It's been 363 days since I left

Here I am. Day 363 since I left the USA and expatriated to South Korea. I've been through the frigidly cold winter, through the annoyingly damp monsoon season, and the ridiculously humid and hot summer. I've shivered, I've sweated, I've cursed myself for not bringing an umbrella with me. Through it all, it's been a pretty solid experience. But I started this blog, not to brag about how awesome I am (and am becoming) but to help you, the gentle reader, to follow in my man-sized footsteps. So here are some general tips that have helped make my year here a little better.

Expat Knee Grow Tip 1: 

If you're not a minority in your country, get used to the idea of being one. If you are a minority, get used to scouring.

I'm a black American (I mean obviously, otherwise this blog would be extremely racist right?), which makes me a minority pretty much everywhere. I'm used to the concept, so much so that my adjustment to being in a land where few people are like me didn't really bother me that much. That was kind of a blessing in disguise. However, I was at a slight disadvantage. You see, as a black man, it was and still is difficult for me to find hair care products and services to maintain the hairstyle I'm used to. This has led to some creative improvisations in my overall look, but it hasn't been tragically bad. Well, not yet at least. It should also be noted that I am also very tall (78 inches or 198 cm) and I have feet to match. I have had to buy all of my clothing online and either have it shipped to America first and then here (thanks Mom!) or shipped directly here. There are other alternatives, but if you are larger than the standard Korean, you will have to buy a good deal of your clothing online. So far, my saving grace has been that Amazon, Old Navy and the Gap deliver to Korea for a pretty reasonable price, and therefore have become the mainstays of my wardrobe. Also, Amazon is an excellent way to secure your toiletry needs for a pretty low cost. In fact, in some cases, it might be the same or lower than finding it at a foreigner market, which I suspect is due to the foreigner markets getting their stock the same way..

Expat Knee Grow Tip 2: 

At some point, you're going to have to learn some basic Korean. You might as well start learning how to read it.

Learning to read Hangul is pretty easy. Koreans will tell you that a stupid man can learn it in a week, and a smart man can learn it in a day. Which is pretty true. I learned how to read Hangul in roughly two hours. There are several apps in the Google Play store (and I imagine better apps in the Apple store) that will walk you through the process. There's also a few websites that have some solid lessons. Here's one I used: http://www.learnlangs.com/RWP/Korean/

There's more a lot more, but time and space don't allow me to go in the detail I want to. I will say this in closing though. Korean internet is pretty amazing. With that having been said, don't feel as if you have to leave behind all your favorite TV shows. I'm not an advocate of piracy, but in extenuating circumstances...

Check out couchtuner.eu (if you're willing to navigate all the pop up ads) for your favorite shows, or wiziwig.tv for sporting events. If it's on TV it's streaming somewhere for you to watch. Once you get back stateside of course, you can abandon these desperate measures at your own leisure, right?

Keep it classy.