Dunkin' Donuts

                                            

So I finally ventured into a Dunkin Donuts...and let's just say it's a little different.

The only place you can get any large drink, that I've noticed at least, is the movie theater.  And it comes with two straw holes to make fatty Americans feel like shit about themselves :'(

So we go to Dunkin' Donuts and like all other pastry shops it's self serve for any baked goods so you grab your tray and tongs and go peruse the selection, and you get fine choices like the banana doughnut and the Slimmy:

Wanna be slim?

So you bring your tray up to the counter and order your tiny drinks.  Now I love Dunkin' Donuts hot chocolate, especially mixed with the white hot chocolate...which they of course brought back the year I'm gone :(

Anywho, I order a cookies & cream hot chocolate because that just sounds amazing...turns out here they make the fancy hot chocolate with Godivas chocolate and steamed milk and....yeah it just wasn't the same.  And really not that good.  And more expensive then back home because it's a stupid fancy drink.

So yeah I'm really sad that I can't get a good cup of ANYTHING at Dunkin' Donuts because everything is weird and just wrong (not to mention tiny and expensive)

Luckily Angel's In Us is on the first floor of my building and they have some awesome stuff (amazing cookies and cream "blended ice drink") and Cafe Bene across the street isn't too bad.

Random note, Cafe Bene were the first with Christmas decorations up (before Oct 20th I think...) and the main one on the door is so fantastically terrible, it's this super feminine computer designed guy in a sexy Santa suit...I'll have to get a picture and post it later.

Luckily you can find Swiss miss everywhere so I can get simple awesome hot chocolate at home :D

International Shipping

OK, so you want to get stuff from home?

Well, here's what I've noticed.

1. Priority flat rate from the USPS is the cheapest way I've seen for someone to ship to you from the US.  It's worth looking into to see if there are other options but so far that's it.

2. There are sites here (like gmarket.co.kr) or you can order from sites back home (like iherb.com)
As for the giant sites like Amazon...well I don't suggest Amazon unless you have it shipped to family or friends and have them forward it.

Now instead of Amazon I'm going to suggest Overstock.  Overstock will give you the price in US or local amounts AND they will provide you with the EXACT cost of shipping, importing, etc.  And you pay all this upfront so you don't have to worry about a surprise fee later on.  I have not had a chance to use their services yet but I wanted to let you know. AmazonGlobal claims to have a unique service that estimates these...

Amazon...I'm a little upset about this service they have.  It's like the Super Saver Shipping back home, but global.  If you buy more than $125 worth of stuff they'll ship it for free....to INDIA.  They call the service "Global Saver Shipping"  That's like North Korea calling themselves the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...it's just a total freakin lie.  Hurray for India Saver Shipping!


3. DON'T use a forwarding service for packages.  You will have to pay a huge amount to ship it and you won't know how much until the service receives the package.  Not so bad for regular mail though...at least from what I've heard.

Now really your cheapest option is to find someone in the military to get your packages at their APO address, long live free shipping!

Teacher's Fees

Some schools charge a teacher's fee.  It covers the cost of snacks for the office, sometimes the dinners out...

Some schools charge 20,000 per month, some 30,000 per semester...it all depends on the school.  They'll then put the food in the office (where you get some) or hand it out at meetings (and then you're screwed).  Our teachers just bring in the food themselves to share.

My school apparently doesn't charge this but I was told I only got the first teacher's meal free, the rest I'll need to pay for.  Luckily my school doesn't do these too often.  

I know some people pay over 50,000 per meal at these...I hope ours don't get that high...

For the ladies, what to pack!

So we all get addicted to certain products and brands.  Obviously you'll want to take along some of your favorites but here are some things I wish I had known...

Well the first one doesn't really count.  Deodorant.  I knew about the lack of deodorant here, I had heard it in many different places.  If you haven't heard...well come prepared.

Clothes is another one you hear about a bit, in particular bras and shoes.  If you're above like a US size 8 or so you're stuck with just men's shoes.  They are starting to ship in some stuff through like H&M, or you can order online but those are your best bets.  Even Costco doesn't import US 9.  The largest you'll find anywhere here is 250, check out a conversion chart to see if that's in your range back home...

As for bras, I've seen up to a 36C at Gap in Shinsegae at Centum City...but that was only one.  The majority are 34B and under.

Other clothes (shirts and pants) are hit or miss, you'll have better luck with shirts though.  Slowly people are gaining weight here so they're going to have to start catering to more people.

Tampons. I've seen one small pack in a convenience store, and some Playtex at Costco.  That's it.  Come prepared.  As for pads and liners, I came prepared with enough to last a while so I haven't had to buy anything locally yet but if I find any good or terrible ones I'll let you know.  I've heard Poise is good...and is apparently not for old women like it is back home...but I haven't personally tried them.

They have some really good skin care here as well as many familiar brands from back home.  If you need to use a particular soap obviously pack a lot otherwise try out some of the soaps and masks they have available here.

Shaving supplies for women are rare.  The men's selection is much better so if you are ok using men's products then go for it.  They've just started to get in Venus razors, they have them at Home Plus and a few convenience stores.  I haven't seen any shaving cream though.  I didn't look too hard for it but I was told you won't find it anyway so expect to bring some or use soap, conditioner, or the men's kind.

As a side note, one of my girls kept going "teacher clean-ie" and hitting her arm, basically she was surprised that I shaved.  I don't know why but I'm assuming between that and the fact that there are no women's shaving supplies...that women here don't shave their arms.  But don't give up all hope!  Laser hair removal is apparently very cheap here.  I'm planning on getting it done so I'll let you know how it goes.

Taxis

I figure it's time I explain the business with taxis.

FIRST they are insanely cheap.  Like the base fare is 2,200 (roughly $2USD) and that goes for at least the first few minutes of your trip.  A ten minute ride usually costs under 5,000.  When I moved it was about a half hour to forty-five minute rid...and it cost less than 20,000...pretty sure it was around 15,000.  It's been too long, I don't remember.

SECOND they are bat shit crazy.
Like completely insane, especially late at night.
So the subways shut down at midnight, considering the bars and clubs are open until 5AM, that's pretty early for them to stop running.  So if you stay out late and don't want to catch the first train in the morning you're going to need a taxi.  Now they have an overnight surcharge...of about $.40.  Yeah, that's like forty cents...(not EXACTLY sure but it's definitely measured in pennies not dollars.) w/e.  Anyway it's late and you've gotta take a cab or pass out on the streets till 5, so you wave one down (either a regular wave or usually Koreans will do the 'limp wrist' wave, palm down and wave them over).  You climb in and give your destination.  If you speak no Korean and never memorized your address then you can ask them to call the translation services so you don't end up in the wrong place.

Now the reason I'm specifically saying overnight is because this is when the real insanity happens.

Last weekend it was raining and our driver was doing like 80MPH...then 90MPH in the tunnels...I couldn't believe how fast he was going and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it.  And for some reason my friends still laugh at me for buckling up in these death traps...

THIRD...well this kinda goes under the insane column if you ask me...
They watch tv while they're driving.
EVERY SINGLE ONE has a tv mounted in it somewhere, about the size of an ereader, and they watch the news, dramas, anything.  While they're driving.  And let's go back to the second point of them being bat shit crazy.  Yeah it's pretty damned scary.  To be fair some will use the tv as a GPS but for the most part they know they city and really don't need it...so why not use it for something like, oh I don't know, catching up on your favorite show while driving around passengers?

Dumbasses.

I'm sure I could find plenty more to say about them but these are the important things.  Cheap, insane, stupid.

If you haven't figured it out yet, they totally think they rule the roads here...and considering they pass cops no problem, they kinda do.

Emergency Flashers (and other car oddities....)

So when you're walking around you really need to be careful because the drivers here are absolutely insane. Like death wish insane.

For some reason they think that putting on their emergency flashers gives them the right to do ANYTHING. They use them to back up, to turn, to pull in and out of places, just ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE.  So you never know where they are going and what they are planning to do and because they've got the flashers on they're invincible so they don't look and they don't care and you'll have no idea what they're doing.

Well while we're on cars...I don't think I've mentioned the headlights yet.  I've been told it's to save gas, but really I have no idea.  They drive with no headlights.  Like they'll turn them on occasionally but they usually forget because as soon as they get to a light they turn them back off.  It's so strange and everyone from taxis to mopeds will do it...I just don't understand...

I know I haven't mentioned the mirrors.  Maybe I'm just behind the times but I thought that most side mirrors on cars were made so they would move and you could tuck them in if you wanted or they'd give if someone hit them...the cars here have automatically retracting mirrors.  Like way over half of the cars, and I've just never noticed this on any cars back home.  Sure I've seen people tuck them in but I don't remember them being automatic...and my teacher said that was "nothing special".  I wish my car had lots of "nothing special" features...like speakers.

 And brakes.

Poor old thing, we've had our ups and downs...and well it may be down permanently now (I've only been saying that for the last 5 years or so...)