What should I pack for Korea?

[confusedsafferinkorea]

Shoe laces... almost impossible to get here.  You don't need to bring an alarm clock, they are cheap here in Daiso, about 2,000 won.

[helloana]

Shoe laces... almost impossible to get here.  You don't need to bring an alarm clock, they are cheap here in Daiso, about 2,000 won.

Not true about the shoe laces, they are also at Daiso for a couple won.

[sheedi]

face wash and moisturizer. they only have neutrogena and clean and clear. if you use more expensive brands like clinique or mac..ect. they have those here.

[honeynutloops]

  I also second the deodorant, even though I'm a non-American and clearly wouldn't have any idea about that  ::)

haha yeah I was curious about that post too!  strange!

[absurdjoy]

As usual, whenever someone asks this question a series of conflicting replies ensue. Here is my take on the whole thing.

http://bizandsteve.blogspot.com/search/label/packing


You can buy just about anything in Korea as long as you know where to look.
 

[Kuhle]

Deodorant, tampons (they have them here...not only are they kak expensive, but they're horrble as well). Toothpaste and medicine. Lots and lots of medicine!

You can get coffee and tea if you shop hard enough, and they're right, anything bigger than a B cup is impossible to find. I'm a 32DD - I bought 13 bras with me....

[sarsabf5]

Yeah, forget the bed sheets. You can definitely find them here, and even if they're not fitted, who cares. Even if they're expensive, it's a one-time cost that'll last the entirety of your contract, and that's valuable real estate in your luggage to be used for other things.

Deodorant is a little more common than these threads tend to suggest, and not quite as expensive either. However if you're married to a particular brand, bring enough of it for a year, especially if you find a good deal in a convenience store. It is pricey here.

You can find tampons here readily, and they are not much more expensive here than they are back home.

If you have a particular brand of personal care products, bring those. Especially cold, headache, pain and allergy medication. Ditto for hair products. Unless you have pin straight hair, you will not find anything here useful. (Though the shampoo and conditioner here are just fine.) There are plenty of good quality make-up shops here, but I would recommend bringing whatever foundation/powder/concealer you're fond it. I find matching tones here is tricky.

Bring some sentimental things, but keep it to a limit. You're going to amass LOADS of sentimental stuff in your time here. I brought a digital picture frame because it takes up very little space and I didn't have to print out a bunch of stuff to hang on my walls.

[JamericanTeacher]

Definately bed sheets bc they're expensive here.  Your favorite toothpaste.  Your favorite spices (I stocked up on Mrs. Dash and Jamaican curry when I came here.)  Deodorant.  Home Plus has  US brand pads and tampons now (if you're female).....I don't remember seeing Super though, so bring some if your flow is heavy...(sorry men.  I'm sure you didnt want to read that...)....definately your favorite medicine bc the pill cocktails you get here dont do jack....cake mix bc they're expensive here....$7 as opposed to $1 at home....cake frosting I have only seen them on 1 website here and the markup was ridiculous....your favorite perfumes bc I think the formulas are different here....that's all I can think of....you can get pretty much everything else here.

A word of warning: I had to throw away a bunch of stuff at the airport bc I was over the weight limit.  You may want to consider bringing the essentials that you'll need during your first month and have your family ship you the rest of your stuff.  The shipping may very well be cheaper than the weight overage charge.  I have stuff sent to me every 6 months or so- i.e- hair relaxer, shae butter, hair conditioner.....if you're African america, yea you can find hair products in Itaewon from the African, but why the hell would you pay $20 for hair oil when you can get it at Walmart for $4? 

[dwebsterlfc]

People are saying don't worry about bed sheets but for me that was something I was soooo happy I brought because it would have hurt me to spend so much money on a sheet of fabric, it doesn't make any sense. If you bring one you can fold it up small n not need to spend a loads of money on one... therefore that money can go towards your first week's social drinks

sheet.... or drinks and noraebang?

[summerthyme]

You're going to be in Sinchon, lucky you!  That's an awesome area!

I second the thing about bras if you are D/DD.  The H&M and the Forever 21 in Myeongdong both carry bras A-C (and I saw a few D) and thongs; I'm not sure where the other posters who can't find them are located.

Other things I'm grateful I brought:  thyme, taco seasoning, toothpaste, my favorite foundation, deodorant

Things I get shipped to me on a regular basis:  dark chocolate, REAL COFFEE, cheese packets from mac & cheese

Honestly, I'd only bring gifts for my school if I found something really special.  I just bought a giant bag of swiss chocolates from Costco with my first paycheck and brought them in, and all my coworkers flipped.

[Castielle]

I agree with what most people said here, for me personally, what I brought and wish I had more off.

Toothpaste.
Some good tea.
Good coffee.
Deo
Spices

Mostly bring stuff that will give you comfort for lets say a month or two, then you can always ship some stuff here. In the end it's your choice what you want to bring.

Good luck

[jryanaustin]

Yeah, everyone tells you to give your principal and co-teachers gifts, but I don't think thats necessary. My girlfriends co-teacher, when she gave him a gift, said "Why did she give us this? Now we have to give her something." haha. I don't know though.

If you like Mexican food, I bring some spices. I didn't and now I'm dying, literally, of taco starvation.

A lot of stuff is rare here, but you can find it if you look. I've found a guy who sells REAL coffee from his apartment... a foreign food store that sells Indian ingredients and even salsa and Mexican seasoning! Shoes, a lot of people have found, are a little difficult to find in larger sizes. We order them online, but maybe we're just picky.
Good luck!

[adamwatch]

A good geiger counter :)

Adam

[skaya]

Like everyone is saying, definitely pack deodorant.  I would also bring tampons since they are super expensive here.  If you like real coffee bring some ground coffee (they drink a lot of instant here and ground is expensive). If your shoe size is larger than an 8 bring shoes or you wont find any (I wear an 8 1/2 and can't fit into anything here :-(  ) Again, depending on your size and body type bring enough jeans to fit your body (bring smaller sizes assuming you'll loose weight) And for the first little while at least, bring some of your favorite snacks until you get used to the Korean way of life.  Oh... depending on your skin type bring make- up since they only use super white products that may not match your skin.  (I had lots of trouble finding concealer that matched) Other than that you can find most anything here, although you might have to pay extra for it. 

[littlebopeep]

The most useful things I brought from home have been a duvet cover, bed sheets, towels, pillows, make-up and personal hygiene products. I am really thankful for these items evryday.

[NMonk]

I love reading these threads, they always make me laugh. You can get anything you need here. Ye things like toothpaste maybe taste minutely different to home, but you're living in a different continent, of course things will be slightly different! Don't bother bringing sheets, Korean bedding is more comfortable and cheaper. Don't bother buying loads of shoes, you can get what ever shoes you need here. Don't bother bringing loads of deodorant, you can get roll on here at similar prices to home. There are tailors and dry cleaners on almost every street corner. You can get freshly ground coffee from any Starbucks at the same price to home. What snacks do you eat? Crisps  (chips), snickers etc? you can get them from any local store, again one on every corner. Don't bother with gifts, Koreans actually think it's a bit weird when you give you P&VP gifts. Any spices you want you can get from Itaewon (a district extremely close to where you will be). You can get shoe laces from any of the shoe repair/key cutting men outside almost every subway stop. You can get multi-vitamins from any supermarket.

The only thing you can't get here at reasonable prices is farmhouse mature cheddar cheese, god i miss that!!

[EPSK]

face wash and moisturizer. they only have neutrogena and clean and clear. if you use more expensive brands like clinique or mac..ect. they have those here.

You can find both Clinique and Mac at any decent department store (Lotte, Debec, etc).

Also, on playing cards, I bought some for a couple bucks at Homeplus.

[elzoog]

Shoe laces... almost impossible to get here.  You don't need to bring an alarm clock, they are cheap here in Daiso, about 2,000 won.

I usually get my shoes loose enough that I can merely slip them on or off without tying or untying them.   I get the shoes at just the right amount of tightness for that purpose (loose enough to slip on or off but not so loose that they slip off when I don't want them to), and then tie them in a square knot.

This accomplishes a few things

1) Saves me having to worry about getting shoe laces.
2) Makes it easier to enter and exit Korean buildings.
3) Saves my feet.  Since I have thick feet (not big feet) it's easy for a shoe to hurt my feet.   Length wise, my feet are 8 1/2, but I need a size 10 for the shoe to fit comfortably width wise.

[elzoog]

The only thing you can't get here at reasonable prices is farmhouse mature cheddar cheese, god i miss that!!

You can get cheddar cheese at Costco, but I don't know if it's the same.

I really like Swiss cheese, but for some reason, Koreans hate it.

Another thing that's hard to get in Korea is good quality root beer (the bland A&W shit is unfortunately, easy to get).

[ILoveLucy]

Shoe sizes are quite small here, so bring your own shoes if you wear a size 8/9/10, and if you're tall, bring and have sent all your clothes. you'll find sleeves and trousers are too short.