Some photos and an interview in Moon Living Abroad in South Korea.

Suncheon Bay, seen from Yongsan Observatory.

Last June I was pleased to get an email from Jonathan Hopfner of Reuters asking if I'd like to contribute some photographs and an interview to a new guidebook about Korea. In January I finally saw the final result, the first edition of
Moon Living Abroad in South Korea. Twelve of my photographs of Jeollanam-do appeared throughout the book, many of which you've seen on this blog before.


Green tea fields in Boseong county. A slice of this picture serves as the header on my blog.


Canola and cherry blossoms in Suncheon in March 2008. Suncheon, my home for two years, is especially pretty along the river each spring.


Suncheon's Jorye-dong, seen from Bonghwasan.


No, you go home.  A woman at a rally in Gwangju, May 2008, protesting the import of U.S. beef to Korea. 


A rice paddy surrounding Gangjin-eup, Gangjin county, where I lived from August 2006 to August 2007.

There are a few others throughout the book, and a short interview with me on pages 218-219. When asked why I chose Jeollanam-do over Seoul, where just about everyone goes to teach, I answered:

I actually spent a year in Bundang, a trendy district in a satellite city of Seoul, before coming down here. Looking back, I think it was actually a little more, well, culture shocking going to Bundang than Jeollanamdo because of the appearance of close similarity up there. I'm sure there's a proper term for it, but the closest I can get is to say, "Look up 'Uncanny Valley' and apply it to Christmas, coffee, and pizza."

The "Uncanny Valley" analogy is something I've repeated a few times on this blog. I'm not saying Koreans are humanoids or anything, but rather the point is I happen to think that plenty of expats---not including the immature and the maladjusted---react just fine to the unfamiliar "Korean" aspects of the country. It's the things that at first glance look familiar---Christmas, pizza, English, "westernization"---that are the most jarring. I found plenty of that in Bundang.

Moon has put out books on South Korea before, ones aimed at travelers. I flipped through one in my local Borders and was surprised to find a ton of information on Jeollanam-do, considering most guidebooks---and, admittedly, most expats---believe there is absolutely nothing of note outside of Seoul and an obligatory trip to Gyeongju. This one is written for those considering living in South Korea, perhaps a tough sell because so many people turn to the internet to get their information. However, the book is pretty thorough and is a nice alternative for people who don't want to take forever looking through tons of webpages of varying quality and reliability. The back cover of the book promises:

* Essential information on setting up your daily life, including visas, finances, employment, education, and healthcare
* Practical advice on how to rent or buy a home that fits your needs and budget
* A thorough survey of the best places to live
* Firsthand insight into navigating the language and culture
* How to plan a fact-finding trip before the move
* Special tips for those with children or pets

Ten days ago J.R. Breen of the Korea Times profiled Hopfner and the book; an excerpt:

"The book is intended as a how-to guide for expatriates looking to settle in Korea for the medium to long term," Hopfner said.

Hopfner, an editor at the Thomson Reuters Seoul bureau, said the series is aimed at a brand new market.

"It's part of a series that Moon Handbooks launched a couple of years ago to serve the growing number of people who are leaving their home countries for reasons of work or choice," he said.

"It covers a host of things that would only be of interest to longer-term residents (like) finding housing, banking, taxation, education and employment. I also tried to write the sections on local culture and society bearing in mind someone who lives here is going to interact a lot more with both than a person visiting for a couple of weeks."

The book covers every major city and areas with the highest concentration of expatriates.

"Destinations covered within Korea were chosen because they were the most likely places for expatriates to end up, not based on their interest to tourists," Hopfner said.

All in all it's a pretty interesting book, and plenty useful to the average person moving to Korea by choice or by force. In my opinion it's hard to truly get a sense of the country until after you arrive, but the book gives you resources that'll come in handy after you do.

For those of you keeping score at home or taking notes from your office in Seoul, I wasn't paid for my contributions to this book or for the Gwangju guidebook I helped out with a little back in aught seven. It was just cool to be asked, and to help get information out there about that frequently-slighted corner of the country. And to remind people that my name is also attached to things that don't start with "Angriest Blogger." Makes my parents happier, anyway.