It’s Friday afternoon and, as I’m writing, my laptop is perched on one of those low, collapsible tables like you might use when you go camping, except ours is from a church and has some kind of Psalm written on it in Korean. What can we learn from this handed-down piece of furniture? Korean churches go hard on the merch.

quick hits x may

🎧in the headphones: CANNOT STOP listening to this after we saw Zion T last week at HIPHOPPLAYA fest, can’t understand how this song still sounds so fresh and catchy after 14 years????????

🍲on the plate: we DID drop by Namdaemun Kalguksu Alley this week after seeing an exhibition at Groundseesaw Central, and it is still the most stressful and overwhelming culinary experience I think you can have in Seoul. Having said that, it is worth the hype. They give you so much, it tastes good, and it’s so cheap. Put it on the itinerary!

☕in the cup: odd one but if you’re in Yongsan, the Sinyongsan branch of Standard Bun is actually one of my favourite places to go when the weather warms up. It’s never too crowded, the coffee is fine, and you can sit outside. Plus, inexplicably they’re always playing the best UK indie music. I’ve heard Oasis, which isn’t too hard to find here, but also Wolf Alice, Pulp, and Suede.

For this month’s instalment, I’ve actually prepared something in advance! A* newslettering.

Here at Half Local, I really want to platform more artists sharing their experiences of living in Korea. I was introduced to Kendal’s work through a friend, and thought it would be nice to ask some questions and share someone else’s thoughts here (for a change…..!).

Here’s a quick interview we conducted over email last month.

Q&A with artist Kend Seo

@kend.seo

Q: First, can you give a quick introduction of yourself and your work?

A: I’m from the UK and have been living in Korea for over 7 years. I started drawing in 2024 when an idea came to mind involving spaceships and eating cup ramen. Since then, I’ve been drawing my feelings on Korea.

Q: You often incorporate Korean elements into your work, like kimchi, yakgwa, hanbok, or Korean architecture. What’s the reason behind including these elements in your work and how do you choose them?

A: A couple of years ago I found I’d lost the initial spark I had when I first moved to Korea and I wanted to find it again. I drew as a way to remember why I love this country and the observations I’ve made over the years. Those things; kimchi, yakgwa, hanbok and korean architecture are my favourite foods and the things that excite my eye here.

When I draw Korean elements I feel a whole new love for them as my perfectionism comes into play and I try to get every detail just as I see it. It has helped me fall in love with Korea all over again.

Q: When you include Korean imagery in your work, what are you more interested in and why? Realistic depictions, accurate colour, or something else?

A: The colour most definitely. I’m obsessed with colour. I’m sure I have tetra-chromacy. I spend a long time trying to get the right shade. However, as well as the accurate colour, I look for the colour that gives the right feeling.

Q: How has your work, or your ideas about art, been influenced by your time in Korea?

A: Each drawing is a little story of my experience here. Blindspot | 사각지대 is my commentary on the punk music scene, Don’t Worry is about mental health and HOMETIME is for the foreigners in Korea. My work couldn’t exist without Korea. It inspires it entirely. I don’t think I would be drawing if I wasn’t here. I’m so aware of my surroundings everywhere I go. I find myself taking photos of random buildings and streets I want to put in a drawing later. I think the way this place is so entirely different from my home country through colours, architecture and food, it makes me want to capture it and share my story. I have so many ideas I want to bring to life! I just wish there were more hours in the day!

Q: You recently held an exhibition in Seoul, can you share more about it?

A: I had a month-long showing at a cafe in Haebangchon, Cysler. I joined an art club (HBC Art Club) last year and the cafe wanted to collaborate. It was my first time seeing all my work up together and was really special to me.

Q: Can you share 2-3 of your favourite places in Seoul/Korea that you would like to recommend to other people?

A: I live in Ilsan and absolutely love it! There is a very quiet and village-y vibe area called Bamgasi with tons of cafes and restaurants that are small and cosy! My favourite cafes are Cafe Sobi for the vibes and Yunsi Coffee for the best coffee. Piece Peace has the most delicious pie!

Recently in Mangwon I visited a cafe called Ugi. It’s a really comfy place! And the dog is very cute.

SOME MORE ART🎨🎨🎨

HBC Art Club (mentioned above) wrote a recount of the art exhibition we held in February this year!

If you can read Korean, you’ll have a ball reading this! If you don’t read Korean, it might be a little tougher for you… But there are some great photos to look at instead🫡

Here’s the link!

Big thanks to the HBC Art Club member who wrote this up for us!

EVEN MORE ART🖼️🖼️🖼️

Last week, we saw the Seriously Not Serious exhibition by Max Siedentopf at Groundseesaw Central. We had a lapse in judgement and tried to go on the recent national holiday, but the queue was, quite frankly, nauseating. We cut out losses quickly and decided to go back the week after in the morning. Much better idea.

The reason I bring this up is because I think Groundseesaw would be a great addition to any art-lover’s Seoul itinerary.

They have a few locations across the city, and they always put on quite vibrant, immersive exhibitions. I’m pretty sure you can just buy tickets at the gallery if you don’t have a Korean card, but here’s their instagram for more info!

RIGHT.

That’s your lot.

See you early next week for the 10th spot in our 100 local spots in Seoul series! No hints as to what it might be, because I haven’t decided yet. Leave us a comment if there’s anything you’d like to see!

Leave a comment

Thanks so much for reading!

Ella💖💖💖💖

I usually write this monthly bulletin at the top of the month, but I am the prime example of biting off more than I can chew, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past week, so this is a late late monthly report.

ANYWAY HAPPY APRIL.

Back home, we have the phrase ‘April Showers’, meaning it rains a TON in the UK in April. But in Manchester, it just rains all the time so we ignore that phrase.

In Korea, there are 24 seasonal divisions.

April 4th is Chungmyung (청명), when the weather starts to get a little brighter.

April 20th is Gokwoo (곡우), which the internet tells me means, “Spring rain falls on the grain.” Catchy.

So I guess we’re slap-bang in the middle and it shouldn’t be raining for a few more weeks.

AND YET. I’m hiding from the rain this morning in my local coffee shop. There’s relatively little room for global warming and flukes in the 24-part system.

This coffee shop has become somewhat of a city-wide phenomenon.

It’s tiny, with room for about 15 people to sit.

It’s in a little corner unit in an old building, in a neighbourhood of Seoul that’s likely to be redeveloped in the next 20 years. That means, no investment yet. There are no big franchises in this pocket of Seoul, and no fancy apartment buildings.

Unless you live here, you wouldn’t visit.

And yet, this coffee shop is always full.

How????????

It’s become so popular that even my friend from outside the city knew about it. She actually suggested we go to this little ‘hole-in-the-wall’ cafe she’d seen online, and LO AND BEHOLD, she brought me to my local coffee shop.

It’s relatively sparsely decorated. Not renovated to look pristine and white, nor ‘Instagrammable’.

The floor seems to be the original stone floor, with a thin layer of varnish.

The furniture is wooden with a vintage feel.

They play jazz on vinyl which crackles in all the right ways, and there are photos of friends and small pieces of art on the walls.

When I first visited, I noticed two horseshoes above the door. They were both upside-down.

Now I’ve never even gone near a horse, but I know from my mum that if the horseshoe is upside-down, all the luck is falling out..!

Or, at least, that’s what she believed.

So I told bossman, and at some point he must have decided he believed it too, because the horseshoes are the right way around today.

There are three other customers here.

Two people are readings books at either end of the bar. One person is hiding away in the tiny annex at the back of the shop.

The coffee shop is on the ground level on small street, and the windows are almost to the floor. It’s a great people-watching spot.

I actually feel bad for using my laptop here. There’s no rule against it, but it feels a little bit too digital for the space. Better hurry up and get on with this post.

COMING UP IN APRIL:

We’ve got an exciting announcement coming tonight (April 9th) over on our Instagram. Spoiler: Half Local IRL VOL 2.

If you missed VOL 1, check it out here.

We’ll also be continuing our 100 local spots in Seoul expeditions here and on Instagram. 4/100 drops on both platforms tomorrow (April 10th).

Other than that, there’s not too much going on yet! If you’re enjoying the 100 series, or if there’s anything specific you’d like to see, let us know anytime. None of this is planned out and the remaining 97 spots are very very flexible.

INTERRUPTION: The barista just brought me a glass of water. Absolute Korean 정 (warmth, kindness, friendliness???) that you will NOT experience at viral spots in Seongsu or wherever else the algorithm is trying to send you this week. FIVE STARS for this spot. I’m sure it will appear in our 100 series soon enough, so keep an eye out for that🫡

OKAY. That’s all for the April monthly. See you soon as we go back to regular programming for the rest of the month💌

You can also connect with us on Instagram 📸

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quick hits x march

🎧in the headphones: I can’t stop listening to this banging house hit #makekpopgayagain

🌮on the plate: Seoul’s most authentic Greek joint is better than any food I’ve had in actual Greece. (My credentials: I’ve been to Greece at least 10 times, to 8 different islands and 2 cities on the mainland. Also, my mum lived there for 10 years. So I’m an expert by osmosis.)

☕in the cup: had some amaaayzin coffee at this hiking-themed coffee spot down a random alley in Pil-dong

THE GOOD

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DID A THREE-DAY EXHIBITION IN SEOUL??????

I talked a little bit about how it came together in last month’s post, but the real thing was a Total Hoot. We had four amazing artists in a beautiful gallery full of history, tucked away in an alley just beyond the skyscrapers around Sinyongsan station. The gallery door was only 60 seconds from the main road, but you could literally feel the city getting quieter as the alley transported you to another era in Seoul’s history.

I chose this gallery specifically for this history. It was originally a boarding house, over 100 years ago. The nearby Yongsan History Museum used to be a hospital during the Japanese colonial period, and the people staying in this house would likely have been the relatives of the patients.

There were wooden beams more than 100 years old, literally lying on the gallery floor, and the owner had even found an old hammer and an old machine used to steam clothes. The houses on either side of the gallery had long been deserted, and the whole area is a tiny pocket of history clinging on in a losing battle against the redevelopment and construction taking place all around it. Such a special spot that deserves to be enjoyed while it lasts.

We had an opening party on the Friday night with a handful of makgeolli bottles sponsored by Woori Yeahsool, a makgeolli brewery in Jangchung-dong (best makgeolli ever).

Side note: Given that I’ve never asked for a sponsor before, and also that I am extremely British, I was terrified of being greedy. So when they asked how many bottles we needed, I asked for ten. Everyone said that was way too safe, but somehow we still had makgeolli left at the end of the party? Shout out to my impromptu bartenders that night, and shout out to Woori Yeahsool.

Weird thing: all our Korean friends brought gifts throughout the whole weekend. That’s not an exaggeration. Everyone brought flowers, bread, alcohol, or other small gifts. We didn’t expect it, and it illuminated such a warm part of Korean culture. It’s been over a week and our fridge is still full of 호두 과자 (delicious walnut ball things with red bean).

Cards on the table: I’m a bit hungover and tired and struggling to summon my usual keyboard pizzazz. I feel like I’m writing a really boring recount but basically it was A REALLY GOOD EVENT. Everyone we met was super kind and supportive of our message, so that’s a big win. My main goal was community building, and I feel like we just laid down the foundations.

There’s a swanky video of the event here (highly recommended viewing).

THE BAD

I literally wrote a post a few weeks ago called My new favourite restaurant in Seoul is closing down so TELL ME WHY I have to suffer the same heartbreak AGAIN so soon??!! </3 </3 </3

There’s an area in Euljiro where a variety of pubs and pochas (casual restaurant/pub-type situations) used to exist side by side. Then one pocha called Mansun decided to eat all the other pochas by hiking the rents and aggressively running them out of business using all kinds of weird petty methods. I still don’t fully understand how it happened but that’s a loose version of the story.

Now, there are still pochas in this area, but they are all called Mansun, they are all side by side, and they are all owned by one person.

Except for one.

There was one pocha that somehow managed to hold on. Supyogyo Hoff was THE BEST place to go for a beer and a bite in Euljiro. In summer, you could sit outside on the quiet street and pour your own beer, which was cheaper than having them pour it for you but nobody knows why. The highlight was their dubu kimchi—square slabs of tofu accompanied by mountains of fresh kimchi. Always seasonal, always a good mix.

I took so many friends here over the years, especially when there was a big group and it was hard to go to a normal restaurant. I also went there on my very first date with my boyfriend. I remember being tipsy and over-excited and complimenting his Converse like a dickhead.

Last weekend, we were in the area and decided to stop there for a quick beer. We were still 30 metres away when I saw the towering white construction walls.

I’ve never quite felt my jaw drop as sharply as it did in that moment.

You know how “I couldn’t believe my eyes,” is such a cliche thing to say? Well ya best believe it, I could not believe my own damn eyes. The pocha I loved had been torn down, probably to be replaced by some god-awful over-priced soulless apartment block. No commas in that sentence because I’m raging.

Why did I love it so much? I think it was mainly because Supyogyo Hoff was the underdog. They survived the behemoth Mansun franchise that took out so many of the long-loved pochas on that street. They were cool. They were feisty. They were also really really kind.

Turns out, you can feel very emotional about bricks and mortar.

And of all the places that have shut down due to redevelopment over the years, this one has hit me the hardest.

SOMETHING ELSE

In case anyone missed the memo, I’m planning to turn Half Local into a real, physical magazine here in Seoul (says the girl with ZERO design skills) and I’m still looking for pitches!

The full pitch guide is here, but I’ll also add the images I made for our Instagram account below.

We met a lot of photographers at the exhibition but I’d love to get some more writers involved! 👀👀👀👀

OKAY. That’s all for the March monthly. See you soon as we go back to regular programming for the rest of the month💌

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I don’t know how you’re feeling today, but it took me three attempts to spell February this morning. On the other hand, it snowed heavily again last night in Seoul but I didn’t fall over once on my way to and from the gym just now, so there’s something to be said for small wins.

quick hits x february

🎧in the headphones: KIRIN - 그때 가서나

🥃in the glass: Slow Village Makgeolli

📺on the screen: I am 537 years too late but I just started watching The Office (US ver)

BIG FANTASTIC GLITTERY NEWS.

half local is going IRL.

For the first time!

📢📢📢📢THERE WILL BE AN ART EXHIBITION. IN SEOUL. IN REAL LIFE!

Storytime: About 3 weeks ago on a freezing Thursday, I met my accountant at his office. It was our first meeting and I didn’t know what to expect, but he basically explained the entire Korean tax system to me in Korean.

After the tax lecture, I was actually fizzy with adrenaline. Or nerves. I’m not sure but I added about 400ml of caffeine to the mix and then I had a grand idea. What if we did a half local exhibition??????????? What if we did it this month??? And I already had one artist in mind.

I took a beat, realised three weeks was definitely not enough time to plan a whole exhibition, and then set the date in my head for the weekend after Lunar New Year.

Then, so as not to lose the momentum and let this just become another dopamine hit that never sees the light of day, I sent a message to an artist, asking if they’d be willing to join the exhibition. Now I couldn’t go back on the plan, because someone else knew about it.

The only issue was, I don’t know how to plan an exhibition. Do you find the gallery first? But then what if you can’t find any willing artists? But what if you confirm all the artists and then can’t find a gallery???

Somehow, I did it all at the same time. I found the PERFECT gallery, a preserved boarding house with a traditional yet modern feel, right in the centre of the city. I laboured over an email for a whole afternoon and then wished upon a star. Because THIS was the gallery. If it wasn’t here, the exhibition just didn’t make sense.

I didn’t hear anything for a week.

At the same time, I was searching in Facebook groups, asking friends, and scouring Instagram to find a small group of artists who would be willing to participate in an exhibition without a gallery for a magazine that doesn’t exist yet.😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

So I took a risk.

I showed the unconfirmed gallery to the unconfirmed artists, and I showed the unconfirmed artists to the unconfirmed gallery.

(I was very honest with both sides and made sure they knew nothing was confirmed, YET.)

The gallery loved the artists, and seeing the gallery helped the artists understand this was real and I wasn’t just a crazy internet scammer. By some miraculous feat of the heavens, all the pieces fell into place at the same time.

So now we have an exhibition!

For those of you in Seoul, I hope you’ll come down and join us! We’d love to see you. If you can’t make it, there will be plenty of coverage on our Instagram page, and I’m sure I’ll write a roundup here.

In other news, February 4th is 입춘 (ipchun) which marks the beginning of Spring🌸 Hard to believe while there’s snow on the ground, but it’s a nice reminder that warmer days are coming soon.

The Lunar New Year falls on February 17th this year, and we’re entering the year of the Fire Horse🔥🐎 I read this is all about acceleration and a faster pace of life. It’s about doing first, and making it perfect later. A bit like my approach to the exhibition.

OKAY. That’s all for the FebRuary monthly. See you soon as we go back to regular programming for the rest of the month💌

You can also connect with us on Instagram 📸

We rang in the new year at a friend’s place with a bottle of their delicious champagne, our shy bottle of cava, and a fist-sized Christmas pudding we brought back from the UK. The champagne made us feel warm and fuzzy. The cava made us feel like dancing.

The Christmas pudding was alight for all of 2.4 seconds.

quick hits x january

🎧in the headphones: THIS wolf alice throwback

🍳on the plate: ddeokguk for the new year, duh

📖on the bookshelf: Don’t Make Me Laugh by Julia Raeside

January in Seoul is unforgiving. It is sunny but bitterly cold. Minus 10 (celcius) is common. And there’s none of that helpful leftover festive cheer because Christmas doesn’t have the same glow here. (Except in our house because everybody and their dog bought us chocolate for christmas💀). There’s usually a month or so left until Lunar New Year, and it’s too cold to be outside for too long.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO IN JANUARY IN SEOUL????

First of all, definitely lean into Korea’s never-ending inventory of soups. It doesn’t matter what kind because they’re all AMAZING, so just find the nearest bowl of double double toil and trouble and try not to burn the roof of your mouth. I really recommend soondubu jjigae, which is a medium-spicy red soup filled with seafood, soft tofu, and an egg yolk. Hwangtae-guk is another favourite and tastes way better than it sounds (dried pollack soup). If you’re prepared to wait a little, I rave about the hanwoo gomtang at Aeseong Hoegwan.

Alternatively, you can go the extreme Korean route and plug yourself into an endless rotation of iced americanos. They have a phrase here: “얼죽아”, which is a truncated way of saying “Even if I freeze to death, I’m drinking iced americanos.” To my knowledge, so far nobody has actually died from drinking iced coffee here so perhaps it’s worth a try. Every single coffee shop does them and it’s a mandatory part of the office-worker uniform.

If you’d rather get out of the cold, there are some genuinely good museums and galleries here in Seoul. I recently popped into the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, which is fantastic but suffers from an unfortunate lack of signage, meaning that so many people don’t even know it exists even though it’s a massive building RIGHT NEXT TO GWANGHWAMUN, one of the most-visited tourist spots in the country. They have an exhibition right now about Seoul at night, and I actually learned so much. Like who knew there was a curfew in Seoul until 1982???? I didn’t! There’s also a great view of Gwanghwamun from the rooftop and if you’re in the area, you can visit my favourite ramen restaurant in the world. Don’t tell everyone else, though.

Finally, thank you for following the work of Half Local this far. If 2025 was about figuring out what it actually is, then 2026 will be about making it into the thing it’s supposed to be. MEANING, it’s going to be much more consistent and cohesive from here on out, because I’ve been doing lots of thinking.

Half Local is:

• a project about belonging and not belonging in cultures

• something to refer to if you ever travel in Seoul and want to go to cool places off the beaten track

• me cherry-picking photos from Harry’s camera roll because my photos suck and he has photos of LITERALLY EVERYWHERE IN SEOUL

And this year, it’s going to be so much more. I want Half Local to grow into a community and become more than one person’s mouthpiece. I want to share people’s stories of living in-between cultures, and I want to bring people together and enjoy the coolest things about this city together.

On that note, I sent something to the printers this week (exciting!!) and I’m going to start actively spreading the word about Half Local. On THAT note, if you know someone who might enjoy this substack (or our instagram page), then please tell them about it! Word of mouth is extremely cool and very anti-algorithm.

OKAY. That’s all for the January monthly. See you soon as we go back to regular weekly programming for the rest of the month💌

Ella

I am suspicious and unsettled as I write this newsletter to you this morning, because it’s December 1st and I have the kitchen window open here in our little Seoul home and I’m not frozen. In fact, I don’t think we’ve dipped below zero yet here in Seoul. However, the very act of writing this is probably asking for trouble, so you can blame me if it’s -10 tomorrow.

The most common sound through our kitchen window is motorbikes passing through our block, usually delivering textiles. Sometimes, there’s a man selling fish who walks through the streets half-singing his rhythmical fish patter. Today, my writing is accompanied by an oddly rhythmical loud dripping sound. We don’t know where it’s coming from, but the upstairs neighbours can hear it, too. The landlord came to check it out and it literally stopped the entire time he was in our apartment, typical. I’m not sure how it’s going to be resolved, but it’s just another exciting chapter in our lives here at half local.

quick hits x december

🎧in the headphones: Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

🥃in the glass: 15 different kinds of local makgeolli (we went to a tasting event by Woori Yeahsool (우리예술))

📖on the bookshelf: Financial Feminist (ironic since we’re going to London at xmas and the exchange rate has been possessed by satan)

where the f**k do we go in december? [xmas edition]

I LOVE Christmas. Like I literally love it. And it’s quite hard to make Christmas feel like Christmas in Korea. I mean, obviously it’s a completely different culture with different customs. But I’m not religious and the UK doesn’t have that many important cultural holidays (compared to Korea), so Christmas is like my one sacred time of year and I do genuinely get upset if it sucks.

In 2016, I was an exchange student in Seoul on my year abroad and I was determined not to make Christmas suck. I rallied my British friends to go to the Indian curry house near our university (an old xmas eve tradition from back home) and we ended up in a cafe, face-timing our families and feeling beaten down. Determined to save Christmas, I took a 40-minute subway ride to a small bar where my friends worked and found a Brit, a Canadian, and an Austrian I’d met there a few weeks earlier.

In 2023, I took a week-long trip home to the UK for Christmas, but ended up working remotely on Boxing Day because I was right in the middle of a client project and they hadn’t accounted for the fact that the British copywriter they hired wanted to be knee-deep in pork pies and mulled wine for a week in December.

All that’s to say, I care deeply about Christmas so here are all the things you can do this month in Seoul to feel festive if you are also European/a Christmas connoisseur/Charlie Brown.

1. There’s a European Christmas market on December 6th and 7th at Baram Madang & Jandi Madang, Seongbuk-gu Office (서울 성북구 동선동2가). Last year there was a stall selling the biggest cups of mulled wine and I was accidentally absolutely off my rocker by 3pm (you’ve been warned). There are booths representing European countries, selling all sorts of hot food and drinks and goods. It is an absolute must-visit because…well, Europeans just know how to do Christmas.

   

2. There’s also a market on the same Saturday in Seorae Maeul, the French village. I haven’t been but I trust the French. They know Christmas is about good cheese and wine.

3. I hear Plant, the vegan restaurant, is also showing up at the Seorae Maeul market with some vegan Christmas goodies. For the last 3 years, I’ve ordered one of their Christmas cakes for our Christmas parties and they’re always the star of the show. This year they’re doing gingerbread house kits, and you can order them here (not an affiliate link, we’ve ordered one too with our own cash and I can’t wait!!!)

4. At Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall, there’s a huge ice rink. I have not and shall not be on the ice because last time I did that, I fractured my arm, but if you love danger and falling down and being cold, Seoul Plaza is the place to be! Or you can simply watch from the sidelines as you pass by, as we did last year.

5. There’s another great Christmas market at Gwanghwamun Plaza. It’s more “Korean” in that it’s mostly photo zones and brands like Jeju Air doing event booths, but there are handmade crafts on sale if you need to buy presents, and there was mulled wine last year. It’s a bit of a let-down on the food front (in that, there isn’t any), but it’s a good place to feel the festive cheer.

6. If you are British, Irish, or simply love pub culture, head to The Craic House in Itaewon this December. It is the closest thing to a pub back home that I’ve ever seen in Korea. The owners are Irish and they know pubs. They just know. They also know Christmas, and it’s a great spot for a festive pint and some pub grub. They haven’t posted anything about a Christmas menu yet, but they usually have some kind of ticketed event so keep an eye out for that.

7. If you’re on a budget, go to Daiso and get a shit 5000won tree and some fairy lights. I bought mine 6 years ago and every year I say I will buy a better tree but I never do. It’s kind of ugly but it was small enough to fit in my tiny one-room in 2019, and it’s still going strong today. Also, it is an exact replica of the tree Charlie Brown takes to his friends in ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and they all give him shit for it because the tree is so skinny and pathetic.

   

8. Watch ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ for free (it’s on Vimeo or Daily Motion or something, just Google it). Also, ‘I Want A Dog For Christmas Charlie Brown’. Immediately feels like Christmas.

9. You can get massive blocks of cheese fairly affordably at Costco. You need a membership, or someone with a membership (I think memberships from the US count but double check before you go). You can also get boxes of wine. If this one doesn’t make sense, you probably don’t do Christmas like I do Christmas and it’s okay to skip to the next one.

10. I usually don’t recommend the Starfield Library at COEX to anyone coming to Korea because it’s genuinely just a bookstore with too many people milling around, but to give them credit, it does feel quite Christmassy in December with the light installations. I’ve been this year already for a writing job and it’s pretty! Don’t queue up at the Starbucks for coffee, though. Literally walk around the corner and there’s like two always-empty cafes. Or go up to the first floor and find the cafe called Kabedo (a personal favourite).

11. If you want to get merry and sing and dance to Christmas songs, head to Pet Sounds (Noksapyeong Station Line 6) where the drinks are affordable and the party is guaranteed to go on late into the night, even on Christmas Day. People are friendly, the bar manager Joy is an absolute JOY (say Ella sent you) and you can request songs by writing them on a little piece of paper and handing it to the DJ (with a smile, mind you). They’re open every day and there’s no entry fee.

If it’s your first year in Korea during Christmas, just know everything stays open and Christmas Day feels like any other day unless you really try hard to make a special effort. My advice is to go overboard and do more than you would back home.

These are all the things I love to do in December, but if you have any other ideas or any of your own Christmas rituals while living abroad, PLEASE let me know (I’m greedy for festivities).

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That’s all we’ve got for December folks!⭐

I’ll see you next week for a regular post.

Until then, here are some other posts you might like:

half local 05 | seoul’s favourite delivery food

half local 04 | local seoul eats pt.1

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Welcome to the FIRST EVER the monthly: a dispatch from Seoul to set the tone for the month ahead.

November has become on of my favourite seasons in Seoul. Back in 2016, I remember wobbling through Hongdae on Halloween dressed as catwoman in my Forever21 leggings and some awful platform heels from H&M, with no socks, and being FREEEEZING❄️❄️❄️ Now, October feels more like late summer-ish and November is the first real forray into winter. The temperature drops significantly but never below zero, and it’s sunny almost every day. I’ve already mentioned this here on half local but as someone who grew up on the Pennine Moors in the UK, my experience of November was basically Wuthering Heights. So I think November in Seoul is pretty lit.

quick hits x november

🎧in the headphones: GO! x cortis (can’t stop won’t stop)

🍳on the plate: figs, chestnuts, and persimmons oh my!

📖on the bookshelf: My Korean Deli (didn’t love it until halfway through)

🍽️local bites

Samyang 1963 - A return to beef tallow

At the top of this month, the brand behind the buldak noodles (or, fire noodles) released their original 1963 ramyeon recipe, using beef tallow for a rich, beefy taste. The new flavour launch comes 36 years after an anonymous tip was filed against the company, claiming they used a “non-edible” ingredient in their recipe, which nearly ruined the company. I’m 100% planning to hunt down a packet and try it, and just 96% sure I’ll give the review on @halflocalseoul 👀

👖local fits

The entire world has gone NUTS for Kpop Demon Hunters. I saw this one video of a primary school in England singing their hearts out to Golden and I still can’t quite comprehend that Korean content is in the mainstream back home now. Korean high street brand 8 Seconds has launched a Kpop Demon Hunters collection, but I don’t understand who it’s for. The cap is just under 60,000won/£31 and I can’t help but feel this would have been better for a kids brand.

📖local books

At the verrrrry end of Samcheong-dong, there’s this bookstore called Curriculum that’s doing a ‘Brit Edit’ at the moment. That means basically every book they’re selling and displaying is about the UK, which is kind of crazy because it’s hard to find English-language literature anywhere in Seoul usually. They have books on Bowie and The Rolling Stones, on Grace Coddington and Vogue, on Secret London and East London and Cheap London and Punk London and all things UK. It’s the biggest collection of British-themed books I’ve ever seen, and we had so much fun rifling through them all. The exhibition poster says something like “From October til beyond” so who knows when it’ll end??? Better get down there fast before all those books get shipped off back to London.

🏔️local views

QUICK BEFORE IT’S OVER! November is the perfect season for hiking. The city is just about to turn red and gold…and it won’t last long. If you plan your hike for 2 weeks later, you might just miss it. The leaves will have already fallen. I see some of the trigger-happy trees are already peaking with red tops, and the ginkgoes are already golden so get out there, hikers! There are tons of great mountains to climb right in the city.

⭐easy: namsan

Just get yourself to Namsan Library and then head up the winding road surrounded by woods for about 20-30 mins. Don’t do what I did once and assume the random steps that head up from Sowol-ro will take you up onto the proper path. Especially not just before it goes dark because you will end up in a semi-Blair Witch situation where the sun is setting and you’re still in the woods with no clear path. Otherwise, it’s a pleasant walk!

⭐⭐medium: inwangsan

Entrance is near Gyeongbukgung. Very accessible and super worth it for the nice views of the city, but I don’t know why people say it’s like a cute date-night stroll to do. It’s an easy trail to follow but it takes a good hour of climbing to get to the top, and I wouldn’t suggest doing it in the dark. The cool part is you can pop right down into Seochon after and get something tasty.

⭐⭐⭐hard: achasan

Okay I was TRICKED into doing this one. I’m not sure if we took the wrong path but we kept getting to the top and walking down, then going back up another peak and back down, and so on and so forth. I also like the views from this one but either Harry got the route wrong when we did it or you need to prepare for a long-ish hike. (3 hours?)

⭐⭐⭐⭐hardest: bukhansan

An absolute icon of a mountain, right at the top of Seoul. This is a real hike. You gotta go early early and it takes about 4-5 hours in total if you don’t rest too much. Go with a group and make some memories, like we did in early 2023.

That’s all we’ve got for November folks!🎸

Other posts you might like:

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half local 04 | local seoul eats pt.1

🤟ig: @halflocalseoul