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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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laynamarya
Joined: 01 Jan 2010
Location: Gwangjin-gu
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 Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:27 am Post subject: |
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I usually just go barefoot. I always take off my shoes at home, too (it's much easier to keep the floor clean, and it just feels more comfortable for me). Also, a lot of nicer Korean restaurants have only floor seating, so you may need to take off your shoes when your school takes all the teachers out to dinner, for example.
I'd recommend NOT bringing the sandals though. You'll be about a 255 in Korean shoes. Korean sizes usually top out at 250, unless you are in Itaewon or something. You'll probably be able to fit into a 250 sandal, but anything closed-toe and narrow will be harder to find. So bring your flats, narrow-toed boots, etc., but buy the sandals and flip-flops when you get here. |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:34 am Post subject: |
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| Pablo wrote: |
deodorant
toothpaste
flat sheets
vitamins |
Deodorant: Nivea deodorant is available at Emart and other similar stores. It's also quite cheap online.
Toothpaste: Same thing.
Flat sheets: Might not fit your bed. Dimensions are different here.
Vitamins: affordable at Costco, cheap at iherb.com
You can pretty much get anything you need here in Korea.
My best advice is to learn to read a bit of Korean quick so you can find whatever you need on Naver Shopping, Auction, Gmarket, and 11St (all websites) and have a friend show you how to place an order and transfer money to the seller's account. I use Google translate when I don't know the Korean word for what I'm looking (no need to type it since I can cut and paste).
Last edited by 12ax7 on Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:38 am; edited 3 times in total |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:14 am Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
| canarsie wrote: |
a few specific questions:
can i get regular dental floss? I've read mixed things.
if i want to go snowboarding, can i rent everything i need? i was going to bring thermals anyway (in case it was cold) and 1 pair of ski socks - just in case. |
Yes, you can get dental floss.
You can rent everything for snowboarding here. They sell and you can rent all the clothes here in Korea. I would buy my own clothes and just rent the equipment. Not sure if you want to board in a jacket/pants worn by countless number of people. who knows when or IF they get washed. |
If you plan on snowboarding a lot and you have a credit card that gets you discounts on the lift, it's better to buy your own equipment (rental shops will give you a coupon that gives you a 40% discount on the price of the lift). Paying 15000 won per period (three periods in a day) just for the boots and the board quickly adds up.
It's cheaper to buy a deck in the US, have it shipped here, and pay the duty if you're already over here.
I recommend you check out levelninesports.com. They are located in Utah. They have the best prices anywhere on Atomic snowboards. Great customer service, too (they have live chat). They will soon beginning shipping to South Korea, but in the meantime they'll ship to a mail forwarding service (I recommend Shipito.com. Very good rates).
I didn't bother ordering bindings from abroad because I found great deals by checking on Naver shopping (I paid less than the US suggested retail price for my Union Force and my wife's Union Milan. It seems Union bindings are the most reasonably priced of all the brand name bindings sold in Korea).
For quality snowboard boots, the best deals I found was on Ebay (136$ plus shipping for each of our pairs of 32 Lashed (I strongly recommend these boots if you plan on snowboarding a lot. The liner molds to your feet after a few days of riding).
Of course, you can also get cheaper gear.
Levelnine also sells full packages, priced from 124$ to 199$ . Even with shipping (and duty if you take the more expensive package), it will be cheaper than the cheapest packages offered in Korea (the cheapest packages you'll find in Korea are about 400 000 won). You'll only need to go boarding 5-6 times to start saving cash (if you have a credit card that gives you discounts on the lift, that is. Otherwise, you'd better stick with rentals). I've read that the gear in these packages is good, better than rental equipment.
Last edited by 12ax7 on Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:47 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Pablo
Joined: 15 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:15 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, if you want to smell like certain posters here, buy some Nivea deodorant.
If you like putting weird looking stuff in your mouth after every meal with no way to know what the ingredients are, forget about bringing toothpaste.
If you would like to spend several jetlagged days running around every store in your town looking for a couple flat sheets that aren't ugly as sin to no avail, only to find out that the ones you later ordered from home fit perfectly, thank you very much, then don't worry about where you're going to sleep in Korea.
And if you already feel superior and flippant, then, heck, you don't even *need* vitamins. |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:55 am Post subject: |
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| Pablo wrote: |
Yeah, if you want to smell like certain posters here, buy some Nivea deodorant.
If you like putting weird looking stuff in your mouth after every meal with no way to know what the ingredients are, forget about bringing toothpaste.
If you would like to spend several jetlagged days running around every store in your town looking for a couple flat sheets that aren't ugly as sin to no avail, only to find out that the ones you later ordered from home fit perfectly, thank you very much, then don't worry about where you're going to sleep in Korea.
And if you already feel superior and flippant, then, heck, you don't even *need* vitamins. |
No need to be offended.
I get that you were suggesting a minimal number of things that she might need in the first days to save her the trouble of looking for them while still jet lagged. Not a bad idea at all.
I was merely pointing out that she doesn't need to bring a year's supply of everything she could possibly need, which I've seen people do. |
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SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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If you are working somewhere where you need to take off your shoes then you should bring socks to wear with the slippers. This depends on the school, I have worked at 4. Only once did I take to take off my shoes at work, this was a kindergarten.
However, in restaurants where you need to take off your shoes going barefoot isnt a problem. |
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thebektionary
Joined: 11 May 2011
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| canarsie wrote: |
| So when you go somewhere and have to take your shoes off, and don't have socks, do you just go barefoot? I've spoken to some teachers at my hagwon and the foreign teachers leave their shoes on and do not change into slippers. My question is more for other places - or do places not make you take your shoes off? I know people do in their homes. |
You take off your shoes and wear slippers that are provided. You wear the slippers with socks too. I hate wearing them barefoot... creeps me out. I never did it last year but just thinking about how gross that feels and how much it creeps me out is leading me to the conclusion that I should just carry around a spare pare of socks in my purse on days when I wear shoes that don't require them. |
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