We hit the two-week mark of being here (as a family) on Sunday. And it has been an adjustment. While I can say that I am developing a love for this country, I can’t say I’m completely used to the many differences here. I don’t know if there is really any way to prepare for a new country and a new culture, and I can say with absolute confidence that I was NOT prepared for how my day-to-day life and tasks were going to change with this move.
That being said, I can tell that I am starting to feel more adjusted, despite my lovely depression rearing it’s ugly head. It has always been relatively mild (partially thanks to my good pal Zoloft), but I’ve accepted that it’s something I will see come back from time-to-time. One of the next things on my ever-growing list of things to do is to get an appointment with my doc so I can get a referral for some counseling (for me and my kids).
And I know it might be weird to talk openly about depression and medications and counseling and what-not. But, it IS 2022, folks, and I personally feel like we don’t talk about this enough. When I was struggling with anxiety in high school and postpartum depression after my third baby, I wished there had been people who talked openly about these things with me.
And here I am getting up on my soap box. Woo. I had to get that out of my system.
So back to Korea. As I said, there are many day-to-day tasks that you don’t think will change when you move to a new country. But truthfully, there is a LOT that has changed for us. For starters, we are living on the bottom floor of a villa (which is basically a 3-story tall apartment building, but each floor is just ONE apartment) when we are used to living in a single house. We don’t have a backyard (which is something we were so spoiled to have in Washington). And we don’t have a garage (which is something I will never take for granted again). But it’s not all bad. In fact, I’m pretty content with where we live. And I feel like I need to be content in order to write a post that focuses completely on all the things that are DIFFERENT about this new life.
So before I start REALLY rambling (you ain’t seen nothing yet!), here is my list of
Differences in South Korea
All of the trash is separated. AND you have to put it in specific garbage bags that you buy at the convenient store. You’ve got your general trash, your food waste, and your recycling. And then you separate your recycling into cardboard, cans, glass, and plastic. And honestly, I’m all for this system… if only people would follow it. Unfortunately most of the time our designated garbage area is piled high with garbage that does NOT follow the guidelines. But, thankfully, the garbage guys come a few times a week, so it’s not always piled sky-high.
The roads are NARROW. Like “every time I make a turn into our parking lot I am 99.9% certain I’m going to hit something with the back of my van” narrow. How I’ve been driving a Kia Grand Carnival for the past week and a half WITHOUT losing my side mirrors is a miracle and a wonder.
Driving laws are more like “suggestions,” unless there is a camera present. Realistically, the driving laws in South Korea aren’t all that different than in the United States. However, the police take a very passive approach here. Instead of patrolling the roads looking to pull over unsuspecting rule breakers, they install cameras at some intersections and along some highways. And that’s great for helping keep everyone safe. Of course, just about every Navigation app warns of upcoming violation cameras. So if there’s no camera present, you can’t count on Korean drivers to follow the rules. In fact, most of the Americans seem to follow in their example. After all, when in Rome…
Our house doesn’t have the HVAC system we’ve grown accustomed to in the States. In fact, we don’t have a traditional heater at all. But don’t worry, when that Korean winter hits, we’ll stay nice and toasty, thanks to our heated floors (which are our only source of heat). Our landlord was explaining it to me today – they keep the heat source low (ie. the heated floors) because the heat will rise and warm the rest of the house. And they keep the cooling source high (ie. the AC units in each room are up by the ceiling) because it helps keep the houses cooler. I can’t say I’m totally sold on this idea and I think I’ll always prefer the typical HVAC, but I hear the heated floors are DELIGHTFUL.
We have MULTIPLE dehumidifiers. This is something that many people in the United States probably experience, but we haven’t until now. Because of the RIDICULOUS amount of humidity here, it doesn’t make sense not to have multiple dehumidifiers running at all times. We have a small one in our bathroom because we have no fan in there (well, we have one, but it’s broken), and one in our main living area. And, I kid you not, the one in the living room gets filled about 3 times over a 2-day period and it holds about a gallon of water. I was skeptical about how much good it was actually doing, but I’m sold.
You turn the gas on when you want to use it and turn it off when you’re done. There’s a really shady looking little knob on a dirty little pipe sticking out of our counter. When I want to use the stove, I just turn the knob to turn on the gas, do what I have to do, and then turn it off. While this is a SLIGHT inconvenience, it is comforting knowing that my very curious three-year-old can’t turn on the stove because the gas is turned off 98% of the time.
More inconvenient than turning the gas on and off is having to turn on the water heater each time we have to use it. And honestly, we could probably just leave this one on. But we hear that we will save money on utilities if we only turn it on when we need hot water. Have there been multiple times when I’ve had to go strutting into the living room in my birthday suit because I forgot to turn the water heater on before getting in the shower? Yes. Am I proud of it? No.
People don’t really run here. Like at all. I see a lot of runners, but they ALWAYS seem to be American (or at least, NOT Korean). I’ve heard in bigger cities like Seoul there are Korean runners. But apparently unless they’re training for the Olympics, most Koreans find other ways of exercising.
Wallpaper wallpaper wallpaper. Everything is covered in wallpaper. I don’t know what it is with the wallpaper, but they LOVE it here. The walls are covered. The doors are covered. The ceiling is covered. Even those fancy-looking beams on our living room ceiling are covered in wallpaper. How the wallpaper sticks (for the most part) in the humidity is a mystery to me. And behind all that wallpaper… cement. Good luck ever hanging anything up. (And this is the exact reason we put ALL of our home decor into storage).
The dollar is way stronger than the Korean Won. Of course every country has their own currency and it’s going to differ from your home country. The exchange rates can be confusing and can change at a moment’s notice. But I was surprised at what a big difference it is here. When I lived in Belgium in high school, one Euro was worth $1.50. It made figuring out how many dollars something was really easy – just times it by 1.5. But in South Korea, one US dollar is worth approximately 1,400 Korean Won. And that takes some getting used to. Of course, it’s kind of fun to be able to say that we pay almost 2 million a month on rent – no need to explain that we are talking Won and not Dollars…
People don’t have more than two kids here. Okay, so I’m painting with a broad brush here. PERSONALLY I have never seen a Korean family with more than two kids. I know they exist, I’ve just never seen one. And in all of our outings, any time we see children, they are always accompanied by BOTH parents (not just the mom) and often times by a grandparent or two as well. You want to know why I think Korean children are so well behaved? That’s why. Because they have at the LEAST a 1:1 adult-to-child ratio. You can imagine why our family draws so much attention here. Not only are we white as all heck AND blonde, but there are also SEVEN of us which is practically unheard of here. Plus, our kids are often running around like the rambunctious hellions angels that they are, which brings even MORE attention to us. Whoopie.
We have to flush our bathroom drains or else they STINK. This was something I learned today. I noticed an acetone-like smell coming from our master suite. I was convinced we had some kind of refrigerant leak or something. We had our landlord (who we really like!) come over and take a look. Immediately he asked me if we regularly flush the drains on our bathroom floors. (We don’t have shower curtains. When we shower, all the water goes over the bathroom floor and through a little drain in the middle of the bathroom.) When I responded with a confused “no,” he laughed and exclaimed “Aww, yes, Korean culture different than American culture!” So as it turns out, if you don’t regularly (like once a week) pour a bucket of hot water down the bathroom drains, they start to stink BAD. Like sting-your-nose-and-give-you-a-migraine-bad. So, we’ll add that little chore to my Saturday morning routine.
And there you have it!
Just some of the differences I’ve noticed in the past two weeks living in South Korea. It’s not an exhaustive list, obviously, and I know that I’ll notice more the longer we live here.
As culture shock continues to come and go, I know some of these things will drive me crazy. Just the other day I was pretty annoyed about the garbage situation. And then I got over it. Embrace the different or else be miserable, I figure. And I am definitely not going to spend the short amount of time we have here being miserable, especially over such petty things.
We’ve got some adventures planned for my birthday this weekend (PARTY TIME) and I cannot WAIT to share them with you all. I’m hoping to try my first Korean BBQ which I hear is to DIE for. I’ll make sure to get really obnoxious and take a million pics. And then I’ll record myself trying everything for the first time while being all sorts of pretentious. (“Oh this filet-mignon is quite delicious, but not quite as divine as the one I had while in Venezia. Oh, you’ve never been? How uncultured!”) Also if you did not read those quotations in a pretentious British accent, then what even are you doing here? Just kidding. Kind of.
’til next time…
Ash
