Oh, you’re absolutely right! I can’t believe I missed the roasted eggs and sikhye!! 🥚✨

In fact, jjimjilbang itself is such a fascinating topic with so much to unpack! I have a feeling I’ll be writing about it before too long.

Thank you, as always 🙏❤️

So sorry I’m only seeing this now 🥲
Thank you so much for reading, listening, and sharing it so kindly 🥹 It really means a lot to me. I’m especially happy you enjoyed the little Korean food-and-culture lesson too 🤩

So true!
For Koreans, Chimaek (치맥, "fried chicken and beer") is the ultimate ritual for letting go and unwinding 😊
Thanks for the comment!!

Beyond the Iced Americano: Does Korea Have Food That Is “Just” for Fun? Searching for the Soul of Agenda-Free Joy (Part 1)

Iconic #KoreanFoods often arrive with a job description:

#SeaweedSoup? Recovery
#GinsengChickenSoup? Fortification
#HangoverSoup? A return ticket to productivity
#IcedAmericano? Survival

So, is any Korean food just for fun?

A reader's question turned into a much bigger essay than I expected

Thank you so much 🙏 This meant a lot to me today. You’re right, it really is a zigzag world. We can’t go straight through it, and maybe we don’t need to. I do feel better now after a walk in the sunlight. Grateful for your kindness ❤️

4. It is a strange, quiet gift that struggle gave me: to stop, and simply breathe.

Thankfully, the sun is out today.

After yesterday’s rain and gloom, I’m especially grateful for this small luxury of being able to pause.

3. I finally finished the edits and hit publish. Now I’m stepping out for a short walk before picking up my daughter.

In the past, I would have pushed through no matter what. But since experiencing panic attacks, I’ve learned to stop the moment my breath gets shallow.

2. But I could not finish it then, because while my daughter was at lacrosse practice, a high school student backed into my parked car.

Between the accident logistics and a growing to-do list, I felt that familiar tightness in my chest.

1. Today’s newsletter went out late.

My throat has been giving me trouble because of the strep I picked up in California, so recording the podcast took forever.

I had to do it in pieces, which meant editing had to wait until last night.

2.
What stayed with me most: pain does not just hurt. It reveals. It reveals what a society notices, what it ignores, and what it leaves people to carry alone.

Companion #podcast takes a different route:
#HIV stigma, Sewol grief, Korean-Chinese caregivers. Same book, different path.

Some Pain Gets a Diagnosis. Some Pain Gets an Apology. Some Pain Gets Nothing. Reading "What Pain Makes Visible," an untranslated Korean book about suffering, care, and what falls through the cracks in Korea

1.
Some #pain gets a diagnosis.
Some pain gets an apology.
Some pain gets nothing.

I wrote about What Pain Makes Visible (아프면 보이는 것들) — an untranslated #KoreanBook that helped me see #PostpartumCare, the humidifier disinfectant disaster, and #infertility in a new way.

So even when South Korea has to walk a very careful diplomatic line, he seems more willing than many leaders to frame things in the language of universal rights and international law rather than pure geopolitical caution. That doesn't remove the complexity, but it makes his moral reflex stand out.

I think part of what makes his stance feel different is that Lee did not come up through the usual elite diplomatic pipeline. He was a labor and human rights lawyer first, and I do think that shapes his instincts.

Lee asks Israel to 'reflect' on global criticism following foreign ministry's 'disappointing' response President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday rebuffed criticism from Israel’s foreign ministry over his recent remarks on anti-human rights, calling the response “disappointing.”

This headline alone felt cathartic.

Clear words. No evasive language.
Just a president openly telling Israel to reflect on global criticism over human rights and international law.

I felt proud reading it.

koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-04...

Thanks. I even got sick during the trip and walked all day, and somehow still gained 5 pounds. I must have been eating very, very well 😂

Thanks so much! We definitely had a little more drama than planned. I got so sick that I ended up at urgent care, and it turned out to be strep 😩 I’m still on antibiotics and recovering, but we survived and made lots of good memories ☺️

A warm collage of Korean food photos from a Southern California family trip, featuring barbecue, skewers, stir-fried dishes, rice, and banchan around busy restaurant tables. Overlaid text reads: “One way we survived a whirlwind California trip with our kid: Korean food, Korean food, and more Korean food. Seattle doesn’t have a lot of great Korean food, so we took the opportunity to fuel up.“

Living near Seattle means #Koreanfood cravings sometimes require long-term planning.

So this #SouthernCalifornia trip with our kid was exhausting, yes, but also a full-scale Korean food transfusion.

We survived beautifully.

Screenshot of a social media comment in Korean from user “gream.chack.” The commenter says that when meeting friends they may drink cappuccinos or lattes, but when working it is always iced Americano, and even at a drive-through they always choose “aah,” short for iced Americano. They describe iced Americano as “the water of life” that helps them keep going.

Another reader comment that explains #Korean #coffeeculture better than any paper could:

“With friends, cappuccinos and lattes. At work, always aah. For me, iced Americano is basically the water of life.”

Coffee not as pleasure, but as operating system ☕

This is why I love reader comments.

I can spend days reading papers and books, and then someone comes along and captures the whole thing in one line of lived experience: “Hot coffee feels like coffee, 아아 feels like a buff.”

#coffee #koreanculture #얼죽아

Such a beautiful, quiet, and deeply moving #animation. 🥹
What stayed with me most is how tenderly it honors #women’sLives, labor, and longing.

Thank you for sharing this 🙏🏻It is beautiful, tender, and deeply moving. It captures something so important about care, memory, and how much women carry through every stage of life ❤️

Hot coffee asks for your feelings. You have to wait, blow on it, and linger.
Iced Americano asks for nothing. Insert straw, drink immediately, and get back to work.
In a high-speed "hurry-hurry" culture in #Korea, the iced Americano is the most efficient route between #caffeine and function.

Thank you so much! The humidifier story is a tough one to uncover, so I appreciate you taking the time to truly digest it. I’m really looking forward to hearing your "two cents" whenever you’re ready ❤️

This is so generous 🥹
Thank you for the incredibly kind shoutout and for being such a wonderful supporter of my work. I will do my best to make sure the next 'treat' is worth the wait ❤️

Even If I Freeze to Death On iced Americanos, Korean work culture, and the stubbornly impractical self

#Korea insists you stay warm & also drinks #icedAmericano in a blizzard.

I searched for why, and found it is actually a window into Korean speed, work #culture, and even #selfhood.

Koreans' obsession with iced Americano, explained. 🧊☕
#KoreanCulture

I’m so sorry. So many people around here are sick too. I hope your baby feels better very soon. (My daughter is 7, but if I call her my baby, she gets very serious and says she’s a big sister 큰언니) now. Also, I hadn’t heard this song in a while. So good.)

Even If I Freeze to Death On iced Americanos, Korean work culture, and the stubbornly impractical self

Thank you so much for this incredibly generous boost 💛
And yes, for anyone wondering why #BTS #SUGA might be a “warm iced Americano,” here’s the piece:

yoonjiwon.substack.com/p/why-korean...

🎧Never Mother Alone

open.spotify.com/episode/1sT5...

🎧Never Mother Alone YouTube video by Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time

youtu.be/vIdp6eWemSY?...

🎧Never Mother Alone Podcast Episode · Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time Podcast · March 19 · 33m

🎧 Available on most major platforms, adding links in the replies. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...