Yul’s first time in the countryside for Lunar New Year!

We headed back to the countryside for Lunar New Year recently. It was the time Yul had been down south to the area where Hugh’s parents live, and where we had previously lived for 2 years. Usually we would catch the bus but decided to take the fast KTX train instead as it’s more comfortable for traveling with a baby.

I also hadn’t been back in the countryside for a while as I hadn’t been able to travel when pregnant. It was great to get out of Seoul and breathe the countryside air again. It was also a lot warmer than in Seoul. Hugh’s parents had seen Yul once before but this time they got to spend a whole week with him. They were over the moon and so incredibly proud to be grandparents. Hugh’s sister and her husband live in the area as well so we got to spend some time with them too.

As you can see in the video, Yul was given lots of money! It is a tradition for children to do a big bow for relatives and are then given some money. We will probably use it to buy some things for him. We also did the Jesa ceremony in the morning which is a way to pay respects to deceased family members. And of course we ate lots of food. In future we will have a car and be able to drive down south more regularly hopefully.

We were sent some suitcases from SHAPL, which could not have come at a better time! I was dreading pulling out our old battered suitcases and had been meaning to buy some more anyway. These new ones were so smooth and nice to use and made traveling so much easier. You can check out more designs on the SHAPL website and also get these suitcases through the Kickstarter.

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No kimchi?!

(The original comic is here).

We revisit a comic from several years ago. This was when we were still living in Australia and I forgot to put kimchi on the table. As we mentioned in the video, Hugh obsesses about kimchi a lot more when he is not in Korea. He doesn’t eat it every day in Korea but in Australia has this desire to always eat it. It might seem like just a stereotype but it’s very important to Koreans!

Many older Koreans don’t consider a meal to be a real meal without rice and kimchi. So if they eat out and eat some type of foreign food they will still come home and eat some rice and kimchi. This type of ingrained thinking is possibly why it’s taken so long for foreign food to become popular in Korea, because there is a very strong cultural thinking of what a meal should be. Although many younger Koreans embrace all kinds of food, they have trouble convincing their parents to try new stuff and when older Koreans go on trips to another country they will try and take Korean food with them, rather than trying anything new.

In Australia it was easy to buy kimchi in Sydney and when we were in my home town I would make it for Hugh. These days we usually have too much kimchi as Hugh’s mother will send us kimchi. We still eat out a lot so we eating it several times a week even if we don’t have any at home. I’ve tried so many types of kimchi I know which ones I like and how fermented I prefer kimchi to be.

Making kimchi can be a lot of work and usually needs to be done over 2 days. If you are making kimchi for the first time I recommend reading a variety of recipes online several times so you understand all the steps. Also be aware that it will give off a strong smell in your fridge!

READ THE FULL EPISODE HERE

Nicholalala is a mostly fictional webtoon series with elements of fantasy and Korean folklore. It has characters based on Hugh and I, but not us completely. Though the exercising naked in this episode is definitely Hugh! You can read full episodes at WEBTOONS or on the app.

On the app it looks like this:

You can like, comment, share and rate over on WEBTOONS as well!

READ FULL EPISODE HERE ON WEBTOONS!

Nicholalala is an ongoing fictional webtoon on the WEBTOONS platform. You can like, share, comment and rate over there.

He will be vlogging his journey of transforming his body and his life. Please encourage him. Also for those more comfortable with watching videos in Korea: check out his trainer Yoojin’s channel here.

As for the problems the US is causing Korea, here a recent opinion piece that explains some of it.

We’ve had a lot of stuff on lately and haven’t been able to do a ‘Seoul Life’ video but here is a new one finally! As you can see we’ve been busy being 니콜라 이모 and 휴삼촌 (Aunt Nichola and Uncle Hugh).

READ FULL EPISODE HERE!

The Nicholalala webtoon is an ongoing fictional comic on WEBTOONS.COM.

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