Hey, Word famous video gamer downthecrop here with some HARD HITTING information. I threw together a spreadsheet to help anyone calculate their own personal monthly cost of living. If you're interested in that you can get that here. I've also included what a month of living in Korea breaks down for me to. That totals $760 CAD living in a GoshiTele with a private bathroom.
A Goshiwon can be considered as a (very) small, (very) minimal hotel. And we do mean small and minimal — if you really do expect hotel standards you will likely be very disappointed.
You will come across many different names for a goshiwon: Goshitel / Livingtel / Residence / One-room-tel / etc… However all of these are effectively the same kind of thing and are all registered as a “Goshiwon” business type in Korean and we will use the term Goshiwon to refer to all of them.
Goshiwons are a uniquely Korean concept, originally intended as a place where people could stay affordably and temporarily without distraction while they study for government exams. Because of this legacy, there still exist many goshiwons that only offer rooms that are nothing more than closet sized rooms with a desk, bed and internet connection. These very old-school goshiwons rarely include a bathroom/shower in the room and provide very little amenities.
-- https://blog.goshipages.com/housing-faq-ff5f15c7e3a7 goshipages FAQ Mar 1 2017
If you are not a minimalist or can't live minimally obviously rent makes up a good chunk of the costs here. You can copy that Google sheet and fill in your own values to fit your lifestyle better. Another large expense that you may need to add would be a cell phone bill. If you're planning on leaving your home country for an extended period of time I would suggest putting your phone on a temporary disabled mode through your carrier. This keeps your plan and number safe but cuts off service to your phone. These are actually really expensive for some reason ($40 a month for Telus or so which is pretty nasty). If you're planning to buy a SIM card in Korea make sure your phone is unlocked so it can join the new network. Most plans for unlimited data are 60,000₩ or ~$70 CAD a month. If you're close to paying off your phones balance with your plan I'd suggest a cancellation. I've been without a phone number for a while now, about 5 months so far and there really isn't a big problem. If you rely on texting, Facebook Messenger is a good replacement. If you've hear of the Chinese love for WeeChat and Line, in Korea we have KakaoTalk. It does everything to stay in contact with anyone that you might need. If you have an iPhone iMessage and FaceTiime can be used with just WiFi but you'll be in under your iCloud email instead of a phone number.
I am a little short of breaking even off investments to make that $760 monthly payment. Flights are around $1,000 for a round trip but can be as low as $650 if you can wait for a good deal. My accommodations are all handled through AirBnB. Might look at renting next time with a key money deposit. Communication is easy through AirBnb and you can be sure that your money is safe.
Anyway that's the breakdown. The dream setup is obviously to make some money while living here. My investment game is really heating up and I'm hoping to get into making some YouTube content that can make a few bucks a month. Stream is steadily making progress and that will likely make a few bucks a month too.
Thanks for reading! League of Legends and Stoicism update next week.
Peace!