2 Week Quarantine in Korea

I mean I kind of thought my 2 week quarantine in Korea would go by fast. Butttt, honestly, it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it was going to be.

To start off the 2 week quarantine in Korea, I got a box from the government within the first few days of being here. It was filled with tasty food. How sweet of them?! I also received a thermometer and a white bucket with an orange biohazard bag to throw my trash in (Don’t worry, I am allowed to set my recyclables aside). Yay for recycling.

My TikTok has videos of the goodies that were in the box that I received. I’ve eaten about 80% of what they sent (some of it is meat). Even before I got the box, the headteacher at my school went food shopping and had my fridge stocked before I arrived. She let me borrow some of her cookware during the 2 week quarantine. I felt at home right when I walked through the door.

South Korea is really on top of it when it comes to Covid. Four days after I got to my apartment, I was taken to get another Covid test. I was picked up and dropped off. It was exhilarating to see the outdoors.

Quarantine in South Korea has been more work than I thought…..

The quarantine app is pretty cool when it works. My health officer called and texted me when she couldn’t see my location.

If you have an iPhone, I recommend leaving the app open at all times and having the Background App Refresh on. Expect a phone call or Kakao message if your location isn’t visible. I logged in at 9 am and 3 pm every day. That was my excitement for the days during the 2-week quarantine in Korea. LOL.

A few times my health officer has messaged me asking what my temperature was, even after I had logged my info in. I had some complications with the app at first because I was trying to write my address in Korean. It took a whole 12 hours to fix it so that was my thrilling activity for the day.

Here are some of the other activities that have been keeping me busy during my 2 week quarantine in Korea:

• Netflix & other streaming apps (I’ve probably mentioned it 10x recently)
• Reading
• Meditating (I listen to a few different podcasts, but LOVE Chel Hamilton). Podcasts in general are pretty awesome.
• Taking courses on Coursera. edX is great too.
• Practicing Korean (I listen to YouTube videos by Korean Unnie, Mina Oh, & Korean Class101). I also downloaded this cool app called “Write Korean.” It’s my favorite so far because it doesn’t throw the whole alphabet at you all at once. I’ve also used other apps such as Duolingo and Memrise but I found that they had different pronunciations for each of the vowels which were super confusing. I do love Memrise for other languages though.
• FaceTime and WhatsApp. Zoom and Skype. You know, those apps. It’s hard with the time difference but I’ve made it work so far!
• Cooking has also been a huge part of my day. I LOVE to cook. Having a stovetop in my apartment really makes my life easier and more enjoyable.
• Organizing my apartment was also on the list but I am not in my official apartment yet. Living out of a suitcase was easier said than done.
• Self-care is always important! My favorite part is putting on a face mask and watching TV. I really needed a face mask after wearing my mask for 20+ hours.
• Exercising is a great way to pass time. I have been slacking during quarantine but now I’m back at it with my little weights and resistance bands.
• TikTok has been entertaining (when my internet works). I started making them the day I got here and I can’t stop.

I cut my hair because my friend told me about the #BradMandoChallenge ???? It looks nice and healthy now.

I bought an HDMI cord and a Lightning to Digital AV Adapter off of eBay because they were cheap. BUT, make sure the AV Adapter is the Apple brand because it might not work if it’s not.

Another amazing idea of mine was to read some posts on Facebook to see which VPN would work best. I decided to buy Nord VPN. You can use Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney Plus. It helped a bunch during the 2 week quarantine in Korea.

As time goes by, I regret unpacking my suitcases. I haven’t unpacked fully but let’s just say it’s going to take a few trips to get all of my belongings to my apartment. It’s only a floor upstairs so it’s not a huge deal.

I cannot wait until I move into my apartment and unpack! I’m prettttty sure I brought more than enough of my belongings with me considering my two ginormous suitcases and also breaking one at home and another one other here. Guess we’ll find out. I’ll post an update once I unpack.

Although this 2 week quarantine in Korea has been tough, I made it!!

Check out what to pack for South Korea here.