The Food
Many people don't know much about Korean food before they come to Korea. The food here is delicious and surprisingly healthy, and continues to surprise me six months into our stay here. Our favourites so far are; dagkalbi, which is chicken, cabbage, sweet potato and rice cakes in a spicy kalbi sauce, jeon, which is different meat, fish and vegetables fried in batter, Korean BBQ which is different meats cooked yourself on a grill on your table, and tokpokki, which is rice cakes, fish cakes and boiled eggs in a spicy sauce. The street food is also amazing; from tasty chicken skewers to walnut pastries, buying some extremely cheap and delicious food from a street stall is not something that we are accustomed to back home.
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| Street Food |
Coming from stiff-upper-lip Britain, Korean people have not ceased to amaze me with their friendliness. A confused look on my face is all that is needed for a friendly passerby or shopkeeper to come and lend a hand, whether they can speak English or not. Taxi drivers and restaurant owners often strike up a conversation using whatever English words they know; I once spent a half hour taxi journey having a conversation with the driver using only the names of sports personalities. Feeling so welcome in a country so far from home is an incredible feeling, and I will be forever grateful to the people I have met for this.
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| Some Of My Lovely Students |
Natural Beauty
Korea is a very beautiful country, and its four seasons provide a wealth of different stunning views every few months. There is a plethora of mountains, beaches, rice paddies, streams, salt farms... you name it, Korea has it! Not to mention the constantly transforming trees and flowers; one minute a street is lined with cherry blossoms, the next week azaleas have completely taken over. The country is a photographer's playground, and you don't have to spend any money to appreciate it.
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| Cherry Blossoms |
Health and Beauty
The aforementioned mountains are not only pretty to look at, but they provide an excellent way to keep fit which Koreans seem to love: hiking. Korean people tend to be very healthy, as the food is low in fat and many people undertake such outdoor pursuits. An elderly Korean will happily trek up a mountain in the early morning, whether it is snowing and icy underfoot or rainy, hot and humid.
Korean beauty products are also of a very high quality and reasonably priced. Beauty shops are as abundant as kimchi; but for those of us who prefer a nice tan to dewy white skin, watch out for products containing whitener.
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| A Snowy Mountain Trail |
Going from living in a notoriously expensive country (England) to living in Korea has certainly been a nice change! You can barely go out for a nice evening meal for two people plus a glass of wine back home for under £45 (just under 80,000 won), whereas here we can easily do it for 20,000-30,000 won, around £11-£17.
You can easily spend a month's wages on clothes if you have expensive tastes, but if you love a bargain then Korea is the place for you. The underground shopping malls are cheap, fashionable and the quality isn't bad, especially if you, like me, get bored of clothes after a few months anyway! Some people find that the sizes are not conducive to the Western physique, but I think it depends on which item of clothing you want to buy. I know people who are tall and curvy and have managed to find some great items here regardless.
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| Jeon Menu |
Free Stuff
Service is a beautiful word in Korea! When you hear this word, suddenly freebies are flying your way like nobody's business. A free bottle of coke with your takeaway pizza, free samples with your cosmetics and sometimes very random free items with your groceries (buy some dumplings and get a free kitchen roll, buy a pack of 24 toilet rolls and get one extra free one stuck on the side of the pack) are common occurrences here, and this is not something us British are very familiar with.
Similarly to service, 1+1 - or buy one get one free as we call it back home - is getting random free stuff when you buy something. The difference is that you're getting the same thing rather than something different with whatever you're buying. The difference in Korea is that at home there is rarely anything useful or desirable that is BOGOF; usually something thrilling that no one wants, such as some Christmas decorations that have been left gathering dust since the festive season three months before. Here there are actually some useful products that are 1+1, which is when you find yourself madly loading up your trolley with 8 packs of 24 toilet rolls, or 16 cartons of your favourite orange juice.
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| 1+1 Packs Of Dumplings |
Korea has almost as many official national holidays as months in the year, so many people enjoy an extra day off far more often than we do at home. How many other countries take one day each year to celebrate their children (Children's Day), their language (Hangeul Day) and the founding of their nation (National Foundation Day)?
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| Teacher's Day Gift |
Internet and Technology
Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and is famous for its electronics and cars. One of the most convenient things about living here is the Internet, as its speed and connectivity is the best in the world. It is possible to get WiFi in most public places, and many people do not use texts and minutes provided by their cellphone company, preferring to use a free call and text service which operates over the Internet.
