Starting my second year in Korea, I have to admit I’m in love with this fascinating and distinct culture. Specially visual arts and music. I’m enjoying the food a lot, and I like the Latin side of the people here. I tend to gravitate around Seoul most weekends, as this is where it’s happening! Here is a bunch on links I find specially interesting, hope it helps give you a better idea of this fascinating country!
Culture
Korean traditional music caught my attention early on, specially with the really modestly priced concerts of traditional Korean music held every Saturday nights in Seoul, for a mere 10 US per person. You can find out more on this website: http://www.ncktpa.go.kr/html/jsp/eng_2006/index.jsp There is the program for the weekly performance, and also a web radio broadcasting traditional music. Enjoy!
Korean cinema is also very unique and you can find a throve of information on: http://www.koreafilm.org/
The visual arts are alive and well here. I am amazed by the creativity and vitality of the scene and pay regular visits to a few contemporary art galleries clustered in Seoul. If you have any inclination to find more about this, please browse: http://www.universes-in-universe.de/asia/kor/english.htm
To know all about Seoul, eternally fascinating city, please refer to Visit Seoul: http://english.visitseoul.net/visit2007en/
Language
My favorite and most useful website so far to learn Korean is http://www.koreanclass101.com No nonsense lessons focussing on useful daily words and expressions, with lively grammar explanations. Tons of level, so whether you want to learn the basics before a trip or you are already pretty fluent but want to learn some more, there is something for everybody. I used the Chinese version of this website to boost up my skills and the results were amazing. Let’s hope it does the same magic for my Korean skills!
From Berkeley, Korean textbook, all online: http://www.language.berkeley.edu/Korean/1/index.html.
Resources to learn Korean, a great online address book with tons of links: http://wiki.galbijim.com/Online_Korean_learning_resources
A nifty bunch of useful lessons, including the audio files: http://world.kbs.co.kr/learn_korean2/
Want to find the translation of a word and Babelfish is giving you something out of Dr. Seuss? It’s a common problem with Korean translation on that tool, whoever worked on it did not do a good job. Instead, try: http://endic.naver.com and http://kr.dic.yahoo.com/
News and Webzines
To read daily news about Korea, you can peruse : http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/
An interesting webzine published every quarter, about Korea’s society and culture: http://www.koreana.or.kr/
The Joys of Real-Estate…
After much looking around, I found a website with relevant lists of English speaking real estate agents… Most websites catering to foreign resident here try to push places with rent starting at 3 million won a month… So here it is, hope this helps: http://foreign.nareb.or.kr/index.html
Korean History in a Snap
A nifty webpage offering a 7 page overlook of Korean history. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/korea/kp_korea.htm
