Moving to South Korea just before the crisis

Well, my situation is a bit unique, as is everybody's situation I'm sure.

For starters, I've been in Korea for more than a decade, and so not quite the just arrived or just left scenario, however I was in a huge transition when the pandemic started in full force here in Korea.

Yes, I was taking the plunge and daring to move abroad, in a sense...

I was already in Korea but was preparing to add another 3 years onto my stay, and even had to make the trip to Japan to get that blessed visa stamp in my passport, it was something I had already done many times before but each time always seemed like a real challenge. Something always happens that turns it into an adventure.

My passage to Japan was cancelled because of Typhoon. So, three days later finally I was able to take a one hour boat ride to one of Japan's beautiful islands, the very day my visa was going expire! Talk about cutting it close!

I arrived in Japan like any tourist very eager to see the tourist attractions, only to discover they were closed every Tuesday on this particular island. Bad luck? Now I was worried my boat would sink! True story it did hit a whale not too long ago!

So, I sat in a French cafe, in Japan, for a few hours until the boat heading back to Korea was ready to go. But at least the owner of the cafe was from Japan, so I felt as though I had seen Japan.

The sad thing was that the island was dying economically because most of their customers were boat passengers from Korea, and Korea was protesting against Japan's refusal to apologize for what had happened during WW2, by not visiting or buying things from Japan.

And so you can imagine how much worse it got, after the pandemic hit. Especially for the fact that almost immediately Japan was probably one of the first nations to significantly get hit, at least in the media, by the pandemic, because of several cruise ships which were filled with people from all around the world, especially western nations such as Europe and Canada and America, which just coincidentally was at the Japan portion of its global voyage when everybody got sick.

Actually only a few people got sick, but the entire ship had to be quarantined for at least a week, during which time everybody was tested, and slowly their home nations sent special quarantine airplanes to pick them up!

One American tourist noted that while he was on the airplane the lady sitting in front of him was taken away because it was later revealed that she had tested positive. That made him even more nervous when arriving in America and entering another 2 weeks of quarantine, that perhaps he would get sick also. Very scary ordeal! Some of the people who got sick did in fact die eventually.

And there were 2 cruise ships who had that experience at the same time, not just one, while coincidentally visiting Japan.

When I was younger I had been in the US military and had served for several years in Korea in fact, so I sometimes visit the military bases and have friends serving in the military in Korea and I was very surprised to learn that the pandemic was affecting the military just like the rest of the civilian population of America and Korea.

However, as would be expected, the military handled it much more efficiently than the civilian world. Soldiers followed strict regimens to prevent getting sick. And when sick they discovered it quick because they were constantly being educated about it, what symptoms to watch for, and were being monitored and tested constantly.

Surprising or perhaps unsurprisingly, however, the statistics for the civilian world and the military world were roughly the same, neither escaped without some casualties and even sadly some deaths.

Korea quickly became famous for handling the pandemic very effectively. Whenever somebody became sick, the locations they had visited during the days prior were well documented, and the public was alerted and notified of those locations. So that anyone who had been at those locations when the sick person had been there, had to all be tested and self-quarantine. And the location was temporarily shut down for decontamination procedures.

I witnessed all of this first hand when several of the places that I had visited, showed up on the alert broadcast to everybody's cell phones in Korea. I had just missed the window of danger, having visited those locations and left just prior to the sick person being there. Wow!

One of my favorite restaurants didn't get hit, but the restaurant on the floor above it, did get hit, and that restaurant that did get hit actually closed its doors permanently. Very unfortunate circumstance. And I was scared to go to my favorite restaurant anymore because it was just a floor down from the one that got hit (shared an elevator, lobby, and secondary bathrooms, etc).

I was preparing to go to a restaurant with a friend of mine, and waiting in line, when he got a phone call from the government saying that he had been at the same spa as a person who was sick, and so he had to immediately go home and self-quarantine and get tested in the morning, and remain self-quarantined for almost a week until the test results came back. Luckily they came back negative.

That's hitting too close to home for comfort! My father lives in a country in South America although he also was born/raised in the USA like me, with European ancestry (typical USA ancestry such as British, French, etc). Where he is at, several of his family members, people who work in his office, and in his community have been sick. Very scary times indeed!

Thankfully I have 3 more years that I can remain in Korea without needing to fly, take a boat, cross any borders, leave, go anywhere, etc. However the fear still remains because that can change at anytime.

There are no guarantees in life. Policies can and do change. But usually for the better. Usually things are good.

I got a phone call from the embassy, making sure that I was doing okay, which always makes me feel important. Very nice feeling. But at first I was worried they were telling me that the Americans needed to pack their bags and leave Korea. I'm sure something like that would never happen, but there are no guarantees in life!

I also received a phone call from the Korean immigration office saying that I could get a free vaccine immediately! That was AWESOME! Especially when on the news you could see that there were vaccine shortages and not everybody could get a vaccine. I was bragging to all of my friends, foreigners and natives alike, that I was able to get a vaccine immediately, because I'm "special", the old "American card" trick.

Yes, sometimes you can get out of trouble, or into trouble, by pulling that card out of your pocket (basically it's not actually a card, or even a real thing, you simply pretend you can't speak Korean fluently, and most people will say, okay, let this guy through, etc).

True story, a friend of mine from Russia was arrested for getting too drunk, one night, and when driving to the police station in the back seat of their squad car he started having conversation with the police officers and they quickly realized he was Russian (he had a very strong Russian accent in spite of looking 100% like a native), and they immediately apologized for arresting him, and asked if he needed a ride anywhere and if he needed any amenities such as water, etc. He suddenly thought he was a Hollywood movie star! He loved it!

Korea takes excellent care of foreigners in most cases! They call that the "American card" or in his case he played the "Russian card" or what some people refer to as the "get out of jail card" but it doesn't always work and I told my friend to try and drink less when he's out on the town.

I don't know how a foreigner can live in Korea for more than a month and not make any friends. Here in Korea everybody wants to know more about you, they're curious, and not scared to approach you and make conversation! In fact it's part of the culture to ask even personal questions such as, are you married, your age, and so on. Not because they want a date, but because it's simply a cultural norm to ask such questions.

One thing I'm sure everybody was worried about is whether there would be racial animosity when the pandemic was in full swing. For example in America there have been attacks on people who look like they have Asian ancestry or are perceived (often inaccurately) as being from Asia.

I'm always saddened to learn how large a portion of the population in the USA are not very globally and culturally minded/literate. For example to suspect that any person is from any particular nation at all, is absurd. There is no way to know where a person is from (most of the time they're from right where they're standing).

Ironically, Korea, being one of the most racially pure (homogeneous) nations on the planet, has basically zero discrimination, and when there is discrimination it's non-violent.

And so the answer is no, in spite of Korea being very, very paranoid about the spread of germs, cleanliness, smells, behavior, clean appearance, normal behavior, fashion, education, status, etc, they have been so forgiving, understanding, accepting, accommodating, helpful, considerate as they always were, regardless their concerns related to the pandemic.

Maybe I'm unique, in that I felt at home in Korea on day one, even when I was younger and visited Korea as a soldier many decades ago. And now, coming to Korea as a much older, hopefully wiser, definitely much grayer haired man, it was no different. Korea has enough in common with America to feel like it's almost America, and just enough flair of Asia to be exciting, intoxicating, alluring, wonderful for families and singles alike, and a perfect home for anybody from anywhere in the world who wants to be a good neighbor and have good neighbors.

And to say just one more thing before I sign off, it's so efficient here in Korea, everywhere you go, every store, and on the long distance travel trains, and at the stations, and most other places you'll find temperature readers, and a phone number or QR scan code for you to call in and register that you're at that location.

Some of my friends are scared to travel by train for that reason, and they don't go to restaurants, and are avoiding going out as much, because they don't want to be quarantined for a week etc, if somebody gets sick at one of those places.

I'm sure it's like this in most countries now. Hopefully everyone has a setup to where they won't lose their job, can pay bills, etc, if such a scenario occurs, it's becoming a norm now, and we might as well start trying to plan our finances, our jobs, our mortgages, etc, to where a 2 week vacation won't put us out on the street homeless.

And heaven forbid we actually test positive and actually get sick. Everybody keep praying! This is good practice for when the worst type of plagues strikes humanity like it does every century or so... the bubonic plagues and so on.

Humanity is getting smarter and better, it's nice that we can limit the damage of such things, it's amazing. It's why humanity is so amazing. We have the ability to save humanity, and the planet. We certainly hope so!

P.S.- Thank you to the Expat.com family and the member who asked these amazing questions which inspired me to share a little of my personal experiences, it was like an interview, very enjoyable. I love the questions section, and everything else Expat.com offers to its readers/family and visitors! Keep the questions coming!

Ben Arnold
Expat.com user!