Mo' Sibyl

한류| The One with Mojung Sylvia Kim – On Hallyu - South Korea's Pop Culture Wave: Episode 31 (2020)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Mojung Sylvia Kim – On Hallyu - South Korea’s Pop Culture Wave: Episode 31 (2020)

I am very excited about this episode because it centers on my adopted country, South Korea. For over ten years, I have indulged in this one and only guilty pleasure - Korean dramas, aka K-Dramas. Asides the several reasons I love them, watching K-Dramas have played a great role in elevating my understanding of the Korean culture and language.

To do justice to this subject, I brought my Korean sister and teacher, Mojung Kim. Mojung is a Korean living in America and undergoing her Master's in Early Childhood Education at the University of Central Oklahoma.

In this episode, we trace it right to the beginning, examining Korea's history and the events that lead to the Korean wave, also known as "Hallyu" (a Chinese term). We examined the concepts of Han and Jeong, the writing style of K-Dramas, the unique romantic display, the dark sides of the Korean culture, amongst others.

If you are new to watching K-Dramas, this episode is a must-listen as we provided recommendations of our favorite shows and where to get them. And if you are wondering how Korea got to be so cool, then go ahead and listen as well.

For me, I would love to see the future collaborations between Nigeria's Nollywood and Korean entertainment.

한국 만세,

Mo!

섬의 삶| The One with Selena: The Girl from Mauritius – On Island Living: Episode 17 (2019)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Selena: The Girl from Mauritius – On Island Living

Let’s explore an African country together in this episode. And no, it’s not Nigeria, haha.

Welcome to the Island, peeps! This African island boasts of enviable beaches for destination weddings. It is a religiously diverse nation, with freedom of religion given as a constitutional right and the only African country with a Hindu majority. As Hawaii is seen drifting away from the continental US, so is this country relative to Africa when viewed on a map. It’s also a country close to Madagascar and the only known habitat of the now-extinct bird – dodo.

Mark Twain once quipped that Heaven was copied after this country and Lewis Carroll was inspired by the dodo to write his famous book “Alice in Wonderland” in 1865. Life expectancy here is well higher than the world average and is well above the average for African countries.

Welcome to Mauritius – one of only four countries in the world with no involvement in ongoing international or domestic conflicts and no tensions with neighboring countries. The others being Botswana, Chile, and Uruguay.. As a result, Mauritius does not maintain a standing army.

I invited Selena – who I describe as a spunky, ethnically-ambiguous, culturally-rich, cosmopolitan, Mauritian gal - to talk about her country’s history, its unique aspects, and what her identity and nationality mean to her.

We also talked about her overcoming body image issues, experiences as a US immigrant, and how she responds to questions about her origin.