It’s a Hard Knock Life
There’s so much to love and enjoy about Korea.
From the endless unique eats throughout the country to the convenience that’s provided in almost every facet of daily life, Korea has in many ways perfected consumerism. There are decadent malls throughout the city of Seoul with luxuries upon luxuries that almost seems intimidating. All of the world’s cuisines can easily be found and executed with a level of richness that quite honestly made us gain so much weight. haha. I would say that Korea should be high on every traveler’s list of places to visit.
In truth though, I never knew that much about the country of Korea. I’ve visited sporadically throughout my life with the last time being in 2010 and so what I do know of Korea is fairly dated, to say the least.
Although growing up Korean American, my knowledge of Korea and its culture has been at arm’s length. I know the culture and social dynamics but to say I am in tune with Korea and its people today is a far stretch. So, I went on this most recent trip to Korea with a desire to live amongst its people and really get a sense of what life is like in the country rather than experience it from a tourist’s point of view.
The Day to Day
Korea is incredibly convenient and a country that has almost perfected consumerism. From countless malls and storefronts to getting anything delivered to you within a day with Coupang, whatever you may need Korea’s got you covered.
When trying to get around things are just as easy. Buses and subways work like clockwork and are easy to access with a T Money card. There are countless subway and bus stops to get you to your destination. Need to figure out how to get there? There are apps like Kakao Metro and Naver to figure it all out.
When you look to order at a restaurant more often than not you’ll also find menus in English and if there aren’t any you’ll likely be able to find someone who speaks broken English.
Driving in Korea
I would describe driving in Korea as utter chaos. Not the kind of chaos you would find trying to drive in the streets of Vietnam where cars and scooters are crowded and zoom around with no regard for street lines and signals. If you’ve never driven in Korea, like me, trying to understand all the laws and signals is utter madness. There are speed cameras at almost every other stoplight. There are CCTV cameras that may, or may not, ticket you for potential illegal turns. Those same CCTV cameras will also ticket you if you park illegally on the side of the street regardless of if there are signs or not. All these things are done by the camera and tickets are just mailed to the car owner later. To this day I don’t know if, or how many traffic laws I may have broken but ignorance is bliss right?
Raising a family in Korea
What I will discuss may or may not be controversial but it’s merely my perception/opinion of what raising a family is like in Korea.
Raising a family in Korea is ridiculously difficult, costly, and borderline insane. Korea is a small country yet incredibly advanced and wealthy. With such meteoric societal advances comes intense competition. This unfortunately has taken hold of Korean youth and how they’re raised. Parents, looking for an edge, hire English speakers to speak to their 2-year-olds. Children attend after-school programs 6-7 days a week until 10 pm every day. Studying in Korean culture is the pinnacle of everything.
From our experience here’s what we gathered while living there:
1- things are all so easy and convenient. Being such a small country Korea has perfected the consumerism landscape with abundant convenient stores, finely tuned malls, and outstanding eateries.
2 - Although convenient we didn’t find many people with much true joy in the country. Many people enjoy what Korea has to offer but it’s a double edge sword as you must also adhere to the societal expectations of being better than the Joneses. Korea expects you to keep up with the Jones.
Your children must go to the best schools, then go to the best after-school programs, and then go to the best, after-school programs 6-7 days a week because success and wealth are pinnacles.
3- The family dynamic struggles underneath the weight of the behemoth Korean culture. Most marriages’ sole purpose is to raise children and so there has been a culture shift of husbands and wives now choosing themselves over having children. The sheer cost and time required to raise children in Korea are so massive that it literally prevents some people from even trying to have children.
