Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jay-shi]

I am returning home for a week in February after a year in Korea. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about gifts I could bring back for my friends and family. Though not unlimited, I have a decent budget for these gifts (I think 950$CDN is the lawful limit).

Specifically, I am looking at gifts for my mother and father, my 27 year old sister and her boyfriend, various close friends (26-35 year olds) and a very special 2 year old girl.

I would like to bring back things that reflect Korean culture in some way, that are useful and that might be a rarity back home.

Any gift ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Swiss James]

a 2 year old girl will have no concept of where something comes from, but for the others I'd recommend:

jewellery boxes- either the mother of pearl ones, or those made out of different coloured woods. They're decorated with cranes, dragons and suchlike, you can get some really nice ones in Insadong, or Namdaemun market (cheaper, but harder to find the right shops).

silk scrolls- for wall hangings, you can get ones with Korean art on them in ink or paint, or chinese/korean calligraphy. There's also a guy in Insadong who'll write any name of your choice on a scroll, the letter "M" is made out of a butterfly, the "R" will be a humming bird, that kind of thing- around 10,000 won for those, but he only works on Saturday (I think), look for the guy with a long white beard.

lamps- there might be a voltage/socket issue but you can get really nice soft glowing lanterns made out of paper (but it looks more like wood)- surprisingly light, handy for taking home especially if they box it up for you, and my Mum loves hers. From Insadong/Namdaemun again- around 20-40,000

tea sets- there are some crackers, and they're the only bit of (korean traditional) jade pottery that looks good in my opinion.

coffe table books- there are ones called "The Beauty of Seoul" and "The Beauty of Korea"- loads of top quality photos on large glossy pages, gives them a picture of what you're talking about. 20,000 (I think) from the english section at Kyobo book store

chops- the official stamps you can get with someone's name on them- make sure they write it in hangeul though, otherwise what's the point? From loads of subway stations and Namdaemun market

footy shirt- korean team, personalised name on the back in Hangeul- from the underpass between Dongdaemun market and stadium

one of those horrible gold crowns resting on a velvet cushion in a perspex box- But I wouldn't if I was you

[mindmetoo]

Flat things are good. Easy to pack. Everyone loves those colorful Korean fans. Go to a stationary store and load up on cute notebooks. Astroboy pencil cases make neat presents for children and software developers. This is the land of cute socks. Every woman loves cute socks.

Weird Korean candy (Xytol gum) is also fun to hand out.

Korean DVDs (multi region) are also a good gift. Travel packets of kimchi might work for some. My mother loves those traditional Korean pillow cases you can find at Dongdaemoon or Namdaemoon.

I find I have to divide my friends into three groups:

Whitey: Anything that says "asian" and "exotic" makes a great gift. Fans, lacquered boxes, a bottle of coke with hangul on it...

Asian, Non Korean: They have all the asian fans and lacquered boxes they can possibly stomach. For them I find travel packs of kimchi or Korean ginseng tea works. Most Asians have heard of the reputed potency of Korean ginseng etc. If your Asian friend isn't into ginseng tea, he/she could easily find an older Asian family member who would swear by the stuff.

Koreans: God. They're the hardest. Basically, I try to get something trendy that they might have missed while living in North America. For example, a DVD/VCD of a current movie, a Be the Reds Tshirt, some Kpop CDs all make good presents.

[hypnotist]

My gifts of Gochujang went down so well (in both senses of the word) last time, I've had demands for more. But perhaps my friends are just weird.

[jay-shi]

Thanks for all the great gift ideas. All I need to do is go out shopping now.

[The Bobster]

Both Insadong and Namdeamun are great places to start looking. In Insadong, especially I recommend something that might not be immediately obvious : paper.

Some of the shops have interesting and varied arrays of handmade paper, large variety of textures and tones, some very attractive with fragments of leaves and other things mixed in, some about a meter square and very thick, suitable for posters (I once cured a terrible wallpaper choice on the part of my landlord by just tacking a lot of it up over the snot-green stuff they had in my apartment when I moved in) and others in sizes better suited for stationery. Been a while so I can't recall the prices, but it seems the sort of thing that can be packed into a shipping tube with no trouble.

Notebooks, too. Some are very cheap, string-bound in a traditional fashion and others with very beautiful hard-bound covers. The ones that are my favorites are actually one very long piece of paper with the pages folded accordian-style, with hard covers glued to each end. You can open them and write on the page in either direction, and when you get to the end, turn the thing over and cover the backside. Not as expensive as you think, usually less less than 20,000 won per, depending on the size.

Actually, notebooks - even the ones from the LG25 stores and the like - are sort of funky over here, because they usually have some little slogans that are written in English that often make no sense at all, or are unintentionally funny. I collect that kind of thing, can't seem to resist. My favorite has wierd little bear and the words : "Smile and wipe yourself for those you love and care about." (What? "Wipe yourself?")

Soju and other local liquors, especially the traditional kinds you find on sale aound holidays (like now) are things I think would be good to bring back. Weight is an issue, of course, and there may be some regs to consider when sending such things home - there was a thread about it somewhere. My buddy brought an industrial-size 1.8 liter bottle of regualr soju back to his friends in the US and later had a funny story about some guy who decided to drink the whole thing - Zyz, you here? It's your story ...

[Derrek]

I'd like to put a word in for the assortment of fake Burberry, etc., items available in Itaewon. The scarfs are always a hit.

[Swiss James]

[Bulsajo]

[Derrek]

[Swiss James]

[pollyplummer]

[peppermint]

Songtan is just south of Seoul- oputside the Osan Air force base. The market area there is like Itaewon but slightly less ghetto. I'd assume the lanterns there would be designed for American style plugs, hence voltage being a non issue