About

 I'm Korean. That's the whole reason this blog exists.

Koreans often ask how old you are when they first meet you. Much of it has to do with the honorific system: the words you use, the tone you adopt, and even the way you address someone can change depending on who is older.

This custom has become less common in recent years. But spend some time in a smaller town or a more traditional community, and you will still meet older Koreans for whom asking someone's age feels perfectly natural.

It seems like a small thing. And yet Korea's long history and culture are embedded in it.

No civilization's food, clothing, language, or way of life was created overnight. To understand the unspoken context of a conversation, an ordinary habit, or an unusual turn of phrase, you first have to understand the history, culture, and traditions that shaped it. Korea is no exception.

Why are Koreans so accustomed to ppalli-ppalli — "hurry, hurry," or "faster, faster"? Why does someone leave a two-million-won laptop on a café table, go to the restroom, and come back without seriously worrying that it will be gone? Why, with a perfectly good sofa in the room, do people still sit on the floor to feel the warmth of the ondol beneath them? Why do Koreans eat seaweed soup on their birthdays?

Behind each of these ordinary customs lies a long story.

So I started reading. And that is more or less what I will be doing here: taking the things I did for decades without ever asking why, examining them one by one, and tracing them back to their roots.

I'd like you to join me.

I want to explore the parts of Korean life that I never noticed precisely because I am Korean — the habits that seem strange from the outside, or are simply difficult to make sense of. Along the way, I hope we can work through the questions together.

About the Name

Andrea is a pen name. I want this blog to be about the subjects I explore rather than about me, so I have chosen not to use my real name.

The experiences behind the writing, however, are my own. I grew up with the customs I write about. I have questioned many of them and disagreed with some of them. When I describe how Koreans tend to think or behave, I am drawing not only from what I have read, but also from what I have seen and experienced firsthand.

What's Here

Broadly speaking, this blog covers four areas.

Korean History

Dynasties, individuals, conflicts, and the occasional catastrophe — told as stories with lasting consequences, rather than as dates to memorize.

Culture Decoded

The questions people from outside Korea genuinely ask. Age, obviously. Nunchi, which has no exact English equivalent and probably never will. Why "no" so rarely sounds like a direct no.

Everyday Korea

The unwritten rules of daily life. Who pours the first drink at dinner. Why shoes come off at the door. What the seating order around a table quietly communicates to everyone in the room.

Behind K-Culture

The history and culture beneath the dramas, films, and music that probably brought you here in the first place.

What I Try to Do

I aim to do three things. If a post accomplishes none of them, I do not publish it.

How Koreans actually see it

Not the polished, press-release version, but what the person in the room is thinking without ever saying it aloud.

Why, not just what

Listing a custom is easy, and hundreds of blogs already do it. The real work is understanding why it began, how it changed, and why it has survived.

When the usual story is wrong

English-language coverage gets many things about Korea right and some things badly wrong. When the evidence tells a different story, I will explain why and give you the sources.

One Honest Limitation

I'm not a historian.

I read the sources and cite them. When an issue is genuinely disputed among people who know far more than I do, I will say so rather than pretend that it has been settled.

I will sometimes get things wrong. When I do, tell me. I will correct them where everyone can see.

Elsewhere

You can also find Andrea's Web on YouTube: @Andrea-web

If you have a question, a correction, or something you have always wondered about Korea but have never seen explained properly, the Contact page is the fastest way to reach me.

Thanks for reading.

— Andrea