Category: Arriving in Korea

5 Rules for Hiking in Korea.

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We recently went for a hike up one of our mountains and this is what I’ve learned from the experience.

  1. Do NOT, I repeat Do NOT follow the elderly up the mountain. They are much fitter than you can ever imagine.Don’t think just because they are old that they will take the easiest route, they won’t. They take the longest and most demanding route up the mountain.20160402_121417(0)
  2. Follow the families with the kids. They take the easiest route and come back down.20160402_131202
  3. Do not follow the road less travelled by. It is less travelled for a reason. The reason being that you WILL get lost and end up hiking for 2 hours instead of you intended 1.20160402_122012 - Copy (3)
  4. Don’t follow the easiest route. Do not think that if a path looks easy that it is. A path may look like its going down hill but more often than not it will go back uphill20160402_131115
  5. Don’t be afraid to turn back. When you get lost, don’t be scared to turn back, even if the hill is really steep. If you get lost try to get back up the mountain. Most of Korea’s hiking trails are more like a big hill than a mountain. You’ll get out of there eventually.20160402_122503 - Copy (3)

Now that you know the rules. Let me tell you about our mountain in Seosan. Once you get to the top there is a picnic area where you can sit and relax with your hiking buddies you can also go up the watch tower and have a view of the whole of Seosan. There is also an old Korean style building and statues that you can look at while you hike. 100_3814 - Copy (1)Once you go down the mountain there is a coffee shop and a Pizzeria where you can end you expedition.

What to expect when coming to Korea

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Money Matters

You have signed your contract, the school sent you your plane ticket and your about ready to go, but wait a minute, do you need to bring any money with you. Of course you do. There are many hidden costs the first few months that nobody tells you about. The first costs my husband and I encountered was paying for our own bus ticket from Incheon International Airport to Seosan. It amounted to about $20 each. This was after we were told that airport pick-up has been arranged. We still had to buy our own tickets.

Then when you arrive at your destination you have to buy food to hold you over until you get settled.

When will you get your first pay check?

Then the next thing you have to consider is that some schools only pay on the 10th or 15th of every month, therefore it you start working on the 1st of January for example you will only get your first pay check on the 15th of February. This means you have to have enough money to keep you alive for 6 weeks. I made the mistake of only bringing $800 for me and my husband when in actual fact we needed around $1500-$2000. I think if you don’t go out too much during the first few weeks and take some of your school lunches as leftovers for breakfast the next day you might not need that much money. But that might be pushing it…

In addition, most hagwons will charge you an “insurance fee”(in case you do a midnight run after they have paid for your plane tickets) of around $300 a month for around 3 months. Although this will differ depending on your contract.7-24_won_dollar

Groceries.

The first time you buy groceries might be a bit overwhelming because you don’t know what food is supposed to cost. You will try and convert your money to won and it will take you a while to know what a good deal looks like. 

When we first arrived here our boss took us to do groceries, we were so overwhelmed that we only bought some Kimchi (we didn’t eve know what it was) bonemeal soup, toilet paper and rice. I din’t even buy coffee…

Currently we spend $300 a month on groceries. This does not include luxury food items like smoked ribs or toast bread that we buy every now and again.

Medical expenses.

As soon as you arrive your boss will ask you to go for a medical check-up. Depending on your area this will cost you around $80 per person.

Korean ID costs

Visa costs amount to around $60 each. And if you forgot to bring extra Passport photos you have to pay to have them taken for around $20 each.

If you have any further questions drop me a line in the comment section below.

Korean Karaoke (Noraebang)

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Our first experience with Noraebang was when we just arrived here. It was our second day here and the English teachers from whom we were taking over invited us to meet the other foreigners in Seosan. We started out at a self bar. Self bars are bars where you take your own drinks out of the refrigerator and only pay once you’re ready to go. After that we went to another bar in the same street. Later we found out that the people called this street ‘Bar Street’ because of all the bars in the street. At this bar we could dedicate English songs and play darts. Here we could also drink cocktails and other strong beverages. About 2 hours later we all decide to go to a Noraebang. You know… when you’re drunk your up for anything, even karaoke.

When we walk in it is a medium sized room with cosy couch like seats in a U-shape in the room. There are 2 televisions and 2 microphones. There are even some tambourines if you feel like joining in if you’re not singing. The great thing is you don’t have to sing alone if you don’t want to.. People often join in if they know the song. Furthermore no one judges you. Everyone is there to have fun.

Noraebang has a variety of songs and they provide some snacks and you can buy beers from them.

By the time we walked out the sun was already out.

This kind of experience is not uncommon in Korea.

Arriving in Korea

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Welcome to Seosan City in Chungcheongnam-do, Korea

It is not a very popular city for foreign visitors. In fact, lonely planet doesn’t even mention it.

My husband and I have been living here since the 1st of January 2015. We came here, like many other foreigners, to teach English. We left our home country on the 31st of December, spending our New Years in the air somewhere between Abu Dhabi and Korea. We left sunny South Africa, only to step onto the icy Korean soil.

Honestly we have never experienced this magnitude of “freeze”, ever…

Bearing in mind that we come from a warm country, where our winter temperatures are normally around 14 degrees and summer reaches 35+. After the initial freeze we got on a bus to Seosan-si. Our first experience with Korean buses was, something of a nightmare. In all fairness I have to say that not all the bus drivers are the same. We have had some really pleasant bus trips since then, but back to beginning. I remember thinking. Oh my word, we didn’t die on the flight over here but we are going to die on this bus. The reason being that the driver kept falling asleep behind the wheel. Swerving a little left, then a little right before waking himself with a jerk of the head. The second reason is that he drove through the tolls gates so fast that the speed limit indicators where shaking as we went past. This lasted for two and a half hours. Finally we made it to Seosan…alive. When we got to the bus terminal there where no one waiting for us. We’re in a foreign country where everyone speaks Korean and they do not understand English. Luckily a young girl offered to phone our new boss to pick us up from the terminal. And this is where our adventure began…