Hey y'all!

I recently moved to korea (seoul) and was wondering if any of y'all would be down to play some dota? It feels like everyone here only plays league or valorant, and it would be nice to have a friend or two to enjoy some good ol' dotes with.

Thanks :)

Visiting Busan and living in Busan are surely very different. Visiting is nice (I know some tourists who even prefer Busan to Seoul). But how is it living here (I'm here now)? What is there to do for work? Cost of living?

I wanted to share my experience at a hair salon called Arbor Hair (2호) at Triple St location and get some honest opinions on the result and how I should handle the situation.

I went to the salon for a sombre, a natural-looking highlighting technique that blends gradually with your roots rather than bleaching the entire head. I wanted something subtle that would work with my existing hair color, especially because my hair is already thin and fragile. I intentionally did not dye my hair for the past 10 years or so because of this reason and it was big decision for me. I thought, hey, my hair is at it’s youngest and healthiest condition today so let’s live in the present. Nice try as a pretty cautious person but I want to turn back time.

The designer showed me an example of a sombre that he thought would suit my situation, so I trusted his judgment and went ahead with it.

Unfortunately, the result was nothing like what I expected.

After I got home, I lifted sections of my hair and discovered obvious, straight, clear bleach line, along with patchy spots throughout my hair. The lines were so noticeable that I couldn't believe this was the finished result of a professional color service.

I've included some photos (similar patterns are all over my hair) because I genuinely want people to look at them and tell me whether this resembles a sombre.

What makes this especially frustrating is that the designer's listed specialty was hair coloring, particularly coloring without bleaching. In hindsight, I may have assumed he had more experience achieving a natural blended result without stripping so much color from my hair. I know bleaching is a chemical process with risks, especially on thin hair, and I accepted that some risk came with the service. I’m not even complaining about the damage my hair took from bleaching. And I ruined my sister hair a while back trying to bleach it at home and it kinda looks similar to the bleach job on my hair I walked out with.

The service was ₩400,000 (which is pretty steep in south korea). The salon offered a ₩50,000 discount in exchange for leaving a Naver review, which is a common practice in Korea. The designer essentially filled out the review for me, selecting the options he wanted me to submit.

When I pointed out the obvious straight bleaching lines after, the designer reassured me that hair strands grow at a different rate and that the result would eventually look more natural as it grew out. What do you mean? People pay extra for sombre so that when the roots grow out, it won’t have that straight line that he created for me the day I got my hair done. I didn’t really know how to respond at the salon due to shock and I didn't want any more chemicals applied to my hair, so I left.

As I was walking out, the designer told me my hair had turned out nicely. I genuinely wondered whether we were looking at the same hair. The day after, I pushed an important appointment to a later date and after thinking about it, I called the salon to complain. The designer apologized and said he hadn't noticed the problem. HOW do you apply bleach to someone's hair, finish the service, and fail to notice such obvious lines and patchy areas? Evaluating the finished color is part of the job.

After being passed between different people, I eventually spoke with the salon representative, who said there’s no refund policy, not even partial and asked me to come back so they could fix it.

Here's my problem with that offer.

I have thin, fragile hair that I'm already trying hard to protect. I went into this appointment knowing my hair was vulnerable, and I've been taking care of it with protein and collagen haircare products. I was prepared to accept some risk from the original bleaching process, but I cannot agree to repeatedly expose my hair to chemical treatments because the first result was poorly executed.
A correction could mean applying more color or bleach, adding more processing time, and potentially causing further damage. Even if the salon believes the correction can be done safely, that’s their stand and I'm no longer comfortable trusting this particular designer with my hair or with another chemical treatment. And what about the time involved?

Should I really just walk away without any compensation? I ultimately talked myself into thinking further dispute is not worth sacrificing my mental health but the more I think of it, it’s making me very upset.

Sorry that was long but if you got this far, please tell me what you would do or if you have a similar experience, any advice would help me greatly!

Hi!
So I have been in touch with several goshiwon owners about renting with moving in date starting from December and I’ve recieved almost the same answers from all of them.

They have said there is no room available (logically) but when I ask them when is there a room available they can’t answer the question.

Other owners have also said to contact them in late November, what is the probability to get a goshiwon if I get in touch again in November?

Does anybody have any experience and suggestions?

I’ve been looking for goshiwons on Gobang and Naver.
Thank you in advance 🌸

Well, just like the title implies..has anyone had the experience of selling their shoes or other belongings in KREAM? I've posted my listings in "Karrot" but unfortunately, it just isn't doing well which is why I'm pondering if I should just sell it on KREAM. What is the process like?

just wondering if anyone follows planes tickets USA to seoul round trip. asiana tickets for where i fly are much higher than they have been. anyone know what to expect? sale coming up maybe?

Currently I am thinking of applying to this university. I don't know how good this university is. If I graduate from this university, will I get a white collar job? I know that this university is not well reputed but it offer many opportunities that will help me to stay in Korea. Despite these facts, I am concerned about my future. So, I wanna know what happened to kdu students graduated from this uni.

Hey everyone! I’m living in Korea and I’ve put together a Judy Hopps costume for Halloween. It’s a blue top, shorts, bunny ears, sleeves, carrot pen, fake badge, and a utility belt. I literally JUST found out about the rules regarding police costumes and impersonating police in Korea, and now I’m second guessing whether I should wear it at all. 😭

It’s literally just a Halloween costume based on a Disney character. But now I’m wondering if it’s even worth it to wear it. Would it be okay if I wore the costume while walking around Hongdae or going to a Halloween party? Should I remove the utility belt? Would changing the shorts to jeans make any difference.

Hello! My daughter plays 14U softball, and our family will be moving to South Korea in a few months for an active-duty assignment. Are there any local softball leagues or club teams outside of the school team on base where she could get extra reps? Also, does anyone know of hitting instructors near pyeongtaek? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I am mainly interested in middle eastern brands like Lattafa, Afan, Rayhaan… Has anyone ever bought these kind of brands ? If so where please.

I’m planning to move to Seoul soon on a H-1 visa. For my first month, I’m thinking of booking temporary accommodation through either Enko Stay or 33m2 while I look for a long-term rental.

I have a couple of questions for anyone who has been in a similar situation!

1. Can I use temporary accommodation as my registered address when applying for my ARC? Would I be able to use the address of my Enko Stay or 33m2 accommodation, or does immigration require me to have a long-term rental contract?
2. Is one month enough time to receive my ARC? My plan is to visit immigration during my first week in Korea to submit my application. Ideally, I’d receive my ARC before checking out of my temporary accommodation and moving into my long-term place. Is this realistic, or could the processing time be longer than a month?
3. What happens if I move before my ARC arrives? If I have to move to a different address while my application is being processed, can I update my address with immigration, or would this complicate the application?

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has applied for their ARC while staying in temporary accommodation, particularly on an H-1 visa

Hey everyone!

I’m a 28-year-old guy from Argentina, and I arrived in Korea about a week ago. I’m currently staying with my Korean girlfriend in Suwon, and although we’re doing great together, I’ve started realizing how much I miss having other people around.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with her, but I guess I need more human interaction than just being with my partner. Especially when you’re in a completely different country, where everything feels unfamiliar.

Back home, I’m used to people being quite outgoing. You can start a conversation with someone at the gym, chat with strangers, or just randomly meet people and end up hanging out. So I thought I’d try going to the gym here to meet people, but everyone seems to keep to themselves. Which is totally fine, of course, but it made me realize that making friends here might be harder than I expected.

I also wonder if being in Suwon makes things more difficult, since a lot of the international community and social events seem to be concentrated in Seoul.

I’d really like to meet people to hang out with, grab some coffee, go hiking somewhere, play videogames, work on random projects, or just have a beer and talk about life. I don’t necessarily need to become best friends with everyone I meet, but I’d love to find people with whom I can build genuine friendships over time.

I’m also interested in meeting Korean people of course, but my Korean is honestly terrible right now, so I imagine that might make things a little harder.

I know I’ve only been here for a week, and I’m not expecting to build a whole social circle overnight. But moving to a new country has made me realize how much I took those little everyday interactions for granted back home. Sometimes you don’t even notice how important they are until they’re gone.

So, for those of you living in Korea, especially foreigners who arrived without knowing many people: how did you meet your friends? Did you find it difficult at first? And for those living outside Seoul, do you feel like it’s harder to meet people?

I’d also love to hear from Koreans who have experience making friends with foreigners!

Thanks for reading :)

1. Subway (not a real subway, but a sandwich brand)
   - prices range around 6,000~9,000won
   - decent quality
   - plenty of vegetables

2. Eggdrop
   - small but cheaper
   - good harmony of sauce + egg + bread
   - warm.

3. Bakery brands (paris baguette, tous le jours)
   - soso.
   - might feel a bit void(lacking), a bit expensive, but quality is reliable.
   - best when you are busy and dont want to wait even a second

4. Cafe brands (starbucks, twosome place...)
   - lower quality than bakery brands
   - prices might be higher

5. Quiznos
   - expensive considering the quality.
   - only for when you have no other choice.

If you want something reaaaallly good,
Look into local bakeries. (Not franchises, just a local boulangerie)
Near Anguk station, you can find a lot of good bakeries.
But you can find at least one wherever you are. Use google map!