Great post Tim. I am currently in Mexico, but plan to be in Korea by September at the latest. I don't expect to make as much as you did, but at least twice what I make here, which shouldn't be too hard.

I am planning on learning some Korean, I'd have to say I could never survive anywhere without speaking some of the language. I spent about two weeks in Thailand years ago visiting a friend who was fluent in Thai, but I had to get to where he was and back to Malaysia under my own steam with zero Thai. Obviously I got by, but I can't stand the feeling of being completely outside of the surroundings.

Where I work here in Mexico there are people who after 12 months can do little more than order a meal or buy a bus ticket in Spanish; their only social life is with their workmates. Personally, I see enough of my workmates at work, weekends I'd rather see somebody else.

There are no decent bookshops within 4 hours of here, so I'm doing a bit of pre-learning Korean with stuff I can find on internet, but it certainly looks like being a bigger challenge than Spanish was.

Cheers
Mike B