Mandelia

just a strawberry in korea

#001

My advice/tips

winter essentials in korea

Winters in Korea can be brutal, which is why there is a plethora of things to help you stay warm. Already it’s mid November and the temperatures here are COLD. If you’re new to Korea or wanting to know what my essentials are then you’ve come to the right place. After spending 3 winters here I feel like I’ve almost got it down to a science. So, here’s what you’ll need to start.

long johns

long padding coat

hot pack/

hand warmer

hat, gloves, scarf

I will say, there’s one thing about winters that is consistent but annoying. And that is how HOT the subways and buses will be. It’s like they overcompensate for how cold it is outside by blasting the heat inside. All those layers will be for nothing once you leave the outside and you’ll be silently cursing yourself for adding that extra pair of leggings. It’s like...why not just keep it a consistent temperature inside and outside? Unfortunately there’s nothing that can be done and it’s something you’ll have to mentally prepare for. Don’t worry...only 4-5 months of this and it’ll be spring. We’ve got this!

#001

My Stories

Looking Ahead To 2024

This is the time of year, at least for me, that I have to make a bunch of decisions that will affect the next year of my life. If you know me, you know I’ve been living in Korea since the end of 2020 and since then I’ve been teaching English here. The way that works, typically, is your contract goes from March to the following February (1 year long), Your housing is provided, though you can decide to handle your own housing instead. Usually, you have your housing contract from the same time as your school contract. This makes things clean and simple. You have a couple of options at the end of your contracts - stay in the same house but change schools, stay in the same school but change your house, or move out completely and start fresh. Over my 3 years here, I’ve taken advantage of all 3 options. For me, it’s because I want to explore living and working in different areas. It’s important to find the right fit for you. For the past (almost) year I’ve been living and working in Gangnam, but just a month or two ago decided that I wanted to make a big change. Living in Seoul has been a great experience however is not right for my lifestyle. That’s why I decided to move outside Seoul into Suwon (Gyeonggi-do). There’s a lot that goes into uprooting your life, i’m sure everyone can agree on that. I went through 12 interviews and had countless emails back and forth with recruiters and schools, spent days looking at different houses and weighing their pros and cons. That doesn’t even begin to cover the budgeting in order to afford moving costs. Even so, though the stress of changing my entire routine has probably given me a gray hair or two, I couldn’t be more excited. Over a month of making lists and sending emails has finally paid off as I have both a house and school with signed contracts for the 2024-2025 year. Wahoo! So, with the difficult part down now I get to move on to the fun part - planning out the decoration of my new home and prepping all the fun materials I’ll get to teach next year. Also, new year new me, right? So there’s a lot I want to put on my resolutions list this year. And I was thinking, MAYBE, you guys can join me on my fun new journey. We’ll be going through it together, you and I. What do you say?