Korea: Facts and Myths

Upon deciding to move to Korea to teach English, my husband and I immediately went to great lengths to look up as much information as we could about our new country of residence. We read many blogs and forums to find out what kinds of things would be available in Korea, various customs, Korean manners, language tips, and most of all what to pack. After much reading we thought we had a pretty good idea of what food items or daily living items would not be available to us, namely:

• full-size towels
• mint flavored toothpaste
• cumin
• bakeries 
• cheese
• soft sheets
• black tea
• flour
• large shoe sizes

However, after living here a mere one week, we have been able to find everything on this list. In fact, Korea turned out to be not at all what we had imagined. Some people in Korea do in fact have ovens- heck, there are bakeries on every street! Full size towels and soft sheets (only fitted) are available at the local Home Plus or Emart. There was mint flavored toothpaste in our hotel. Cumin was available in the spices and seasonings aisle at the grocery. Cheese, although very expensive, is also available. Black tea is everywhere- whoever said black tea isn't available in Korea is just flat out wrong. And so far, we have been able to find some shoes in larger sizes- not a ton, but they exist.

As far as what we were expecting to find and haven't, we are coming to realize that Korea is much more expensive than we had originally thought. What no one told us is that the price of butter (and yes I mean butter, not margarine) is outrageous at $8 a box. Cheese is also expensive- around $6 for an 8 oz block. A variety of herbal tea is harder to find and a bit pricey as well.

So, suffice it to say, if you are looking to move to Korea, take our advice and read blogs with a major grain of salt. If the blog is not recent as of one or two years, then they are probably wrong.