What advice would you give to a foreigner permanently living in South Korea?

In two weeks, I will be arriving in South Korea to teach English. I am as white as can be and have never traveled outside of the country. I know some of the language and some bits regarding the culture. I will be teaching there for at minimum 1 year.





Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.What advice would you give to a foreigner permanently living in South Korea?
Already knowing some of the culture and knowledge of the culture is a huge PLUS! Anyways, make you bring an English-Korean dictionary with you, or buy it at the airport, Incheon, or Gimp wherever you are flying in. There are some negatives, positives, blah blah. There's really too many to list..but remember the negatives outweigh positives in any new situation.





Positives-





Free housing, the bills will be very low, 50-100 a month for utilities, 10-20 a month for a phone, food ain't much either.





As an English teacher you'll get more respect. Being white you'll get the most. The negatives of race are that most black, hispanic, Asian Americans or native speakers of English have a really tough time getting a good job.





Extremely attractive women. Depending on what your age is, you'll most likely have at least one Korean girlfriend in your tenure here. They are a bit materialistic and picky sometimes about what kind of guy they want, but that just means their smart, and KNOW what they want. The sadness of this situation is the extreme jealousness Korean men have about this. Mostly single men in their 20s, and bored married men in their 40s. If you are the type of person that notices everything, you'll see. Anyways, just ignore your surroundings if you date a Korean female.





Cheap transportation; you can go just about anywhere in this country for a reasonable price by subway, KTX train, taxi, bus, or even airplane to Jeju or Seoul-Busan visa versa.





Excellent history; study the history while you are here. Take into account that North Korea also created parts of the older history when Korea was ONE, so don't be racist against the North like some are here.





Stay out of Itaewon; go there maybe once a month, it seriously transforms some foreigners into alchoholics.





Don't drive here unless you have serious patience. Also watch your back while crossing the streets. Drivers here are horrible and break the traffic laws daily. Police here obviously don't care. They'll just say, ';oh well there's just too many cars here.';





Bring Old Spice, or whatever keeps your pits smelling fresh. They don't sell DEO here.





Save as much money as you can, the exchange rate is rough right now. Just make a bank transfer every couple of months, or when the rate is lower. (I transfer around $500 USD a month, it's about 740,000 KW)





If someone bumps into you and doesn't say sorry or excuse me, don't be suprised.





Get some business privates if your school will allow you too. They usually pay around 50-60,000 an hour.





@ nice one- as usual, stalking my answers, and whenever I say anything remotely negative about a Korean male, say something extremely immature. It's just proof of the jealousness they have for the white people here...YAWNWhat advice would you give to a foreigner permanently living in South Korea?
Well don't get surprised when people say something offensive because they are just being honest and no harm. Be prepare to drink soju and get wasted till 5 in the morning. Koreans love to drink....it is part of making friendship. Oh and when you cross the street,, drivers have the right to go first over pedestrians so don't expect them to wait/stop for you. Hope you have fun!!! Good Luck!!
just be confident...u will eventually get the hang of it...


be nice..but try ur best to understand things around you..


don't give up...keep on trying ..there aint no mountain high...jk


try to get a friend who speaks english on ur side...


have a translating device..


research on their food....clothes...etc...


take a picture of ur family and take it with u so u ill feel better...at times..


jus pray to ur god...!!!
The only advice I can give to you is to study the Korean Language. Without this, you will definitely have a very hard time in Korea during your entire stay.
You will gain massive loneliness and inferiority complex as a foreigner and end up like James.
get used to kimchee