people living in Busan, i need your help...?

Question

in a month my husband and i gonna move to Busan, and we dont have any clue how its gonna be there...i'm a latina...i have heard that koreans are kind of racists, is that true? do they talk english? at the market can u find america spices or just korean?...anyway, a general life in Busan for foreigners...please if you can be detailed , for me no problem
thank u

Answer 1

I think you mean Pusan, with your pronunciation being more accurate. Listen, I was there in 1959, when Korea was a primitive, mud-filled country, where men pissed openly in city streets, when they were rushed. And prostitute villages abounded. And women customarily followed their husbands when walking with them.
Today Korea is a modern country, with similarities to New York, where many of them came. My educated guess would be that you will find most areas are similar to New YOrk.

Answer 2

I think you'd find more racist people in other cities in other countries than you would in Busan. Sure there might be some people you come across, but I can't imagine it being anything violent.

I lived in Busan for a while, and loved it. There are mountains and the sea, plus many beautiful places to look around.
The temperature in winter is warmer than Seoul and Gangwon do (the northern parts of South Korea), and it doesn't snow significantly (although it did a couple of years ago).

There are supermarkets in the basements of Lotte and Hyundai department stores which have spices and international sections, but i'm sorry to say you won't find everything you want there.

There is a market called Gukje (kukje) Market, here you can find many things as it's close to the international port. If you go there, be prepared to look carefully, and if you find something in one place one time, it may not be there the next time you go there. I would say that would be your best place to buy things like that though.

I haven't been there for two years now, so I'm not sure where the best places would be to find things anymore.

Someone above mentioned www.pusanweb.com I guess it's ok to find out some things.

Also if you have the time it's super close (and cheap) to get to Japan by ferry. The quick ferry will take you there in 4 hours, you can go to either Fukuoka or Osaka, and you may have better luck finding your spices and things there and enjoy a holiday away at the same time. You can stock up there, as they aren't too worried at customs about food things coming through the port (as long as it's packaged appropriately).

Enjoy your time in Busan, I really loved it there, but unfortunately haven't had the time or money to get back there for a decent amount of time.
I find that Busan people are friendlier and more helpful than Seoul people, but then there are some people who are complete opposite, but luckily you don't come across them too often.
If you need more help, message me, or you can ask more questions :D

Answer 3

It will be an expensive transition to begin with. Many things are hard to find, but theyre all here. It does mean that you have to travel to 6 or 7 grocery stores to build a latino meal. Yes, koreans are a bit racist, they want to be white and the darker you are the more it means you work in the fields and less money you have. Youre a woman so it will be harder to get things done as it is. Bring your husband before you give up on any big problem. Its a fault of theirs but its just how it works. Most foreigners here are teachers. Life is pretty simple, but the koreans have a tendency to overly complicate things for no reason. The first guy is right, they do still piss in the street, but its not a third world village. However, I would dare to compare it to New York. Its a nice larger city with a small town type foriegner community. Signs are everywhere in English but they may not make sense. As and English teacher i must say that they SPEAK English overly well compared to most other places in Asia with the exception of Thailand and the former British colonies. American or western spices are harder to come by you should try and bring some ofthe harder ones to come by. Basil and Oregano are common enough, some stores carry cilantro. Korean spices are hard to come by really, its mainly green onions and other veggies fermented for a period of time.
In short you can get what you need and get it all done it just takes a lot of work most times.

Answer 4

No actually she means Busan. The romanization was changed. Any sign you see in Korea has Busan written not Pusan. That being said, it is a modern city.

Koreans are racist, look on ESL cafe or pusanweb forums for more information. Yes there is a headline article from the Korean Herald on Wednesday 22nd August front page, detailing how Koreans blatently advertise, for whites only.

Pusanweb is set up for foreigners by foreigners and run by foreigners living in Busan. Contains lots of information about buying spices etc where to shop, health care in English etc.

Answer 5

It must be a latino thing to want americans to speak spanish and koreans to learn english. Koreans are not racist. They talk over dinner. Food is very important. If you are a nice person you will meet nice people and if you are a jerk you will attract jerks. So don't be a racist. The people living in Busan are like people living in any other city in US.

Answer 6

Oh sure! Actually, I moved here (Busan) from California about a month ago. I wouldn't call ourselves racist, but really harsh people, yes. Some really good english teachers (such as my mum) can speak English. They think it's good experience learning English. You can find mostly Korean food at markets, but it's quite different. I don't really know anything from America, but I'm quite sure they'll have at least one or two. Hope that helped! Oh, and I also hope maybe I'll see you here! (^_^)

Answer 7

I would say that they're no more racist than anyone else. I know plenty of Koreans, and they are kind and friendly to me....they love sharing their foods, which I LOVE !
I love KImchee, Bulgogi, Japchae, Beansprouts [yummy] and kimbob.

Try to venture out and meet the locals and please enjoy yourself.....it might take a minute to get used to the smells of the towns, but after a while you won't even notice. *smile*

Answer 8

koreans r not racists, it's loosers that can't seem to interact with the natives here, being racists themselves that think koreans r racists. being a latina u should know, u know the ones that already was a racist back where. the ones that doesn't look with in and always the first one to judge on others caractor and fault.

koreans seems to be racist but their really not if u get to know their caractor. they're really kinda like latinos in caractor not 100% but u'll see the little simularities IF U TAKE UR TIME IN KNOWING THEM. don't be like fools who come to another culture and pick nack on the culture because it's really not like their home and this, and that, just complaining. u have to understand this country is not a fully developed country yet, it still is in process of deveolpment. like the lady that ansered first said, in 1959 korea was covered in mud pile and the cities that u see has been built in just over 50yrs. the rapped development had it's down falls and is the nick picking that u hear. if u speak english it's an automatic plus in knowing the culture no matter what u look like, because koreans already know the u.s. is a multi race nation.
koreans think all race other then that looks like them, all r americans. just go to itaewon u'll see african natives who speak english getting by as americans. those africans don't know about crips or bloods but they look like crips and bloods that the koreans see on t.v. to get by as americans. and so, people here think they really r americans.
about the koreans choice for white people that people take as being racist is really something u got to know about. the africans come here make national t.v. playing american, they con cheat and even robbed an embassy here. alot of the koreans here see this on national t.v.. koreans watch alot of t.v and not being able to interact with foreignors except seoul or actually maybe not even seoul they think all race other then whites who come here r like africans whom i just described above. and white people doesn't really mess around like other races in korea, is y koreans perfer whites.
foreignors i see here in korea. they're just busy with their thing and on their free time dosen't interact with koreans and stay amongst themselves to not relate or settle any missunderstanding, as well with the koreans. the korean people r shy people to a foreign body. this country has only been 50 yrs or so since they've seen as a whole, foreigners out side their race living in their country. before that 50yrs since a race outside their race has come, it was only race with in their race.

so take ur time and judge for ur self don't listen to others.

one more thing. korean americans that r here teaching english here in korea gets less then the average white teachers would get and would have to work longer hrs. also, they with the same degree, r less prefered by the koreans. r koreans racists to even be racists to their own kind? And they do non't won't to be white, they r aware of the fact that there exists different accents in different ethnic groups of america is y. they prefer american whites, then it would be canadian whites, then it would be other whites from other countries. england being the origine of the english language they rather have americans then a english person teach their english here. and u guys think this as being racist. i don't know but it's kinda off for my perception of being racists. i'll call it as preference or maybe even discriminate but not racist.

i am not a racist. i just try in relating an opinion i see as i've grown up in the states amongst the many race in the states.

i've had a peace pipe going with blacks, latinos, whites, and other asians growing up in the states. ofcourse in korea it's something thats taken seriously, so i don't recomend it here "seriously".

about the spices. in korea there exists a highly developed net work of delivery system. so i recomend that u get the number to a market that u've bought ur previous spices and have them send it to u. it costs like 3000 to 4000 won and takes about 2 to 3days to be delivered.

the name of the delivery company is called LOZEN QUICK SERVICE (로잰 택배)
TOLL FREE NUMBER 1588-9988