What I Do & Don't Miss About South Korea

There are many things I miss about Korea. It became my home for a year and was just as hard to leave as it was to leave America in 2014. At the same time, I don't regret my decision to stay for only a year. I can't believe that already eleven months have passed since I finished teaching there. I think it's due time that I make a list of what I do—and don't—miss about life in the Republic of Korea.

WHAT I MISS

-I think what I miss the most about Korea is the safety. (Yes, despite the presence of North Korea. Most South Koreans really aren't that concerned about it.) I never felt any danger walking at night by myself, or going hiking by myself, or doing anything by myself. Owning a gun is illegal, and people simply leave you alone*. I hardly heard of any crime at all happening when I lived there. As an example, I accidentally left my key in my apartment door one night—which was practically inviting someone to come in—and nothing happened. When I think of how common crime is in the States and how mass shootings have become mainstream, I can't help but yearn for the sense of security I had in Korea. I also never had to worry about being catcalled or receiving any kind of inappropriate gesture or comment from a Korean. If this ever did happen, it was from a person of another ethnicity.

-I miss the restaurant and street food too, of course—though by the end I'll admit I was sick of kimchi. Bibimbap, toppokki, red bean fish, hotteok, dakgalbi...things that I'll have to travel two hours to the Korean section of Atlanta to be able to eat again. No more local kimbap stores that offer dozens of traditional Korean dishes for less than $5.

-Like I said in a previous post, I definitely miss the lack of tipping and the fact that taxes were included in the price. That makes so much SENSE! I propose the U.S. adopt this immediately.

Reeds along a beautiful bike path
through the countryside

-I miss how easy it was to access parks, nature, and good, car-free biking and hiking paths. While I live in a beautiful area of the Georgia suburbs that's surrounded by woods and animals that love to jump in front of your car, my family still has to travel a good distance to get to a proper, questionably-secure path. Parks in my city aren't very safe and I generally try to avoid them. I certainly don't feel comfortable going downtown alone. Do you see why I miss Korea's safety so much?

Palgong Mountain in the fall

-I miss being surrounded by mountains. Despite how built-up Daegu was, you could always see tree-covered mountains in the distance that made it beautiful again. And all the hiking paths on these mountains, of which there were probably hundreds, were always so well-maintained. I have yet to figure out who kept them this way and when on earth they did it.

-I miss being able to walk everywhere, but I guess that applies to most city life. Back here in the suburbs, it takes at least 8 minutes of driving to get anywhere. In Daegu, the closest local mart was a 3-minute walk away. The nearest convenience store, dry cleaner, and restaurant were around the corner. The subway was 10 minutes away, and that could take me anywhere a foreigner might want to go.

-I continually miss the cheapness, cleanliness, and safety of public transportation. A subway or bus ride was $1 each way, in Daegu at least, and was always incredibly prompt. It was nothing like the subways in New York City or Washington, D.C. Even the taxis were relatively cheap. I never missed driving my own car when I was there because the transportation was so good that I didn't have to.

-I seriously miss Daiso, which was and will always be the best dollar store I've ever been to. It's all over Korea (and Japan, where it started) and provided me with so many good-quality kitchen items, school and bathroom supplies, and other random things for ridiculously cheap prices. I've half-seriously joked that I'm going to run off and marry Daiso one day and am still considering it. Before you do any shopping at more expensive stores in Korea, go to Daiso.

-I miss the cheap outdoor markets scattered around the country. There's something special about being in a huge, crowded marketplace and buying all sorts of fresh produce directly from local sellers.

-I miss being able to "play the foreigner card." Whenever I was around Koreans and I made a mistake, or didn't understand something, or didn't fit in, I always told myself that it was okay because I was a foreigner, and people would realize that and be more sympathetic. Unfortunately I can't do that now that I'm back in the States.

-I miss cat cafes. Sadly my almost 19-year-old cat died when I was in Korea (it was heartbreaking, but I half expected it), so now I have to resign myself to hoping the neighbors' cats who wander into our yard will let me pet them.

-I miss the non-sketchy 24-hour convenience stores on every block (big shoutout to CU and GS25), which supplied me with many snacks and water bottles throughout the year. Oh right, and plenty of ice cream.

-I miss the tradition of automatically taking your shoes off when you enter an apartment or sometimes even a restaurant. Back in the States, my family has to make a point out of telling guests to take off their shoes before coming in the house.

I went to only 8 movies
in Korean theaters. Can you
spot the odd poster out?

-I miss the awesome mini movie posters that you could pick up every time you went to the theater. I brought all of mine home and made them into a larger poster that I'm quite proud of. I also really liked how Korean cinemas allowed you to choose your seats when you bought your ticket, which was much easier than searching around in the dark for empty chairs in a crowded theater.

A larger-than-life
Iron Man lantern.
What's not to love?

-I miss the festivals happening all the time, all over the country for various holidays or just because. My favorite was the Jinju Lantern Festival, which I was fortunate enough to go to twice. —>>

-I miss k-pop, too! It can be so catchy, it's great for dancing, and it helps that some of the lyrics are in English. Plus all the giant boy groups are amazing dancers.


-I miss being able to get anywhere within the country in around 5 hours or less. Korea is only 2/3 the size of Georgia, which my students found strangely hilarious.

-I miss all the group trips with WinK and Enjoy Korea that I took throughout the year and which introduced me to parts of the country I might never have visited on my own. I met so many new people through these trips and went on adventures I'll never forget.

-I also miss the indoor climbing walls that were literally everywhere once you started looking for them. I got into climbing in Korea (always just bouldering) and was hoping to keep it up in the States…until I found out there wasn't a single climbing wall in my home city. Great.

-I miss being in a country that has so much culture, so many traditions, and such a rich history. I like that the U.S. is so young and diverse, but sometimes I wish we also had our own unique culture apart from being an amalgamation of other ones. For example, I still have a hard time answering what constitutes "American food."

-I really miss, and enjoyed, living in another culture. There was a sense of adventure where everything was new and exciting and just waiting to be discovered: strange food, quirky traditions, historic temples and colorful festivals, sleeping on the floor with dozens of other people in a hot jimjilbang... Looking back through my pictures makes me really yearn for that feeling of exploration again. What made my time in Korea even better was that I still had access to such a large foreigner community. This was one of the things that attracted me to South Korea in the first place. Perhaps I would have been more immersed in the culture and language if I were in a more isolated place than Daegu, but I will never regret picking it as my home city.

-And finally, I really, really miss all the people I met from all over the world. There's just something special about being able to interact with people from other countries on a regular basis. I loved being able to hear about the similarities and differences between different cultures, and then to compare them to mine. These people—including fellow Americans—were very often well-traveled and open-minded, and somehow carried a different mentality on the world than people who had never traveled before. I hope I'll be able to experience that again soon.

WHAT I DON'T MISS

-Somehow when I was brainstorming this list, the language barrier didn't even occur to me at first. I didn't actually mind not being able to understand the everyday chatter of passers-by or my students when they weren't in class. Plus there was the added benefit of not being able to understand the advertisements that are now blaring at me from all directions in America. The only time language was a problem was when I was trying to ask or communicate something that was more complicated than ordering food or telling a taxi driver where I wanted to go.

-I don't miss having to dodge motorcycles, bicycles, and sometimes even cars when walking on the sidewalk.

-I don't miss the lack of ovens or dryers in Korean apartments, though I got used to it eventually. But now I can make muffins again! :D

-I definitely don't miss how expensive fruit, cheese, and cereal were there. It was crazy.

-I don't miss Koreans' paranoia about the sun; it could get a bit tiring. White, wrinkle-free skin isn't everything, and it's even led to widespread vitamin D deficiency among the Korean population.

-I don't miss having to bring my own soap and toilet paper to public restrooms because many institutions didn't feel the need to provide these necessities themselves.

A gorgeous gray landscape

-I certainly don't miss the rows and rows of tall, gray, totalitarian-looking apartment buildings spread across the country. They really ruined the scenery sometimes.

-I don't miss the complete lack of trash cans! I still can't understand why, in an otherwise developed country, Korea continues to have giant trash piles in very conspicuous areas because they refuse to provide public trash cans.

-I also don't miss the paucity of vegetables in Korean food. For someone who loves veggies, it's nice to go to restaurants that actually have a good selection of green things again.

-I don't miss the lovely habit held by many Koreans of compulsively hacking gobs of spit onto the pavement. It made me cringe every time.

-I don't miss getting occasional looks for being a foreigner. It really wasn't bad at all; people mostly just minded their own business. But every now and then I'd feel self-conscious for being the only foreigner on an all-Korean subway car. I admit it's nice not to stick out anymore.

-*I know I said Korea was really safe above, but I did have a few very uncomfortable encounters with a middle-aged Korean man trying to look into my first-floor bathroom/bedroom window when I was showering or changing late at night. I had to tape a sheet to my window every evening because of that creeper. This man was definitely an anomaly and I believe he was more curious about the "foreign girl" than an actual danger—but still, it wasn't a pleasant experience.

-I don't miss the vanity of the Korean people, even though they were still very friendly overall. Many (though not all) are overly concerned with their appearance, with plastic surgery and being thin, and with always checking their hair (even the guys) in whatever mirror they can find. Young people take selfies right and left, and most are constantly on their phones. Unfortunately, seeing all this vanity around me sometimes made me more vain as well…but at the same time it was acceptable, so I didn't have to feel bad about it.

-I don't miss the often pushy, righteous old people (especially the old women) who believed that because they were older than you, they had the right of way. This applied even when they could easily take one step around you instead of barging into you on their way out of the subway. At the same time, I also don't miss seeing people old enough to be grandparents permanently bent over 90º from years of searching through trash on the streets.

That's matching shirts
AND matching shoes.
Why. Just why. -_-

-I have mixed feelings about Korea's couple culture. I've never seen a society so focused on coupledom, so intent on being in a relationship and showing it off to the world. And couple clothes. I will never get over couple clothes. Korean couples have no shame in acting cutesy, flirting with each other, or holding hands in public. For a single person, it is hell. You are constantly reminded of your singleness in the face of so many seemingly-happy couples. Korean singles, especially over 30, are persistently questioned by friends and family as to whether they have a boyfriend/girlfriend yet and if not, why. But for a person in a relationship, it's the freedom to act as coupley as you want, with no disgusted stares by passers-by aimed your way. So again, it's all a matter of perspective.

One of my students
actually said "The Scream"
looked like Obama. Wtf.

-I don't miss the lack of long vacations for hagwon teachers, or the Korean mentality that everyone needs to be either studying or working constantly. My Korean coworkers worked their butts off every day, whether they had to stay overtime to set up decorations for a Halloween party, call parents all day to promote Summer or Winter Intensives, or attend an Open House on a Saturday. Some of these teachers left after only a few months because they couldn't handle the pressure, but for the amount that they were paid, I can fully understand their decision. On the other hand, I also felt bad for my students when I heard how many hours they were stuck in school or hagwons every day, sometimes even on the weekends. Kids need time to just be kids, and adults need time to relax.

-I don't miss the blatant racism among many of my students, who considered Africa one giant, poor, disease-ridden "country" and immediately labeled black people as "gorillas," "ugly," "dirty," or my favorite, "Obama." I understand that Korea (and Japan) has a very white, homogenous society. Nevertheless, in today's ever-diversifying international economies, this ignorance needs to be addressed. For the Koreans I met who had traveled to other countries, this was much less of a problem.

-Finally, I don't miss my hagwon's Winter and Summer Intensives. AT ALL. Those things were horrible—so horrible that I could write a whole blog post about them but shall refrain to prevent myself from getting worked up again. Then there's writing extensive report cards for 70+ students every three months. And trying to control a classroom of children who clearly didn't want to be there and made sure I knew it. I've learned from this experience that maybe teaching elementary students is not for everyone. But before I dissuade anyone from trying, just know that every school, every teacher, and every student is different. I will freely admit I had some students who truly wanted to learn, and their eagerness made my experience as a teacher much more fulfilling. Plus I know plenty of people, including several of my foreign coworkers, who extended their contracts because they truly enjoyed the teaching experience. (Or more likely, the easy lifestyle.) You'll never know unless you try, and remember that it's never too late.

Alright, fine…. I kind of loved these guys.

Well, I think that's it for my Korean blog. But who knows? Maybe I'll start a new adventure worth blogging about in the future. Until then, thanks for reading. Peace ♥︎

Korea in a (Big) Nutshell

Now that I've been in South Korea for 6 months, I’ve learned and observed some interesting things about Korean culture that I think are worth sharing. 

First, some basic differences between Korea and the U.S. that I should've mentioned a long time ago:

Such a handsome fellow.

-1000₩ (won) is about the equivalent of 1 USD, though technically it's 91¢ now. It makes conversions easy—just chop off 3 zeroes to get to U.S. dollars.

-Korea is 14 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone, which means 5pm here is 3am in New York. When Daylight Savings starts again, it’ll go back to being 13 hours ahead.

-Koreans calculate age differently than Westerners. First, they consider newborns to be 1 year old to account for their time in the womb. Second, they use people's birth years instead of their birth days. Accordingly, everybody turns a year older on New Year's Day. For example, if you were born in June of 1990, your Western age would be 24, but your Korean age would be 26. I can’t say I’m a fan of this system. 

-I was warned from the very beginning not to drink the tap water here because it contains hard metals that will eventually build up in your system. So that's comforting. 

And now, in no particular order:

1) Koreans are NOT short. What a misconception on my part. Ha. Apparently they have the tallest average height of any Asian nationality.

Beachside "camping"

You can find hiking gear stores in
any market.

2) Koreans love to go camping—and by camping I mean setting up one's tent in a park, bringing tons of food along or ordering takeout, and going home at the end of the day. But what they love even more than camping is hiking, or, more specifically, hiking gear. You can see middle-aged or old people decked out in full hiking outfits at any time of the day, whether they just came back from a group hike or they're making a trip to the grocery store. It's as ubiquitous as the American t-shirt and jeans. 

3) Unfortunately there are no laws against too much noise in Korea, which means being woken up in the morning by a truck blaring advertisements for fresh fruit is relatively normal.

4) Every now and then I’ll see a sign whose title is in English…and then everything else is in Korean. Please tell me how a sign whose only English word is “Information” is going to help me.

5) Koreans really like Maroon 5….random.

6) Many buildings and apartments use a type of heating called ondol (온돌) heating. You press a button on your thermostat and it turns on a big machine that heats the water running through pipes under your floor. Then, since heat rises, eventually your whole room becomes warm. It tends to be expensive and can take quite a while before it's really effective, but at least it makes the floor nice and toasty for your bare feet. :)

This looks like a Kit Kat,
you say? Nonsense.

Of course this has nothing
to do with Monopoly.

7) Korea seems to have no copyright laws, at least when it comes to copying Western brands. I've seen small stores use well-known logos from companies like Apple and Burger King to falsely encourage name-brand recognition. The popular Korean cosmetic store Nature Republic uses the exact same typeface as Banana Republic in the States. And while you can see many Koreans with North Face clothes and gear, there are also the equally popular brands North Cape and The Redface. What a conveniently familiar choice of words! 

8) There is a strange fascination with watching toddlers play/eat/throw tantrums on TV—even at the bank. Koreans also love to insert cutesy speech bubbles and cartoony sound effects into reality TV shows. And I find it interesting how, despite the prevalence of smoking here, the cigarettes in shows like "The Simpsons" are blocked out.

9) THERE IS SO MUCH SPITTING. Old men, young men, young women, dainty old ladies. Anywhere you go you can hear someone hacking up a huge wad of spit and letting it splat very loudly onto the sidewalk. Some people will even spit indoors. It's gross and it makes me cringe every time. 

10) Koreans are known for having really nice skin. Many of them use skincare programs that involve 8-10 steps; I don't even try to keep up. Accordingly, you can find brightly lit cosmetic stores everywhere you go. Sometimes you'll even see three or four different stores lined up right next to each other.

11) One thing I've grown to appreciate is that people here aren't too self-conscious to protect their faces against the cold. You can see people of all ages wearing cotton face masks in winter because they don't want to breathe in the cold air. That makes so much sense! I propose we adopt this in the U.S….you start.

12) I had read on multiple sites before I left that bedsheets and full-sized towels would be extremely difficult to find. While not impossible to find sheets, each piece of a sheet set is sold separately and is very expensive, so I've learned to live without them. As for towels, for some reason, Koreans use the equivalent of a hand towel for their bath towels, too. It doesn't make sense. But I was able to find a beach towel pretty easily to do to the job. 

Definitely a legitimate parking spot.

Stylish.

13) I'd also read that the driving in Korea was quite bad, but I've seen much worse in other countries. However, there are no rules when it comes to parking, whether that's on the street, on the sidewalks, in the middle of crosswalks, or in incredibly tight spots that make it hard for even pedestrians to squeeze by. One interesting thing I noticed is that half of the cars I see have little styrofoam pads on their doors to prevent them from accidentally denting other cars. They're pretty nifty. 

Practicality at its best.

14) Biking is really popular here, both as a method of transportation and for exercise. You can also find many bikes with small wheels and high seats that fold in half for easy transport (see picture). As I mentioned before, the bike lanes in cities are usually part of the sidewalks. Unfortunately, that means people on scooters and motorcycles (the main method of food delivery) also see it as their right to ride on the sidewalks, so pedestrians had better jump the heck out of the way.

15) Public transportation is great, cheap, and extremely reliable. Taxis are much cheaper than in the U.S. The subway (in Daegu, at least) is about $1 each way regardless of distance, and both the subways and the subway stations are very clean. Some cities even have heated subway seats in winter. If you want to get to another city quickly, there’s the expensive but very fast KTX train. If you prefer a cheaper option, the inter-city buses here are incredibly prompt. If the bus to Seoul is scheduled to leave at 6:30, it leaves at exactly 6:30. The only thing to beware of is the intra-city buses. As soon as you board, you'd better grab something quick, because that bus driver is jamming on the gas the moment the last person's foot is in the door. Multiple times I've seen people—including the elderly—half-fall onto other passengers because they didn't grab onto a pole or seat in time. The jerkiness of these buses tests both your balance and your strength—in other words, how well you can hang on for dear life. 

These warnings are everywhere,
just in case you forget.

It's watching you.

16) Korea is known for being an extremely safe country. I've often heard that bike theft is the most common crime. For example, this study was done to show just how trustworthy Koreans are. Knowing this has allowed me to take less precautions than I probably should. Then again, I've also left a bag with my jacket, iPod, and phone charger on a city bus, and I got it back from the Lost & Found with nothing missing. While I've been told that the police force doesn't have much power (you sometimes see groups of neon-clad police officers strolling casually around), there's this thing called CCTV that is constantly watching you. There are cameras on every main street and sidewalk, and in every park, playground, store, and classroom. Some of these cameras even have ominous red lights. Big Brother, anyone?

17) I also recently learned that there are absolutely no sort of self-defense laws in Korea. If someone punches you and you punch him back, you're both getting arrested for assault. If someone breaks into your house and you stab him, YOU'RE serving a full sentence in jail. Your best bet? Scream and run away. 

Mmm…….no.

18) The bathrooms here were somewhat of a shock when I first came to Korea. The majority of stalls have normal toilets, but some still have traditional holes in the floor. (No thanks.) Also, in most public restrooms, the toilet paper dispenser is outside the stalls, so you have to stock up before you go in. And in some bathrooms, there's no toilet paper at all. In subway bathrooms, you sometimes have to BUY your toilet paper from a machine first. Other bathrooms don't have soap, or have this weird soap-on-a-stick contraption. And all bathrooms are weirdly insistent on not throwing tissue away in the toilet. I've also really learned to appreciate hot water. Since hot water must be manually turned on from a central source (which costs extra money), most sink water in winter feels about two degrees away from coming out as pure ice.

19) Another annoying thing is that public trashcans are so rare. This is because the government wants people to take their trash home and recycle it/pay for their own trash bags. The unfortunate side effect is that there is trash everywhere, even on nice streets or in beautiful places like temples. It's an eyesore, and it's often old people who can’t afford to retire who go around picking it up.

20) Speaking of the elderly, there’s no sort of retirement system here—if your kids don’t take care of you, you’re screwed. You’ll often see older men (ajishis) and women (ajumas) hunting through trash like hawks and picking out all the cardboard, which they then strap in enormous piles to their bikes or carts and lug to the nearest recycling plant in exchange for a very small sum of money. I suppose it’s an efficient way to encourage recycling, but it’s also kind of sad to see people old enough to be grandparents scavenging to get by.

An ajuma parks this cart in my
apartment building every night.

I don't know how the hunched, wrinkled
little ajuma in my neighborhood
manages to haul so much stuff around.

This is pretty normal.

You can only access this workout area
after a small hike up a mountain.

21) Other than that, old people in Korea seem to have a pretty healthy lifestyle. They're the main demographic by far in any given park and on most mountain trails. You can also seem them using the public “exercise” machines scattered about in parks/ playgrounds/halfway up mountains/in the middle of nowhere. Many of these machines are fun to play around with but have dubious practical use.

The very popular leg-swinger.
Get too excited and you might
just pop a hip out of place.

Randomly placed on the side of
a bike path.

Somehow spinning this wheel is
supposed to stretch you out…?

Makgeolli

It doesn't actually say "soju"
anywhere on the bottle, but
everybody knows what it is.

22) Koreans are known for their love of drinking—and their most popular drink is the notorious (and extremely cheap) soju. There’s also makgeolli, a famous and inexpensive rice wine. In convenience stores, these drinks can be even cheaper than water. On any night of the week you can see businessmen stumbling around drunk as early as 10pm. You could call it "efficient drinking": they know they have to go to work the next day, so they don't mess around with the business of getting drunk. That also means there's a lot of vomit around. Many bars downtown will stay open all night, which means a night out often ends at 6 or 7am.



23) South Korea is also known for having by far the highest rate of plastic surgery in the world. Many Koreans have the unfortunate idea that, in a situation where everyone has similar qualifications, looks are the only way to come out on top. One result is the ever-popular double-eyelid surgery to make one's eyes bigger and more Western-looking, often given to girls as a middle or high school graduation present. But one can also get total facial reconfiguration—including getting one’s jawbone shaven or chiseled down. Some people even get restalyne filler injections: little gel particles injected under their eyes to make their lower eyelids puff up. (Somehow it’s supposed to make them look younger because it’s what kids have naturally.) The ideal Korean face has an oval shape, pointed jaw, narrow nose, and big eyes—and I guarantee that you can see this in 9 out of 10 K-pop stars. Therefore it shouldn’t be surprising just how many ads for plastic surgery and implants you can find in the subways. Getting plastic surgery here is relatively cheap, so that people from other Asian countries often come to Korea for this reason. Unfortunately, aiming for one ideal face can lead to lots of people looking very similar. There was some controversy last year over these beauty pageant contestants. If you look through their pictures quickly, it looks like they’re all one person who simply has many different hairstyles and outfits. But nope, they’re all separate women.

From Cinderella Plastic Surgery in Seoul (in the same building as a movie theater):

That's not beautiful; it's creepy.

How are these the same person?!

24) On a lighter note, I love reading Korean transliterations of English words. Christmas, which has two syllables in English, becomes five syllables in Korean: Kuh-ree-sa-muh-suh (크리스마스). There is also a tendency for English-learners to add “-uh” to the end of words and stretch out short “i” sounds, so “this” becomes “this-uh” and “it” becomes “eat.” Furthermore, Korean students have a particularly hard time with their “r”s and “l”s, since the Korean equivalent is a weird in-between letter (ㄹ)—so “rock” sounds like “lock” and one student spelled “looking" as “rooking.” And there's no “v,” “z” or “f” in Korean. That means “Fighting!”, a popular word of encouragement for Koreans, sounds more like “Pie-ting!” It’s also led to some confusion when my students insisted they went to the Jew last weekend…when really they meant the zoo. Oops.


And there you have it: my foreigner impression of Korea. I’m aware that I would probably have a very different perspective if I understood more of the language, but it’s the best I can do for now. Let me know below what you thought was the most interesting or surprising!