A New Chapter

I spent the last 21 months living in South Korea and learning as much about their culture as I could. I fell in love with Korean knotting called maedeup and took classes until I left just a month ago. I was lucky enough to have an American publisher who believed in me and maedeup. The picture above sums up how I spent most of 2008. My first maedeup book!

It will be out September 2009 but you can pre-order it through Amazon by clicking the picture on the right. I never imagined how much work this would be since it is not my first book but my ninth. It was so different from what I usually write that I found it difficult at times to come up with the words to the step by step pictures. I knew what the picture was showing but how do I say that in English?

Also, having spent all my time where the primary language is Korean, my English had taken a beating. I had become used to speaking slowly and using simple words as much as possible in order to be understood. Even English words like hamburger are pronounced totally differently in Korea.

I'm glad to be home but I find myself missing Korea more and more each day. I learned a lot about the culture and the people during my stay. I also learned a few Korean crafts which I will share with you through this blog.