As promised, I said I would write a post about 6 things that I miss about South Korea. I mentioned in my previous blog post about 6 things I don't miss about South Korea compared to living in the United States. Therefore, I need to be fair and talk about the things that I wish I could bring back from the Republic of Korea to America.
1. Excellent public transportation. Don't get me wrong. I love driving in Southern California, but there are a few things about driving in SoCal that can be annoying. First, traffic can be bad and the freeway near where I live has a lot of road work happening in order to widen freeways because the traffic is so bad. Secondly, gas prices are crazy. Thankfully, my wife has a hybrid and she doesn't drive very far to work, so she gasses up once every two weeks. I still need to use my car on weekends, since we commute 2 hours a week to go to church, use it to drive to my part-time job, and to school full time. I gas up about once a week. That comes to about $200 per month. Finally, car maintenance doesn't happen often, but you have to get oil changes every 5,000-6,000 miles, which is about $70-$75.
2. Reasonably priced and delicious Korean food. My wife and I have found excellent Korean restaurants although not exactly close to the area where we live now. But we found an excellent restaurant in Irvine and a few good ones in Koreatown. However, for two people, you're going to easily spend $50-$60 and for 4 people, you can end up spending close to $150 if you're not carefully looking at the prices. I miss going to a Korean restaurant in Seoul, where the food is delicious, the prices are reasonable, and you don't have to tip.
3. Safety. My wife and I moved to Ontario, California in student housing near my seminary. Thankfully, there are 4 people that patrol our apartment complex at night and there are two gates that keep unwanted guests out. But outside our neighborhood at night, you see homeless people and on occasion, you see people that could possibly be on drugs. You can also thank the governor of California for not dealing with homelessness properly When we lived with my dad, Santa Paula was much safer, but I still miss the safety of Seoul. You never had to worry about walking home alone at night since the city never slept.
4. Health insurance. It's ridiculous how much of a pain it is to get health insurance in the United States. We got Medi-Cal, which is a very low cost health insurance, but I made one doctor's visit because I had an ingrown toenail and the amount of time I had to wait to see a doctor was ridiculous. The medicine was cheap (thankfully), but if you have a low income, you're going to get poor healthcare. My wife will get a full time job in an international trading company, so she will get excellent health insurance after 90 days, but it won't include me. I will still need to rely on Medi-Cal.
5. Teaching ESL. To get a proper ESL teaching job in California, you need a Master's degree. Well, I'm already working on a Master's degree to become a missionary, so that option went out the window. In South Korea, I made a decent amount of money ($3,200/month) teaching in small group class settings, while my wife and I paid $500/month in rent. The job wasn't too hard and it was rewarding. As much as I didn't want to teach the rest of my life, I still enjoyed meeting friendly Korean students and doing my best to be a great teacher. I had some good memories teaching in South Korea.
6. Traveling around South Korea. South Korea is a beautiful country. I miss Haeundae Beach in Busan, traveling to Gangwon province and visiting cities such as Gapyeong, Sokcho, and Gangneung, and miss just taking day trips outside of Seoul to Chuncheon, Incheon, or Paju. I love visiting various gardens, palaces, temples, and seeing the historical aspect of Koren culture.
Scott Worden
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy
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