 How is the quality
of life in Korea?
I found the quality of life in Korea very good. Although
I couldn’t always get
some of the food I wanted (like pizza sans corn) the
living accommodations
were adequate.
As with so many
things, it depends on your employer. I have
lived in nice
places (a 3 bedroom with all the amenities and only me)
and I had lived in
one room hostel, with a small kitchenette. Others I have
know lived in
dumps, with heating and water problems. Most people I
met however had
adequate housing, not elegant, but comfortable.
In large and mid sized towns, there is cable TV and
Internet access just
about to all residences. Access to the Internet will be
available in even the
smallest of cities, but maybe not cable TV. The cable
had numerous English
movie channels, ESPN, CNN, and BBC. That was the basic
package.
Also
theaters are in most town, with many of the latest
Hollywood releases. The
movies were generally in English, but captioned in
Korean.
Bars and night clubs are everywhere, if that is to your
liking. Koreans like
to drink and have a good time. It is not uncommon for
students to invite
their teachers out for a couple of drinks after the last
class of the day, especially
in private language institutes that cater to university
students or
adults. (Obviously you wouldn’t go out drinking with a
fifth grader!)
Clothing and household items were easy to get and priced
comparatively to
things in the United States. Any large city and many
mid-sized cities have
large department stores that have most things you could
need or want,
even name brands from Japan, Germany, America, etc.
Korean brand
electronics and electrical appliances are excellent good
quality buys. Also
their cars are very dependable and much cheaper than any
import (due to
fairly high import taxes).
If the Internet is your thing- then Korea is the place
to be. It is the most
wired country on earth- virtually all new buildings are
hard wired with DSL.
Internet use is very common and accessible anywhere in
the nation, with
Internet Cafes being found throughout the nation.
The
Internet cafes are
called PC Bangs (Bang meaning "room") and there are
about 20,000 of
them throughout the country, many being open 24/7.
Expect to pay about
1,000 Won per hour. It has been estimated that a quarter
of the population
of Korea is connected to and always online at any one
time.
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"Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do than by the
ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the
trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover." -- Mark Twain |
|
Raise your hand if you'd like to spend your "working"
time in a Luxury Resort . . . 
