Abundance Aid: Banking in Korea

Sometimes we need a little extra encouragement or help when banking in Korea. Usually your school sets up an account for you when you first get here, but then what do you do when you need to send money home? Well here are some links to bloggers who worked out their banking troubles and shared about it. Enjoy.

1. Beyond the Boerewors Curtain: Maybe you find yourself wanting to open a bank account at a different one. Then this post might be of some help with details and great tips.

2. Lee's Korea Blog: Perhaps you didn't know this but some banks in Korea have a place to turn your coins into cash. Scroll down to the end of this post and you can see some information on how to do this.

3. My Life! Teaching in a Korean University: Maybe just letting your money sit in the bank isn't enough. Investing your money helps make it grow. But how can you do that in Korea? She shares a link on how she is getting this done.

4. Buhay sa Korea: When all else seems lost wouldn't an actual guide put together by Korean professionals be helpful? Well there is one! The "Financial Transactions Guide for Foreigners" is available and can help you get the nitty gritty details you might need. Check the post for the link.

As for myself, I find banking in Korea to be quite easy except for the fact that banks close at 4:30. I usually have to get off work early just to get some in-house banking done. Some bills also require you to pay them when the bank is open, as is with the OCR bill. Anyways, take a number and you'll be ready!

Abundance Aid: Ondol Time

One of the first things you learn when moving to Korea is how to heat your house during the winter. For practically everyone this means using the ondol system built into your floor. Somewhere along your wall is a switch that controls the temperature and timing. But not all houses are alike and the same goes with the ondol system. Having lived in 4 different places already, I can tell you I have had 4 different kinds of ondol switches to deal with. Thankfully they all did the same thing, which is heat up your floor. Today I will take you to people's amusement with the ondol and how it has kept their life cozy during Korea's cold season.

1. Bathhouse Ballads: In this amusing post you get to hear how the Korean heating system can often lead your body to getting dried out. Tips are given on how to keep your home from turning into a dry place. Take a look at the post to find out more.

2. Grrl Traveler: Not a blogger linked on this site but I thought it would be useful for those who want to know how to heat themselves in other ways. Like those hand warmer things.

3. On Becoming a Good Korean (Feminist) Wife: This is a great post because it features her pets enjoying the benefits of the ondol. I bet it is paradise for them.

As great as the ondol is, one of the unfortunate aspects is how much your utility bill shoots up. In that case you have to be sometimes selective about your use of the thing, which could leave you freezing one night and burning up the next.

Abundance Aid: Visiting the Doctor

Whether it happens to you in your first week in Korea or not until your 12th month it is inevitable  that you will get sick living here. This is especially true being a teacher and being around the not-so clean habits of young students. (Not covering their mouth when they sneeze or cough and not washing their hands after a trip to the bathroom.) So it is that you will find yourself at a local doctor's office or hospital visiting someone who you hope speaks English. Today's Abundance Aid post takes you into Kbloggers experience with visiting the doctor in Korea (for various reasons) and the wisdom that they can pass on.

I for one have never had an unpleasant experience at a doctor's office here in Korea, and found both the price and service to be quite satisfactory.

1. Plate Full of Onions: If your nervous about going to the doctor your first time in Korea, well don't be. Here one of the authors had the sniffles and got out just fine. They also highlight one of the interesting things of getting a doctor's visit and that is the pill packs you get. Check out the post to get a better idea.

2. Biz and Steve: Although the two have returned home and finished their journey in Korea their posts are still valuable. When it is cold and flu season in Korea there are some cultural remedies that you can use to thwart getting sick. Here they explore a citrus example to try and stay healthy.

3. Seoul Searching: Here we have a tail of a Kblogger spending some time at a hospital. I actually visited her while she was there and would say that the "normal" accommodations are like being shacked up in a dorm room, but with old-sick people. It seemed pleasant enough with privacy curtains to give a bit of comfort. Take a look at her post to get a more real understanding of what it is like.

4. Karori to Korea: Another set of folks almost on their way out of Korea, but do have a doctor tale to tell. Again we see how it is a simple operation to go to the doctor and get your pills.

5. Kiwi Wonju Blogger: There are times when western medicine isn't so cutting edge, and one would rather try their hand at oriental medicine. Thankfully, Korea is abound with oriental medicine clinics. After having some muscle pain he decided to try his hand at one of these clinics, to find himself having a unique experience including acupuncture and other things. Check it out!

Whether we like it or not someday we will get sick in Korea (knock on wood) and we could try and stick it out, but the best thing is to see a doctor. I hope these posts give you some insight into what it is like in Korea, and also that it isn't such a big deal.

Abundance Thinks: Rules for Expat Life in Korea

As we all know the internet is a place to start fires and get caught up in them. The world of the K-blogosphere is no different and perhaps, at times, thrives on drama. Recently, word got out about a CNNgo article that claimed 12 rules for expat life in Korea. Summing up our survival in terms that were generic and often a bit unsavory.

In my opinion, how one survives in Korea is based upon their own personal experience and you don't necessarily have to survive like the other expats next door. Plus, I feel we all come here for different reasons and therefore end up surviving in different ways. But if you were going to boil it down to just 12 general rules that people can live by, were the ones recommended by CNNgo valid? 

Let's take a look at several key bloggers out here in Korea-land who made their own conclusions and "rules" to this little fire on the net.

1. Kiss My Kimchi: First he put some reasoning into Kyle Burton's rules and then came up with his own. I'll just give you a few of them and then you can go and check out the site for more.

• "Be as gay as you want to be."
• "Shut Up, Smile and Say Thank you"

2. Roboseyo: Often poignant and on the spot, Rob gives us his own 12 and some good pointers on why generalizing this kind of subject is a bad idea. Here for you are just a few of his rules, so check out his post for more.

• "Pick an aspect of the culture, and dig in."
• "Get out of the city, and off the beaten track." (A popular one)

3. DavidSWills:A blogger I have not heard of before but definitely will start checking in on. He wasn't too sure on whether the article had truth to it or not, and his objective was to examine the 12 points made in the original article. He gives some good feedback and it is worth reading.

4. Paul Ajosshi: By far the shortest and the sweetest response to this whole thing...

• "Don't be a wanker.

5. International Cat Lady: I am happy to say I found a woman blogger who commented on this topic. She mostly just remarked on the existing rules but had this to say:

My tip for expats? Use common sense. Don't do anything in Korea (or any other country for that matter) that you wouldn't do in your home country. Being overseas doesn't license you to behave like a jackass.

This makes sense no matter where you are, home or abroad to think about how your social interactions affect the world around you. Definitely, the thought that we are micro-diplomats from our countries and are representing the "foreign world" when we are in public is something to ponder. You can drink all you want here and take in the great facial creams, but do it all with some sort of grace and consciousness...ok?!

;)