Up until a couple of decades ago, the arrival of the mailman was one of the highlights of the day. Although opening the mailbox almost always revealed an assortment of junk mail and bills, every so often there were letters from friends and relatives. It was especially exciting to find international envelopes adorned with curious and beautiful stamps, promising adventure in faraway lands — albeit experienced vicariously through the pen of a loved one. One such correspondent was Ethel Higgins. She was just 27 years old and a newlywed when she moved to Korea in 1910. She came from Claremont, a small farming town in rural Illinois with a population of about 200. It is through her letters home that we can peek at snippets of her daily life in Songdo (modern Gaeseong in North Korea) in the early 20th century. In her first letter home, Ethel explained that to the Japanese and the “natives,” the peninsula was known as “Chosun” — meaning “Morning Freshness.” Yet, in all of her letters home, she never used “Chosun,” but instead referred to the country as Korea, perhaps becaus