Jennifer Barclay
Books
Welcome
MEETING MR KIM: OR HOW I WENT TO KOREA AND LEARNED TO LOVE KIMCHI
My love affair with South Korea started in the year 2000, and for ten years I've been learning and writing about this beautiful and fascinating country. Many westerners are confused by the situation in Korea - but South Korea is a safe, welcoming place to travel, a mix of high-tech and tradition, with forest-covered mountains and ancient heritage.
In my book, I try to enhance an outsider's view of South Korean culture through describing the misadventures of one bumbling westerner, arriving in Seoul knowing nothing about the place...
Megan, who is now teaching English in Busan, wrote to say 'I just read your book MEETING MR KIM. I thought it was one of the best travel accounts I had ever read, and really gave me a good idea of what it can be like to be a single female western traveler in Asia.' Thanks, Megan!
Korean artist Francesca Cho wrote to me: 'I was so impressed your observation of Korea... Very touching story as I love my home country so much.' I'm really happy that MEETING MR KIM can be enjoyed by Koreans as well.
My pal Brad Smith (author of Big Man Coming Down the Road) sent a copy to a friend who was moving to South Korea. She lent it to an Australian who's been living in South Korea for eight years '...and now every weekend he wants to go on a trip somewhere in the country.' That's the spirit, folks. Glad to be of service.
Thank you to Mr Cope for his letter -- he has visited Korea many times and says 'your book really brought back many fond memories and is a very accurate portrayal of the Korean people'.
Thank you to everyone who's bought Meeting Mr Kim and enjoyed it. Mrs Wendy Godwin first went to Korea in 1976 when her husband was sent there to set up the first merchant bank in Korea. They took their two young children away from Seoul for the weekends and 'met the real Korean people in the villages and in the tiny hostels where we slept on the floors, had rice and kimchi for breakfast and communicated with signs'. She says the book 'has brought back so many memories'. Well, it was inspired by the happy memories the people of Korea tried to ensure I left with. As Wendy Godwin says, 'I have never found any other place like it!'