Drivers
There are so many personal links between Canada and Korea. Many Koreans have relatives in Canada, and Canada is high on their list of travel destinations. Northern Lights and scenery are major attractions. Conversely, many Canadians taught English in Korea, have hosted Korean students or have Korean-Canadian friends. The Korean Café-Scape is amazing - the… Continue reading Comparing Korean and Canadian Lifestyles
Koreans are now separated for 65 years, with cross-border family relationships literally dying out - whereas the two Germans re-united 29 years after the wall was built. And yet until today there is some resentment between West- and East-Germans, and a divide in terms of unemployment, standard of living and GDP per person. Re-unification was… Continue reading What Koreans call unification, Germans called re-unification!
I saw many young soldiers at Korean airports and train stations ……which is very familiar to me from when I was a conscript myself in the 70s. I had to serve 15 months, Koreans 21 months. Half my high school mates got away with not serving - not so easy in Korea. Good! Military service… Continue reading How similar are Korea and Germany?
I have complained with many Koreans about how they do the dishes: Under running water, applying soap generously and individually, rinsing each item. My way uses less water and soap, and is a lot faster. Here it is in five easy steps (the little figurine is for dish washing and was a present from a… Continue reading Korean dish washing – I don’t think so!
I now understand better why Seoul is such a magnet A city of 25 million creates a critical mass that will bring about a diversity, creativity and magnitude of everything that can’t happen at the same level in a city like Toronto (4.6 million). Examples where this surfaces are in the giant markets, the fantastic… Continue reading Some observations about Korea and Koreans
My World Café - insights & experiences from my travels, café visits and daily life. 