Apps in Korea

We all know the blog posts about the most useful apps to use in Korea. I always looked at them with great interested and kept a mental note of which apps to use when I would actually move to Korea.

However I came to find out that many of the apps I use in Korea are actually not related to specifically Korea alone.

Here are the apps I most frequently use to make my life in Korea just that extra bit easier.

On the left you see my Contact folder. I use both Kakao and Whatsapp very frequently to keep in touch with people. Kakao Talk is one of the most popular chatting applications here in Korea. It is very intuitive and with the free call option it is a very attractive app to use for a poor student like me.

Whatsapp is the what I use to talk with my friends and family in my home country. I think it is important when you live abroad to have quick access to these people and in case of emergency it is important that they can get a hold of you very quickly as well.

The app 1km is one that I have been using on and off for the past 3 years. It is a great way to practise Korean and occasionally meet people from. However, since it is an application comparable to Skout or Tinder you unfortunately need to be able to handle the occasional sexual comment and be very careful who to meet.

The next two apps are mostly for my academic career. The middle one is my school own application. It gives me push notification about sudden schedule changes or important emails and it has a campus map and my student ID card which I can scan to enter the library.

Then in the News folder I have quick access to 6 news websites, two Korean, two English  and two Dutch. Not only is it very important to keep up with the news as an international studies major. It is also important to not live in some sort of vacuum while living abroad. I learned this the hard way when I was totally oblivious to some national and international disasters.

Last but not least here are two of my favorite apps to make sure to not get lost in Korea.

The first one is the Seoul subway app, which tells me how to get from one subway station to another in the fasted way possible. There are many different ones out there. But I like this specific app because it also tells you when the next subway will arrive.

And last but not least is Naver Maps. I know that many foreigners try to use google maps in Korea, however nothing works as well to find a specific address in Korea as Naver Maps. It saved me from getting completely and utterly lost numerous times and I recommend you that this is the first app you download as soon as you touch down in Incheon Airport.

I hope you found this article helpful, now please let me know which apps you most frequently use and why.

Love, Wietske

FeelSeoul official Facebook Page!

FeelSeoul now has an official facebook page! Go ahead and like it to keep up-to-date with FeelSeouls new post. if you are more of a pinterest person, don't fear, because I will also keep you up to date over there as well!

While you are at it, why not also follow me on my personal Instagram acount for a sneak peak into every day life in Korea.

Love, Wietske

Learn Hangeul - The easy way!

Not too long ago I made a post all about Hangeul. In actuality it was not all - here are two more great resources to learn Hangeul, the easy way!

Don't get scared by the look of these resources, they are old, nonetheless they are still very useful 

The first one I have is a good way to recognize hangeul as you have to click the corresponding romanization with the shown hangul or the other way around. 

The second one is a good resource to get your pronunciation right. Telling you the pronunciation of the separate letters but it also gives examples as to how the letters are pronounced in words.

Now these links are not very advanced and fancy looking but they do work so give them a try! and if you have resources that helped you learn hangeul, please share!

Love, Wietske

4 more things to stop doing in your twenties

I recently read the  thought provoking article on thought catalog 19 things to stop doing in your 20s. I expected a list of things that would tell me to stop being a child and grow the fuck up but instead I found a list of things that are basically all of my bad habits. It was a wake-up call for me. There are some things I just need to stop doing now that I am a “grown up”.
Here are 4 more things to stop doing in your 20s. Or should I say, 4 more things I should stop doing right now.

1. Stop listening to your body.  This one might seem a little bit odd because these days everyone is trying to get back in touch with their bodies and minds. However, if your body tells you to just eat the entire bar of chocolate. Don’t Listen! Don’t let your taste buds decide what you eat on a day, you decide what you will!
2. Stop sleeping all day. You only need about 8 hours of sleep a day, there is no need in wasting your time by staying in bed all day everyday.
3. Stop bringing your all of your electronic devices to bed. If you really are only going to stay in bed for 8 hours each day you better not waste the precious time you could be sleeping by listening to music on your IPod while scrolling through your twitter feed until 2 A.M.
4. Stop waiting! You are not getting younger and time is the most precious thing we have. I will quote one of my friends here -you can always earn the money back but once the time is gone it’s gone forever.

Kids, time to start being responsible, however don’t forget to have fun everyday. If you are not having fun, it’s not worth living!

Love, Wietske

Korean Dictionaries

Once you start learning a language, no matter what language, there is one thing you will always need. A dictionary. No matter if you are a beginner or almost fluent you will still need it. However, the question is, what dictionary do you need. A book, an online one, an electronic dictionary, or just a simple one on your phone. Is it worth investing in a good dictionary, or are the free options better?

I am going to compare a few different options.

• Online: Naver Dictionary & Daum Dictionary
• Book: NTC’s compact Korean and English Dictionary
• Electronic: NurianX30  electronic dictionary
• Phone: Dictionary App (this was already on my phone when I purchased it in Korea)

First of all let’s start with the simple word for house in English and Korean (집) : This is no problem for all the tried options, however the online, electronic and phone dictionaries give me a wide variety of example sentences such this one from naver dictionary.

as I was looking for the key to my house. 집 열쇠를 찾고 있었다

Now the other way around. For the online and phone option you need to have a Korean keyboard installed. For most computers not a problem but this might be a problem for some phones. Again this is no problem on the online, electronic and phone dictionaries and gives a nice list of examples and translations.

Now for the NTC’s Compact Korean and English Dictionary it is a pain in the ass to even find a simple word if you are looking at Korean to English. Since the Korean words are listed by how they are written in Romanization. It took me a good 10 minutes to only find the word for house and it doesn’t even give me examples.

Now for something a bit more difficult. Let’s find the meaning of ~고 싶다.

Let’s start online with both Naver and Daum dictionary.

This is what Daum dictionary could come up with.  Thanks to the bing translation there is an exact translation however I don’t trust bing and figuring it out from the examples given is possible but still a little bit difficult.

Luckily Naver dictionary gave me and exact translation and a few examples to go with it. Even my phone did better then Daum dictionary although I had to change the search word to 싶다. But it gave me an exact translation and quite a few examples to go with it. The same with my electronic dictionary, I had to adjust the search word but I did find what I was looking for. I gave up with the paper dictionary or else I wouldn’t even be able to finish this article.

Next up, something that is most difficult. Let’s find the meaning of a Korean proverb. 작은 고추가 맵다  is one of my favorite ones because it gave me and my friends a good laugh back in the day. Literally it means small peppers are spicy but it is used with the meaning don’t underestimate the small things.

Daum dictionary couldn’t find the proverb even when I changed up the keywords a little bit. Naver however, proves once again why I love it so much and it gave me this as a translation.

Don’t ever underestimate the little man. 작은 남자를 과소평가하지 말라. (작은 고추가 맵다.)

Once again, my phone surprised me with a wonderful translation when I looked up the word for 고추 (pepper), it gave me the proverb I was looking for and this translation: the smaller, the shrewder.

The electronic dictionary also gave me a translation when I put in the full search term however, the translation was in Korean. Which is fine for me; but a little bit too challenging for beginners.

Overall Naver dictionary was the best and the dictionary I use on an every day basis. The only downside is, is that you have to have internet connection and access to a device with internet connection (aka a computer or a smartphone).  I have to say though the dictionary app on my phone surprised me since I only ever use it too look up a word or two while I’m texting with my Korean friends.  I won’t throw out my electronic dictionary though since it is really helpfull with a subject I haven’t touched up on – looking up Hancha – and it could be helpfull if I don’t want to have my computer around while studying Korean (such a distraction!).

I will banish NTC’s compact Korean & English dictionary to the back of my closet though, it’s the worst dictionary I have ever seen and I do not recommend you buying it!

Now tell me, what is your favorite & least favorite dictionary and why?

Love, Wietske

Four Tips to Make Getting Up Early Easier

Last week I wrote a post about Four Things I Should Stop Doing In My 20s and one of them is sleeping all day. I usually stay up all nights and it’s a real struggle to get out of my bed at a reasonable time in the morning. Here are a few tips that make getting up early easier.

1. Go to bed earlier: These days instead of going to bed at 1 or 2 A.M. or sometimes even later I go to bed at 11 P.M. at the latest. That way I get enough sleep and it makes getting up a whole lot easier.
2. Put your alarm on the other side of the room: I am one of those persons that hits the stop button instead of snooze, rolls over and sleeps for another 4 hours before realizing I am horribly late. Even though having to jump out of bed to turn the damn thing off, it was one of the best decisions I made.
3. Implement a 30 buffer: I usually set my alarm on 7.30 but while the music is playing I usually roll around in my bed for about 30 minutes before actually getting up. And even though I did this I am still up early.
4. And last but not least, once you are awake and got out of your bed make yourself a majestic breakfast, my current favorite is French Toast topped with banana and syrup. But even a simple slice of bread with nutella could be a real treat.

What methods do you use to get out of bed? and what time do you get up?

Love, Wietske.

5 Ways to deal with Reverse Homesickness

Everyone knows the feeling of being homesick, longing for home, for a place where you feel comfortable and at ease. People feel sorry for you, try to comfort you and eventually send you home.

However reserve homesickness is something that gets laughed about. People keep on telling you that you just need another holiday while in fact you feel lost, not at home in a place other people tell you is your home. That combined with an extreme longing for in my case Korea caused me a serious depression.

A depression that would only go away when I was back in Korea and would come back as soon as I came back home.

However I finally feel that I have overcome this feeling of sadness, I still know and feel that I don’t belong here in the Netherlands but I can deal with it now. And here are 5 tips how you can too.

Go sightseeing; Yes, in your own town. Go on adventures, try new bars, new restaurants, new stores see your place not as a town where you return to your same old boring life, see it as a new adventure.

Get active; By exercising your body releases pheromones which make you feel happy, even if you hate exercising, find something you like, such as walking, dancing around the house, riding your bicycle.

Meet Friends; Whenever I feel extremely homesick I just want to sleep all day and cry in a corner. This is not a solution to the problem. Go out, meet your friends, take you friends to said new bars and talk about past memories. Laugh together and make plans for new adventures.

Be Sad;  There is nothing wrong with crying your eyes out every once in a while. There is nothing wrong with wanting to go back to that time and place where you are happiest. Just make sure you don’t get stuck in the moment and if you are really slowly rolling into a depression seek help!

Go back; That doesn’t mean you have to go back tomorrow. No, just make plans. Think about it; talk about it. Tell your family how you feel about it and your absolute need to go back. Ease your family and friends back into the idea of you going back for a longer and longer.

Did you guys ever suffer from reserve homesickness? What did you battle this?

Love, Wietske