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South Korea??? Need some IN knowledge.
Hey ladies,
Okay my gf is moving around the middle of September to South Korea to teach English for a year. She's lived in Michigan her entire life and has traveled a bit in Europe as well as to Australia, but mostly in groups. She'll be moving alone.
Are any of you ladies there right now, have lived there, or have traveled in South Korea?
She'll be living in housing that is arranged through the language school where she'll be teaching and she got the job through her university in Michigan. They're arranging visas, plane tickets, and whatnot. She's mostly interesting in hearing tips about what to bring, what not to, safety, grocery shopping, travel tips, and basic daily life things.
Thanks in advance if any of you have some advice for her!
Re: South Korea??? Need some IN knowledge.
Where exactly will she be? I lived in Seoul as a child.
I know a few people who have taught in Korea. I could ask them for some specific advice if you'd like? Let me know what city she'll be near.
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Hello! I'm here now, living close to Seoul. I have been here off and on since 2007. I'm also an English teacher so I know how it works here. Most schools here do provide housing and I have been happy with all three of my apartments I've had. They have all been clean, modern and quite suitable for 1 person (since I've been married we have arranged our own and the school gives us money for rent).
I agree with what others have said about avoiding the rural areas...stick to big cities (Seoul, Busan, Daegu etc..) The rural areas are quite isolating and you might not see another English speaker for a long time. Seoul is just like any big city with a mix of people from all over the world. Busan/Daegu etc have places where expats can meet up. I can over on my own in 2007 to Busan. It took about a month to figure out where everyone was hanging out but once I did, meeting people was easy. Everyone is in the same situation. Plus a lot of schools have more than one English teacher there so she might meet people immediately.
For packing, things here are improving all the time. Seoul now has Forever 21, Zara and H&M which carry larger sizes. Grocery stores have really improved their imported goods sections, and there are now quite a few costcos around. One thing I do usually bring quite a bit of is deodorant. It is hard to find and expensive when you do find it. The body shop now has its own deodorant (haven't tried it) but it is about $15.
As for safety, it is very safe here. I feel way safer here than in do in my small town in Canada. Koreans are very honest people and they would never steal...etc. I have never seen a fight that wasn't expats. And there always seems to be so many people around you, even walking home alone late at night, so I never get that creepy, empty street feeling.
There are horror stories out there about teaching in Korea but I have never experienced anything negative. In fact, we were living in the UK for 2 years and left to come back here to our easy, stress-free life.
My only negative thing is the distance from home, and the lack of time to go home (I go once a year max...sometimes less) compared with going home 4 times from the UK.
Sorry that's a bit long...I'd be happy to answer any other questions she might have.
Hello, not a teacher but have been here nine months. If she is in a large city, she should have no problem finding tampons. Finding her preferred type might be a little difficult. For me finding clothes to fit was not a challenge, it was was finding shoes that fit. I have larger feet, I guess.
Get in the culture. Hopefully she will get on well with her co-teacher, these relationships will be invaluable as for introduction to culture and language.
Bring a phrasebook and travel book. Really getting into the culture as well as relationships with other expats from what I have seen have been really helpful for a good experience.
We also have a costco so that has been really helpful to find things from home, like cheese!!
koreabridge.net is a very useful website, if she doesn't already know about it.
Hope that helps.