"What the book?" -- New and Used English Books and Magazines -- Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea

One of the first things many new foreign English teachers want to learn about is where to find and buy English books whether they are for teaching or for personal reading.

One bookstore every teacher should visit at least once while they're in Korea is "What the book?" http://www.whatthebook.com/ The store sells used and new English books, and is located in Itaewon, Seoul.

If you take the subway get on the brown line (#6) and head to Itaewon Station (see below, left of center and slightly down).

If you arrive by taxi go to the main intersection of Itaewon. At the main intersection of Itaewon you will find a place called the Hamilton Hotel (the most popular landmark in Itaewon). Whether you're traveling by taxi or subway you'll begin by facing the Hamilton Hotel and then turn to your right. With the Hamilton Hotel on your left walk about three blocks down the street. You will come to an intersection with a small street that runs uphill. Turn right and walk up the hill until you almost reach the top and you'll find "What the book?" bookstore.

This is a shot taken from the top of the hill standing right in front of the bookstore.

And here it is . . .

The staff speak English and will help you find titles in the store, and order titles in if you want them to. There is a website, though, that is used for orders. http://www.whatthebook.com/

Some people have trouble with paying for orders on the website, so you might try simplifying things by just doing an ATM money transfer to "What the book?"'s account . . . the number for which I seem to have misplaced . . . if you call them and ask I'm sure they'll give you the info. (I'll put it up later after I've found the piece of paper I wrote it on).

There is a bathroom and water cooler inside the main entrance.

The bookstore might seem a little small but after spending nearly 5 years in Korea I'm pretty happy that this store even exists. There is a children's book section and a small teaching books section (though I'd recommend looking at the bigger selections in Bandi & Luni's, Yongpoon Bookstore (in Jonggak Station), or Kyobo Bookstore if you need teaching and lesson plan books).

The back wall has a huge selection of used Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Fiction . . . etc. The only problem is that if you're reading a series finding all the volumes can be difficult to find at times. Depending on how badly you want the missing volume you can buy it new or have the clerks order it in for you.

Also, if you're into reading history, literary theory, philosophy, psychology, and other more academic genres the selection is really good.

"What the book?" also offers a delivery service. If you spend 25,000won or more they'll ship the books to your home. I've done this several times now and had no problems. It usually takes 2-3 days. I like this a lot cause it saves me from lugging around a bag full of books while I'm doing other stuff in Seoul.

If you're a magazine buff the store has a really big selection of foreign magazines.

Finally, when you visit "What the book?" you should also check out the Foreign Food Mart. They've got a lot of stuff that you can't find in Korea, or is difficult to find. Things like: granola bars, cereals, hot cereal, dill pickles, cheese, spices, deodorants, soaps, floss, canned goods, pasta, frozen foods, shampoo . . . and so on.

Enjoy,

J


Here's some more info from the website itself, http://www.whatthebook.com/

About What the Book?

Whatthebook.com Makes Shopping for English Books Easy

First of all, What the Book? is the only retail bookstore in Korea with an internet site in English. What the Book? is the only English book sales site to offer foreigners the following options: pay for your order at our retail location, pick up your order at our retail location, and bank transfers to pay for your order. We know that foreigners in Korea do not like to send money home to pay for items they have bought using their credit card. We know, you are trying to pay those little flat devils off! What the Book? is the only book sales site in English in South Korea with a full search function. Other sites only allow you to search by author OR title. We allow you to do both at the same time. We are the only book sales site in Korea with a native English speaker on staff to help you with your customer service needs. Click on Live Chat for your questions. What the Book? is the only internet sales site to allow you to get certain titles in two days time!

Selection and Discounts

Our online selection boats over 1,000,000 titles in every genre and format possible. We gurantee our prices will be the cheapest in Korea. Find it cheaper and we will match or beat the price. We also offer a large selection of the top selling books at a discount. The staff at What the Book? analyzes the buying pattern of its customers to ensure we are selecting the most popular books to put on discount. What the Book? does not try to fool you like other websites. One major internet site that sells in Korea claims they offer Lonely Planet guides at 35% off. They state this because of a so called street price that is 35% higher than the retail price. In all actuality, they are only offering you the book at the suggested retail price.

History

What the Book? opened in July of 2003. The owners, Hye Lim Yoo and Chris Chiavetta envisioned something different for the book scene in Korea. This vision started with analyizing the problem they thought all the bookstores have in Korea--lack of atmosphere. The atmosphere in Korean bookstores is just not comfortable. Basing their store on this idea, Chris starting working on the interior of the store. It took him over a month to complete the shelving, electrical work, and the flooring--working before and after teaching his English classes. While the store may be small, it features ample seating and is always clean. Offering free coffee and espresso, helped complete the homey feeling they were looking for.

The store was an instant success. Books were flying off the shelves at an alarming rate. Soon Chris and Hye Lim realized one fact, people do not like to trade in the quality books. When the store first opened, the store had twelve copies of "The Bridge at No Gun Ri". After selling out of all twelve, they realized that none of the copies have been sold back to the store. Chris starting making phone calls to various publishers in the States to see how What the Book? could stock their books. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that the publishers were more than willing to sell their books to a small enterprise like What the Book?. Chris started out a test phase to see how people would react to coming to a used bookstore and find new books stocked on the shelves. His first order, a modest selection of 50 different titles flew off the shelves as well. The inventory of new books has been steadily climbing over the months.

Having the least expensive English book prices in South Korea, Chris started hearing from his customers who live down in the country, that they wished they had something available to them "down south". Knowing that the major Korean booksellers basically ignore the non-native Korean market when building their websites (they sell English books but only have their sites in Korean), Chris decided to offer his goods for sale on the internet. The site you are looking at now is built by foreigners in Korea, for foreigners in Korea.

Where can I get kebabs and middle eastern style food in South Korea? Sultan Kebab in Seoul: 3 locations

This past May Julianne and I headed to Seoul for one of our weekend trips. Roboseyo had a blog posting, Happier News: My Brother Sultan Kebab Opens in Jongno, up about the opening of Sultan Kebab.

Kudos to Roboseyo for getting a video promo from Omar, the owner. I'm re-posting it here to help promote the place as I didn't make my own video but want to help spread the word about the place.

After seeing Roboseyo's posting we decided to check it out for dinner. Come out of Jongak Station exit 1 and walk down the street with Jongno tower BEHIND you. About a block and a half down the street from the subway exit you'll find Sultan Kebab on the right. As usual I had my camera with me and began taking pics . . .

If you know where Tomatillo's restaurant is (picture below, on the right), Sutlan Kebab is across the street from it.

If you were thinking of going to Tomatillo's restaurant for some Mexican food I'd recommend skipping it, save your money, and go to Sultan Kebab. Julianne and I went to Tomatillo's and found the prices expensive for the serving sizes, the service was slow, and the food not satisfying at all. (Oh yeah, and the 'home made salsa'--in need of serious improvement.)

The interior is decorated with a fresh modern look with lighting that gives it a warm friendly atmosphere.

Everything looks very clean and the kitchen staff are friendly, speak a good amount of English (enough to take food orders), and have a high quality and speed of service.

Julianne checking out the TVs in the other section that has more seating with tables.

If you're out with a group of friends and want a good place to eat that doesn't cost a lot of money, has low-priced quality food (especially for a location in the downtown core of Seoul), and a nice comfortable sitting area Sultan Kebab is a good choice.

If you're in a rush, or if it's really busy, there's a counter that you can chow down at and then get back to walking around Seoul.

Our food . . . the vegetables in my lamb kebab were all fresh and of good quality. You can choose to get a spicy kebab or not spicy. The only thing I might wish for at Sultan Kebab is that there was a second size option for the french fries and drinks. That being said, the serving sizes are what they SHOULD be and I was satisfied after I finished eating. (It's the eating monster in me that wants more of this delicious food, sigh).

Close up of the really nice veggies and lamb . . .

And then there's the SPECIAL SECRET SAUCE . . . hmmmmm, yum!

The sauce definitely added the magical finishing touch to what was already excellent food.

I took some shots of the menu . . .

Sultan Kebab has other locations too. There are two in Itaewon, and one in Jongno (near the Jongno tower).

Oman, the owner, and his service staff.

Omar and his cooks.

I highly recommend Sutlan Kebab. Go check it out!

J

Singing her heart out in the 'key of O' -- nore bang singing in front of M department store, Chuncheon, South Korea

Seeing Koreans give 1 BILLION percent effort for activities that have group approval reinforces my belief that it's 'easy' to get Korean students to speak English if you can find the right 'access codes' to a class' "collective mind" . . .

Case in point this girl singing her heart out in the 'key of O' with a large group of people watching proves this (I'd use the word "strangers" but in Korea the concept of 'everybody is part of one big social family' doesn't allow for the meaning to apply correctly).

She could be one of those American Idol people who think their singing is amazing, but if she isn't and is still willing to get up and sing when she knows she's missing a lot of the notes . . . well, then there's hope for getting Korean students to speak English in front of their peers . . . and miss a lot of grammar and pronunciation points, etc, but still do it anyways.

I know it's not as simple as just getting the entire class to think it's a good idea to speak in English, and for their friends to speak in English too . . . but even with the best lesson plan, lesson content, and teaching method it can be an enormous challenge to get students thinking it's a good idea to speak in English if they think the class is going to laugh at them, or give a large collective "HORRRRRR" if they speak English well . . . I seriously want to get that collective HORR sound on video . . . it's something that unless you've taught English in Korea just can't be understood.

Anyways, just some random thoughts about the cultural phenomenon about how individual behavior can be off the charts as long as the group approves . . .

J

I seriously love the public announcement/intercom speaker in my apartment in South Korea--really, LOVE IT!

I've had a couple of apartments now in Korea with the 'lovely' and infamous ceiling intercom speaker.

There are about 3 different voices that come onto the speaker. Two ajusshi-aged men, and a woman's voice too.

You hear a musical chime warning, usually twice, and then they come on to make their announcement, and then musical chimes signal the ending of the announcement.

In my last apartment there was a volume switch on it that I turned down to its lowest setting--otherwise the speaker would have had a date with my screwdriver and a wire cutter.

The earliest I've ever heard the speaker was around 8am on a Saturday (it might have been a Sunday, don't know don't care, it was bad bad bad) . . . yeah, sleeping in days!!! Not the best time to be woken up to hear announcements that you only understand one in six words if you're lucky, and that generally have nothing to do with you or your apartment.

Anyways, if you're new and on your way to teach and live in Korea--beware the apartment intercom speaker--BEWARE!!!! Moowahahahaha!

J

Unhyeongung (palace) in Seoul, South Korea -- Part 3

Continuing on with part 3 of a tour of Unhyeon Palace (Part 1 and Part 2) . . .

This water . . . trough, sculpture, well . . . ? I liked it. It had a nice elegant simplicity to it.

Apparently I was going where no Korean men had gone before (in the period) . . . lol.

I think this next pic is of an air intake port (or maybe for exhaust?) for the ondol floor heating system . . . cool.

The most interesting thing about this 'women's only' area of the palace was . . . nothing. Nothing makes a bigger statement about the patriarchal nature of this period (and perhaps more interestingly the socio-cultural attitudes of today) then the lack of attention given to putting together exhibits showing the history and lives of the women who were living here . . . maybe there are other reasons, but I suspect my theory holds some validity.

Seriously . . . it's empty . . . how long has it been like this?

Frame within a frame within a frame . . . not much else to see.

This little arch gateway was VERY funny to walk through . . . I felt like I was seven feet tall, lol.

In the neighboring courtyard looking back . . .

360 degree view . . .

Another ondol chimney . . .

I was trying to find some interesting shots to take when this group of kids walked into the frame . . .

And then this little girl with a sunbrella walked by . . .

Walking through this gate I re-entered the main courtyard of the palace . . . and took a shot looking back at where I had been . . .

I then noticed an "Exhibition Hall" and wandered over to check it out.

The English on the sign outside the hall was the only English information available . . .

. . . so I took some shots of the stuff inside and then left . . .

I realize that the palace is IN Korea, and it is a KOREAN historical site . . . but at the same time I struggle to reconcile this with the fact that Koreans want other countries to learn about Korean history and culture . . . and this is made nearly impossible by the lack of information available to tourists and other foreigners living and working inside Korea.

I think that it is completely unrealistic to ask and expect foreign teachers who come to Korea for the average of a 1-2 year stay to learn enough Korean language skills to be able to read historical content that likely requires an intermediate to low-advanced level of ability . . . and I'm pretty sure that most tourists that come to Korea don't bone up on their Korean language ability beyond learning how to say hello, thank you, and the other survival Korean expressions required to travel around the country for a 1-2 week stay. . .

I really hope that one day this will improve so that the deep-seated desire for other countries to learn about Korean culture and history will actually have a chance of success.

J