Why Korea is Awesome

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I wanted to list some pros and cons of living here, in case anyone was thinking about joining me :D

Pros:

1. if you're a teacher, your students here will be adorable and sweet and want to know everything about you

2. awesome Korean friends who treat you to dinner when you're sick

3. two words: cherry blossoms

4. noraebangs! You and your friends can rent a room with karaoke equipment for pretty cheap, and these karaoke rooms are everywhere

5. Kpop! The Wonder Girls, BigBang, Girls Generation... all awesome, and there are many more!

6. low income tax rate, about 3-5%

7. fashion - high fashion. very high! A lot of young women wear heels and cute leggings even in the rain

8. health care costs - low. very low

9. high tech! Korea is super high tech. They have bullet trains so you can easily travel around the country, and HD tvs everywhere.. even on the buzzer thing they give you when you're waiting for a table at a restaurant, and on the signature pad when you sign after paying with your credit card

10. low bank fees! I wired money to my US account for less than $18. Even at a credit union in America, this would have cost twice as much! Also, when I'm withdrawing money from an ATM that isn't my bank's ATM, the fee is usually only 80 cents or so

11. pizza and coffee and hotdogs and waffles! If you're a foreigner, like myself, you may long for Western food every now and then, and it's easy to find a coffee shop with waffles, a pizza place, or even a roadside hotdog stand

12. Are you fluent in Korean? Me, either! The train station announcements are in both English and Korean, making it even easier to travel

13. Everyone wants to help you! If you're lost or sick or even if you're just stuck in the rain without an umbrella, someone will offer to help. Even strangers have tried to give me their umbrellas when I got stuck in drizzle without one.

14. Korea is home to several UNESCO World Heritage sites, and they're just all just a train ride away

Cons:

Did you scroll down just for the cons? LOL

1. I miss my friends and family in America

2. People will often get in your personal space "bubble," without even saying excuse me... but, when there are so many people on such a small piece of land, I guess personal space is not something everyone can expect very often, and not everyone knows about different cultural norms. I think if they knew, they would act differently. Overall, the people here are really friendly

3. Two words: Squatty potties. Some of the toilets are just a hole in the floor. You have to squat to use them :D It's not so bad, though, because you can find a Western-style toilet pretty easily in most places

4. Smoking in restaurants... enough said. It's not everywhere, or even often, but sometimes an older person will start smoking, and no one will tell him or her to stop, because it's a social taboo to tell your elders what to do. On that note, spitting on sidewalks, too. Ew!

5. You're representing your home country. If you're from the U.S. like me, you may be the only American someone here ever meets. They may think everything you do or say is what everyone in America does or says. That's just a little pressure!

6. Electronics prices are a bit high, but you can find deals at markets in large cities

7. Language barriers. I acknowledge this is completely my own fault. I wish I had learned more Korean before coming to Korea.

Well, that's my list. Enjoy the ranting, and the pictures!

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Photos

Jewelry Town
This is the only ring I'll accept. lol This is the entrance to the Jewelry market in Daegu

Korean Money
Save a little money in Korea... if you can stop youself from shopping too much. Korean money is called "won." It's pronounced like the past tense of the verb "to win" (i.e. I WON the game).