I still remember my first week in Jeju, standing in my tiny kitchen with a bag of rotting food scraps, staring at a confusing array of public bins down the street. I thought, “It’s just trash, right?” Wrong. Within minutes, an ajusshi (older man) was yelling at me in rapid-fire Korean because I had tossed … Read more
I still remember my first Friday night in Pyeongtaek. I had just PCS’d to Camp Humphreys, my fridge was empty, and I was starving. I tried to order fried chicken, but the app demanded a Korean phone number, a resident registration number, and some arcane verification step that made me want to cry. I ended … Read more
I still remember the knot in my stomach during my first year in Seoul. I was working at a small academy near Hyehwa Station, and my boss casually mentioned he would “hold” my passport for safekeeping and delay my salary for a month to “help me save.” I didn’t know any better, and I was … Read more
I still remember the sweat dripping down my back during my first week in Bundang. I had just stepped off the Shinbundang Line, completely reliant on free cafe Wi-Fi to navigate, and I realized I couldn’t even order delivery food without a local phone number. I walked into a bustling phone store near Seohyeon Station, … Read more
I still remember standing in a cramped office near Gangnam Station, staring at a contract I could barely read while my boss tapped his pen and said, “Just sign, everyone does it this way.” I was three months into my first job in Seoul, my Korean was terrible, and I had no idea whether the … Read more
I still remember the first time I tried to board a bus outside Ansan Station. I had a pocket full of loose coins, a confused look on my face, and a driver who was shouting something in rapid-fire Korean that I definitely didn’t understand. I held up the line, panicked, and ended up walking 40 … Read more
I still remember the sweat dripping down my back during my first week in Busan. I walked into a bank branch near Seomyeon Station, armed with nothing but my passport and a naive smile, expecting a five-minute transaction. Two hours later, I walked out empty-handed, confused, and holding a lollipop a teller gave me out … Read more
I still remember my first trip to the immigration office in Busan. I had just moved to Gwangalli, eager to wake up to the Gwangan Bridge view, but I was immediately hit with a wave of anxiety. I showed up at 9 AM without an appointment, thinking I could just walk in, fill out a … Read more
I still remember standing in line at the Daegu Driver’s License Examination Office, clutching a folder of documents I was sure were correct, only to be told I was missing one obscure form and had to come back the next day. I had taken two buses from Dongseongro, wasted a precious day off, and spoken … Read more
I remember my first week in Bundang back in 2014. I was standing outside Seohyeon Station, hopelessly lost, holding a paper map that might as well have been written in hieroglyphics. I couldn’t read the signs, I couldn’t order food without pointing like a toddler, and I didn’t know how to get a taxi without … Read more