Teaching in any country can be challenging, even without the added difficulty of a language barrier. Yet as globalization increases, the demand for English teachers internationally continues to boom literally…
The Delicate Art of Cutting Hair
I once had a linguistics professor who told our class “The two jobs that can get you anywhere in the world are teaching English, and cutting hair.” While I have…
Refunds, and How to Get Them
Unless you’re a pilgrim, today’s traveling woman will likely be taking a lot of flights as they jetset across the world. In a moment of boredom and reflection, I counted…
Korea vs. Japan
Ever the naive Westerner, I had assumed that South Korea and Japan would have some sort of ”Northeastern Asia Friendship” going on after spending the last 200 million years chilling…
The Push to Be White
I faced the camera with the air of someone awaiting a root canal. Always preferring to be behind the lens rather than in front of it, and liking to capture…
What to Know Before Coming to Korea
Even the inexperienced traveler could tell you that there are some significant differences between Asian culture and Western culture, and although I’ve lived in Seoul for over five months now,…
Thoughts from a Nation Builder
In light of President Obama’s recent State of the Union Address (which can be found here, and is well worth a viewing), I thought I would toss in my two…
Language and Our World
As an individual with a degree in linguistics, it goes without saying that I am fascinated by language use around the world. I love exploring the field so much that…
Bringing Korean Food to a Kitchen Near You
It goes without saying that when traveling to a new country, we should all try to experience as much of the local cuisine as is possible. Most people are quite…
Our Global Community
I had about seven different ideas for what to write about this week, but after a thought-provoking New Year’s Eve discussion about xenophobia (which may or may not have been…
We Came, We Saw, We Got Stranded by Iceland Air
I’ve noticed that lately, a number of Go Girl’s fabulous, fearless females have been writing about their recent airport experiences/traumas/catastrophes, a theme that seems to unite all world travelers as…
The Foreigner’s Guide to K-Pop
For those of you who have not had the joy of being exposed to K-Pop (Korean pop music), this upbeat genre features both male and female groups which generally have…
Discovering the Beauty of Dependence
I had a revelation yesterday. Well, actually it began last Friday. Well, actually I’ve been piecing things together for the past several months, but didn’t begin to articulate it until…
So You Want to Teach English…
Though it may have never been a job that you’ve considered, or even have any experience in, teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), can be a great way…
The Media and Our View of the World
The media is a really beautiful thing. TV news reports, magazines and papers allow us to understand events transpiring in every country, despite our current location. One glance at BBC’s…