What to pack when moving to South Korea

October 12, 2011

So, now you’ve got the job and have told your family and friends.  What on earth do you bring?  How do you fit everything necessary into two suitcases without being over weight?  How do people brush their teeth?  Can I buy razors?  Do they use toilet paper?  Do they have electricity?

Yes, yes, and yessss…this is SOUTH Korea, not the country up north.

On my first venture to Korea, I had no idea what to pack and it seemed to the other foreigners who had already landed that there was a surplus of things available.  However, it doesn’t give one peace of mind to hear “you can get everything you need (one way or another),” when you’re nervous and preparing to move from everything you know.  I never understood, “why aren’t people being more helpful?” Now that I’m on the other side, receiving the emails, I realize I don’t know where to start because no one asks me a specific question (ie. do I need to bring tampons?).  People just ask ‘what do I need?’ and quite frankly, that’s too general.

However, I know that it’s hard to get settled and the last thing you want to deal with your first month is hunting down toiletries and asking people where things are located, and or realizing, that while there are bath towels here, they aren’t like the ones we have at home.

One thing you have to remember when coming is that there are some things that aren’t available merely because its not used here.  Tampons are slowly catching on, but a few years ago, these were apparently obsolete and very difficult to come by.  Here’s a rough list of things you can find here and what you might need to bring:

• (This is a top question for the ladies) Tampons Tampons, they’re available!! You can get them almost everywhere now too.

• Towels Koreans don’t use big towels.  There is no wrapping up in a towel and walking around the house after you shower.  Koreans use these sort of hand towels, or I guess we call them face towels in the states.  You can find larger towels, but they are EXPENSIVE and typically the material isn’t very thick.

• Skin Care & Deodorant & Nail care Leave them behind.  You can get it all here and more than you could ever imagine.  Koreans are very into whitening products, so be aware when purchasing Korean brands that this might be apart of the bottle.   You can wear a different color on every nail, and its totally fashionable.  My nails are black right now and in the states, I’m sure I’d get a million comments about how I’m being a “goth,” but here it’s a normal style!  Keep in mind, my Korean experience is from a big city perspective, so there are many options available.  If you live in Seoul, don’t worry about most things at all, but if you’re in a smaller town, I recommend bringing some of your own.  There’s a fabulous place called Olive Young that I frequent and I can typically find tampons, deodorant, facial care and beyond there.

• Make up They have loads of makeup here, as well the higher end (referred to as “luxury”) brands like Mac/Lancome/Clinique too.  Korea has a million of their own make up lines as well. If you have a much darker skin then cover up might be a bit of a difficult match. I went to Hera last year and the woman told me they had two shades, light and dark.  She looks at me and said, “You’re dark.”  Well, as you can see by my pictures, I’m not dark skinned, but I’m not “pasty white” either.

• Dental control They are obsessed with brushing their teeth.  I know that sounds strange, but after every meal, I’ll see my students and co-workers go directly to the bathroom to brush their teeth.  You can find floss here as well.  I just had a nasty visit with the dentist for the past 6 weeks.  Visiting the dentist in the states is very expensive, especially without insurance, so I hadn’t gone in like 5 years.  Unfortunately, an old filling had started to decay and caused me to need 2 root canals.  Dental care isn’t covered under your health insurance, but I visited possibly one of the most expensive and best hospitals in Busan and it still cost me under $1,000, including two porcelain crowns.

• Hair Care They’re obsessed with their make up, you can imagine that they are also obsessed with their hair.  They have lots of products here, more than you can fathom.  Hair cuts are cheap as well.  The most expensive cut I’ve had was for around $18 (no tipping here either) and I was really happy with the results. Image is everything here so unless you go to a hidden stylist, down a dark alley, you will walk out looking fabulous.

• Clothes I was warned prior to arrival that if you aren’t mini, finding suitable clothing will be a challenge.  A lot of shops won’t let you try things on either because they’re worried about make up getting on the clothes.  So, you kind of just have to blindly buy sometimes.  Plus, its difficult asking for a different size with a language barrier. I lucked out because I fit everything here and everything seems to be a size small. However, pants are tough for me because I have long legs.  Koreans have long torsos and short legs.  Anyway, I’d recommend, small or large, that you pack enough pants to tie you over for awhile.  Of course, there are fancy department stores in the bigger areas of the city, but they’re typically expensive.  You will experience all 4 seasons here, so prepare for a hot, humid summer, and a dry cold winter. As far as fashion goes, anything goes…you can wear what you wore 5 or 10 years ago and it will still be in style.  Wear your floral prints and shoulder pads shamelessly!!  For the record, no, I haven’t gone that far yet.

• Shoes If you love heels, this will be heaven!!  The shoes here are awesome!  But, again with the clothes thing, if your shoe size is larger than an American size 8, you’ll be out of luck.  The shoe sizing here is different than in the west as things are in mm here, a little confusing at first.

• Healthcare Healthcare is cheap.  So, at the slightest whim of any sickness, my Korean friends will go to the hospital.  Of course, I think they have a low tolerance (and are weak), but I suppose if visiting the doctor in the states were just as cheap, we’d be hopping over there on a seconds notice as well.  I’ve had students who’ve been in car accidents and I find they end up staying in the hospital for 3 days.  I’m of course, always concerned and equally surprised to find that it was for a mere “fender bender.”  You can also get medicine here easily as well.  There are pharmacies on every street corner and lots of traditional Korean doctors still practicing acupuncture as well.  It’s all very cheap. I think the one thing you can’t find here though is Ibuprofen.  I don’t take pharmaceutical drugs anymore, but I’d recommend bringing some stuff at first while you’re still figuring out where exactly things are.

• Bras & Undies they only sell granny panties here.  I haven’t actually even walked into a bra store either, I’ve brought my own.  I imagine, as with the clothing size, the bra sizes will only be suitable for small busted ladies as well.  Again, I’m lucky in this area because I’m not well-endowed and its nice to be in a country where people aren’t so obsessed with chest size (although, they are obsessed with white skin, no wrinkles, and large eyes).

• Adapters Everything here works on 2 ping, 240V, which is great for Europe, but if your from the US/Canada you’ll need an adapter/converter.  Of course, you can easily get adapters here though from the bigger marts (otherwise known as supermarkets).

• Stationary and Cute Things What is it with East Asia and their obsession with being young and acting juvenile?  “Cute” is in!  If you want to find a birthday card here, expect it to say something like “Congratulation, I love you forever.” You can also get a surplus of adorable stickers.  ArtBox is like the Hello Kitty store of Korea. 
• Sweets and Snacks I miss American candy. I miss a nice fudge brownie. I miss soft, moist chocolate chip cookies.  I miss real Baskin Robbins ice cream cakes, because the Baskin Robbins cakes in Korea don’t have any actual cake, it’s only ice cream.  One thing that they’re HUGE on here is packaging. Everything looks cute, but that’s about it.  Cute is as cute does…so, if you see an amazingly, delicious ice cream cake, cupcake or cookie, I guarantee it will probably be either coated in a thick layer of icing or be really dry and hard.

• Spices I’m big on cooking so I was quite a bit disappointed to find myself limited in the fresh herbs department.  I think there is mint here, but I’m not sure what exactly its called. Mint here is a different variety than the mint I’m used to in other parts of the world.  You can find cinnamon here a variety of red pepper spices. However, I have yet to find cayenne or cumin. For more details on spices, please comment below so I can respond directly!

• Coffee I don’t understand why coffee is so expensive here, but there’s a million coffee shops everywhere.  Many of the larger chain stores (Starbucks, Coffee Bean, etc) sell a simple Americano for about $3.50, where in the states it might only be $1.50.  If you like to make fresh coffee Italian style, I recommend you buy one of these at home and bring it along.  These sorts of coffee makers are incredibly expensive.  However, you can buy a traditional coffee maker for a reasonable price.

If I left anything out, please ask!!

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