Maru / 마루
You don’t get invited to a 마루.
You just sit down.
마루 is the open wooden floor of a traditional Korean house. It isn’t a room — it’s the space between the rooms, where the doors stay open and everyone sits together: family, neighbours, whoever wandered in.
That’s this. Around a hundred of us so far, talking every day.
Who’s sitting here
Fifty countries, one floor.
Every country below is one someone actually wrote in from. They found the same door from fifty different places, and now it’s one conversation — not a feed to scroll past, but people who know your name and notice when you’ve been quiet.
The Americas
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Ecuador
Jamaica
Mexico
Trinidad and Tobago
United States
Europe
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czechia
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Latvia
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Slovenia
Spain
United Kingdom
Africa & the Middle East
Algeria
Egypt
Ethiopia
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Morocco
Nigeria
South Africa
Syria
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Asia & Oceania
Australia
Bangladesh
Cambodia
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
New Zealand
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Thailand
What’s on the floor
Eight corners of one room.
One conversation doesn’t mean one subject. The floor is divided into 8, so you can sit where you like and leave the rest to the people who care about it.
The language
Korean language
Bring the sentence you got stuck on. Word choice, politeness levels, the things textbooks skip. Members answer first, and I fill in the rest.
Music
Someone drops a song, and the thread turns into what the words mean. Korean without sitting down to study it.
The country
Living in Korea: Study & Work
Visas, universities, part-time work, how a Korean office actually runs. The ones who have already done it answer the ones about to.
Travel
Where to go on a Saturday, or on a first trip here. Neighbourhoods, food, and the places worth skipping.
The ordinary days
Workout
People post when they finish a run or a session, and the floor cheers. It keeps members showing up on the days they would rather not.
Beauty
Skincare members actually use, Korean tea, the small rituals around both. The quietest corner, and the calmest.
Everyone
Main
The busiest corner by a long way. We are spread across time zones, so someone is always awake — people say good morning while others are going to bed.
In-person meetup
Where the Seoul dates go out before they reach this site, and where we work out who is coming.
Nobody is asked to post. Plenty of people read for weeks before they say anything, and that counts as sitting down too.
In person
Once a month, in the same room.
마루 is a floor you sit on, not a place you log into. So once a month we use a real one — the same conversation, in person, for however long it runs.
The next one is Thu 5 November 2026, 19:00 – 21:00, in Seoul.
What we do there →Three places on the floor
Everyone sits. Some sit closer to the fire.
In an old Korean house the floor was heated from one end. 마루 is the floor itself. 온돌 is the heated part of it. 아랫목 is the spot closest to the fire — the warmest place in the room, and the one you were given rather than took.
The floor is free and always will be. The other two are for people who want more of my time.
마루Maru
The floor. Anyone can sit down.
- The room — a hundred of us, three conversations, most days
- The meetup — once a month in Seoul, whenever you’re here
온돌Ondol
The heated floor. Where it starts getting warm.
Coming soon
아랫목Araetmok
The warmest spot. The one that’s given, not taken.
Coming soon
How to join
It runs on Telegram, and the way in is one form.
Fill it in completely and I’ll send you the invite myself. I keep the link off this page on purpose — everyone on the floor got there the same way, which is why it still feels like a room and not a comment section.
Nothing to prove first. Come and read for a while before you say anything, if that’s easier — most people do.
The floor is by form, the same for everyone. The warm seats are a subscription, and those you can start yourself.
Takes a minute. Already studying with me? You’re in it already.
The floor at the top of this page is the 대청마루 of 운조루 in Gurye, photographed by the Cultural Heritage Administration and shared under KOGL Type 1.