Moving to Korea

My family has visited Korea every year since 2014. We always enjoyed visiting, and then we had the opportunity to move here. We left Los Angeles and moved to Seoul at the end of 2019.

Moving out of the US was a first for me. I have traveled a fair bit but never lived outside of Southern California. We made the decision to move in the summer of 2019, just a few months before we moved. Packing and downsizing wasn’t too bad, because we generally try to live a minimalist life and do a decent job getting rid of things we don’t need. Thankfully, we had a head start removing the unnecessary after binging the Marie Condo series on Netflix.

We donated and gifted items we didn’t need to store, and stored other items like our dining set, couch, and piano. It was hard letting go of many items, but it felt great to reduce the items we didn’t need.

Public transportation works very well in Korea, so I was adamant to not bring or buy a car. Ultimately, I was convinced to ship our car, and I’m very happy we have our car here. Running errands and driving around Korea is much easier, and shipping the car in its own shipping container was far easier and less expensive than I imagined. I simply dropped the car off at the shipping company in Long Beach and picked it up at the Incheon port.

Getting set up in Korea

Our car left with a full battery and arrived with 12% remaining.

The team at Tesla Korea has been very helpful. We charged our battery a bit while they got us setup with license plate frames to hold the Korean license plate.

Upon arrival, my car had a temporary plate assigned by immigrations at Incheon. I had a few days to get the car registered and I was worried about how the process would work. To my surprise, the system in Korea just works. The staff were all very helpful and went out of their way to make sure we were well cared for.

The agent who helped us with the registration needed to take our payment for the registration and license plate. She walked us across the office over to the ATM and guided us to press the right buttons. She told us “ATM’s in the US may be different, so let me show you how to use the ATM here.” This level of caring for the customer has been consistent across our interactions with multiple government agencies and in general business interactions. There’s even an area of the parking lot where an employee installs the license plate on the car for you.

Systems here just work - the task you are handling is completed during the same visit.

We left with our registration paid and our license plate installed.

With registration and our license plate handled, our next task was getting a Korean driver’s license. Based on my experiences in dealing with the DMV, I was dreading going to the Korean DMV, but the employees at the DMV were incredibly helpful. They provided me with paperwork in English and guided me on my next steps. Every task I needed to complete was handled in the same office. I completed my paperwork and an eye exam, and then my photo was taken for my license. I was given a number in a queue and told to wait for my license.

I figured they would give me some piece of paper and send me my real license a few weeks (or months?) later. Instead, after a few minutes of waiting, I was provided with my Korean driver’s license. I was good to go and had an amazing experience.

Interactions in Korea are so positive, and the customer service has been outstanding. It is rare to have a poor experience since nearly every company we interact with has been helpful and seems to care about the customers. If we call for help, we don’t get comments such as “that’s not my job,” “call this number instead,” or “I can’t help you…” We also never get left on “infinity hold” where we hope someone will pick up the phone after being on hold for what feels like forever. The Korean companies and support staff really want to make sure they give us the best care possible.

Scheduling appointments is no different. We ordered an Internet and TV bundle that included a 4K TV. We set our install time for 11AM. Slightly before 11 AM, a tech was at our door with our TV in the box and the equipment needed to provision our services. He set up the Internet and TV service, got the TV on the stand, and removed all excess packaging.

When we experienced issues with the Internet, a tech appointment was scheduled with a firm start time (not a 4-hour window of when a tech might arrive), and the tech solved the issue related to bad fiber between the basement and the panel in our place before leaving.

Getting by as a foreigner

I took classes in LA to learn how to read Hangul (the Korean alphabet). Well, maybe using the word “read” is a stretch. I can phonetically pronounce the sounds, but I severely lack vocabulary skills. These classes helped me to pronounce subway stations and slowly start to expand my vocabulary. The little Korean I do know goes a long way, both in Los Angeles and in Korea. Simply ordering in Korean, or saying hello makes the Koreans happy and shows effort from a non-Korean speaker.

I have always felt comfortable trying to communicate with Koreans here. Even if I mispronounce something or don’t know the words, I never feel rushed along or dismissed.

Learning Korean

I planned on working from the office and get more immersed in the Korean language and culture. I have been working from home since February 2020, and I’m looking forward to returning to the office and being exposed to more situations where I’m embedded in culture and forced to learn Korean. While I can get by with the basics, I need to learn Korean.

I started to take lessons again and plan to keep that going so I can communicate more. The Korean I learned from my initial classes has already been applied in my daily interactions with friends and family.

Take the leap

I am happy we jumped on the opportunity to live abroad. I love living in Korea. If you have any questions about my experience, reach out.