Five Things I've learned Since Moving to South Korea
Hello! Long time, no blog post (my bad, guys). I’ve now been living in Daegu, South Korea for around 9 months, and I’m slowly figuring out how things work. Despite COVID-19, I have been having many adventures and learning new things.
Here are five things I’ve learned since moving to South Korea.
1. The Korean education system is intense.
Kids in South Korea work very hard and are always encouraged to be studying. Most of the children go to school from morning to early afternoon. After they finish school, the kids go to after school academies (or hagwons in Korean. This is where I work!). Hagwons are for all different subjects. The kids go to math academies, reading academies, music academies (like piano or violin), taekwondo or hapkido academies and of course English academies. I work at an English academy from 1pm- 9pm. I teach about five to six classes a day for students ranging from Elementary 1 to Middle School 3. Most of my students are tired and feel very overworked. The workload grows more intense for students as they get older. I’ve noticed that my middle school students are lot more stressed than my elementary students, and are usually studying for big exams. We have some high schoolers that stop by the academy when they need extra help, but for the most part we don’t teach high schoolers because their workload is too intense for them to regularly come to hagwons. High schoolers are busy preparing for Suneung (or CSAT), the intense university entrance exam. It’s a day of silence in Korea, so if you’re here when the test happens, make sure to be quiet. The BBC wrote an interesting article on Suneung and the stress of the high schoolers if you want to know more.
2. Hiking is very popular in South Korea
Palgonsan views are stunning
Korea is a country of mountains. A lot of you might have already known this, but I knew almost nothing about Korea’s landscape before arriving last August. Most of the cities I have been to are nestled within the valleys of these mountains. Koreans, especially the older, retired generation, love hiking. It’s one of their favorite hobbies. After being here for a bit, I can see why. It’s easy to get to the mountains and the views are stunning. You can find almost any kind of path, from beginner to advanced. If you’re not a fan of hiking, there’s usually a cable car to take you up the mountain. So you can get the view and visit whatever cafe is open on the mountain top, without having to hike very far. I live very close to Apsan, a mountain with a nice cable car that takes you to a restaurant with an amazing view of Daegu. The view from Apsan was featured in a popular South Korean drama- What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? Daegu’s largest mountain is Palgonsan, in the northeast part of the city. It takes me a while to get there by public transportation, but Palgonsan has a lot to offer. Their cable car takes you to a view point with a flying noodle restaurant (serving a cold, buckwheat noodle dish that is served with the noodles hanging from “floating” chopsticks) and more magnificent views of Daegu. At the base of the mountain, there is cafe street, with dozens of unique cafes to enjoy while you recover from your hike. Special shoutout to the Anne of Green Gables cafe there~ just a quick side note, I think it is so interesting how popular Anne is in East Asia.
South Korean cafes are amazing.
3. Coffee is King.
I’m in love with this Toy Story cafe
Speaking of cafes in South Korea, the biggest thing that I have noticed about South Korea is that Koreans love coffee and they love cafes. Cafe culture is so interesting in South Korea. My coffee intake has significantly increased since I moved here and I have never had to go looking for a cafe. Competition is fierce in South Korea, so cafes usually go all out. Many have speciality drinks or fun decorations. Customer service is huge here, and usually if you find yourself sitting at a cafe for a few hours, the workers will bring you free treats or waters. I’ve been to so many interesting cafes since arriving in Korea. Some cafes are in Hanoks, (traditional Korean houses) or designed to look like Hanoks. I’ve been to variety of animal cafes, such as cat cafes, dog cafes and one cafe that had meerkats, wallabies and raccoons. A cafe that I visit often in downtown Daegu called Cafe Luce, has a dog who works there. The dog’s name is Ddang, and he is an excellent worker. He will usually check to see if you’re happy or if you will play with him. One of my all time favorite cafes is in Gyeongju, called the Three Ducks Cafe. It is a Pixar themed cafe with Toy Story drinks and snacks. You can buy different souvenirs and knickknacks there, and their back room is decorated just like Andy’s bedroom. Perfect for taking photos! It’s very normal when out with friends in South Korea to end up at a cafe, drink coffee together and talk for hours.
The best cafe worker in all of Daegu- Ddang!
4. Thank god for public transportation (and for the KTX).
The Toy Story cafe is in Gyeongju, a city about a 20 minute train ride from Dongdaegu station.
Korea is known for having good public transportation. The buses, trains and subways all run on time and usually follow a strict schedule. South Korea is a tiny country, which means from my home-base in Daegu, I’m able to get just about anywhere in the country within the span of a few hours. The KTX is very fast and from Dongdaegu station, I can get to Busan in 40 minutes and Seoul in 2 hours. One of my favorite things to do on weekends is to take little day trips to cities near me. Gyeongju is very close by train and bus, and has so much to do. I’ve visited Andong and it’s folk village near Daegu, and has a great time exploring that area. Daejeon is also just a quick train ride away. There is a lot to see in the city of Daegu as well. I live close to a subway station, and with that I can get around very easily. Stations here are very clean, and the city transportation system is easy to navigate and fairly cheap. Google maps doesn’t work well in Korea, so if you’re using navigation apps, I would recommend Naver maps or Kakao maps.
5. The food is so good!
Lastly, I’ve got to talk about the food in South Korea. Since moving here, I’ve tried so many new dishes and enjoyed them all. Food is a big part of Korean culture, and I have found many different flavors and spices that I had never tried before. Before moving here, I knew that Korean barbecue was popular and that fried chicken was the top fast food choice. Korean barbecue is amazing. I don’t think that I have ever said no to going out for barbecue. Something that is really interesting to me, a person from the States, is that you usually cook the meat yourself at the table. Fried chicken is also amazing here. There are so many chicken places near me and if you order in, the food is delivered really fast. I’ve been told that a popular thing to do in the summers is to picnic outside, in a park or near water, and order chicken to be delivered right to your picnic blanket. You can usually see this in the K-dramas, when people are picnicking near the Han river in Seoul, but I have yet to do it. COVID-19 pressed pause on a lot of those traditions, but hopefully since things are reopening at a faster pace, I’ll be able to have my own chicken delivery picnic. Daegu has Chimac, a summer chicken and beer festival, that has been canceled the last few years but is coming back this year in July.
But Korea is about more than barbecue and fried chicken. Some of the dishes that I’ve tried since arriving have been gimbap (veggies, meats and rice rolled in dried seaweed), bibimbap (a dish of veggies, rice, meat and sometimes eggs), tteokbokki (a spicy dish with rice cakes), sundubu-jjigae (spicy tofu soup) and jajangmyeon (a noodle dish with black bean sauce). I would highly recommend all of these. I think my favorite dish though has to be Dak-galbi. It’s a spicy, stir fry meal with chicken, veggies and potatoes. You can usually get it with melted cheese. Most restaurants will serve the meals with a variety of side dishes (called banchan), the most popular dish being kimchi.
These are just some things I’ve learned so far- who knows what else I’ll pick up? Let me know if you learned something new about South Korea in the comments!
