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Published: September 5th 2008
Recently I have received a fair amount of emails relating to what it's like in Korea and would I recommend someone pack as much as they can in a couple of suitcases, say goodbye to the life they know well, go out one last time with friends and indulge in that family dinner that everyone has been meaning to do for sometime. The answer is a very enthusiastic YES! Naturally Korea isn't for everyone, but if you like to travel, are open to new experiences and are willing to curb your own idea of what daily life is like than you may find Korea is a fun place to experience!
Personally I knew as much about Korea as Bush knows about the rest of the world before I arrived (well perhaps a little more than Bush!). Korea was the backdrop of M*A*S*H, was that tiny country jutting out of China's East coast and was the Free-Westernized-non paranoid-sane relative of North Korea. So if you are planning on making the journey I am about to offer some tried and true tested advice!
1. Bring plenty of medication that you are used to at home. For instance you can't find IB profen
everywhere here...I'm sure it's somewhere but I have yet to even hear about it. Also EVERYONE will get sick eventually because of the air quality. (If you think where you live is polluted you'll think you've been breathing in oxygen straight from source after experiencing a Korean summer/yellow dust season.)
Doctors here give you 6 pills to be taken 3 times a day over 3 days and if you still have symptoms you go back and get another dose. I was taking 69 pills a day when my back was acting up...SIXTY NINE! All I wanted was some good old fashioned Robax Platinum! So in short don't skimp on allergy medication (EVEN if you don't have allergies!), IB profen and any other medication that you take at home.
2. While it's not totally impossible to find various herbs and spices I would recommend bringing things you love from home. I purchased a small shaker of rosemary and oregano online and they were about $14 for the 2 of them...much cheaper to get them from home! I'm pretty sure Korean's could live on red pepper paste, soy sauce, garlic and sugar as seasonings!
3. SHOES, if you are a
girl and have feet larger than an infants bring as many shoes as you can! Hell dedicate a whole suitcase to them if you have to! I have had NO problems finding clothes but goodness is it hard to find shoes!
4. Learn some basic Korean. Many Koreans know Hello but the people you need to know English generally don't! Cab drivers most notably!
Hello/How are you? - Annyong Haseyo
Thank-you - Kamsa Hamnida/kamopsmnida
Please - Chuseyo
Yes - Nay
No - Anio
How much? - almeyo
Goodbye - Annyong Kaeyseyo (if you are staying), Annyong Gahseyo (if you are going) Honestly they sound pretty much the same after a while!
5. Toothpaste, deodorant and other hygiene products. Korea isn't nearly as dirty as people had me believing, in fact there are Body Shop like stores situated between cell phone stores or convenience stores...or both! Toothpaste and deodorant however are not nearly the same. I'm pretty sure that the toothpaste has sugar in it and the deodorant doesn't stand up to how most Westerners sweat!
What to expect.
1. Scooters EVERYWHERE! Korean's love their scooters and they are not afraid to run you down if you
happen to be in their way...and no walking on the sidewalk does not guarantee you will be safe! Side walks are quite a bit larger than anything I was used to in Canada and people in Korea park on them. They don't have enough space to have giant parking lots so any unoccupied space becomes game!
2. Men spit all the time and pretty much everywhere. If you saw someone spit on the subway platform in Toronto you'd be disgusted and wonder what was wrong with that person. In Korea it's just happens and it happens all the time so it's totally normal...doesn't mean I've gotten used to it though!
3. Sitting on the floor for dinner is totally normal and not nearly as bad as you think it would be.
4. So you think you're good with chopsticks? Well wait until you try and use flat metal ones! Korea is the only country to use them and they are somewhat hard to get used to especially when you are trying to pick up some slippery sweet potato noodles! According to my boss Koreans are good at hand eye coordination sports because of these chopsticks!
5.
If you are white you WILL be stared at. You will walk down the street and someone in a group of people will notice you and smack one of the people they are talking to and suddenly you will have an audience as you walk to the corner store. A co-worker and I LITERALLY stopped traffic once as a guy stopped in the middle of the crosswalk to stare at us as we waited for the walk sign. I really haven't gotten used to it yet! I'm ready to make a shirt that says "Waegook" which means foreigner...it is CRAZY when you hear a very young child point and say it...how do they know what it means! I guess when you grow up in the most culturally diverse country on earth it's a little hard to wrap your head around what it's like for someone who has grown up with little international exposure! Although with all the big time Hollywood and Western sports stars doing commercials here you'd think they'd be used to seeing white people! Every time someone stares at me I think of that M&M commercial with Santa! "Whoa they do exist"! You'll also have kids run up
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HA look at Victory's face in the background!to you and say hello and when you say it back it's like they've just met Mickey Mouse. Always say hi because these kids have probably been dying to say it to someone who can say it back!
6. From my experience most Koreans are very happy to help you if you ever need it. I haven't really encountered many rude people here...well they do some things that we in Canada would consider rude but here it is completely acceptable so going by their standards I haven't met many rude people! There are a couple of smaller stores near my apartment that I have visited a few times and whenever I walk by the shopkeepers wave, smile and say hello to me which makes this city of 3.5 million feel much smaller and far more like home than I ever expected.
7. Cabs are CHEAP but you risk your life every time you get into one! You may die in a collision or from a severe case of car sickness! MANY cabbies here have stopgoitis, you could be the only one in the lane and its gas break gas break gas break perhaps the most vicious cycle since
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My new Uranus class! well since another vicious cycle...you decide!
8. MAKE sure you have a really good breakfast before you leave because if you are like me you are going to go through breakfast withdrawal! Korea doesn't do breakfast the way people at home perceive it. Rice is like cereal, Kimchi is like yogurt and powdered instant crap coffee is like delicious fresh brewed coffee! Ramyon isn't a surprise for breakfast either! I still haven't quite warmed up to instant spicy noodles first thing in the morning! Luckily you can buy most cereal here but just don't go looking for a restaurant that serves breakfast because you really aren't going to find it. And I don't recommend you go to Mcdonalds or Dunkin Donuts to find what you're looking for!
The food often smells somewhat off putting but somehow a lot of it is very tasty (I can never go back to a life without red pepper paste!). When you go to a restaurant you will order a HUGE meal that costs 4,000 won and comes with unlimited side dishes meaning you empty a dish a new one magically appears...FREE! Never buy corn on the street (as in from vendors with giant
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Baby D rocking the sling! pots of boiling water) it is NOT the stuff you are used to...unless you eat cow corn and love it!
Spam is a food group in Korea, I'm not joking. In Canada there is one small shelf with Spam and 10 shelves of different shaped pastas. In Korea there is one small shelf of Spam and 10 shelves of different flavoured Spam...it's quite entertaining actually!
Bakery's are almost as common as cell phone stores and convenience stores (and seriously you can't POSSIBLY understand the cell phone MADNESS until you see it for yourself!). Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours can be found everywhere and generally have a decent selection of mainly white breads and various Korean pastries. I warn you about the bread though, A LOT of it has sugar...seriously Korean's LOVE sugar! And when you think you are buying a normal loaf be wary of what surprise may be lurking inside! Many loaves are bursting with cream filling or chocolate or red bean paste (not to be confused with the ever popular spicy red pepper paste!). They have gotten better at producing healthier breads over the past year so we are all hoping that trend continues!
And finally if you are craving some Italian food NEVER EVER go into a restaurant that has Italian Korean Fusion because you WILL be disappointed and probably a little tainted! That pretty much goes for any restaurant claiming to have other ethnicity food with the words Korean and Fusion cleverly disguised on the sign!
9. DO NOT believe everything you read on various ESL forums. If you are curious about something investigate because there are a lot of people out there that have come to Korea for the wrong reasons, been fired and post things out of spite. Don't get me wrong there are some bad schools out there but just make sure you do some investigating before you write something off. If I had listened to all the tripe I had read about the franchise my school belongs to I wouldn't be having the time of my life right now. REMEMBER that many of the schools in Korea are part of a franchise and each one is owned by someone different and therefore run differently.
10. Technology is INSANE here, Korean's can somehow make amazing things from the West far better and efficient As far as communication goes Korea is the most wired country on the planet when it comes to internet and cell phones. (Cell phone stores are NEVER hard to find they are located every 5 feet next to another cell phone store and a GS 25 or 7 Eleven).
11. Come with a very open mind. Remember that you are in a different country and things aren't always going to be the same. Korea is a very good example of the East meets West phenomenon.
I'm sure there are about 600 things that I am forgetting but if need be I'll put up another list!
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Meg's mom & dad
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Happy that she's happy!
It was terrifying, to say the least, to have Meg set off for Korea, on her own, to meet up with people whom she'd only had email and phone contact with. It is a joy to read her blogs and to talk with her on the phone (via Skype), and "visit" Korea through her. She wanted to experience the world, and she surely is doing that. You go girl! Miss and love ya!