Kimchi

If you are interested in Korea, many of you may hear about Kimchi. I thought there is one type of Kimchi, but there are lots of kimchi. My Friend said that there are now more than 160 kimchi varieties.

When I tasted Kimchi in Korea, the taste of it was different to what I had in us. The color of Kimch in Korea was redder and looked delicious and spicy. Yes, it was spicy! I drank 1 cup of water after eating one piece of Kimchi. My friend said,” Hey, Susan, you need to eat more as you are Korean!” “ I can train you to eat Kimchi well.” I laughed a lot. I said, “Thanks, but no thanks! “
There is another Kimchi which I like, Bakkimchi. No peppers are in! White one! Delicious! If you are in Korea, try!

4 Distinct Seasons in Korea

Humidity in Korea (Weather)
I had never been in this humidity before I came to Korea, which was not great experience, but I could stand it as it was short!

Korea has 4 distinct seasons and I like spring and autumn, I don’t like winter and summer. Spring begins in late March or early April. Warm breeze makes you feel good. If you like to get tan, it is good to go to rooftop of your home with some beers. (I did and sometime I invited friends and had parties)

Cheerry Blossom Festival

Summer is in August and very hot and humid. Many Korean have vacations in late July and early August. If you go to Haeundae in Busan during this time, you might be surprised! It is so crowded. While you are in Korea in July, I would recommend Boryeong Mud Festival. Lots of foreigners go there and local residences are so kind.

Boryeong Mud Festival in Korea

There is monsoon season in Korea before summer in June. I don’t like this season because there is nothing to do except for staying at home.

Autumn is from Sep to Nov. Many of you are coming on Sep or at the end of Aug as many public schools in Korea start in Sep 1st. And I think the weather is best to settle in Korea. If you have free time over the weekends, going to mountains in Korea is best time because the hills are ablaze with autumnal tints.

Winter is from Dec to Feb. It is cold and snows during that time. If you like to ski, you can enjoy skiing for this season. Even I don’t like to get cold, but skiing is my favorite sport in Korea.

Skiing in Korea

Things to bring in Korea

If you are ready to come to Korea, what is needed to bring? You have no idea if you come across South Korea due to your jobs of teaching in Korea. Korea has distinct seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

Clothing (Bring clothing for 4 seasons):
-Business casual clothes at work (There is a dress code in a class, but some schools want teacher to wear a tie) – Male: button down shirt, dress shirts, dark color pants or a pair of slacks
– Female: blouses, sweaters, pairs of slacks, skirts ( not to short one )
- A winter jacket (down jacket) – winter in Korea is cold. - 2 sweaters or more as you want.
- Underwear – I don’t know men, but women have your favorite underwear fit well.
- Socks – it is not easy to find big size in Korea.
- Shoes for work
- Athletic shoes – over size 9, you may look around many stores to find it.
- Boots – Korea snows in winter and they are good for fashion.
- Towels – Korean use small one sized hand towels or you can buy it in Korea.
- Swimming suit – who knows you go to beach and have fun in Korea in summer vacations.

Food Stuff
- Bring your favorite Gum and Chocolate (I love M7Ms, I brought 1 box of it)
- If you like to cook, it would be good to bring some spices preferred. (I used Costco to get some spices from my country)
- If you want some food in your home, you might go to Costco.

Personal Stuff
- Deodorant – Not many Korea use it, so it is not easy to find the same one in Korea.
- Products of women – I have my preferred brands for stuff of women like tempos and deodorant. So bring any stuff preferred.
- Eyeglasses/contact lenses
- Sunglasses
- Digital camera lap-top
- Novels that you want to read (Here is a bit more expensive because of import tax)
- Backpack – I brought small one for work, it’s also useful for short trips.
- Cosmetics that have not Korea branches.
- Jeans – It’s not easy to find right one for me.
(Here in Korea, everything is smaller than my home)

I brought them when I came to Korea, but I am sure that you may think of more stuffs for living in Korea. You may get some more information through WorknPlay Consulting.

Become an ESL teacher in Korea

Teach English in Korea – Part 1

I taught English to Elementary School students in Korea for 2 years. My school was a Korean public school in Korea. When I found this job, I thought it was bogus, because the recruiter who placed me told me that I could get free housing, medical insurance, round flight tickets, and bonus if I took the job. And also I did not know about South Korea among Asian countries.

Everything she told me was true! I do remember how I felt it. “I am so lucky!” If you like to travel and experience new adventures, teaching overseas is right for you! There are lots of jobs avail in Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea. But if you need to earn money to payoff your loan, Korea is the great place to save money. If you have university degree in any field from US, UK, CA, AU, NZ, SF, Ireland, you can earn money and travel countries in Asia.

First, I would like to recommend you to do online research whether it is right for you or not. If you read some stories in English teacher forum, you would be faced with bad or good stories. As you know it, everyone has different aspects. Event though it is a bit hard for you to live in a totally different country for 1 year without any idea of a country, teaching job is easy and make you earn money. Are you ready?

The jobs in Korea can be divided into 2 sectors, a public school and a private school (private institute). Each school has different benefit. A public school system gives you lesser teaching hours and longer vacations, and also you can really experience Korean school system, but you are the only one foreign teacher in a school. A private school gives you higher salary and foreigner co-teacher, but teaching hour is longer and vacation is short. If you would like to know about the differences, click!