Tag: advice for living abroad

I believed a hyped lie before I moved to Asia, and that lie was that most men wear beauty products as casually as women do in South Korea. The strange thing is that all I felt was a sense of excitement. Call me crazy, but I don’t think that hiding a few blemishes with concealer or foundation makes a man any less of a….well, a man.

The three things you’ll quickly learn to be true while living in South Korea go as follows: kimchi is a cure all, your elders must be respected without question, and a beautiful face can get you through any tough situation. With these three nuggets of wisdom, I’d say having a beautiful face is the most important.

If there’s one thing I’ve been turned onto in Korea (besides blunt bangs) that I’m positively obsessed with it’s beauty products and beauty chains. They’re absolutely amazing – which is hardly a surprise considering Korean women and men have envious perfect porcelain complexions. For the longest time I’d thought their smooth skin was a matter of genes, and I sulked that I hadn’t won the gene lottery.

I’ve been hesitant to write this article for sometime now. Mainly because I hardly fit the bill of being able to give any type of love advice when my own journey to a relationship was filled with tears, heart ache, and too many pints of ice cream to honestly admit. Despite my lack of expertise on the subject, I’m going to try to tackle it anyway because the number one question I get asked in emails and Facebook messages is “Judith, how does one make an expat relationship work?”

Moving date is looming closer, and I bet nerves, excitement, and other strange emotions are beginning to run rampant throughout your pretty head. Don’t worry, future expat, you’re not the only one who has had doubts and worries right before leaving your comfort zone for a year. The current expats in Korea, myself included, would like to offer you some sound advice on everything and anything expat and South Korea related.

One of the best things about teaching in Korea is the pay. We’re all friends here, so we can go ahead and say that the nice paycheck we get monthly from EPIK is definitely one of the perks and main reasons some expats never leave Korea. I was already at the ripe age of 25 when I first moved to Korea, so I’d already had a string of jobs under my belt and some experience with handling my money. However, all of my money saving ways went out the window the moment I moved to South Korea.

Summertime in Korea has so much to offer to those looking for some seasonal entertainment. One of my favorite things about Korea is the festivals here. They’re usually big, flashy, and always done right. Although there are countless fun and interesting festivals occurring all throughout Korea during this time of year, I’m here to share my favorite 5 with you.

My obsession with blogs about living in Korea hit an all-time high the month before making the move myself. I scoured the Teacher Blogs tabs here on Reach To Teach and daily checked every single one of them for updates. What I found at times was a bit disheartening. Many expats had a blog post dedicated to a subject I was convinced I’d never come face to face with: life in Korea can become dull.