Have you seen Korean movies or TV dramas where family and relatives gather to celebrate a baby's 100th day, "baek-il" (백일)?  A big first birthday party for a baby is common in a lot of cultures, but a party for the 100th day?  Is it just another excuse to throw a party for the baby because she is so cute?  That's probably true, too, but in Korea, there are more historical and cultural reasons to celebrate the baby's baek-il. Why Koreans celebrate their baby's baekil (100 day): - Celebration of life Historically, many newborns didn't make it to their first 100th day because ...

Former Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun died in a suicide on May 23, 2009 Saturday at the age of 62. He jumped from a 100-foot (30 meter) high cliff behind his house in Bonghwa. Roh was rushed to a hospital in Busan around 8:15 am and died around 9:30 am (local time in Korea). In most English articles about his suicide that I read, his death was generally understood in this kind of context: Former South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun admitted that his wife and a relative received six million dollars from a business man Park Yeon-cha during his presidency. ...

Mt. Geumo (Mt. Keumo, Komosan) 3202 feet (976meter). Located in Kumi, Kyungsang-bukdo, S. Korea. The mountain is full of steep cliffs and rocks and hiking to the top can be tough even though it's only a 1.3 mile trail. At the end of the Goryeo dynasty, they built fortress walls, Geomo Sansung, to prevent Japanese invasion. Some of traces of the fortress walls can be easily spotted during hiking. For non-hikers, there is a cable car that runs every 15 minutes till sunset (in winter, till 17:30). I think the cable car runs to Myunggeum Watherfall, but not sure. ...

One of the good things about living outside Korea is that I'm rarely called 'ajumma'. I guess I've just admitted that I don't want to be called ajumma. However, believe it or not, I don't have strong resistance against being ajumma - because I am, but I'd be still surprised a little bit if someone bluntly calls me ajumma in a market or café. I'm not quite ready for that yet only because I haven't experienced it a lot. Am I making it too big a deal to be called ajumma? Maybe. Am I subconsciously fearful ...

- Mom with an ox in 1960. Why am I always reminded of big plaintive eyes whenever I hear of hwangso(ox)? Well, it's because oxen do have big round eyes. Then, why sadness? It's hard to clearly point out the reasons. There is something sad about the way they "open and close" their eyes. To me, it's different from blinking. It looks like they close the world, pause there for a tiny bit of a second, and then open their eyes to the world again. Somehow that looks doleful to me. Maybe it's also because of the way they moo or "cry" - ...