If you end up staying in Korea for a while, eventually those people back home who threatened you with, “Oh, we’d love to visit!” unexpectedly actually do so.  What was once a very far off, misty idea ends up being a very real challenge to your daily life.  Suddenly, your family pops up at the airport, expecting you to drop everything and play master tour guide.  

Back home to my Busan pad after an eight-day vacay into the south of South Korea…land of islands, mountains (okay, this whole country is covered in mountains), volcanoes, trees so lush they appear to burst from the countryside, flat-stone, black-rock, and gold-sand beaches, caves and waterfalls, too much rice, and permed ajummas renting floor mats to ...