@Cleinmari: ha ha… Emart is a godsend. It was one of the places I ate at a lot, because it was easy to order from. For months I survived on only the things I knew like yogurt, tofu, etc… Do you have Lotte Dept/Mart? Just before I left, I noticed the one in my neighborhood (a new one) had English labels/categories in their aisles!

I totally feel for you~ initially, it’s so overwhelming. If I had to do it a second time around~ I’d take photos of things and then have my co-teacher translate it for me. Or have her write the general name of things in Korean so I can take it to the store and ask for help finding it. Hang in there! When you look back on it all, you’ll laugh. 😉

@johnhenry: LOL I love your comments!That’s exactly it. Hangul/HanWord is like the Korean version of Microsoft Office and it’s used just because it’s Korean. It never made sense to me either and what also sucks is the conversion from Hangul and Microsoft Word. Of course your KT will give you docs in Hangul and when you open them in Office, the layout shifts and you have to redo the format or limp along.

On MS IE6, I don’t know. I’m a Mac user so I downloaded either, Safari or Firefox on my school computer and browsed from that. LOL.

You didn’t mention Korea’s own word processing program: Hangul, aka HanWord, aka HangulWord. To be blunt, it rots. It’s far and away the worst word processing program created by anyone. If we manage to find intelligent life or even nearly intelligent life that is just intelligent enough to create a word processing program, theirs will still not rot as much as Korea’s own word processing program does. So, why use it?

The answer you will receive is, “Koreans like it.” The real answer is, “Koreans use it simply because it is a Korean product.” MS Word, OpenOffice.org’s Writer, and every single other word processing program ever made is capable of doing what HanWord does but, unlike HanWord, those programs are not royal pains to use.

And don’t get me started on Korea’s addiction to an antiquated browser: MS IE6. Oh, yes, it’s even coupled with ActiveX lest you think that it couldn’t be worse. Go ahead. Download one ActiveX program to your own computer. Your computer will immediately believe that Korean bloatware (advertisements, useless “security” programs, and “tools”) are all Lay’s potato chips. Go ahead. I dare you. Just make sure you have enough money handy to buy a new computer. You will not be able to fix the old one.

@Hannah: Skin- I know, essence, emulsions, etc… ironically, that’s the only thing written in English on those bottles and they’re words which have absolute no meaning in the western context of skin care.
Detergents: Ha ha… seeing bubbles must’ve been terrifying at first! Ahhh… I scored a tip I’ve been meaning to write about but I’ll leak here- Lotte Plaza -their grocery aisle sections have Korean w/ English subtitles! Only the aisle signs but it makes detergents from laundry – hand – fabric softeners, etc… easier to decode. Now I can use fabric softener!

@Lissa: Ha! Yes & No. There are things you don’t think to be challenged by when you move your lifestyle over– simple and basic necessities are one of them. You don’t think how they can actually be hard to deal with, until you get there and must create a lifestyle… of walking around and feeling like you’re bumping things in the dark. What’s the workaround solution when you can’t read the language? It sounds naive to expect English, but I never considered the possibility of there being absolutely NONE & that I’d have to live my life in it. As a traveler, Korea is the first place I’ve had difficulty navigating w/o knowing the language,* Seoul is the exception. I’ve bought stuff like shampoo and conditioner in various other countries before- rough & developing even- no problem. For me, Korea was like “dhuh”?