Living in South Korea
Discussion
I may have the possibility of working in South Korea next year and instead of doing long stints away from home and short trips home I'm thinking of working out a deal to move the family over with me. My wife has a few reservations due to their volatile neighbour. I have read up a bit on the country and general consensus is the country is very clean friendly and great education.
Looking for some real world experiences please the kids are 2 and 4. what would we be looking to spend for accommodation, schooling, bills etc,
Is the high population an issue with regards to health, pollution etc.
How real is the threat form North Korea?
Looking for some real world experiences please the kids are 2 and 4. what would we be looking to spend for accommodation, schooling, bills etc,
Is the high population an issue with regards to health, pollution etc.
How real is the threat form North Korea?
My daughter had a Korean teacher in the International school she went to, the teacher was awful and the school dismissed her after I complained, and doesn't employ Koreans now, all she taught was memory, I have the same experience in Singapore schools, I am not impressed by Asian schools, in any way, results look good but kids are not taught to think only pass test and memorize, so budget for an international school.
doing some stuff for the winter Olympics so have been there a bit this year, the noisy neighbor to the north doesn't seem to be too much of an issue... he isn't likely to lob a nuke at South Korea as it will affect his country too, and the South has a pretty handy army to defend itself from an invasion anyway.
It is however b
k Cold there right now !!!!!
It is however b
k Cold there right now !!!!!I've just finished up 4 years. If you know where in Korea you will be based, I can be more detailed.
I love Korea. It's modern (more so than the UK in many respects), basically crime-free (how safe? you can leave your phone on the table in the coffee shop when you go for a piss and it'll be there when you get back, you'll never see a gang of chavs anywhere), great public transport, beautiful (70% mountains and awesome beaches and islands to explore), efficient and the girls are drop dead gorgeous. It's around the same size as the UK, so everywhere is reachable in 3 or 4 hours drive and Japan is a short hop by air (or 2 hours by ferry if you are in Busan).
Don't worry about the North. The Koreans don't, it's all bluster and bs and they're used to it. They think the Western media coverage is quite funny. If it all goes pear shaped you're at most an hour from Japan, and decent company has an evacuation plan for it's expat employees. Not going because of the noisy neighbour would be like not going to USA because they have guns, it's a problem but the chances of you being involved is insignificant.
You'll need to put the kids in International school, which can be expensive and the good ones get booked up in advance so get work to pay for it. The teachers will be mainly native English speakers (UK/Canada/Aus etc.). Do not underestimate the value of international schooling on kids - they will be in a foreign country with kids from all over the world being taught to a high standard, it's very, very good for their development.
English is generally spoken to an 'understandable with hand waving' level by anyone under 40. Definitely more English spoken than China or Japan. Korean schools give more hours of English class than any other country, it's just done very badly. You can definitely survive without any meaningful Korean, although you can learn to read it in about 2 hours, which you should.
Downsides?
It's not Japan. It's a little less polite, definitely less organised and less clean. It can get a bit warm in the summer, winters are cold in the north of the country.
The driving standard is not high and parking is a pain in the dick but it's generally fine, I did 40,000km and never got a scratch. If you can drive in the centre of a UK city at rush hour, it's no worse than that.
You'll always be an outsider (like Japan). Korea is for the Koreans, and you'll probably end up in a semi-expat bubble.
It's not particularly cheap. Not as bad as Japan, but my mate imported two Korean-built Samsung TVs from the USA and saved a grand.
Korean cuisine can be a bit hit and miss. I like it, but some don't.
I love Korea. It's modern (more so than the UK in many respects), basically crime-free (how safe? you can leave your phone on the table in the coffee shop when you go for a piss and it'll be there when you get back, you'll never see a gang of chavs anywhere), great public transport, beautiful (70% mountains and awesome beaches and islands to explore), efficient and the girls are drop dead gorgeous. It's around the same size as the UK, so everywhere is reachable in 3 or 4 hours drive and Japan is a short hop by air (or 2 hours by ferry if you are in Busan).
Don't worry about the North. The Koreans don't, it's all bluster and bs and they're used to it. They think the Western media coverage is quite funny. If it all goes pear shaped you're at most an hour from Japan, and decent company has an evacuation plan for it's expat employees. Not going because of the noisy neighbour would be like not going to USA because they have guns, it's a problem but the chances of you being involved is insignificant.
You'll need to put the kids in International school, which can be expensive and the good ones get booked up in advance so get work to pay for it. The teachers will be mainly native English speakers (UK/Canada/Aus etc.). Do not underestimate the value of international schooling on kids - they will be in a foreign country with kids from all over the world being taught to a high standard, it's very, very good for their development.
English is generally spoken to an 'understandable with hand waving' level by anyone under 40. Definitely more English spoken than China or Japan. Korean schools give more hours of English class than any other country, it's just done very badly. You can definitely survive without any meaningful Korean, although you can learn to read it in about 2 hours, which you should.
Downsides?
It's not Japan. It's a little less polite, definitely less organised and less clean. It can get a bit warm in the summer, winters are cold in the north of the country.
The driving standard is not high and parking is a pain in the dick but it's generally fine, I did 40,000km and never got a scratch. If you can drive in the centre of a UK city at rush hour, it's no worse than that.
You'll always be an outsider (like Japan). Korea is for the Koreans, and you'll probably end up in a semi-expat bubble.
It's not particularly cheap. Not as bad as Japan, but my mate imported two Korean-built Samsung TVs from the USA and saved a grand.
Korean cuisine can be a bit hit and miss. I like it, but some don't.
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