Living in Korea | Wonderful's Easy Guide to Moving and Living in South Korea for Expats

Updated: Dec 12

Living in South Korea as an expat can be hard, especially if you have just moved to the country and are new to its culture and language. While life in the big cities such as Seoul or Busan tends to be more welcoming to foreigners, living outside of the main cities can be especially difficult for many. Finding simple services such as house cleaning, moving services, food delivery can be a headache, even though back home these are simple services that you would normally get. It is even harder looking for services that are more complicated, such as document apostilles, looking for kindergartens, preparing birthday parties, looking for repair services, online shopping and many more.

Most expats would either rely on Korean friends to help arrange for these services, and if their friends are unavailable/unable to do it, they will try and get by without them. At Wonderful, we believe in providing you with the freedom to live as you would like to live, without the constraints of cultural or language barriers. We have spent years helping expats and foreigners with hundreds of thousands of requests in Korea and would like to share our guide to the 10 top requests to make with Wonderful, when settling down in Korea. 1. Food Delivery

For most people travelling, food is the most important thing one must know how to get. Korea has come a long way in making it easier for foreigners to order food. However, many times the apps are in Korean, and in certain regions outside of the big cities, they simply do not deliver. Wonderful can place food orders for you, and even work with third party delivery services to order from restaurants that do not deliver.

2. Cleaning/ Housekeeping services

You need a clean home, wherever you go in the world. Use Wonderful to help you keep it that way. Wonderful will find the closest cleaning/housekeeping service available that charge as little as 10,000 KRW an hour (cost varies with location and size of apartment). We will coordinate with the cleaner and make the experience as smooth as possible for you.

3. Daycare Search/ Nanny Search/ Kindergarten search

Moving with your family, and don’t have time to take care of the kids? Wonderful can help look for kindergartens with English speaking teachers, English speaking nannies and nanny services, and even help with searching for the best schools that you may enroll your children to. If you have any custom requirements, Wonderful's assistants will try their best to match with the available options.

4. Online Shopping/ Grocery Shopping

Trying to navigate Korean websites can be hell, even for Koreans. Outdated regulations have resulted in complicated payment processes and procedures that many people avoid to do so. Wonderful's assistants are experienced and are able to purchase from most, if not all websites. We can help with your grocery order as well, and have it delivered at a specific time.

5. Airport Transfer Service

Catching a flight at an odd hour and need a lift? Wonderful can help place a reservation with reliable airport transfer services to ensure you catch your flight in good time.

6. Dry Cleaning and Laundry Services

If you need your clothes laundered or dry cleaned, our assistants can look for nearby services that offer this. Some laundry services can pick up and drop off your laundry as well. Feel free to message us to see which options are available in your area.

7. Gym / Outdoor Sports

Everyone needs to get healthy, and one great way of staying in shape is going to the gym or engaging in sports. Wonderful can help with Gym memberships, searching for and booking for sports classes (tennis/soccer/basketball etc) and even getting a personal trainer. If you have any ideas for a sport, feel free to message, we will try our best to help.

8. Translation Assistance

Need a basic translation done? Wonderful can help with that. You don’t have to feel lost in translation when talking to your bank, or to a repair person, our assistants can help. If you need professional translation work done, we can help find a service that can do it at affordable rates.

9. Booking Reservations and making appointments Booking appointments and reservations at restaurants, barber shop/salon, repair shop, clinic, veterinary clinic etc. has never been easier. Simply let us know what time and date you want us to reserve and we will get it done, efficiently.

10. Research

From time to time you may need someone to do basic research for you, for example, looking for a special breed of puppy to buy, helping secure tickets to the Seoul Fashion Week, help look for a special product etc. Wonderful has, and will assist you get these things done. Feel free to message your personal assistant to get started today.

Wonderful is the best on-demand English-speaking virtual assistant service in South Korea. Serving the expat community for nearly 10 years we've maintained the highest customer ratings on both Google and Facebook.

Don't let language barriers or unfamiliar surroundings hold you back from exploring South Korea's hidden treasures. Let Wonderful be your guide to a seamless and unforgettable adventure.

Regarding our pricing, we charge for the time taken working on your request by the minute, for as low as 1250 KRW per minute, depending on your preferred pricing package. If interested in our service, you can reach us on Facebook, Kakao Talk, WhatsApp, Instagram or Email.