Keeping with the format of the other post, let's do this in list form.
1) Money. When you are earning as much as I am (or any other other foreign English teacher in this country), it is really easy to have fun and to also save money. In other words, life is comfortable, at least financially. Firstly, I get paid pretty big bucks and have great 'perks'. In addition to receiving a steady and decent salary, my apartment rent is paid for my by school, as is half of my medical insurance. That's right. My apartment is free.
Secondly, living expenses are pretty low here. Utility bills are (almost) always under $30. If you're eating out, food is cheap. Eating Korean or Chinese food is rarely over $8 per meal. This includes a large portion of whatever you've ordered (which comes in a jiffy), and unlimited side dishes like kimchi and sweet yellow radishes. Most of the time, it's cheaper to eat out than to buy groceries for a weeks' worth of dinner ingredients. If you go out to a "nice" restaurant -- meaning Western style food-- your meal will never be over $25. Granted, the Western food isn't very good. Well, scratch that. It's not good at all. But still, when you have a craving, it's nice to know that you can still "enjoy" it without having to splurge.
Looking good also doesn't hurt your wallet either. I got my hair done at the "expensive" salon in town and my haircut cost $15. When the ladies at work asked how much my new 'do costs, they were shocked that I had to pay 15 bucks for it. "Ohh, too expensive!" I just laughed and explained to them that in America, most haircuts at nice salons cost around $40. The salon at the American airbase in Songtan that we frequent has pedicures for $25, mani's for $10, and brow waxing for...wait for it.... $6. That is really the only beauty service that I can compare to the U.S. because it's the only one I do. If you've never seen salon prices in the U.S., allow me to explain. Take those numbers, mulitply them by 2 (or 3 for brow waxing). There you have average prices for those services. RIGHT?! Moreover, there are tons of markets around where you can buy cheap clothes, shoes, and accesories.
Medical care is mad cheap too. You're only out 2 or 3 bucks if you need Ibuprofen, or any other medication at the pharmacy. I spoke with someone who had to stay the night at the hospital after a car accident while in Korea. The price for his entire ordeal? 100 USD. Geez, I was in the emergency room for 3 hours a few years ago and had to shell out $700. Now I know we're getting jipped!
That being said, there are some things that are not cheap here. The must frustraing examples are: cocktails, bread, cheese or any other "Western" food product at the grocery store (Friggen' cream cheese costs $6 for a tiny tub), wireless internet, and sandwiches or any other baked good.
2) I cannot list the awesome things about Kore without a mention of the thriving metropolis of Seoul. Just one short bus or subway ride will get me to one of the world's largest, most fascinating, and modern cities. There are so many cool things to do in Seoul. Whether or not you want a little piece of home or an experience that is completly new and cool, you can find it in Seoul. Often, the challenge is finding out what and where those experiences are--you gotta make a bit of an effort to find English sources. There are tons of English news sources and even expat magazines that provide that info, you just gotta know where to look to find them.
I also gotta give a shout-out to my own city, Suwon. Despite living in the shadow of its bigger, cooler, more famous neighbor, Suwon does pretty well for itself. There are lots of cool experiences, especially when it comes to intenational food, to do in Suwon. Even more so than in Seoul, you need to know where to look because there isn't really any good English language sources for Suwon. Your best resource is other expats who have been in Suwon for a while. If you're living in Suwon, you'll likely learn about great places through Suwon vetrans, friends of friends, or a friend's co-worker's ex-colleague's boyfriend's Korean language class classmate's orienation roommate's co-teacher. Or something like that. As for me, I have been able to find some pretty great restaurants thanks to round-about suggestions like those. My friends and I frequent a tucked-away Indian restaurant that a friend of a friend discovered. Delicious, delicious food there. Apparantly there's also a great burger joint around my neighborhood that's been recommended to me by several people. A friend also recommended that Vietnamese shabu shabu I wrote about in a previous entry.
3) An international community. Thanks to the plummeting economies of the West, there is a bustling foreigner community in Korea of people who are to teach, study, or even work (usually at Samsung). In Suwon, the foreigner community is strong but few. As with finding stuff to do, finding people to do stuff with also requires a little bit of digging. I dug a bit and struck gold around December and have been rolling in it ever since. Thanks to many-an-outing to foreigner bars (there are a few in Suwon), chance encounters, friends of friends, and GEPIK orientation (which I blogged about here), etc, I'm meeting people from every corner the world. I have met people from South Africa,Germany, El Salvador, Sweden, Italy, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, England, Russia, Jordan, Canada, China, Columbia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Nigeria, Guatemala, Australia, New Zealand... I could go on forever. I've always loved meeting and befriending people from all over the world, and I was surprised how well I could do that here. Since we're all in the same shoes-- being foreigners in a place that is not always foreigner-friendly-- we stick together and always welcome newcomers.
4) My job. If you factor in how much I paid, my hours, and what is expected of me, this job is a dream come true. I know a lot of recent college graduates who would kill for a job like this. I try to remember that. In truth, I enjoy this job sometimes. I can't say that I love it. It has its moments, though. Some days are great. Most days are O.K. Some days are downright terrible. I don't want to do this job forever-- I know that. In this stage in my life, being able to live comfortably and save money at the same time is really great.
I realize that this is a conflict a lot of people encounter in their lives: stay at a job that you don't enjoy but pays well, or leave it in hopes of finding something better. Which will usually mean not getting paid what you would like to be paid. Readers: have you been in a situation like this? What did you do? What was your decision-making process like?
5) My friends. I don't need to explain much here. I have a number of really great friends here, and am always meeting new people. We have a great time together. It's our dinner dates, cocktail hours, weekend get-togethers, or extravagant weekend plans that get me through particularly frustrating days or weeks. I feel like I have a mini-family here, and they make life pretty great. Like I said, we're all in the same boat. It's comforting.
6) The boif. For those of you who aren't hip and 'with-it', or who are not a 14-year old girl, 'boif' is a cute, juvenile abbreviation for boyfriend. Just trying to lighten the mood before I go all mushy-gushy on you.
The main reason why Korea is pretty great to me is because Valery is here. He is the reason I came here in the first place, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. These 10 months we've spent FINALLY in the same place-- living together, traveling, trying new things, attending social events, becoming part of each other's friend groups-- has proved to me more than ever that he's "the-one" and that we have a real shot of doing this, like, forever. [Cue aaawwww's.] You know all that stuff I raved about how frustrating living in Korea can be? Well I forget all about that when he walks through the door and hugs me like he hasn't seen me in a year. (And remember I actually know what that feels like. It's like that every time, I swear.) If I've had an extra bad day, he's always a patient, supportive, and rational sounding board to my emotional rants. People search their whole lives for what we have, and we got it. And it is life's most wonderful gift. This time, I have a choice- I can stay if I want to. How can I even consider walking away, doing long distance for who knows how long?! So, you see my dilemma.
Oh, and August will be 2.5 years that we've been together. Holy crap.
Lastly, and probably most importantly: Experience. In these 10 months alone, I have felt myself becoming a stronger, more independent, more knowlegable, confident and well-rounded person. The experience of living abroad, teaching students, and navigating cultural barriers is the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm learning so much about myself here. I'm trying new things. I'm discovering new things in this country every day. I'm discovering what is and what is not important to me. I know this job is a stepping-stone to my bigger goals. The question is-- how long do you stay on a stepping stone?
I hope now you can see both sides of life in Korea. As with any foreign country, you have to take the good with the bad. The question is, can the good balance out the bad? I'd like to think so.
Thanks for reading.
