These are a few of the things that I love (and look forward to again!) about Korea:
- Schools will often pay for your airfare to get to Korea, meaning that you don't have to have an extra $1,000 put aside just to get there. At the very least they will reimburse you once you arrive, but most are willing to pay up front. If you apply and are told that they won't pay for your ticket up front, try to convince them that they should - what's the worst thing that can happen? For me, it's a condition of hiring - it's just easier, and I feel better about it.
- There are not a lot of bills living in Korea. Your school (in most cases) will pay for your housing, which means that $650-$1,000 you're paying to rent here at home suddenly floats into your pocket (or your savings account!). Granted, the apartments are really quite small compared to what most of us are used to, but it's really easy to make even the smallest spaces comfortable if you put a little bit of love and attention into it.Couple that with the fact that you won't have a lot of 'stuff' and you'll most likely find that you have lots of space, and you quickly get used to living in a dorm-sized place that's all your own.
Regular bills that you will have to pay while you're in Korea include cell phone, utilities, house phone, cable TV, and internet. Utilities (if I remember right) used to run me between W50,000 and W100,000 per month depending on how high I kept my floor heat, and how much hot water etc. that I used. In winter there was definitely an increase - then I learned how to use the timer on my thermostat better!! Utility bills aren't an option: you have an apartment, you pay utilities, though the total is usually reasonable. The rest are really your choice, which you would prefer to use.
Myself, I always chose not to have a house phone because it was easier (and cheaper) to manage one phone - it's what I prefer here in Canada too. Long distance cards can be bought fairly cheaply, and I always use these to call home. Cell phone bills run (roughly) between W50,000 and W80,000 depending on your package, and can often be set up with help from your school (at least according to last time I was there). Internet in your apartment is a personal choice (rather than a necessity) at home, as there are computer rooms (PC bangs) on EVERY corner (and I do mean EVery), but they are often smokey and filled with loud kids (I'd rather use my computer at home and pay the additional expense!). Cable TV is another choice if you plan to watch a lot of television (there are English movies etc on some channels, as well as USFK (US Army) channels if you live near Seoul). Myself, same as in Canada, I find that there are many better things to do with my time (and my brain!), and I go without that particular luxury. When I did have cable in Korea I found myself watching a lot of B-roll (and C-roll) movies that I would never have watched at home, along with mindless crazy Korean infomercials and pop videos... I feel I can safely say that I had enough of each to last me a lifetime!
General living expenses in Korea are really low. Everyday things like going to the movies, grocery shopping, going out for dinner, visiting parks and museums, taking the bus or train long distances, staying in a hotel, are all much cheaper than at home (depending on choices you make). If you can't tell already, anything that puts more money in my savings account makes me happy! Of course there are some things that are more expensive (especially foreign comforts), but in the end I think it definitely tops out in favor of Korea.
- Your monthly salary is much higher than in many other countries. While in Thailand, for example, you make about $800US/month teaching, in Korea you can easily make between $1,500 and $2,300USD/month. This is just with teaching regular hours in a regular private language school or hagwon. Even if you estimate your utilities to be around $125, your cell phone bill to be $80, and your internet to be $50 (all a bit high in my mind), you are still left with anywhere between $1,245US and $2,025US to save or spend how you choose over the course of each month! As well, at the end of your contract your school pays you a 'thank you' bonus of one month's salary - that's whether or not you renew your contract with them or you choose to go home! I would never turn down a free lump of cash!
- It is cheap and easy to travel within the country. Taxis, buses, trains and ferries are all cheaper and more accessible than here at home. Touristy signs are often in English and Korean, lots of signs are complete with pictures (heehee) and most places have someone at the counter who can muddle through with you (I did say most!). Compared to Canada, where I have to pay about $300 just to fly the 1.5 hours to Vancouver (or $270 and 20 hours on the bus), $500 to fly the 5 hours to Toronto (or $370 and 2 days 6 hours on the bus), Korea's KTX express train can take you from one end of the country to the other and home again for about $100, and buses are waaaaay cheaper than that even. Granted, Korea is MUCH much smaller than Canada, and the distances are much shorter, but trains and buses are clean, usually air conditioned, and (in my opinion) so reasonably priced. That shorter distance is an advantage as well because on a regular weekend you can travel to a new town or city to explore for the day without emptying your bank account in the process - there's always something new to see if you look for it! Now you do run into trouble travelling in Korea during some of the Korean holidays, but if you plan ahead (as Koreans already know to do!) you can still do what you want for travel.
The food, ohmygoodness the food! Now before I left to Korea the first time I had only tried Korean food once (literally the same month I was leaving for Korea the first time!). The food in my local Korean restaurants turned out to be very authentic, though at 200% the price! So the food itself in Korea is amazingly good, cheap, and plentiful. For me, it doesn't matter if I grab a snack from a street vendor, lunch at the mall foodcourt, or sitdown at a nice ordinary Korean restaurant - it's ALL good. Even my lunches at school (yes, the schools usually feed you lunch for free too!) were usually surprisingly good! Now since coming home I still go out for Korean food, and a lunch that includes some dolsot bi-bim-bap (very popular hot rice and mixed meat and veggies$12), dwen-jang jigae (bean paste soup/stew with tofu and seafood $11) and a small braised tofu appetizer ($10) and green tea or a coke ($2) runs me about $35 without tips or tax - add another $10-$15 to that if you actually want to go out for Korean BBQ: CrAzInEsS!! Yet, I do it anyway, because wow, the food is so good! In Korea, a lunch of dolsot only costs $4 or $5, dwen-jang-jigae comes with BBQ for free, and all KINDS of different sides and appetizers accompany the meals at dinner, all for the cost of the meat (usually around $10/person to pig-out). So compare the taste and my thusly-inspired bottomless pit with the fact that I can be completed satiated on 10 bucks, and once again I'm a waaaaay happy camper! A gym membership or other fitness activities is something I'll talk about another time, haha, cuz I certainly need that in Korea too!!
- Another cool food thing about Korea is that you can buy fresh right-off-the-truck eggs, seasonal fruits and vegetables all times of the year. At times you hear the grocery truck go your window at 6am with a recording squawking loudly about how his onions or oranges or apples are the best, the cheapest, and worth getting up early for. Sometimes you pass the ladies on the streetcorner when you're just out for a walk, and once a week many apartment complexes have 'markets' in their parking lot where vendors bring seafood, fruits and veggies, plants, dollar-store-type household goods, etc., and just set up in front of the building for the day - I love that too!! While you can go to farmer's markets at home (at least in the summer!) to find many of the same things, they're often much more expensive that the local grocery store - not the case in Korea! I'm *so* a foodie, lol.
Okay, I think I need to take a break (and give your eyes a break) and come back later, I have a feeling I'm going to go on forever!! More Korean goodness to follow...
so, why aren't you here already?????
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