My Korean Husband

Intercultural Life

Month: March 2020

Bilingual Play: Korean and English

2020/03/17 / / 0 Comments

Natural Bilingual Play with a Toddler

In this video we set up cameras and played with our son Yul as we normally would. Hugh is using Korean and I’m using English mostly, but as you can see in a natural environment we still both use words from the other language too.

People are always curious about the bilingual aspect so we wanted to show that. We also wanted to show that toddlers speak a lot of “toddlerspeak” too! Kids don’t usually just start with full sentences. There are lots of sounds and not quite words yet.

Yul gets his Korean from Hugh and the environment like our community and daycare. He hears English from me and other English speakers in Korea, as well as when he sees my family in Australia. So far this has been a good balance and he understands both languages pretty equally.

We will continue to do videos like this as it’s a nice moment to capture as well as a way to be able to see his progression with both languages.

Don’t Touch Your Face

2020/03/16 / / 0 Comments

We are all practicing social distancing right now, as well as of course lots of hand washing and trying to not touch our faces much. As mothers have pointed out- it’s hard to stop our kids from putting their dirty little hands on our faces! Yul does that sometimes, but he also loves putting his feet on my face. I’m wondering which one is worse? Are there likely to be more germs on his hands than his feet?

Instant Kimchi?

2020/03/15 / / 0 Comments

Can you make instant kimchi ?

If you know anything about kimchi your immediate response would be “of course not!” However, we do attempt to make instant kimchi in this video. Our secret weapon? A new kimchi seasoning product. We do know the women who invented this product but this is not a sponsored video. Hugh uses it just as seasoning but we wanted to try it for actually making kimchi.

Most of the results were pretty good! Especially if you don’t always like the sour aspect of kimchi. Personally I like kimchi when it’s first made and before fermentation, but for those that do like the deep sour kimchi taste, fermentation is still important when making kimchi.

But also if you just want a spicy kimchi taste on other food, the powder is great for that! It should be available online in the next few months. It’s only a small company, so they are working on making it available at the moment.

Update about Covid-19 in South Korea

2020/03/04 / / 0 Comments

We talk about what it’s like in Seoul, South Korea right now

The infection rate and deaths will be continuing to go up since filming this video so please keep that in mind. In this video we talk about being stuck inside. And you can see what it’s like with a toddler! I think our video gives an accurate representation of being a parent of a toddler!

The feeling in Korea at the moment is subdued with people just being careful. It’s very quiet but also life continues on, just more carefully. Seoul hasn’t had many cases in comparison to some other places. Schools are shut and many businesses are making people work from home.

As we mention in the video, the government has done a good job of mobilizing the country to combat this. They are testing more than 10 thousand people a day. In comparison, many countries aren’t testing near enough. The virus in other countries, they just don’t know to what extent.

The coronavirus is mild in most people. Those at risk are the elderly or those with compromised immune systems. Most people don’t need to be worried, but you do need to be prepared for your city to “shut down”, your way of life may change a lot in the coming weeks and months.

Masks don’t really stop you from getting the virus but in Korea masks are useful in stopping the spread among the population. Many people can get infected and not have any symptoms and spread it. When the whole population is wearing masks, and washing hands, it does limit the spread. Unfortunately that is hard to replicate in other countries due to mask shortages and cultural differences where it’s not normal to wear a mask.

The best advice is constant hand washing and to avoid going to crowded areas.

Talking about our past jobs

2020/03/04 / / 0 Comments

In this video we talk about our past jobs, well mostly Hugh’s past jobs! We have an unusual sponsor for this video. It was through a government scheme for matching YouTubers with companies and we didn’t have a choice once we signed. The company they matched us with is very nice but both of us were bewildered at who made that decision. But we did the best we could and it did give us a chance to talk about things we have done in the past.

Who did this?!

2020/03/04 / / 0 Comments

I think as parents we never fully understand how much toddlers know and can say and are constantly surprised.

Usually our son Yul doesn’t draw on walls or cupboards, but with the Covid-19 crisis we’ve been inside a lot more lately. There is only so much that we can do to occupy a toddler with unlimited energy. And he discovered he could draw with crayon on other things.

He thought it was hilarious to blame an imaginary baby, and also hilarious when I pointed out that he is indeed the baby in this household.

© 2024 My Korean Husband

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑