The island nation of Formosa, known to many across the globe as Taiwan, is known more officially in Beijing as The Republic of China. Taiwan has never achieved independence from Beijing and – some contend – never will. Although Taiwan has its own currency, democratic government, and unique dialect, the mainland Chinese government has vowed to keep …
Continue reading Stinky Tofu, Typhoons, and other Perils of Taipei
Note: The following article appeared in The Groove on March 7, 2008, and is recreated here for archiving purposes. The 15th of August marks the day the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese control at the end of World War II in 1945, a holiday celebrated by both North and South Korea. Unlike many other countries, Korean …
Continue reading Korean-Japanese Relations Show Continuing Tension
Criminals, social abstracts, and travelers: these are the types of people that generally make the decision to travel across the planet to teach English in Asia. It was my greatest hope upon arrival that I fit into the later of these categories. The recent clamp down on Korean immigration has come mostly in direct response from …
Continue reading The Hagwon Racket – Teaching English in Korea
My first full-week paid vacation came way too soon. With little left in my bank account from my three day, $500USD trip to North Korea, there wasn't too many opinions left. So after about six days of boredom and oversleeping, I decided to investigate the KTX. The KTX is Korea's fastest train. It'll take a …
Portions of the following article originally appeared in The Groove, a Seoul-based expat magazine, on August 7, 2007. Update: Geumgangsan, the tourist village covered in the post below, was closed in 2008 after a 53-year-old South Korean woman was shot and killed by North Korean soldiers when she mistakenly wandered into a military zone. As of …
Justin Calderón 